The Mist by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online Page A

still perfect despite the heat and the awful scene in front of him.March had been a hotshot young detective when Bob was a rookie. Now he had about a million G-men behind him, but his eyes, as black as his daughter's, were filled with pain.
    Bob understood.
    March hadn't jumped out of the SUV because he was the head of the FBI, but because he was Abigail's father.
    Simon got to the sidewalk first. "Bob," he said, "what's going on?"
    Bob's mouth was dry, his eyes and throat burning. He looked up at the hazy sky and collected himself as March joined. There was just no way out of it, and Bob told Simon and March about the blast. "We're looking for Abigail now." He kept his tone as coplike as he could. "Firefighters are still checking her apartment, but I was in there and didn't find her. Her front door and the main front door were both standing open right after the blast."
    "Her car's here," March said.
    "We're cordoning off the area, checking vehicles. If she was shaken up in the blast, she could have wandered into someone's backyard."
    Simon stepped out of the way of more firefighters. "What about Owen?"
    Bob's head throbbed. "He's on Beacon Street. Yarborough's heading there now. What are you two doing here?"
    Simon answered, his voice steady. "Abigail called about an hour ago and asked us to meet her. She didn't say why."
    Bob didn't know why, either, but he had an idea. Earlier that summer, she'd learned that her father had a tight, almost father-son relationship with Simon Cahill that had started twenty years ago after the execution-style murder of Simon's father, a DEA agent. She'd been trying to wrap her head around that one for weeks and could have asked them both over to talk about it.
    And just before they arrive, a bomb goes off?
    There was also Norman Estabrook's threat against Simon and her father, and the serial killer Simon and Keira had taken into custody in June, as well as dozens of other ugly cases Abigail had been involved in. Before Bob could follow up, the rookie cop came back up to him, white-faced now. "Lieutenant...I just..."
    The kid was standing next to March, who said quietly, "Easy, Officer. Just say what you have to say."
    The rookie didn't meet the FBI director's eyes, as if he thought he might go up in a puff of smoke if he did. "I just spoke to Detective Yarborough. Owen Garrison wanted to come over here and headed to his car after evacuating the Garrison house. He checked it first, and..."
    "And what?" Bob asked. "He found a bomb?"
    The rookie nodded. "Yes, sir. The bomb squad's on the way, but Mr. Garrison has already disarmed the device himself."
    "Himself," Bob said, sighing.
    Simon and March didn't speak, but they were well aware, as Bob was, that Owen would know how to disarm a wide variety of bombs. The one in his car opened up a second crime scene.
    How many more bombs would they find? Who'd planted them? How? When?
    Why?
    It was going to be a long day. Right now, Bob just wanted to see Scoop and his daughter, but he had to get one more bit of black news over with.
    He turned to Simon. "Keira called from Ireland."
    The color drained from Simon's face. "Why, Bob?"
    "She and another woman called to warn me there was a bomb on Abigail's back porch."

Chapter 6
    Beara Peninsula, Southwest Ireland
8:05 p.m., IST
August 25
    L izzie had used the bungee cords in her pack to tie the Irishman's wrists behind his back. He was sullen now as they headed back to the village, she on his right, Will on his left. Keira walked quietly behind them. The black dog skulked in the shadows above the ancient wall along the lane.
    "Keep up," Lizzie said to the Irishman, "or we'll leave you to the dog."
    He turned his gaze to her, his eyes flat. "I'll keep up."
    When they reached the village, the dog bounded off suddenly, disappearing into the hills.
    Lizzie glanced back at Keira, her hair hanging in wet tangles. She'd tried calling her uncle in Boston again but was unable to get through to him. "There's still