Read Online Follow the Dotted Line by Nancy Hersage - Free Book Online

“Probably the most mundane piece of evidence I found in all my research; a single piece to the puzzle of one woman’s life. If you have a moment, stop and take a look at it before you leave today.”
    Sam put the folder down and drew the eyes of the audience into her own. There was nothing contrived about this moment, Andy realized. Her carefully controlled daughter was as exposed as Andy had ever seen her.
    “You’ll discover that the article tells us nothing about this young woman’s classified work for the British government,” Sam said, with tangible sadness. “Nor is there anything about how the war changed her—both inside and out. And yet, even this small piece of paper is a clue to Emma Linde’s history. Because the one thing it does tell us is that she was the one driving the car.”
    Out to black, thought Andy. Well done, Sam.

Chapter 7
    No Rescue from the Inevitable
    It took nearly an hour before the last of Sam’s fans left the hall and her daughter was free to join Andy and Harley for the ride home to Valencia. They left right away in order to avoid the late afternoon congestion along the 405 north over the Sepulveda pass and through the San Fernando Valley. Still, the drive took nearly an hour.
    “Did you enjoy the lecture?” Sam finally asked Harley, who was in the backseat and had remained silent, while the two women in front caught up on family events.
    He rose from his slouch and smiled. “Really amazing,” he answered. “So much stuff I never knew.”
    “It was a big war,” replied Sam. “There’s a great deal to know.”
    “Tell me about the Jewish kids,” he said, unexpectedly.
    “Sorry?”
    “Those two kids in the story. The Nazis didn’t like them because they were Jewish, right?”
    “Right.”
    “My pastor says that’s wrong.”
    This kid should have come with a warning label, Andy thought, incensed. She tried to head off any engagement between preacher and victim at the pass. “Harley would like to be a pastor someday, Sam,” she said, widening her eyes for subtext. “He’s thinking of starting his own denomination.”
    “Hmm,” said Sam, who was paying more attention to the passing palm trees than she was to her cousin. “Well, I agree that the way the Nazis treated the Jews, and a great many other people, was certainly immoral. And indefensible.”
    Andy winced at the opening her daughter had inadvertently given Harley.
    He took it. “You see, according to Scripture, we ignore the Jews at our peril.”
    “Remember, what I said, Harley!” Andy cut in. “You can’t talk about that. Not in my house.”
    “But we’re in your car , Aunt Andy. And this is important. My professors always say that secular historians like Sam don’t really understand why we need the Jewish people.”
    He had Sam’s attention now. “Secular historians? I’m not sure I know that term. What professors are you talking about?”
    “At Our Savior’s Tabernacle U,” he told her, sitting up like a fisherman who just felt a pull on his line.
    “And why do your professors at—”
    “OSTU.”
    “OSTU say we need the Jewish people?” Sam asked. She pivoted in her seat and trained her curious eyes on him.
    Harley smiled, clearly happy to be the one to fill her in on something she didn’t know. “It’s simple,” he said. “We need them for the Second Coming.”
    There it is, fumed Andy. He’s like a homing pigeon; no matter where we go, he always ends up back at the same place.
    “You know what, Harley?” Andy asked, feigning calm. “We’re going to make a rule against discussing anything about the ‘End of Days.’ Have you got that? Any time. Any where. Okay?”
    “But you can’t survive without knowing these things, Aunt Andy,” he declared, gravely serious. “The return of Israel and the fight for Jerusalem are the first two signs of the End Times.”
    She dug her fingernails into the steering wheel. “Har-ley,” she hissed.
    “Okay, okay,” he said,