ROBYN
To say that running from two crime scenes was the stupidest thing Robyn had ever done put it at the top of a very short list. Robyn didn’t make stupid mistakes. Her father had always said that he’d never had to teach her to take care before crossing the street, because she naturally looked both ways—twice . . . then reconsidered whether she needed to cross the road at all.
The biggest chance she’d ever taken was Damon. They’d met at the wedding of his sister, a casual friend of Robyn’s. They’d been seated at the same table and talked through dinner. At the end of the night he asked her out, but she’d been seeing someone—Brett, an ad exec she’d been dating since her freshman year. He was a good guy who treated her well, and they had a comfortable relationship that both expected would lead to marriage, a minivan and a house in the suburbs.
When she’d turned Damon down, he’d gone to his sister for details. Was Robyn engaged? Living with her boyfriend? No on both counts. So he sent her an invitation to a club where his band was playing. She didn’t go. He sent a card, asking her for coffee—no strings, just coffee. She said no. Then he sent her a CD of him singing “500 Miles.” The band at his sister’s wedding had played that and, after one and a half glasses of wine, Robyn had proclaimed it the most romantic song ever.
She’d listened to the CD. More than once. Then she called. He invited her to coffee again, but she couldn’t justify meeting a guy she knew wanted more than friendship. Not when she was involved with someone. The only alternative was to end a good three-year relationship for a “coffee date” with a near-stranger. Madness, of course.
That night, she told Brett it was over and called Damon back. A year later, they’d been celebrating their own wedding.
As incredible as that payoff had been, though, she’d never seen it as proof she should take more risks. Just as a sign that she’d probably used up her life’s allotment of good fortune.
Yet that potentially dumb move wasn’t even in the same ballpark as this one. How did someone accidentally flee from not one but two crime scenes? In one night?
She hoped Judd was still alive, but she doubted it. His attacker had been shooting to kill. And who had his attacker been? Someone from his former days as a cop? A disgruntled current client?
No, Robyn was sure she’d brought a killer to Judd Archer’s house. Whether it was Portia’s murderer or a partner, it didn’t matter. Robyn had run to Judd for help and she’d been followed. She’d gotten him killed. And then . . . And then she’d done nothing.
It was almost morning. She’d been sitting on a park bench for three hours. People passed. Some glanced her way. None ran screaming for the nearest cop.
She almost wished they would.
After hours of wandering, exhausted and shock-numb, she’d stalled on this park bench, wanting nothing more than to stretch out and sleep. If she did, would that make anyone notice? It might if she still looked like Robyn Peltier. But this bedraggled woman in oversized sweats and old sneakers? Just another homeless person. No one would care. From respectable to forgettable overnight.
She pulled up her legs and closed her eyes.
Living with the Dead
Kelley Armstrong's books
- The Living Curse
- The Living End
- A Betrayal in Winter
- A Bloody London Sunset
- A Clash of Honor
- A Dance of Blades
- A Dance of Cloaks
- A Dawn of Dragonfire
- A Day of Dragon Blood
- A Feast of Dragons
- A Hidden Witch
- A Highland Werewolf Wedding
- A March of Kings
- A Mischief in the Woodwork
- A Modern Witch
- A Night of Dragon Wings
- A Princess of Landover
- A Quest of Heroes
- A Reckless Witch
- A Shore Too Far
- A Soul for Vengeance
- A Symphony of Cicadas
- A Tale of Two Goblins
- A Thief in the Night
- A World Apart The Jake Thomas Trilogy
- Accidentally_.Evil
- Adept (The Essence Gate War, Book 1)
- Alanna The First Adventure
- Alex Van Helsing The Triumph of Death
- Alex Van Helsing Voice of the Undead
- Alone The Girl in the Box
- Amaranth
- Angel Falling Softly
- Angelopolis A Novel
- Apollyon The Fourth Covenant Novel
- Arcadia Burns
- Armored Hearts
- As Twilight Falls
- Ascendancy of the Last
- Asgoleth the Warrior
- Attica
- Avenger (A Halflings Novel)
- Awakened (Vampire Awakenings)
- Awakening the Fire
- Balance (The Divine Book One)
- Becoming Sarah
- Before (The Sensitives)
- Belka, Why Don't You Bark
- Betrayal
- Better off Dead A Lucy Hart, Deathdealer
- Between
- Between the Lives
- Beyond Here Lies Nothing
- Bird
- Biting Cold
- Bitterblue
- Black Feathers
- Black Halo
- Black Moon Beginnings
- Blade Song
- Bless The Beauty
- Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel
- Blood for Wolves
- Blood Moon (Silver Moon, #3)
- Blood of Aenarion
- Blood Past
- Blood Secrets
- Bloodlust
- Blue Violet
- Bonded by Blood
- Bound by Prophecy (Descendants Series)
- Break Out
- Brilliant Devices
- Broken Wings (An Angel Eyes Novel)
- Broods Of Fenrir
- Burden of the Soul
- Burn Bright
- By the Sword
- Cannot Unite (Vampire Assassin League)
- Caradoc of the North Wind
- Cast into Doubt
- Cause of Death: Unnatural
- Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series)
- City of Ruins
- Club Dead
- Complete El Borak
- Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey)
- Cursed Bones
- That Which Bites
- Damned
- Damon
- Dark Magic (The Chronicles of Arandal)
- Dark of the Moon
- Dark_Serpent
- Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild)
- Darker (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 6)
- Darkness Haunts
- Dead Ever After
- Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales
- Dead on the Delta