Read Online Dark Sky by Carla Neggers - Free Book Online Page A

hummus.”
    â€œAh.”
    She didn’t know if he was teasing her.
    â€œIs that a hawk on your sweatshirt?”
    â€œA peregrine falcon.”
    He seemed to sense her hesitation. “You’re not from New York, are you?”
    â€œVermont,” she mumbled.
    â€œThe Green Mountain State. Leaves changing up there?”
    She nodded. “Especially in the mountains.”
    â€œMust be crawling with—what do you call them? Leaf-peepers, something like that?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    The waitress slid his turkey club over to him. Bacon fat poked out from the edges. Wendy couldn’t bear to look at it. Meat had become very unappealing to her.
    â€œYou okay?” the man asked.
    She took another bite of her salad. “Just not as hungry as I thought.”
    She paid her bill from cash in her quilted bag and slid off the stool, smiling shyly at the man, who was shoving a triangle of his turkey club into his mouth. He winked at her, and she reminded herself not to judge him just because she’d given up eating animal products.
    â€œSee you around, Wendy.”
    â€œHow—how did you know my name’s Wendy?”
    He shrugged, swallowing his bite of sandwich. “You just told me.”
    No, she hadn’t. She wasn’t stupid. She would never tell a perfect stranger her name. Her father had drilled basic safety measures into her from the time she could walk. With a prickly feeling at the back of her neck, she picked up her pace and hurried out of the diner.
    Had he overheard her talking to Juan, Juliet’s doorman?
    That must be it, she thought. This was the closest eatery to her aunt’s building, and some of its residents were bound to eat there on a regular basis. She’d been busy with her bags and ID and probably hadn’t seen everyone coming and going.
    Looking over her shoulder every few seconds, Wendy quickly crossed the street and walked in what she believed was the direction of the Museum of Natural History, hoping she hadn’t gotten herself all turned around.
    When she recognized the planetarium dome, she felt a rush of relief but didn’t slow her pace. She used the Rose Center for Earth and Space entrance and stayed at the fringes of a group of schoolchildren, fourth- and fifth-graders as enthralled by the displays as she was.
    After glancing behind her every two seconds for twenty minutes, she decided that the man in the diner hadn’t followed her. She bought a ticket for one of the space shows. When she sat in her seat in the beautiful auditorium, she liked New York again and dropped into her fantasy that she lived here and knew her way around.
    Wendy convinced herself that the man had overheard her talking with the doorman but was already on his way to the diner and didn’t recognize her until he was sitting next to her.
    No longer feeling so unnerved, Wendy sat back in her seat and focused on the show. She decided she wouldn’t tell Juliet about the man in the diner and how he’d known her name. It was just a coincidence, and she didn’t want her aunt thinking she couldn’t handle herself in the city.
    Â 
    â€œIs Wendy there?”
    Juliet could hear the strain in her brother’s voice. She was working at her desk and hadn’t expected Joshua to call. “No, why would she be?”
    â€œShe took off for New York this morning. She took the train from Rutland—”
    â€œWendy?”
    â€œYes, damn it, Wendy,” he said with impatience, then reined in his frustration, proceeding more calmly, if a little icily. “She left a note saying she was spending a few days with you. Juliet, if you two planned this little scheme and didn’t tell me—”
    â€œI wasn’t in on any plan.” Juliet suddenly realized what he was saying and felt a crawling sense of dread. “What time did the train get here?”
    â€œTwelve-thirty.”
    â€œGood God, Joshua, that