Follow the Dotted Line by Nancy Hersage Read Free Book Online Page A

meant to be seen.”
    Predictably, she grabbed the bait. “And how’s that?”
    “Through the Biblical lens, Aunt Andy. My professors say that by the time I graduate, I will be one of the few people on earth looking directly through God’s glasses.”
    She stood up. “I really have to stop now.”
    “Stop what?”
    “Talking to you, Harley. It’s making me crazy.”
    “Okay,” he said, sounding more disappointed than apologetic. “I upset you, right?”
    She nodded.
    “I shouldn’t have mentioned the glasses. Is that it?”
    She nodded again.
    “I’m sorry. My professor says some truths are very hard to hear. I’m sorry.”
    It was as if he just couldn’t help running his mouth across her mental chalkboard. “I’m going downstairs to eat,” she said firmly and headed for the steps.
    “Aunt Andy?”
    “Please, Harley.” She didn’t bother looking back.
    “I just wanted to say one more thing. About Uncle Mark.”
    “Let’s talk about it later.”
    “I mean, there’s something you keep forgetting. That might get you off, you know, square one.”
    She inhaled through clenched teeth and reluctantly halted. “Okay. What did I forget?”
    “Well, you know how you keep looking for things you don’t have?”
    “This is not a conversation, Harley. Get to the point,” she ordered, refusing to turn around.
    “I mean, all those documents. Death certificate. Coroner’s report.”
    “Harley—”
    “All I’m saying is, why don’t you just start with the one thing you do have?”
    Against her better judgment, she pivoted back toward the office.
    “Okay. I’m listening. What do you think I have?”
    “The ashes.”
    The ashes. True enough. She certainly had the burger box. She made her way back up the stairs. “And what would I do with the ashes?”
    “You could have them tested for DNA.”
    She returned to her office, where Harley had stretched himself across the length of the sofa like a beached seal. Could you really get DNA from ashes, she wondered?
    “And you know this about DNA because?”
    “I watch a lot of—”
    Andy’s hand shot up to stem the flow. “Got it. Let’s move on,” she said, reaching down to remove his feet from her furniture. Once again engaged against her will, she dropped onto the sofa next to him. “Why would I have them tested for DNA?”
    “Well, the only reason you think your husband, former husband, is dead is because a Daughter of Beelzebub says he’s dead. So the question is, why would you trust someone like that?”
    Andy felt a tingling along the nape of her neck, along with a wave of intellectual nausea. Where did Harley Davidson come up with this stuff? And it damn well better not be some creepy little plan by you-know-who.
    “Harley,” she finally said. “I’m not sure how to put this without offending you. But if you are to remain living in my house, I need to say it.”
    She thought he might be squirming, but with his current body build it was hard to tell.
    “Say what, Aunt Andy?”
    “I am beginning to believe you are smarter than you look.”
    “That’s a good thing, right?”
    “It is,” she admitted. “However, almost everything you know appears to come from only two sources: either the Bible or television.” She gave him a chance to contest her assertion, but he apparently agreed. “Therefore, whenever you are talking to me, I want you to concentrate on the latter. Not the former. Do you understand?”
    He nodded.
    “Good. Now talk to me about what you think we should do with these ashes.”

Chapter 6
    Such a Lovely Face
    Sunset Boulevard wends its way through great commercial and residential real estate, from the notorious strip in Hollywood to the mansions of Pacific Palisades. On its way west along the Santa Monica Mountain foothills to the Pacific Ocean, the Boulevard also passes right by UCLA, one of the largest and most prestigious college campuses in the country. It was a place Harley had not yet visited, and Andy thought