Cold River - Carla Neggers [0]
“Neggers’s passages are so descriptive that one almost finds one’s teeth chattering from fear and anticipation as well as from the cold…. The chill from the emotionless and guiltless killers’ icy hearts is enough to cause frostbite to our very souls.”
—Bookreporter on Cold Pursuit
“Edge-of-your-seat adventure…no writer does it better than Carla Neggers.”
—M. J. Rose on Cold Pursuit
“A believable, gripping story that will keep armchair sleuths guessing…until the final chapter.”
—Publishers Weekly on Betrayals
“Enough roller-coaster twists and turns to keep the reader up all night reading!”
—Eileen Goudge on Betrayals
“Carla Neggers is one of the most distinctive, talented writers of our genre.”
—Debbie Macomber
“Well-drawn characters, complex plotting and plenty of wry humor are the hallmarks of Neggers’ books.
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Cold Pursuit
“When it comes to romance, adventure and suspense, nobody delivers like Carla Neggers.”
—Jayne Ann Krentz
“Fans of romantic suspense will be charmed.”
—Publishers Weekly on The Angel
“No one does romantic suspense better!”
—Janet Evanovich
Also by CARLA NEGGERS
THE MIST
BETRAYALS
COLD PURSUIT
TEMPTING FATE
THE ANGEL
ABANDON
CUT AND RUN
THE WIDOW
BREAKWATER
DARK SKY
THE RAPIDS
NIGHT’S LANDING
COLD RIDGE
ON THE EDGE
“Shelter Island”
THE HARBOR
STONEBROOK COTTAGE
THE CABIN
THE CARRIAGE HOUSE
THE WATERFALL
ON FIRE
KISS THE MOON
CLAIM THE CROWN
CARLA NEGGERS
COLD RIVER
For Aunt Evelyn
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
One
March 26—nine months ago—Black Falls, Vermont
The Cameron brothers were in town that night. Hannah Shay watched them enter O’Rourke’s from her perch on a high stool at the rough-wood bar. She couldn’t remember when she’d last seen them together. A.J., the eldest, was down from the mountain lodge the family owned and he ran with his wife. Elijah was home briefly from war. Sean had flown in from Southern California between fighting wildfires and making his fortune.
As they gathered at a table on the far wall, under old black-and-white photographs of their small Vermont town, Hannah doubted they noticed her with the glass of chardonnay she’d been nursing for the past thirty minutes. She had no concerns about being at the bar alone. The owner, Liam O’Rourke, a longtime Cameron friend, had little tolerance for troublemakers—including ones who were blood-related. Everyone in Black Falls knew stepping out of line at O’Rourke’s meant a boot out the door or a trip in the back of a police cruiser.
Even Bowie O’Rourke, Liam’s cousin, had to know.
Bowie followed the Cameron men into the bar, shutting the door with a hard thud. He didn’t take a table but instead stood two stools down from Hannah and ordered a beer. He was a stonemason and, at thirty-four, the same age as Elijah, three years younger than A.J. and a year older than Sean, but Bowie and the Cameron brothers had never gotten along. He was combative and often in trouble. They were rigid and often unforgiving. He’d finally moved away from Black Falls in his early twenties, but he was back now.
Built like an ox, Bowie wore a down vest over an orange hooded sweatshirt, jeans and scuffed work boots. He and Hannah had grown up in a hollow up on the river. Isolated and poor, it was a different Vermont from the one the Camerons and most people in Black Falls