Hide Away by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

anything as delicate as a string instrument in that roar.”
    â€œI do. It’s a secondary theme, but it’s there.” She glanced at Eve. “Though it’s more for a piano. Jenny would be able to hear it. She always liked the thunder. She’d play for me sometimes…”
    Before Jenny had been killed when she was nine years old, before Cara and her nurse, Elena, had been forced to start the long run that had dominated Cara’s young life. “You had to be only about three at that time. I’m surprised you remember.”
    â€œI remember. I remember everything about her. I didn’t start playing the violin until I started school, but then I understood…”
    â€œYou loved it?”
    â€œIt was … everything,” she said simply.
    â€œI’ll get you another violin as soon as we get to Atlanta.”
    â€œThank you.” A brilliant smile lit her face. “It will be … I won’t feel as … alone.”
    â€œYou’re not alone, Cara.” She reached out and gently touched her shoulder. “I know you probably feel that way right now, but you have Joe and me. Soon you’ll have friends your own age. We just have to get through this patch.”
    She nodded. “And there always seems to be another patch just ahead. But that’s the way it is. Elena always told me that we had to ignore the bad times and just enjoy the good times.”
    â€œShe sounds like a very wise woman.”
    â€œShe was great.” Her voice was unsteady. “I miss her.”
    â€œI know you do.”
    â€œIt shouldn’t have happened. Sometimes I thought she was being too careful, but I was wrong.” She moistened her lips. “I used to ask her why we couldn’t just go to the police and tell everyone that Walsh had killed Jenny. But she said that it was too complicated. That my father was almost as bad as Walsh, and I mustn’t get near either one.”
    â€œShe was right. It wouldn’t be safe. And you’d be in the middle of an international incident that could end very badly for you.”
    â€œI don’t remember my father or mother. Elena said they hardly ever wanted to see Jenny or me. I didn’t understand it. You see all those TV shows where the father and mother act all sloppy about their kids.” She frowned. “And my father must have kind of liked us if that other guy, Salazar, thought he’d be sad if he killed us.”
    â€œI don’t know what he felt. I’ve heard he’s a very bad man. I do know that environment would be totally wrong for you. That’s why we want you to stay with us until we can sort this mess out.”
    Cara nodded. “I promised Elena I wouldn’t try to go back to see him or my mother. It’s just hard to understand. I know Walsh was a terrible man. I know Salazar, who hired him, is bad. But it’s not easy to think of your father as being just as bad and maybe hurting you.” She spoke haltingly, trying to work it out. “But there are so many bad people out there. How can you tell who you’d be safe with?”
    â€œYou can’t. Be careful and watch your back,” Eve said. “I’d love to tell you that you have to have faith, and everything will work out fine. But I can’t tell you that, Cara. It’s not the world you live in right now.”
    â€œI know. That’s kind of what Joe said.”
    â€œBut you still came close to real danger when you trusted that boy at the hospital. I would have thought that you’d be more cautious.”
    â€œHe wasn’t like … I thought he’d lost someone like me. I wanted to help him.”
    â€œAnd he caught you off guard.”
    She nodded. “It won’t happen again. I’ll know better next time.”
    â€œLet’s hope there won’t be a next time,” Eve said grimly. “Maybe Joe scared that slimeball