Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 07 - Vague Images by Elaine Orr Read Free Book Online Page A

and she peeked out of the curtains all the time.”
    “Plus, she wanted to be able to call her sisters, and she wanted to live in a place that had more snow . And maybe not ice storms.”  The shrug again. “And Hannah was with mom all the time. Hannah just got more and more sad, and pretty soon she thought people would find us if we weren’t careful every minute.”
    I felt tears welling. I remembered the sweet little girl who looked up to her brother so much . She had seemed totally at home in Ocean Alley. “Why do you think she ran away?  And would she really come here?”
    “We weren’t supposed to talk about anyplace we used to live, about any part of our old lives . But sometimes I’d let Hannah talk about the beach. And you. You used to play Go Fish with her.”
    I smiled . “She loved card games.”
    He leaned back in his chair . “Yeah. And she loved the beach, and looking for shells. I figured this is where she’d gone, and she didn’t call me because she knew I’d be mad that she came here. I kept telling her it was too risky. Last year I even said I’d take her to another beach, like Myrtle Beach. But she said it wouldn’t be Ocean Alley.”
    “You were always so good to her,” I said, softly.
    He smiled briefly, and then teared up a bit.
    I passed him a napkin from the holder on the table and he blew his nose.
    “I guess it doesn’t relate to where Hannah is, but why did your family have to go into witness protection?”
    “Wit-sec, they call it.”  He said this in an absent-minded tone as he apparently thought about what he would say next . “Witness security. And I know it was something my dad did. Before we moved the first time, I heard him and my mom arguing about laundry. I was maybe eight, and I thought she was mad because he always left his clothes on the floor. When I was older, I realized they were probably talking about money laundering. I looked up exactly what that meant.”  The shrug again. “My dad had a used car lot, and he kept his own books. He had a lot of cash transactions. My guess would be someone who sold drugs to wealthy people had him somehow disguise illegal money as car income. Or something like that.”
    That made me curious. “Why do you say wealthy people?”
    “I never saw anyone in there who looked like a street thug.”
    “Ah . What do your parents think about Hannah being gone?”
    “My dad won’t talk about it . And my mom committed suicide ten days ago. That’s mostly why Hannah left.”  He said this in a very matter-of-fact tone.
    I’d known the ten-year old Thomas Edward. He was hurting a lot . “I’m sorry, Thomas Edward, I wish…”
    “It’s Lucas Householder now.”  He flashed a smile . “I like to hear you say Thomas Edward, but you probably should make sure you don’t.”
    A key turned in the front door . Lucas stood and looked toward the kitchen door, panic on his face.
    “Don’t worry, it’s Scoobie.”
    From the front hall came, “Is my favorite gimp home?”  Scoobie shut the front door.
    “In the kitchen, as long as you aren’t carrying anything that might spill.”  I smiled at Lucas as Scoobie walked toward the kitchen.
    “What do you…?  Holy crap!  Thomas Edward.”
    Thomas Edward…Lucas, relaxed . “That’s exactly what Jolie said.”
    Scoobie regained his normal expression and looked at me . “I guess you really did see him in the ER.”
    “I saw her almost hit the deer, and I wanted to see if she was okay.”
    “I didn’t almost hit it. It just ran in front of me.”
    Scoobie gave a sort of grunt, and he and Lucas exchanged a look that said they were putting up with me . “Come on, let’s go into the living room.”
    “Can you be sure the shades are down?” Lucas asked.
    “Sure.”  Scoobie walked ahead of us and lowered by a few inches the one shade that was still raised. He knows that if I don’t leave one up a bit Jazz will fight with the blinds to see outside, but that was hardly the