Free Talk Me Down by Victoria Dahl Page A

stalking suspect, which left only Cameron.
    It occurred to Molly that she should consider getting a gun, just so she could sleep soundly. Or a dog. “Probably a dog,” she said to the phone.
    When the doorbell rang, Molly jumped about a foot and her new phone arced through the air. It clattered against the countertop, slid two feet to the sink and dropped in with a hollow clunk. No harm done.
    “Coming!” she yelled, grabbing her bowl of candy on the way. The kids here didn’t have many houses to visit, so she’d filled the bowl with full-size candy bars and packs of bubble gum and had received squeals of approval from all her visitors so far.
    “Trick or treat!” the little girl chirped from behind her scarf as her mom offered a wave from the bottom of the steps.
    Molly grinned down at the girl in her bulky parka and white sweatpants. A pink tutu stuck out between the layers and a sparkly crown perched on top of her knit cap.
    “What a beautiful, beautiful princess you are!” she gushed as she dropped a big chocolate bar in the girl’s bag. The girl’s eyes bulged. Oh, yeah, Molly thought, I’m a rock star in this town. “All princesses deserve chocolate.”
    The big eyes sparkled, warming Molly’s heart. She loved this small-town thing—
    “I’m not a princess!”
    Oops. That didn’t sound like delight. “Oh! Sorry, I’m…”
    Big fat tears began to drop from her eyelashes to the scarf. Molly threw a desperate glance to the mother, but she just stood there cringing.
    “I’m not a princess!” the girl screamed, waving a previously unnoticed wand. “I’m a fairy. I’m a fairy! ”
    The mom reached up. “Kaelin, let’s just go, hon—”
    “I don’t wanna wear my stupid coat. No one can see my w-w-wings!” She crumpled into a little sobbing mound of down and waterproof nylon. “I told you no one would see my wings!”
    “Oh, for God’s sake,” the mother muttered as she scooped up the broken child.
    “I’m sorry,” Molly whispered in horror.
    The girl stirred to scream, “I’m a fairy!” one more time before her mother spirited her down the steps.
    Molly was hardly surprised when Ben chose that moment to drive up. He stepped out of the truck while the mother lectured quietly and furiously on the front lawn, but he just strolled into the reach of the porch light and watched until the little girl blinked away her tears and looked at him.
    “Happy Halloween, Chief Lawson,” she said mournfully.
    “Happy Halloween, Kaelin. I must say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beautiful fairy. You look like you just stepped out of a magic snow palace.”
    “Really?” she breathed. “Really?”
    “Police officers can’t lie.” He dug a crumpled pack of candy corn from his pocket and dropped it in the girl’s bag. She glowed as though he’d just given her diamonds.
    “Thank you, Chief,” the mother gushed before pulling her daughter on to the next house.
    The half smile Ben offered Molly was chock-full of arrogance. “Making children cry on Halloween, Moll? That something they taught you down in the big city?”
    “How the hell did you know she was a fairy?”
    “Wand,” was all he said, and Molly slumped.
    “I didn’t see the damn wand.”
    “Not your fault. I’m trained to notice the details.”
    “I think I liked you better when you were shy.”
    The half smile flashed briefly into a full grin that stole Molly’s breath away. His next words knocked the breath back in on a rush of anxiety.
    “Speaking of noticing the details, this package was on top of your mailbox. It’s from a Cameron Kasten. That the guy who’s not your ex-boyfriend?”
    “Yes,” she snapped, wondering what the hell this meant. Though he held the package out to her, Molly just stared at it.
    Ben looked down at it and then up at her with a frown. “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”
    “Nope.” Her composure firmly back in place, she snatched the box and moved back into the warmth of her