Blood Money by Thomas Perry Read Free Book Online

looked around her, dry-mouthed and blinking. “We’re at a rest stop,” said Jane. “The bathrooms are in that building, if you need one.”
    The girl got out without speaking and walked toward the building. Jane looked at Bernie. He said, “I suppose that’s not such a bad idea.”
    Jane waited until both of them had started out, then locked the car and followed. She stopped at a telephone beside thefirst building, dug a handful of change out of her purse, and dialed the number of the house in Amherst.
    His voice was tight and worried. “Hello?”
    “Hi,” said Jane. “It’s me. I love you.” It wasn’t the first time that she had noticed that “I love you” was what you said when the rest of what you were going to say was bad.
    “I love you too,” said Carey. “What happened?”
    Jane said, “It’s hard to describe. I was getting ready for dinner, and this young girl came by. She had come from … a long distance to find me.”
    “So you dropped everything and took off without telling me.” His voice wasn’t angry. It was disappointed, as though a grim expectation about her had merely been confirmed. He had simply left off the word “again.”
    “I’m sorry. She had left some things in a hotel room, and I could tell that she hadn’t made a serious attempt to keep people from finding out she was there—didn’t know it was necessary, didn’t even know how. I was trying to pick up her belongings and get out before anybody else showed up. I couldn’t hang around waiting for you, or even send people around the hospital to hunt you down.” She hesitated for a moment, then realized that she owed him the next admission. “I didn’t even know what to say to you if I did.”
    “That brings us to my next question,” he said. “Where is ‘out’? Where are you?”
    She thought for a moment. If anyone was listening to this conversation, they would already know where it had come from. “I’m in Ohio right now, but I’m just at a rest stop, and I’ll be on the road again in a minute. I know this makes you angry and it hurts your feelings. I know I promised never to do this again. I swear I’m not doing this because I missed the old days, or that it’s fun. I don’t, and it isn’t. I felt that I couldn’t say no.”
    “I figured that out,” he interrupted. “This call isn’t exactly a surprise, you know. I’ve had a couple of hours to think about where you must have gone, and about what I should feel about it, what I should say. What it comes down to is this. When I said ‘I love you’ it wasn’t just automatic, like ‘Howare you?’ ‘Fine, and how are you?’ It’s the truth. The decision is made. It’s too late to talk you out of it, so all I can do now is figure out how to make this easier for you. I would like you back in one piece, and very soon.”
    Jane could feel tears beginning behind her eyes. “Every time I think I have you figured out, you always amaze me.”
    “I don’t think I want to get into an amazement contest with you. Now, what can I do? Do you need me to send money, or—”
    “No,” she said. “Nothing. I don’t need anything. I just called to tell you that I’m all right, and to say I’m sorry I had to do this. I probably won’t be home for at least a couple of weeks, and I may not be able to call.”
    “A couple of weeks?”
    “That’s a guess,” said Jane. “Her situation is a little vague, so I haven’t figured out exactly what I’m going to have to do to get her out of it. It could be longer.”
    “You mean you did this without even knowing what her trouble is?” he asked.
    Jane sighed. “I know who is looking for her. The rest doesn’t really matter, because I know about him. I can’t just let him have her.”
    “Who is he?”
    “I can’t talk about it anymore,” she lied. “I’m in a public place, and I’ve got to get going in a second.”
    “You aren’t saying it because it’s a name people know, isn’t it?” he