Free C.J. Urban - Julie Townsend 01 - Hidden Intent by C.J. Urban Page A

to see Julie walking towards him. “Dinner’s ready.”
    Skye followed her into the dining room where they sat at a small round table that Julie had decorated with a vase full of daisies. Skye watched as Sam quickly took his seat, eyeing the garlic bread.
    “Sam is a little garlic bread fiend,” Julie laughed.
    “Eat as much as you want,” Skye said as he began dishing himself some chicken. “So, do you guys enjoy living here?”
    “I do,” Julie said. “What about you Sam? Do you like it here?”
    “It’s all right,” he answered without enthusiasm. “I don’t really have any friends, though. I don’t think there are many kids on this street.”
    “You’ll make friends, buddy. Don’t worry. Do you have a job lined up yet?” Skye asked Julie.
    “Not yet. My dream is to open a private investigation business, but that takes money that I don’t have. Plus, I don’t know about the work in this town. I didn’t really think the move through, job-wise. I was more interested in being able to provide Sam with a house again and figured the job situation would work itself out, you know?”
    “I understand. Private investigation, huh? So that’s why you’re so interested in Tara’s case?”
    “Yeah, that’s definitely a big part of it. She’s also my family, and I really want to find the truth for my uncle.”
    A sound coming from the front of the house suddenly made Skye freeze and strain his ears. “Did you hear that?”
    “No. What is it?” Julie asked.
    “It sounded like someone smacked one of the front windows. You really didn’t hear it?”
    “I honestly didn’t. You said the front windows?”
    Skye didn’t answer but got up from his chair and walked into the entryway to inspect the large bay window in the living room. He couldn’t see anything from the inside of the house, but was sure he had heard something hit the window, so he stepped outside to see if perhaps a ball or something had hit it.
    “Did you find anything?” Julie asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
    “I don’t see anything.” Skye was bewildered. He felt sure something substantial had hit the window, and hoped Julie didn’t think he was paranoid. Just as he was turning to go back inside, something on the window sill caught his eye. He walked closer and bent down to find a pair of muddy fingerprints on the sill. He looked down instinctively and found a pair of fresh footprints in the dirt directly below the fingerprints. Whoever had made that sound had been watching through the window.
     
     
     
    Chapter 15
     
     
    Julie sat next to Skye on the couch, both of them sipping coffee. She could tell Skye was still concerned about the noise he’d heard earlier.
    As if reading her mind, Skye said, “Julie, I didn’t want to scare Sam, but there’s something I should show you. Come with me,” he said, taking her hand.
    He led her outside to the window and showed her the finger and footprints.
    “Oh my God,” Julie gasped.
    “I know. There was someone watching us, Julie. And that’s not good at all.”
    “Should we call the police, do you think?” Julie asked, still stunned.
    Skye shrugged. “I don’t know what they could prove,” he answered. “Both the finger prints and footprints are pretty smudged. And, I can’t be sure, absolutely, that they weren’t there before.”
    Quiet, they both entered the house again. Julie was more positive than ever that this case was open once again, and she knew she had to find the real killer, because he might be the one spying on her. Julie shivered as she imagined the person who had murdered Tara staring at her through the window. Now, on the couch, Skye sat a little closer to her, and put an arm around her. She leaned into him a little, her heart beating faster.
    But Julie still needed to talk about the case. “Tara spent a summer with us when I was young,” she told him, “and for that entire summer I felt like she was an older sister I could confide in. I don’t