A Dangerous Silence
Chapter One
Cowley County, Kansas; Present Day
Big Ed Morgan stepped backward off the edge of his
barn loft into thin air. He fell twelve feet to the dirt-packed
floor and landed with the crunch of a shattering
pelvis, the snap of breaking ribs, the pop of a shoulder
being wrenched from its socket. Sunlit hay from the
bale he'd been tugging scattered across him like leaves
on an autumn morning. A piece of frayed twine drifted
downward, settling finally on his barrel chest.
He took a ragged breath and lifted his head to peer
across the barn. Taking the movement as a signal to
play, Gypsy bounded from a corner of the barn where
she'd hidden, tail waving in delight. Plopping her front
feet onto her master's chest, the black-and-white dog
licked his face, pushed her cold nose under his chin,
and danced on his injured rib cage.
"Down, Gyp!"
The dog sank to her belly, still panting happily. Her tail
brushed wide arcs across the dirt floor. She was smiling.
In rapid succession, three certainties entered Ed's mind,
imprinted as if they'd been inked with the forty-year-old ru ... read full excerpt from: A Dangerous Silence ebook
