The Broken Protector Read Online Nicole Snow

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The body of a woman lying face down on the floor.

2

Red Eye (Lucas)

I think I’ve read this book over thirty times by now.

Ender’s Game.

Genius boy, strange aliens, weird technology, interstellar conquest. I probably know every line by heart. You could turn a page, cover it with your hand, ask me what’s on it, and I could recite it for you word for word.

Guess I should get myself some new books.

Not like there’s much to do on shift but read.

Hell, there’s no point in even being out on patrol right now. There’s rarely any good reason in sleepy Redhaven, which is why right now my version of 'on duty' involves lounging in a chair in the back office of the police station and reading my bored ass off.

My boots are propped up on the captain’s unused desk while I keep an ear open for any incoming calls.

Over at the dispatch desk, Mallory’s filing her nails and playing a game that occasionally makes her phone spit something in Korean.

I don’t know a word of Korean.

Still, judging from the tone of the male voices and the way she’s blushing, I’d guess it’s awful dirty.

To each their own.

I read old books till my eyes turn red, and Mallory plays games where Korean guys purr at her and make her feel like she’s twenty again.

What the hell? It passes the time.

Maybe when my shift’s over, I’ll head out to the gym and break a sweat.

Normally, when a 911 call comes in, I don’t even look up.

Around here, what’s your emergency is usually more of a 'pig caught in someone’s clothesline' situation. Half the time I wind up feeling less like a cop and more like Redhaven animal control.

For some reason I can’t explain, though, this time my head snaps up when the phone goes off.

There’s this tingling on the back of my neck, prickling and cold and inexplicable.

Maybe I’ve just been uneasy all day, knowing that new teacher they hired is coming into town. We don’t get new folks that often, not the kind that settle in to stay.

Despite how Redhaven looks, your everyday person can’t afford the housing around here. You were either born here, or you’re vacationing.

Someone new always leaves the vibe a little unsettled.

Of course, it might also be the fact that she was hired by the Arrendells—or so I’ve heard through the town grapevine.

That’s enough to set me on edge all by itself.

I snap my book shut with my thumb as a bookmark and listen in while Mallory switches on the headset tucked against her salt-and-pepper hair.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” she chirps.

I can’t make out what’s happening on the other end of the line.

There’s a faint distressed voice and it’s not one I recognize.

A woman.

And apparently, she’s making poor Mallory go pale.

“Miss, can you please repeat that one more time?” she strains, her voice breathless. “I... yes, of course. Of course, miss, and could you give me your name? Thank you. Yes. I’ll send someone right out. Don’t touch anything, please. No, don’t go inside the house. Yes, yes. Thank you.”

I jump up and snag a sticky note, tucking it into my book before tossing it on the desk.

“Trouble, Mallory?”

Her wide eyes dart to me as she jots something down on a notepad, then murmurs something reassuring into her headset before ripping the paper off and thrusting it at me like a bomb.

“There’s a body,” she announces, just as Chief Bowden plods in from the little closet he’s claimed as his private office. His thumbs are tucked into his belt loops, dragging his uniform pants down below his belly. “It’s at the Crowder house. The new teacher, she said she opened her door and found a dead girl inside.”

“You’re shitting me,” I whisper, raking a hand over my face.

My stomach flips over as the numbness on Mallory’s white face says she’s not.

I snatch the piece of paper away and frown at the name written there.

Delilah Clarendon?

Fuck.

Even her name smells like trouble—and I already wonder what the hell kind she’s brought with her to our little town.

I’m not alarmed till I see the body for myself.

Tense, yeah, but part of being a police officer is keeping it cool as a cucumber until there’s reason not to be.

Sometimes all it takes is one person keeping their shit together to help everybody else hold it together, too. I learned that in some sticky situations.

Still, as Chief Bowden and I settle into my patrol car and hit the road, this ugly premonition sinks into my bones, harsh and cutting.

Why does it feel like I’ve been waiting for something to happen?

It’s been too quiet around Redhaven for ages. Certain people learned to take their dirty business somewhere else.

You know the old saying—don’t shit where you eat.

Well, sooner or later, somebody was bound to slip up.

And if there’s really a dead body at the new teacher’s house, it might just be my chance to catch them in the act.


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