Bear My Heart: A Small Town Paranormal Romance by Natalie Kristen Page A

me and told me to hand the envelope to you.”
    “Did he say anything
else?”
    Logan canted his head.
“Yeah. He asked me if I knew your name. I told him it was
Dot. And he laughed.”
    Olga stared around wildly,
trying to see where the Artist was. He was here, in plain sight.
But she had never seen his face. He could be anyone.
    “I'm going to look for
Leo,” Logan said, scampering away. “He's going to be in
so much trouble. Mom told us to stay in the children's section.”
    Olga turned and scanned all
the faces in the library, her fists clenched painfully at her sides.
    Where are you? Who are
you? She wanted to scream.
    Her chest constricted, making
it almost impossible to breathe. She had to get out of here. She
needed air.
    Gasping for breath, she
stumbled blindly out of the library.
    She stood blinking for a few
seconds in the afternoon sun, taking rapid, shallow breaths.
    A hand closed around her arm.
    “Hello, Daniella.”
    She recognized the voice of
the Artist at once.
    Olga jerked round to see a
well-dressed man with pale blond hair standing beside her. The man
removed his shades and Olga gasped.
    “But...you...you're in
jail!”

CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN

    “Stay where you are,
Megan. I'm on my way.” Troy threw his hammer into his toolbox
and turned to Brandon. “I'm sorry but...”
    Brandon dumped the wooden
plank on the floor and dusted his large hands. “I'm going with
you. I'll just go in and tell Mr Wilkins that we can't finish
putting up his shelves today.”
    Troy nodded. He knew Brandon
had heard his conversation with Megan. Megan was screaming so loudly
he'd had to hold his phone away from his ear. No doubt Brandon had
heard Megan's every word.
    Megan had been screaming into
the phone. “I've searched everywhere! I can't find Leo!
Logan said Leo went to the bathroom. I went in there, and...I saw—I
saw some drops of blood on the bathroom floor! It's Leo's! I know
it is! I don't know where...” The rest of Megan's words were
drowned by her hysterical sobs.
    Brandon disappeared into the
house and Troy began to pack up quickly. In less than a minute, he
heard Mr Wilkins's walking stick tap-tapping towards him.
    “There's a family
emergency, I understand,” Mr Wilkins said. “Go. Don't
worry about the mess. You boys can come back and finish up the job
any time.”
    “Thank you, Mr
Wilkins,” Troy said.
    “Go.” The old
man waved his walking stick and shooed them off.
    Troy jumped into his truck
and sped off. Brandon tailgated him in his old sturdy SUV. The SUV
had belonged to Brandon's dad, and Brandon was determined to keep the
vehicle forever.
    They skidded to a stop in
front of the library and scrambled out of their vehicles. They would
probably get a ticket each for illegal parking but they didn't care.
    Brandon was through the door
first. The guy loved the twins like they were his own nephews. He
spoiled those rascals rotten.
    Megan was on the phone behind
the counter, speaking rapidly and rather incoherently. Two
librarians and a few parents were standing with her.
    Megan's eyes were red and
puffy and she stood up as soon as she saw Troy and Brandon. Logan
was sitting at her side, fidgeting anxiously.
    “I just called all of
Leo's friends and classmates,” Megan said in a hysterical,
high-pitched voice. “He's not with them.” She turned
pleadingly to Troy. “I called the Sheriff as well. He's on
his way. I don't know what else to do...”
    “We'll find him,”
Troy said. He looked around quickly. “Where's Ol...Dot?”
    Megan sniffed. “I
don't know. I asked her to come home with me and have dinner
together. She was supposed to meet me out front. I went to get the
boys, and I only found Logan. I haven't seen her...”
    “I saw Dot,”
Logan interjected.
    Megan rounded on him. “When?
Where?”
    “That's what I've been
trying to tell you, Mom,” Logan cried. “But you kept
interrupting and asking me about Leo.”
    Troy looked at his nephew who
was fighting back angry,