The Bone Box by Gregg Olsen Read Free Book Online Page A

dancer? I remember hearing that you went off to study dance back east. New York?”
    Iris nodded. “Yes, I was. Back then. Made it as far as Milwaukee. A far cry from New York, that’s for sure. Now I work in the bar at the casino. In the bar. So much for my brilliant career. But look at you.”
    Birdy deflected the compliment, if that’s what it had been. With some of the people on the reservation mad at her for getting a medical degree and not returning to work in the free clinic, it was hard to know if Iris really thought her career had been brilliant or a betrayal.
    â€œCoffee?” Birdy asked. “I was about to pour myself a cup.”
    Iris shook her head and declined. “Too late in the day for me. And really, I don’t have much time. The longer I wait to get to the point of it all, the greater the likelihood that I won’t be able to get up the nerve to tell you what I think you need to know.”
    Birdy scooted back into her chair, her eyes riveted on Iris. “Okay. No coffee. Sit down. Talk to me, Iris.” She motioned to Iris to take one of the chairs across her desk.
    â€œI’ll stand,” Iris said. “And first of all, before I say anything, I want you to know that as sorry as I am about everything, I’m also scared. Really scared. I have two kids. This can’t come back to me. Promise.”
    â€œPromise.”
    â€œI hope I can trust you, Birdy. I’m hoping that given your job and your education, you’ll be able to keep a confidence.”
    â€œI will,” she said.
    For the next twenty minutes, refusing to sit, Iris Bonners Rostov talked about her sister, how much she loved her, how she was sure they’d have been close.
    â€œNot like you and your sister,” the younger woman said.
    â€œThat’s right, my sister and I aren’t close,” Birdy said, swallowing the sentence in one bitter gulp.
    Birdy wondered why Iris had needed to make the jab. People often needed to hurt someone as a way to take away their own pain. Putting the hurt on another person sometimes made them feel better, if only by comparison.
    â€œIris, you came a long way to tell me something you think might be important,” Birdy said.
    â€œI did,” she said, “but really I’m scared.”
    â€œIt’s about Tommy, isn’t it?”
    She nodded, but stayed quiet.
    Birdy pushed for an answer. “Iris, what?”
    Iris took a breath. “I don’t know that my sister really loved Tommy. I know it is wrong to talk bad about the dead, but it seems to me that Anna Jo has had a long enough time to adjust to what she did—wherever she is.”
    â€œI’m sure she’s at peace,” Birdy said.
    Iris looked away. “Not after what she did, maybe not.”
    â€œWhat did she do?”
    â€œShe cheated on Tommy. She was seeing someone else. I think that’s why Tommy killed her. He must have found out.”
    The disclosure came out of nowhere. Birdy had thought that Iris was going to say something against Tommy, another reason why no one should forgive him, or that he’d gotten what he deserved.
    â€œI didn’t know she had another boyfriend,” Birdy said. “I’ve never heard that before.”
    Iris’s eyes were back on Birdy’s. “Well, she did,” Iris said. “She had two guys on a string. Tommy and the other guy.”
    Birdy got up. The intensity of what Iris was saying made her feel silly sitting in her chair while Iris stood, coat on, ready to drop the bomb and run away.
    â€œDo you know his name? Was it someone from home?”
    Iris shrugged a little. “I never saw him. She never said his name. Not to me. I don’t think he lived on the reservation, because I’d never seen him or his car. Whenever he came to get her, she had to walk all the way down the lane to be picked up. I don’t think she wanted our parents to meet him. Maybe he was