Bombshell (AN FBI THRILLER) Read Online Free Page A

on his feet. “I’m going to go find a nurse, get some meds for you, all right?”
    “Yeah, that’d be good. Oh, no.”
    She lurched up, and Ruth managed to get a bedpan to her mouth in time. She fell back against the pillow, shut her eyes. “I’m sorry. I had too much to drink last night.”
    “Not a problem.” Ruth wiped Delsey’s mouth with a wet towelette. Not a good time for questions. She said, “Close your eyes and make your breathing light and shallow, that’s right, just relax.” She began stroking the back of Delsey’s hand as she said slowly, her voice as calm as a shallow summer river, “I’m Agent Ruth Noble. No, don’t try to talk. Keep everything easy, Delsey, just listen, don’t think. I’m married to the local sheriff, Dix Noble. He’s a lovely man, all tall and dark and tough as a muscle truck. He actually saved my life last year. It turned into a real gnarly mess here in Maestro as I’m sure you’ve heard, but we got it all straightened out. I have two stepsons now, Rob and Rafer, seventeen and fifteen. Both of them look like their father, and that means they’re going to be heartbreakers. Well, Rob already is. I’m going to be working in Washington with your brother, at the Hoover Building.
    “There, that’s better, isn’t it? I don’t want you to worry about anything. Keep still until your insides settle.”
    “Could I have a sip of water?”
    Ruth set a plastic straw on her tongue. “Not too much, now; that’s right.”
    Delsey took a single sip, felt her stomach twist, then, thank the Good Lord, it quieted down. “I’ve heard of you, Agent—”
    “Call me Ruth.”
    “Okay, Ruth. Most everyone at Stanislaus has heard of you, Ruth, you and your husband, Sheriff Noble. I heard a Stanislaus student was murdered, then the director’s secretary.”
    “Yes. We got it sorted out.”
    “A lot of the women at Stanislaus think Sheriff Noble’s hot—some of the guys do, too. It will get even worse now that Griffin’s in town. When the women get a load of him, there’ll be fistfights.”
    Ruth smiled and patted her hand. “You might be right. He’s quite a package.”
    “Poor Griffin, he has to deal with females up to about eighty coming on to him. Maybe the older women want to mother him. Or not, hard to say.”
    Griffin came through the door with Nurse Morsi, who checked Delsey’s pulse, put a stethoscope to her chest, and said “good” several times. Ruth told her about Delsey getting sick. Instead of a magic med, Nurse Morsi produced a saltine cracker. “Chew on this, Delsey. Go slow, that’s right, a bit at a time. It will help with the nausea.”
    Delsey chewed on the cracker. Her stomach didn’t complain. “Thanks. That’s good.”
    “A flash of nausea is common with a concussion; nothing to worry about. It’s already gone, right?”
    Delsey took the last bite of cracker, waited for a moment, and nodded.
    “Good. If the nausea comes back we can give you an injection to calm things down. You had quite a bit of alcohol last night that showed up on your blood tests. That can’t be helping. Right now I want you to lie still, have some more water and saltines when you feel like it, and let your body reboot.”
    Nurse Morsi left after a long look at Griffin, one Delsey recognized as saying,
How about I buy you a drink?
Delsey focused on her brother. “Griffin, I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
    “I was on my way to my new job in Washington and planned on stopping here to surprise you.”
    “Did you see Jennifer?”
    “Yes, she’s fine, made me the best waffles on the planet.”
    Delsey said to Ruth, “Jennifer is an incredible cook. Believe it or not, she’s never wanted to be anything but Griffin’s friend.”
    Griffin didn’t have the heart to tell her Jennifer was gay.
    Delsey said, “She owns Jenny’s Café over in Gaffer’s Ridge, an hour or so northwest of here. I visited her this past fall and put on three