AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Pike, WI
December 14, 2007
Tugging her coat tight around her shivering body, Lia Porter scurried down the dark pathway. It was past midnight, and the late December air was cold enough to burn her lungs as she sucked in deep breaths. This was so stupid. She should never have crept out of her house to attend the party. Even at fifteen years old she knew that a gathering of kids in an old barn in the middle of winter was a lame idea. Some of her friends might enjoy shivering around a small fire, listening to country music and drinking cheap beer, but she’d been bored out of her mind.
So why had she allowed herself to be cajoled into going?
Lia wrinkled her nose. She’d told herself that she was tired of being called Lia-Killjoy by her classmates. Okay. She liked to follow the rules. She wasn’t a maverick. Or a risk-taker. She didn’t cheat on tests or skip classes. She didn’t even go skinny-dipping at the local lake. In fact, if she wasn’t at school, she was helping her mother at the family-owned grocery store in the center of town. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a good time, right?
But deep in her heart she knew that wasn’t why she spent an hour straightening her strawberry-blond hair until it fell in a smooth curtain down her back. Or added a layer of mascara to the long lashes that framed her green eyes. Or why she’d snuck out of her room and trudged two miles to the middle of the frozen field.
She’d been hoping to attract the attention of Chuck Moore, the guy she’d nursed a secret crush on for an entire year. He wasn’t the most popular boy in class. Or the cutest. He had frizzy black hair and an overbite that was prominent despite his braces. But he was one of the few guys who at least pretended to listen when she spoke. That was far more attractive to a girl who’d spent her school life in the shadows than perfect features or bulging muscles.
Unfortunately, she’d had to wait until her mother was asleep before sneaking out. They lived above the store and she couldn’t just climb out a bedroom window. She had to creep down the squeaky stairs at the back of the two-story brick building. By the time she arrived at the barn the party was in full swing, and Chuck was already in the hayloft with her best friend, Karen Cranford.
Calling herself an idiot, she’d forced herself to stay long enough to drink a beer and pretend to laugh at the antics of the guys who thought it was a great idea to try to push one another into the fire. As if nursing second-degree burns was a hilarious way to spend the evening. Then, assuring herself that she’d proved whatever stupid point she’d come there to make, she’d slipped out the door and headed across the dark field.
Lia muttered a bad word as she slipped on a patch of ice. Pike, Wisconsin, wasn’t the best location to take a midnight stroll. Especially in the middle of winter. If she fell and broke a leg, she was going to be in so much trouble.
The thought of her mother made Lia grimace. Trina Porter had only been sixteen when she’d given birth to Lia. That had been tough enough, but Lia’s father had disappeared just months after she was born, and her grandparents had died in a tragic car accident eight years later. Trina was forced to work endless hours to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. She’d sacrificed everything to give her child a warm and loving home.
Lia felt the constant weight of those sacrifices pressing down on her like an anchor. If she knowingly added to her mom’s daily struggle, she would never forgive herself.
Rounding a bend in the pathway, Lia breathed a sigh of relief. Ahead, she could see the soft glow of streetlights. Soon she would be back in her room, tucked in her warm bed with one of the books she’d borrowed from the library. Exactly where she wanted to be.
Lost in the fantasy of being curled up beneath her thick comforter with a cup of hot cocoa, Lia came to an abrupt halt. She heard a sound in the distance. Not a car. Or an animal. It sounded like . . . like running footsteps.
More curious than alarmed, Lia watched as a shadowed form appeared from the shadows. It didn’t occur to her that she might be in danger. This was Pike. Nothing bad ever happened here. The figure neared, moving down the path toward her. As she grew closer, Lia could make out the delicate features of a woman with long, black hair that flowed behind her. She was wearing a heavy leather jacket and pants that looked like some kind of uniform. Lia could also see the glitter of gold in the moonlight. The woman had a large badge pinned to the upper shoulder of her jacket. Like a cop.
Oh no.
Lia sucked in a sharp breath. Had her mother awakened and found her missing? Had she called the sheriff’s office? No. She sternly squashed the urge to panic. She would recognize anyone local. Pike was too small to have strangers. This woman was from somewhere else.
So why was she running from town in the middle of the night?
It was a question that was to haunt Lia for the next fifteen years, as the woman suddenly spotted her standing in the middle of the pathway. She’d just reached the bridge that spanned the railroad tracks.
A scream was ripped from her throat, as if Lia was a monster, not a fifteen-year-old girl sneaking home from a party. Then, with a shocking speed, the woman turned toward the edge of the bridge, climbing onto the stone guardrail.
What the heck was she doing? Lia took a startled step forward, lifting her hand as the woman wobbled. It was at least twelve feet to the tracks below. Not even the local boys were stupid enough to jump from there.
“Wait!” she called out, but she was too late.
With a last, terrified glance toward Lia, the woman leaned forward and disappeared into the darkness.
Chapter 1
Pike, WI
Now
It was mid-December and the town of Pike, Wisconsin, looked like an image on a postcard. The ground was coated in pristine layers of snow and the trees sparkled with Christmas lights. The town square was draped in garland that filled the crisp air with a scent of pine. There was even a miniature North Pole set up in the park where Santa perched on a chair from six to seven in the evenings for the kids to take pictures.
The downside to the winter wonderland, however, was the brutal windchill that whipped through the narrow streets despite the clear blue skies and bright morning sunlight. The cold kept most sensible people snuggled in the warmth of their homes. A shame for the local businesses that depended on the holiday season to pad their yearly income, but for Lia Porter, the quiet was welcome. The grocery store was never a hot spot in town, not even during Christmas, but she was there alone and she didn’t want to be disturbed.
Seated at her desk in the private office she’d claimed at the back of the building, Lia kept one eye on her computer and the other on the surveillance monitor that kept guard on the front of the store. She wasn’t afraid of shoplifters. The four short aisles with wooden shelves were stocked with basic supplies. Flour, sugar, bread, and canned goods. There was also a cooler with dairy products and a section for frozen foods. If someone was desperate enough to steal food, she would be happy to hand it over to them. She just wanted to keep watch in case a customer entered and needed her help.
