Читать онлайн «Grounds To Believe»
Автор Bates Shelley
Praise for RITA® Award winner Shelley Bates and her novels
“Suspenseful and intriguing, Grounds to Believe starts off running and never slows down. Shelley Bates expertly contrasts a controlling and demoralizing religious cult with the true love and caring of God.
4½ TOP PICK!”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“Shelley Bates is a brave and talented author who looks at the darkness as well as the light. ”
—Bestselling author Mary Jo Putney
“Bates delivers a gut-wrencher with poignant style. ”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Pocketful of Pearls
Grounds to Believe
Shelley Bates
For Jeff, always,
and for Troon Nicholas Harrison
and Heather J. A. Graham, with love
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Prologue
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
Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks go to Kristin Hannah, for being the first to believe; to William C. Hopkins, M. D. , for his assistance with the psychology of MSBP; to Troon, Heather and Jenny Andersen, for timely comments on short notice and unflagging faith in me; to my parents, Dan and Carol, for their love; and to Debbie aka Ms.
Peaches, Connie, Marti, Apples, Marge and Bernice of the PMB, for their support and willingness to share.FOREWORD
Prologue
1997
His daughter was in their hands.
Deputy Sheriff Ross Malcolm lay on a dusty hillside in central Washington State and watched the cluster of weathered buildings below. It had been a town once. The Apocalypse-focused Church of the Seventh Seal rented the few acres for cash from an absentee landlord. They’d thrown a wooden palisade around the unpainted houses, what looked like a barn or meeting hall, and half an acre of struggling vegetables.
Rocks and pieces of dead cactus dug into his belly and the worn thighs of his jeans. Ross put the binoculars down and slid his sunglasses back into place.
