Honeymoon Read Online Free Page B

close, very fast.
     
The lanes were about to split. I was in the left one, Nora
     
in the right. I needed to get over.
     
The goddamn truck!
As soon as I nosed out in front, the driver sped up. I
     
     
jammed on my horn while flooring the accelerator.
     
Up ahead, Nora passed the yellow drums and shot off to
     
the right.
     
I was still stuck in the left lane and running out of real
     
estate. Fast.
     
Fuck it.
     
I slammed on the brakes. If I couldn't cut in front, I'd duck
     
in from behind. All two tons of the minivan began to swerve
     
wildly as I watched the Sealy mattress truck -- an easy ten
     
tons -- start to veer. That's when I realized he wanted into
     
my lane.
     
I couldn't hear the horns behind me. Or the screech-
     
ing of tires. The only sound was my heart pounding as the
     
nose of my minivan kissed the truck's back, metal against
     
metal.
     
Sparks flew. I lost control of the wheel. I spun out wildly,
     
nearly flipping over. I would have were it not for one small
     
detail.
     
Splash!
My face hit the air bag, and the yellow drums did the
     
     
rest. It hurt like hell, but I knew right away. I was one lucky
     
son of a bitch.
     
Traffic started to move again as I stepped out of the mini-
     
van. Like me, everyone else had survived with barely a
     
scratch. There was water everywhere, pools of it, but that
     
was it.
     
Idiot.
I was furious with myself. Finally, I collected my-
     
self and made the call.
     
"I lost her."
     
"What?!" snapped Susan.
     
"I said --"
     
"I heard you. How could you lose her?"
     
"I had an accident."
     
Her register immediately shifted to concern. "Are you
     
okay?"
     
"Yeah, I'm fine."
     
"In that case,
how the hell could you lose her?
"
     
"The woman drives like a maniac."
     
"What, and you don't?"
     
"I'm serious. You should've seen her."
     
"I'm serious, too," she barked. "You should've never lost
     
her."
     
I was pleading with myself to stay calm. However, Susan
     
wasn't exactly making it easy. As tempting as it was to grab
     
her anger and throw it right back, I realized I'd be better off
     
just taking it on the chin.
     
"You're right," I told her. "I screwed up."
     
She calmed down a bit. "Do you think maybe she spot-
     
ted you?"
     
"No. It wasn't like she was trying to lose me. She just
     
drives fast."
     
"How much luggage did she have?"
     
"A small roller. She carried it on."
     
"Okay, then. Cut your losses and come on back to New
     
York. Wherever she's going, it's safe to assume she'll be re-
     
turning to Connor Brown's house soon enough."
     
I decided that it was a good idea to change the subject.
     
"Did we get the okay on the dig?" I asked.
     
"Yes, the dig is a go. The paperwork should come soon,"
     
she said. "I'll let you know."
     
I said good-bye, and that should have been it. But this
     
was Susan I was talking to. In case I wasn't absolutely clear
     
about her disappointment, she gave me one more shot.
     
"Have a safe flight home," she said. "Oh, and try not to
     
screw up anything else today."
     
I listened as she hung up and then I shook my head
     
slowly. I started to pace, trying to burn off the anger. It
     
wouldn't burn off. The more I paced, the worse I felt. The
     
tension began working its way through my body, and before
     
I knew it, it all collected in my fist.
     
Smash!
And like that, my rented minivan had one less window.
     
     
     
----
Chapter 43
     
NORA TOOK ANOTHER LOOK in the rearview mirror.
     
Something had happened back there, maybe an accident.
     
If that's what it was, she assured herself that it was merely
     
a coincidence and had nothing to do with the weird feeling
     
in her stomach. The one she had had after leaving the Hertz
     
lot. The "I'm not alone" feeling.
     
Now, as she arrived in the heart of Back Bay, it seemed to
     
disappear.
     
The traffic on Commonwealth Avenue fell somewhere
     
between a slow crawl and a parking lot. There was