Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry Read Free Book Online Page A

thought clearly because she was so busy trying
to get Timmy to the building on time; she had not seen the ambush
because she was too busy dragging her clients into it.
    In the nighttime, after a day of
reliving her failure in her mind, gripped by the shock over and over
again as each of her mistakes was repeated, old ghosts crept into her
cell. The one she knew best was Harry the gambler. She had hidden
him, then made the mistake of believing that the man who had been his
friend would not also be his killer. Harry had visited her so often
over the years that he had almost become part of her.
    One of the ghosts was a man she
had never met. She kept remembering the newspaper picture of John
Doe. The police artists had needed to touch it up so much that it was
more a reconstruction than a photograph. A cop had found him three
years ago sprawled among the rocks below River Road. He had five
thousand dollars in cash sewn into his suit, a pair of eyeglasses
with clear glass lenses, a brand-new hairpiece that didn’t
match his own hair, and three bullet holes in his head. Jane had
watched the newspapers for months, but the police had never learned
who he had been or why he was running. Maybe he had not been trying
to reach her; perhaps he was just heading for the Canadian border.
But his death within a few miles of her house still haunted her.
    On the third day in jail, one of
the ghosts came to life. The guards had let Jane out into the
exercise yard with the other prisoners and she had seen Ellery
Robinson. Years ago Jane had taken Ellery Robinson’s sister
Clarice out of the world to escape a boyfriend who was working his
way up to killing her. Jane could remember Ellery’s eyes when
she had tried to talk her into disappearing with her sister. Ellery
had said, “No, thank you. He’s got nothing to do with
me.” For the next few years Jane had often thought about those
clear, innocent eyes. Ellery had waited a couple of days while Jane
got Clarice far away, then killed the boyfriend. Later Jane had made
quiet inquiries for Clarice and learned that Ellery’s life
sentence meant she would serve four to six years.
    After the six years, Jane had
kept the memory quiet by imagining Ellery Robinson out of the state
prison and living a tolerable life. But here she was, back in county
jail. In that moment ten or twelve years ago when Jane had not
thought of the right argument, not said the right words, not read the
look in those eyes, Ellery Robinson’s life had slipped away.
Jane looked at her once across the vast, hot blacktop yard, but if
Ellery Robinson recognized her, no hint of it reached her face. After
that, Jane had not gone out to the yard again. Instead she had sat on
her bunk and thought about Timothy Phillips.
    As she stepped into the airport
terminal she had a sudden, hollow feeling in her stomach. She still
had not freed herself of the urge to take Timmy with her. She had
recognized the madness of the idea as soon as she had formulated it.
The whole purpose of this trip had been to bring Timmy under the
protection of the authorities. They weren’t going to let him
disappear again easily. Even if she succeeded in getting him away, it
might be exactly the wrong thing to do. It might make her feel as
though she had not abandoned him, but Timmy would lose all that
money, and with it, the protection. Maybe in ten years he would hate
her for it – if he lived ten years. Jane had not even been good
enough to keep Mona and Dennis alive. No, Timmy was better off where
he was, with the cops and judges and social workers. She was tired,
beaten. It was time to go home, stop interfering, and give the world
a vacation from Jane Whitefield.
    She walked to the counter and
bought a ticket for New York City because it was the right direction
and there were so many flights that she didn’t expect to have
to wait long to get moving again. She used a credit card that said
Margaret Cerillo. As the man at the counter finished clicking