Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

was hungry.
    It didn’t strike him as odd that he thought that. That he knew that.
    But it did strike him as odd, very odd, to wake, bathed in sweat, and find himself standing outside the door with the dull brass knob on the third floor.

3
    S leepwalking. That was something he hadn’t done since childhood. But in the watery light of day it was simple enough to see how it had happened. Jim Beam, pepperoni pizza and talk of ghosts.
    A little harder to accept was the gut-clenching terror he’d felt when he’d surfaced and found himself outside that third-level door. He’d snapped out of the fugue and into a nightmare of panic—one where he’d been certain he’d heard the fading echoes of a baby’s restless crying.
    He’d run. He couldn’t have opened that door if he’d had a gun to his head. So he’d run, with his own bright fear chasing him, to lock himself back in the bedroom. Like a mental patient, he thought now over a lukewarm cup of instant coffee.
    At least there’d been no one around to see it.
    But if you thought about it, it was a rather auspicious first night. Cold spots, baby ghosts, fugues. It sure beat sitting in his empty town house in Boston, sucking on a beer and watching ESPN.
    Maybe he would spend some time digging deeper intothe history of the house. His house, he corrected, and with his coffee, he leaned on the damp iron rail of the gallery outside his bedroom.
    His view. And it was a beaut once you skimmed over the wreck of the gardens.
    Leaves dripped from the rain in steady, musical plops, and the air shimmered with the weight the storm had left behind. Mists crawled over the ground, smoky fingers that trailed and curled around the trees to turn them into romantic and mysterious silhouettes.
    If the sun broke through, the glittery light would be spectacular, but it was nothing to sneeze at now.
    There was a pond, a small one, choked with lily pads, and fields—some fallow, some already planted for a spring that came so much sooner here. He could see the thin curve of the river that ribboned its way through the deep shadows of the bayou.
    A rickety little bridge crossed the water in a hump, then a dirt road pushed into the trees toward a house mostly hidden by them. He could just make out a puff of smoke that rose up to mix with the hazy air.
    He’d already been up on the belvedere that morning, and had been relieved to find it, the roof, the chimneys, all in good repair. The last owners had seen to that and this second-floor gallery before they’d thrown in the towel.
    It looked as if they’d started on the rear gallery as well, had started preliminary work on closing it into a screened porch.
    Which might not be a bad idea. He’d think about it.
    Declan wasn’t certain if they’d run out of money or energy, or both, but he considered it his good fortune.
    He had plenty of money, and just now, watching the steam rising over the weeds and water, plenty of energy.
    He lifted the cup to his lips, then lowered it again as he saw a woman—a girl?—slip through the trees toward thecurve of the river. A huge black dog lumbered along beside her.
    She was too far away from him to make out features. He saw she wore a red checked shirt and jeans, that her hair was long and dark and madly curling. Was she old? he wondered. Young? Pretty or plain?
    He decided on young and pretty. It was, after all, his option.
    She tossed a ball in the air, fielded it smartly when the dog gave a leap. She tossed it twice more while the dog jumped and ran in circles. Then she reared back like a pitcher in the stretch and bulleted it through the air. The dog gave chase and didn’t hesitate, but leaped toward the pond, shagging the ball with a snap of teeth an instant before he hit the water.
    Hell of a trick, Declan thought and, grinning, watched the girl applaud.
    He wished he could hear her. He was sure she was laughing, a low, throaty laugh. When the dog swam to the edge, scrambled out, he spit the ball at her