The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner Read Free Book Online Page B

girl alone.” Jerry looked stern. “Meg Pesaturo doesn’t even remember anything. ’Sides, she’s just a kid.”
    “She
says
she doesn’t remember anything. But that always sounded pretty fishy to me. Maybe she just wanted to keep it private. A family matter. And you know who her family is.” Tom gave them all an expectant look. They obligingly leaned forward, even Griffin. Law enforcement officers were never above a bit of juicy gossip.
    “Vinnie Pesaturo,” Tom said, in the waiting hush. “Yeah, the Carlone family’s favorite bookie. If Vinnie wanted something done, you can be sure it got done. So maybe pretty little Meg doesn’t remember anything. Or maybe she’s adopting the party line, while Vinnie sets everything in motion. A rooftop sniper, a nearby explosion. Oh yeah, this has got the Carlone family written all over it. Mark my words, Meg Pesaturo is the one.”

CHAPTER 5
    Meg
    S HE IS LAUGHING. S HE DOESN ’ T KNOW WHY. T HE POLICE ARE
here. Some girl, her roommate, she is told, is crying. But Meg is standing outside. She is looking up at the dark night sky, where the stars gleam like tiny pinpricks of light, where the breeze is cool against her cheeks, and she is hugging herself and laughing giddily.
    The police want to take her to the hospital. They are looking at her strangely.
    “It’s a beautiful night,” she tells them. “Look, it’s a gorgeous night!”
    The concerned officers put her in the back of a police cruiser. She hums to herself. She touches her cheek, and she has a first glimmer of memory.
    A touch, whisper light, impossibly gentle. Eyes, rich chocolate, peering into her own. The beginning of a slow, sweet smile.
    “Who am I?” she asks the officers up front.
    “Why don’t you wait until we get to the hospital.”
    So she waits until they get to the hospital. It’s all right with her. She’s singing some tune she can’t get out of her head. She is daydreaming of whisper-light touches. She is shivering in anticipation of a lover’s kiss.
    At the hospital, she is whisked through the emergency room doors, led to a tiny exam room where a special nurse, a sexual assault examiner, comes bustling in. She seems to know the officers, which is fine by Meg, because she doesn’t know anyone at all.
    “How bad?” the nurse asks briskly.
    “You tell us. The roommate came home and found her tied to the bed. She claims she doesn’t remember a thing, including her name—”
    “What’s my name?” Meg speaks up.
    They ignore her. “She claims she doesn’t remember her roommate either,” the police officer says, “not anyone, not anything. The roommate gave us contact information, so the parents are on the way.”
    The nurse jerks her head toward Meg. “Original clothes?”
    “No, the roommate released her from the bindings and dressed her before calling us.” The police officer sounds disgusted. “Someone’s gotta teach these people to know better. We found a ripped T-shirt on the floor, plus a pair of panties. They’re already on their way to the lab.”
    “I’ll bag these clothes as well, just in case any hair or fiber has rubbed off inside them. I’ll mark them as second-set clothing. That work for you?”
    The officers shrug. “We’re just the limo drivers; what the hell do we care?”
    “Hey,” Meg says again. “Isn’t it a beautiful night?”
    The officers roll their eyes. The nurse dismisses them and comes over to Meg. The nurse has blue eyes. The eyes look at her kindly, but they are also sharp.
    “What is your name?” she asks as she snaps on a pair of gloves.
    “I don’t know. That’s what I was asking them. That girl called me Meg. Maybe I’m Meg.”
    “I see. And how old are you, Meg?”
    Meg has to think about it. A number pops into her mind. “Nineteen?”
    The nurse nods as if this is an acceptable answer. “And what day is today?”
    This is easier. “Wednesday,” Meg says immediately. “April eleventh.”
    “All right. I just need to