Free Hearts On Fire by Penny Childs Page B

you?”
she whispered. “And what did you do to make them so angry?” No matter what Katy
had done Lizzie didn’t think she deserved to die because of it. Righteous anger
flared in her. So did her protective nature. “Well, they won’t get away with
it, that’s for sure.”
         “Just like Grady Summers
didn’t?”
         She whirled at the voice
behind her, her hand going to her heart. Fear for her sister’s life was still
mingling with the anger over what had happened. “Matt, you scared the devil out
of me.”
         A crooked grin appeared
on his face. “Nah, you’ll always have a little of the devil in you.” He stepped
into the room and peered at Katy. “No change?”
         She shook her head but
could not forget his sly mention of Grady. “He left all on his own, Matt,” she
reminded.
         “Yeah.” He dragged his
hand over his snow dampened hair. “Sorry I brought it up.” Looking into
Lizzie’s eyes he said, “It just seems like trouble has a way of following her
around.”
         “Grady wasn’t her fault.”
And that was all she would tell him or anyone else regarding that.
         “No?” He lifted a
shoulder. “Opinions vary on that one.”
         “Mine doesn’t,” she
replied stiffly.
         “I know that too. You’d
protect her to the end, no matter what, wouldn’t you?” He sighed and held up a
hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be an asshole. I’m just tired and cranky. The
reason I bring up Grady is because it seems he’s gone missing.”
         “Missing?” Now she felt a
stab of fear. “What do you mean missing? The last I knew he lived in California
somewhere and had to check in with a parole officer.”
         “Just so,” Matt agreed.
“However, with that being said, he didn’t check in with his PO today like he
was supposed to.”
         “What… what are you
saying?” She looked down at Katy. “Are you saying you think he may have had
something to do with this?”
         “I don’t know, Lizzie.
All I know is he’s missing and Katy is in the hospital.” He walked to her and
put a finger under her chin to lift it. Meeting her gaze directly he said, “You
need to start talking to me, Lizzie. Now.”
         “I don’t—”
         “Don’t give me that shit.
You came here looking for Katy because you were afraid something had happened
to her. Because you knew she might be in danger. Am I warm?”
         He was and she didn’t
like it. But now, with her sister laying there, with her almost losing her life
to someone… “She called me the night before she was supposed to show up. Just
like I told you.” Backing out of his grasp, she licked her lips and looked at
the floor. She felt like she was betraying Katy. But she had to this time. “She
called to ask if she could crash at my place for a couple days. And she
indicated to me she’d come into a lot of money. She told me she was going to
pay me back everything she’d ever borrowed from me.” She looked back up to Matt
with the ghost of a smile on her lips. “Which is not chump change, by the way.”
         “So she said she’d come
into money. She say where she got it?”
         Lizzie shook her head.
“No. I asked her if she’d come by it illegally and she started her usual song
and dance, acting like I’d hurt her feelings. So I knew she probably had ripped
someone off.” Reaching out, she traced the bruise at her sister’s throat. “The
wrong someone as it would seem.”
         Matt closed his eyes and
groaned. “You should have told me this from the git-go.”
         “I suppose I should have.
But I didn’t think it mattered much. You just needed to look for her. And if I
told you she had robbed someone of money I didn’t think you’d look too hard for
her. I know what you all think of her.” She frowned. “She made it sound like a
lot of money. So I don’t know how Grady could be involved. He never