Bad to the Bone by Debra Dixon Read Free Book Online Page A

direction. He’d have oneof his old buddies in Houston pay them a visit first thing in the morning. By tomorrow afternoon he’d have a head start on tripping up Miss Daniels. He tugged his tie loose and headed for his car.
    A tiny internal voice, one he rarely listened to, warned him that Jessica stirred something inside him that was better left untouched, unexplored. The other voice, the one he always listened to, told him it was too late to worry about that now.
    The game was afoot.
    As rapidly as she could, Iris laid out a spread from the cards shuffled by the detective. The man hadn’t agreed to be the subject of a reading. He probably didn’t center and focus before he shuffled, which could mean a reading that was psychically all over the place. But a muddled reading was better than no reading at all.
    Especially now that she had the feeling she needed both Jessica and Kincaid to find her dad. When they were in a room together, it was like one flow of energy instead of two. They were connected somehow. She knew that much; she could feel it.
    Iris’s eyes widened as the cards fell. When the last one was placed, she set the deck aside and began to study them—looking for patterns and the flow of his story. Exhaling slowly, Iris realized Jessica wasn’t going to like this at all.
    She was already angry about the phone calls. Of course Iris figured that Jessica would get over being angry, so it didn’t bother her too much. The sadness in her eyes and soul did bother her; that wouldn’t go away so easily. When she’d slipped her hand into Jessica’s,emptiness and regret had come through loud and clear. It almost felt like Jessica wasn’t whole.
    Iris wrapped her fingers around the harmony ball that hung on a heavy silver chain from her neck. The motion caused the faint chiming sounds that always gave her comfort. Briefly she wondered if she should give the necklace to Jessica.
    At that moment, the door opened and closed with a whoosh of negative energy. Maybe not, Iris decided. She needed it herself right now.
    After Jessica’d had enough time to walk the distance from the foyer to the coffee table, Iris announced, “We got ourselves a problem.”
    “We’ve got ourselves a problem?” the woman echoed as she came to stand beside her. “
A
problem, Iris? Try four problems. One: According to you, your father’s fallen off the face of the earth because he didn’t make his scheduled never-miss Sunday phone call to you. Two: I’ve got a suspicious detective on my hands because you called the police.”
    Jessica sat down and rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands for a second. “Sully was right about you. You are Goldilocks, which brings us to problem number three: I can’t believe you called the CIA before you called the police!”
    “I already explained that. I didn’t know they felt cold until I talked to them.”
    “Of course not. It all makes perfect sense. The CIA was cold. The police were full of negative energy, and lucky me—I was ‘just right.’ ”
    “You were. As soon as I heard your voice, I knew you were the only one who could find Daddy.”
    “Well, that’s problem number four: I’ve got maybe forty-eight hours to find your dad before the policefigure out he’s really missing and come after Madame Evangeline and Jessica Daniels as their prime suspects.”
    Frowning, Iris shook her head and lifted her eyes from the tarot cards. “Um … I don’t think you have that long. He’s after you already.”
    “That much is obvious. The man probably chases everything in a skirt.” She pulled on the cuffs of her khakis. “Or in shorts.”
    “I don’t mean like that.” Iris took a deep breath and got it over with. “He’s hunting you. It’s like he’s following a trail.”
    “Where would you get an idea like that?”
    Iris pointed at the spread in front of her. “He handled the cards. I did a reading on him.”
    “Oh, great. Maybe we can get out the Ouija board