Read Playing Dead in Dixie for Free Online

Bangor on purpose.  Not to stay.
    His sad excuse for a sex life was proof of that.
    "Did you lose big at the tables?"
    She glanced his way.  "The numbers weren't on my side."
    Odd way of putting it.  "I hear the house always wins."
    She tucked her legs up, resting her chin on one knee.  "So they say."
    Her vague answers annoyed him.  "What's your game, blackjack or craps?"
    She turned her head to look at him, her eyes glimmering in the moonlight.  "What's your game, good cop or bad cop?"
    He leaned toward her, noting with satisfaction the way her pupils widened until only a narrow edge of moonlit silver rimmed the dark center.  "Which do you prefer?"
    She leaned away, turning her face back to the moon. "I'm not in the mood for playing.  I wouldn't think you'd be, either, since you just buried your cousin."
    The words were designed to hurt.  Wes had to admit they met their mark.  He leaned away, resting his head against the porch rail post.
    He'd offered to identify Steve's remains, not wanting his aunt and uncle to have to see his cousin's body before the funeral home had time to make him look like the son they remembered.  He flew north on the bus company's dime to identify his cousin, relieved to find that his wounds wouldn't be hard to conceal.  Easier on the family that way.
    Not many families had been as lucky.  Some were still waiting, might be waiting for months or years for their loved ones to finally wash ashore downriver from the crash site.
    "Does your family know you're okay?" he asked Carly.
    She sat silent a moment, her face still lifted toward the silvery moon.  "Nobody's worrying where I am."
    She probably hadn't intended the faint note of sadness that rasped along the edge of her voice.  He'd known her less than a day and already he knew that much about her.  She'd see vulnerability as weakness, unless she was wielding it as a weapon.
    "What kind of job are you going to look for?" he asked.
    "Here or in Savannah?"
    "Either."
    She nibbled her lower lip.  "I did some bookkeeping back in New Jersey.  Some retail sales, that sort of thing."
    "Do you have a resume with you?  Any references?"  He watched carefully for her reaction.
    She shrugged.  "I've never had trouble getting a job without those things."
    Looking at her now, a moon-bathed goddess, he believed it.  A woman who looked like Carly Devlin wouldn't have trouble getting a job.  She probably wouldn't even have trouble keeping it, if she was halfway competent.
    "You should talk to Floyd in the morning.  He might have an opening at the hardware store."  Even as the words left his lips, he couldn't believe he'd uttered them.  Had he just offered this secretive stranger a job at his uncle's store?
    She turned her head to look at him, as surprised as he was by the suggestion.  "Didn't think that one through, did you?"
    He gave a bark of laughter, suddenly feeling lightheaded.
    Lightheaded, hell.  Knocked flat on his ass.
    Carly Devlin might not turn out to be a criminal, but she was one hell of a dangerous woman.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    "I know it doesn't seem like a lot of money, but we've been having a few lean months."  Floyd leaned against the checkout counter, offering a rueful half-smile.
    It wasn't much money, but Carly was grateful to have it.  She was certainly in no position to quibble about her salary.  She'd managed to put off talk about W-2 forms and Social Security numbers for the moment by promising to get the information to Floyd when she got her missing I.D. sorted out.
    At least she had a place to stay.  The Stricklands had insisted that she continue living with them to save money.  Carly would have taken the job for half the salary Floyd was offering just to pay them back for their hospitality.  In addition to the part time job at the hardware store, she was helping Bonnie around the house as well, and she still didn't feel like she was doing enough..
    But she wasn't going to be