Judas Burning by Carolyn Haines Read Free Book Online Page B

self-destruction. You and your father …
    Dixon lowered the pages, but the words had already scalded her. She hadn’t meant to upset her mother, had never intended that her mother learn of her recent trip to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman to visit the man who’d been sentenced to life for the murder of her father.
    The phone beside the bed rang, and she snatched it up. “Hello.”
    “Dixon, are you okay? You sound like you’re hatching that telephone.”
    Dixon recognized Linda’s voice. “I was dreaming, I guess. What’s going on?”
    “They’re gearing up a search for those missing girls. They’ll be leaving the sheriff’s office at dawn.” Linda cleared her throat. “I’m afraid something has happened to those girls.”
    Dixon swung her feet to the floor. The pages of her mother’s letter fluttered beside her toes. “How’d you find out?”
    “They called Frank to serve on the search party, but he can’t miss work. They’ve got an inspection at the shipyard, and he’s in charge.”
    “Sheriff Horton is leading the search?”
    “He’s the man.”
    “Will he let a reporter tag along?”
    Linda’s voice was soft, as if she were being careful not to wake someone in the house. “I don’t know him well enough to say, but ask him. J.D. will probably be glad to have you along. He was the chief source of gossip until you moved to town. You’ve sort of taken the heat off him.”
    “I’ll bet.” Dixon felt along the floor for her slippers.
    There was silence before Linda spoke again. “Don’t let on that you heard about the search from me. I don’t care, but it would make it hard on Frank.”
    Standing, Dixon glanced at the clock. She just had time for a shower. “Listen, Tucker’s in Gautier. He can’t get back in time, so I’ll have to go. Can you and Tucker handle getting the paper over to the post office?”
    “No problem. Just remember that you owe me.”
    “I get the feeling I’m going to owe you a lot more. Thanks.”
    “Dixon.” Linda hesitated. “Angle’s a kid with a lot of troubles. Plenty of them she makes for herself. Still, she’s a kid. Folks around here like to judge a person, and once the verdict’s in, there’s no second chance.”
    Dixon knew what she was asking. “They’re juveniles, Linda. If they’re into something, we’ll have to be very careful with the story.”
    “Angie thinks she’s tough, but she’s been lucky.” She sighed. “She wouldn’t agree with that, but she has. Look, be careful. There’re places in that swamp where you really can disappear.”

    Dawn broke hot and hazy, the sun fighting to penetrate the dense atmosphere that seemed at least 90 percent water. Eustace sat in the old, brown Adirondack chair and sipped the hot coffee. He’d slept little. Throughout the night, Camille had thrashed and moaned. Waking her would have done no good, so he’d lain beside her, soothing her with a gentle hand on her back or a whisper.
    Camille’s nocturnal episodes were less frequent now, but they worried him. She lived with demons, and though some had evaporated along the banks of the river during the year she’d been with him, others remained. They tormented her, invading her sleep and even her waking moments. She never talked about them or the past. She had made it clear that both topics were off limits. Because he was afraid he’d lose her, he had complied. But, when the demons came, her face would draw together, shutting him out, and he felt as if he’d die of loneliness.
    He took a swallow of his coffee and looked down the river. A caravan of trucks and cars slowly moved onto the Pascagoula River Bridge. Eustace sat up straighter, shifting his coffee cup to the arm of the chair. There were at least a dozen cars. Once the road had been a federal highway, but now it was mostly abandoned. Large portions of the land around the river had been purchased by the Nature Conservancy, preserved against man’s uncontrollable desire