Blood Money by Thomas Perry Read Free Book Online Page B

like she’s embarrassed—and the salesman sells it to me. That way I don’t need a bank account with a name on it and all that.”
    Jane muttered, “If you have a valid driver’s license, I assume it must be in your own name. Otherwise it might work.”
    “What might work better?” asked Bernie. “How about if we rent an apartment, you buy a car under a false name, wait for the ownership and registration to come in the mail, and sign the pink slip over? Would that be better?”
    “You know it would,” said Jane. “But I’m not staying in an apartment with you for a month while the state of Ohio gets around to mailing a lot of papers. I own this car—not in my real name, of course. We’ll go to Mansfield. I’ll sign the car over and Rita and I will be on our way.”
    “Oof,” moaned Bernie.
    Rita turned in her seat. “What’s wrong?”
    “Uh … nothing,” said Bernie. “I guess I’m just tired.” To Jane he said, “Keep going.”
    “I don’t have much choice,” she said. “There’s not much point in stopping unless we come to a hospital.”
    “No,” said Bernie. “I don’t need a doctor, and if I did, the price of stopping would be a little steep. I’m just not used to the excitement, and I’ve been out a lot today. When we got to the hotel and Rita wasn’t there, I went to see the Falls. Pretty spectacular.” Jane expected him to be quiet, but he added, “The day I died we were in San Antonio, Texas. Before the credit report came telling us where to find Rita, I got to see the Alamo.”
    It was clear to Jane that he wanted to continue talking, but she was not sure whether he was trying to ignore some pain or keep her occupied. “What did you think of it?”
    “All my life I’ve been hearing about it,” he said. “But it’s not much to look at. A crappy place to die. Don’t you think so?”
    “I’m not a believer in last stands,” she said. “I’m a believer in running.”
    Bernie chuckled. “That comes with the high I.Q., I guess.” He was quiet for only a few seconds. “I wanted to go to all of those places.”
    “You mean since you died?”
    “No. I’ve wanted to see Disneyland, for instance. I’ve wanted to know what the fuss was about since they started building it in the fifties.”
    “Danny was going to take you to all those places?”
    “Others, too. He was a good kid. He was scared shitless for this trip, but I kept him at it. We just got to Niagara Falls this morning.”
    When they reached the Mansfield city line, Bernie said, “Honey, I hate to be trouble, but I’d like it if you could stop at a motel around here. I got to rest.”
    Jane was careful not to pick the first one. She wasn’t ready to trust Bernie the Elephant.
    When the car came to a stop beside the third motel, Jane saw that Rita was sitting stiffly, pretending to stare straightahead, but her eyes had sneaked to the corners of their sockets to see what Jane was going to do.
    “Thanks, honey,” said Bernie. “Get three rooms. If they see you two go into one with an old man, they’re not going to respect you.”
    Jane reached across Rita to open the glove compartment and take an envelope out.
    Bernie said, “What are you doing?”
    “I’m signing the pink slip to the car.” She put it back into the glove compartment and closed it. “This way, if my sanity returns in the middle of the night, Rita and I can get a cab without waking anybody up to say good-bye.” She got out of the car, slammed the door, and walked toward the motel office.

4
    J ane awoke, already aware of the sound. It was a man walking along the corridor. She heard him stop at her door, and she identified the disturbance that had brought her out of her sleep. The man had been trying to walk quietly. She rolled off the bed, picked up the heavy ashtray from the nightstand, stepped close to the door, and waited in the darkness.
    She heard something go into the lock, then saw the door open until the chain caught it. A