Read Online Hokus Pokus by Fern Michaels - Free Book Online Page A

say.”
    â€œIt’s raining. We should go back,” Nikki said.
    Myra looked at her sharply as she imagined what was going through her adopted daughter’s mind.
    Annie and Myra were the last in line as they trudged back to the old monastery, the others sprinting ahead. They linked arms as they walked along, the warm rain drenching them to the skin.
    â€œThis is not good, Annie. A rebellion is imminent. Isabelle was spot-on so how can we argue with how the others feel?”
    â€œWhat does it mean, Myra? I used to like to run naked in the rain. Of course, that was a lifetime ago.”
    â€œIt means we’re a team divided. A lot of things happened a lifetime ago, my friend.”
    â€œI know, Myra. I know. I can see all sides of this problem. Let’s just hope for the best. I think our barbecue is going to be called off. Maybe we should do Charles a favor and prepare something for dinner.”
    â€œOh, let’s not. Charles gets . . . Well, he gets . . .”
    â€œPissy?” Annie laughed.
    â€œThat pretty much sums it up, my friend.”
    â€œAlexis told me one evening what it was like in prison. I cried for her and what she went through, and she was innocent, framed by those awful people. She can never get those years back, Myra. You and I would probably die in prison, considering our age. It is something we need to think about.”
    â€œYes, Annie, it is definitely something we have to think about.”

Chapter 6
    M aggie Spritzer looked around the spartan corporate apartment the Post maintained for interviewees who were nervous about staying in hotels when they were about to spill their guts to a reporter. Her boss had okayed a temporary arrangement until she could find a suitable apartment of her own. She looked down at her two large suitcases and her laptop, and knew she would have to unpack sooner rather than later.
    Tears dripped down her cheeks. She’d been so certain Ted would come back to the apartment, if only to rail at her, at which point they’d kiss and make up. When it didn’t happen, she knew he was seriously pissed off at her and there was no going back. Her relationship with Ted was now a thing of the past. She was going to miss Mickey and Minnie, Ted’s two cats, as much as she was going to miss Ted. Why did he have to be such an ass? Because he is a man, she answered herself.
    Crying wasn’t going to get her anywhere. She might as well unpack and get on with this new life that had suddenly been thrust on her.
    An hour later, Maggie had her laptop propped up on the kitchen countertop. She pulled the counter stool toward her with her foot and plopped down to log on. Thirty minutes later she had a two-inch stack of printouts of one Tyler Hughes, Justice Barnes’s ex–son-in-law. She read every word, hoping something would jump out at her to make things easier. Nothing did. He seemed ordinary enough. Born and raised on the Chesapeake, liked the water, had a catamaran. He was a Yalie, graduating summa cum laude. Captain on the crew team. Popular. Good-looking. Worked for two years as Senator Hawthorne’s top aide until the senator’s retirement. Then did three years as a high-powered lobbyist, socking away money by the pound before going to work for a prestigious think tank in the District—his version of giving back and helping the little people, according to the fifth article she read.
    By all indications, a mover and a shaker with the wardrobe to match.
    Married Rebecca Barnes. Classy wedding. Five hundred guests. Champagne fountain. Truffles. Tons of wedding presents. Honeymooned in Hawaii for a month. A child born of the union nine months later named Amanda who was now six years old. The marriage ended three years ago, an amiable parting, according to the press. He moved into the Watergate Apartments. The wife, Beka, stayed in the family home with the daughter. The home being a wedding present from Justice