Read Online Body of Lies by Iris Johansen - Free Book Online Page B

Melton?”
    “I have a right to be concerned, dammit.” A pause. “First Etienne, and now this. Another very curious incident. They seem to be hovering around you like a dark cloud.”
    Hebert ignored the implication. “Is she hesitating about doing the reconstruction?”
    “Yes, but I believe she’s still eager to do it. We just have to push the right buttons.”
    “That’s what we need. Eagerness . . . and speed.”
    “She’ll be released tomorrow and I think she’ll want to start work at once.”
    “That’s good. I’ll make sure that she does. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.” Hebert hung up.
    Melton was suspicious, but not enough to cause Jules any immediate problems. Melton wouldn’t make a move until after Boca Raton. The Cabal needed things to go smoothly, and advance preparations took time and effort. They wouldn’t want to bring in someone new at this point.
    Hebert leaned back in his chair and covered his eyes with his hand. He could feel the panic rising within him and he must crush it down. He’d had to lie to Melton, but things were still under control. Events were escalating, and he had to move fast to keep from being caught and drowned in their wake. God, Eve Duncan was strong. He had
felt
her fighting to live. Too bad that her struggle was for nothing, he thought sadly.
    Because the way things were going, there was no way he could let her survive.
    “You scared me, Mama,” Bonnie said.
    Eve looked across the hospital room to see Bonnie curled up in a visitor’s chair by the window. The nurse had turned out the light forty minutes ago, but the moonlight streaming in the window lit Bonnie’s curly red-brown hair. It was too dim to see the freckles marching across her nose. Her small body was dressed in jeans and a Bugs Bunny T-shirt, as it always was when she came to Eve. She smothered the surge of love she felt and said accusingly, “You wouldn’t let me go, dammit.”
    “I told you, it wasn’t your time. And you didn’t really want to die.”
    “Don’t tell me what I want to do. Who’s the mother around here?”
    “I think all these years of ghostdom qualify me to have my input.” Bonnie sighed. “You’ve been very challenging, Mama. You still won’t admit I’m anything but a dream.”
    “Because your so-called ghostly powers seem to be rather limited. Ghostdom? What kind of word is that? And if you didn’t want me to die, why did you let me eat that stew? It would have saved me a bellyache.”
    “I’ve told you I can’t stop things happening . . . it doesn’t work that way.”
    “Convenient. That means you’re never to blame.”
    Bonnie giggled. “That’s right. It’s one of the good things about being a ghost.”
    “Are there bad things, baby?”
    “Look at you. You’re tearing up. Yes, the bad thing is trying to keep you from being so unhappy. I thought maybe you were on the right track, but here you are all depressed and hurting and hundreds of miles away from Joe.”
    “Joe lied to me. About you. Your grave. Why didn’t you tell me it wasn’t you?”
    “If I’m a dream, how could I do that?” She grinned. “Gotcha.”
    “Why?” Eve insisted.
    “You know the answer. It doesn’t matter to me where my body is. I’m always with you.” She paused. “And you were happier thinking I was there. So why not let you think it?”
    “You sound like Joe. It’s important to me. I want you home, Bonnie.”
    “I am home.” She sighed. “But you’re too stubborn to believe it. You make it very hard for me. And I don’t like this depression. You’re a fighter, but you weren’t fighting last night until I nudged you. That’s not to happen again, Mama. Things are very . . . cloudy. You may have to fight hard and I may not be around.”
    “Is that supposed to make me feel less depressed?”
    “I’ll always come to you like this, but you can’t rely on me, Mama. But you have Joe and Jane and Grandma. Isn’t that lucky?” She