Hope House by Tracy L Carbone Read Free Book Online Page B

understand what I said? Eske ou konprann ?” he asked.
    “ Oui . I understand. I love you, Doctor Tad. If this is our life, so be it.”
    She turned and walked out and her heart pounded like it would break from her chest. She had never said that to anyone before. The words were magic. Saying them made her feel free.
    As she walked down the bright yellow hallway in her leather sandals, she heard Dr. Tad call to her. “I love you too, Martine. Thank you. Thank you for staying.”
     
    3.
    Office of Kurt Malone, Miami, late morning
     
    Kurt hung up the phone with Carla aka Amanda Reilly. She was safe and sound in her new life. Everyone thought Carla Whoever was dead, which must have been devastating for her family, but it was the only way she could hide from her attacker. Kurt hoped she would embrace the new identity he had given her but that was unlikely. She had a lot of spunk and he knew she would never fully leave her past where it belonged. She had a hell of a lot more courage than he did, which in her situation could get her killed.
    Kurt, on the other hand, had no problem jumping out of his old identity and into the new one and never looking back. Okay, sometimes I have to look back , he reprimanded himself. He now typed, “Timothy Perconi Capitol” into Google. 11,124 matches. He looked at his log book. Yes, the same as last week. He added “Puglisi” to the search logic. Nothing. Still no connection between the senator’s death and the Puglisi family. He tried his one last routine search. “Perconi, Capitol, Assassination.”
    One new hit from last time. Probably nothing, but he had to check.
    He clicked the link. It was a personal blog on a conspiracy theory website by someone calling himself Findthetruth101. A photo of an aged hippie making a peace sign rested above the blog. Good. Just some kook. But worth reading . The entry had been posted a week ago.
     
    It was ten years ago this week that Timothy Perconi, posing as a local pizza deliveryman, waltzed into Senator Ryan Peterson’s office at the Capitol Building and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. The Capitol Building is heavily guarded and cameras abound, but Mr. Perconi was able to walk in the front door, down the corridors, and directly into Peterson’s personal office to pull the trigger. After the fatal shot was fired, Perconi ambled right out the door of the office, past the guards and tour groups. This deliveryman was still in the building when an aide discovered the Senator had been shot. Cameras show him emerging from the elevator banks and calmly walking out the front doors while everyone else was in a panic.  It was a sad day for all, but this article is not a memoriam. It is an inquiry.
    Whatever happened to Timothy Perconi? How did he manage to get into and out of the Capitol so easily? Video cameras captured his image, but no one has ever seen him again. Was it an inside job, a mystery no one will ever solve, akin to the JFK’s conspiracy?
    On this tenth anniversary, what I want to know is what happened to Timothy Perconi? Find him, and you’ll find the answers.
     
    Kurt’s stomach clenched and his heart raced. Shit. Who the hell is this clown? Kurt wasted a few minutes trying to ascertain the poster’s real identity but the blogger had covered his tracks well. All the paths led to other fictional screen names.
    Tim Perconi, Kurt Malone, whatever the hell he called himself these days had been set up, but he had a snowball’s chance in hell of proving that. Whether ten years ago or today, no one would ever believe the truth. No one but those who’d done this to him.
    Damn straight it was an inside job, one plotted long before Perconi got involved.
    He was still running but felt secure in this identity. Yeah, maybe Kurt was a coward, but he was alive. He’d love to drop a dime and tell someone what really happened that day, but that would be signing his own death warrant.
     
    4.
    Law Office of Alierdi, Moss, and