Downfall by Jeff Abbott Read Free Book Online

anger, that he made too many of those. Like when he divorced her. We’re over. I’m sorry, Holly. We had good years. Let’s concentrate on that and the children.
    “I hate Russians, but this is just spilt milk,” Belias said in a light tone. “I think we can wipe it up with a rag. Holly, why don’t you go home? Nothing more to be done tonight.”
    “I don’t understand why you don’t tell Diana’s mom to call her…”
    He put his hands on Holly’s arms. “Because Mama doesn’t need to know Diana’s running. Mama’s working on something that will take us to the next level, to borrow a cliché from Glenn’s world.”
    “Whatever her mother’s doing won’t be so important if we get exposed,” Holly said.
    “If our merry band cannot capture a ditzy, spoiled twenty-three-year-old, we deserve to lose,” Roger said.
    Belias looked at her with a gaze that was supposed to be sympathetic but instead just made her cringe. She hoped her flesh wouldn’t goose pimple under his cool grip.
    “We build each other up, Holly. Brick by brick. But we’ll have to come up with another strategy. So go home. Tuck in the kiddies, watch some TV,” Belias said.
    She patted Glenn on the shoulder. “C’mon, you. I’ll take you home.”
    “No,” Belias said. “I think it best he not go home to the new wife, not with an unexplained injury. Not to mention he should be under medical observation, isn’t that right, Roger?”
    Roger nodded.
    “Audrey will worry about me…” Glenn began.
    “Send her a text,” Belias said. “You can talk to your wife without really talking to her. Should have been invented right after the wheel.”
    “She’ll freak out if I don’t come home.”
    “Tell her you have an emergency meeting. May run all night.” He put a hand on Glenn’s shoulder. “You’re injured, Glenn. You go home and collapse, you get taken to the hospital, you have to answer questions. Let Roger take care of you.”
    A cold itch worked its way at the base of Holly’s spine. “He can come home with me. The kids would love to see him.”
    “And explain a head injury?”
    Holly said, “He fell down some stairs.”
    Belias said, “If the police are looking for an injured man, better he lay low. Someone might have seen him get into your car. This bartender, perhaps.”
    “But…” Holly started.
    “It’s a good idea, Holly,” Glenn interrupted her. His voice was soft. “I’ll be fine.”
    Shielding me again , she thought. “Please don’t be upset with him.”
    “He’s just trying to protect you, Holly. I would do the same.” Belias flicked her a smile. He made her think of a grinning crow.
    Holly said, “I don’t need protection.”
    “You never have,” Belias said. He never underestimated her the way Glenn did, and for a second she felt terrible, thinking better of him than she did of Glenn. But Belias had never hurt her the way Glenn had.
    “Give the kids a kiss for me,” Glenn said.
    She ruffled his hair, the way she always had, careful now not to touch the bandage. Old habit. She had to stop caring. But how did you turn love off? She thought when he left her she’d grow to hate him and instead she missed him. She glanced at Roger. “Take good care of him.”
    And Roger, who could teach you how to kill with a knife or a gun or the ballpoint pen on the desk, smiled at her. “He’ll be fine.”
    “Holly?” Belias said as she reached the door.
    “Yes?”
    “Don’t lie to me again. It’s hard for me to make proper, reasoned decisions if I don’t have complete information.”
    “Of course.” She looked at Glenn again, and he gave her a weak smile and a nod, and she went downstairs.
    She got back into the car. The blood dotted the leather, but it wasn’t on the carpet pad. His jacket had soaked up most of the flow. She stopped on the way home and bought cleanser, and she wiped up the blood.
    We could have died tonight , she thought. Is this all worth what Belias gives us?
    Instinct told