Free Tempting Evil by Allison Brennan

like that?
    She’d do it if she really loved you. And if she doesn’t love you, kill her.
    (Kill her now.)
    No, no, no! He didn’t want to kill her. That was something Doug Chapman would do, kill a woman because she made him mad. He’d killed his wife to get rid of her so he could be with his girlfriend, then he killed his girlfriend when she wanted to leave him because he killed his wife.
    The irony made Aaron laugh out loud. No one heard his cackle over the loud hum of the snowmobiles. Did Doug even see the ludicrous life he led?
    What about Aaron? He was a nobody, and Joanna must see that. His nothingness was plastered over his face, in his words, an average man in an average body with an average mind.
    You’re smart, Aaron. Very smart. If she doesn’t see that, she needs to die.
    No! Dammit, he didn’t want to kill her. His chest heaved and he couldn’t catch his breath. How could he take away something so beautiful and precious?
    Tell her the truth.
    That he killed Lincoln Barnes? Then she would know he was one of the escaped convicts.
    She’ll forgive you.
    Or better yet…he could apprehend a killer. He could risk his life to save hers. Put a bullet in Doug Chapman’s gut, just like he did to that letch Tom O’Brien who was staring at Joanna’s breasts in the picture.
    He would save her life and she would fall in love with him.
    Aaron needed to figure out exactly how to set it up. And fast. Before the damn Sheriff Tyler McBride—
Love, Tyler
—arrived.
    Joanna looked back over her shoulder and pointed her finger to the northeast. They were curving around. He had no idea where they were, but Joanna had a marvelous sense of direction. Such a smart girl.
    His chest swelled with pride. She belonged to him.

THIRTEEN
    Annie Erickson poured coffee for the well-dressed FBI agent who was sitting at her small oak kitchen table.
    “Thank you for agreeing to talk to me,” he said.
    She glanced at his card. QUINCY PETERSON, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI SEATTLE REGIONAL FIELD OFFICE
    “You wanted to talk about Aaron?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Have you found him?”
    “We’re closing in on him, but we need some additional information to help us pinpoint his exact location and his mind-set.”
    She glanced down. Though the federal agent looked like a nice, handsome man not much older than Aaron, his job was to put poor Aaron back behind bars.
    “Ms. Erickson? You testified at Aaron’s trial. You asked for leniency because of childhood abuse.”
    “The judge didn’t listen to me. But he wasn’t there—he didn’t watch that woman destroy that little boy.”
    “But you were there.”
    “From the day Aaron was born, Ginger left him with friends and family until she had no one left who would take him. I wanted to adopt him, to raise him as my own—she knew I loved him, and she took him away from me. I loved him more than she ever could!” Annie looked down at her own coffee cup, remembering the last time she’d seen Aaron as a boy. He’d been thirteen. When Ginger left with him, Annie knew she’d never bring him back.
    “How did you know Ginger and Aaron?”
    “Ginger’s mother and mine had been friends when we were kids.”
    “You and Ginger weren’t friends?”
    Annie shrugged. “Not close. We grew up in Los Angeles, went to the same school, lived nearby. Since our moms were friends, we saw each other often.”
    “Did you know Aaron’s father?”
    She’d never met Joe Dawson, but he was as much to blame for what had happened to Aaron as Ginger. If he had a backbone, he would have fought for custody of his son. His parents were good people and would have taken care of Aaron. But Joe was as selfish as Ginger.
    “Joe Dawson didn’t want to be a father. Aaron wasn’t the only child he fathered out of wedlock. Last I heard he has four kids out of four different women. His parents stepped in and he married the mother of the last child, but I don’t know if they are still