Wish Upon a Christmas Star Read Online Free

only to find the
pathways that led below blocked by the impact zone. Everybody died, either of
smoke inhalation or in the collapse of the building.
    “Mike didn’t call any of us after the plane hit,” Maria said.
“What if that was because he wasn’t there?”
    “Oh, sweetie. Lots of other reasons make more sense. His phone
might have been dead. Or maybe he was looking for a way out and couldn’t take
the time to call.”
    “His remains were never identified,” Maria reminded her.
    “Neither were the remains of more than a thousand other people.
That’s about forty percent of the victims,” Annalise said. “The authorities did
the best they could, but it was an impossible task.”
    “So we can’t completely rule out that Mike wasn’t at the
restaurant that day,” Maria said.
    “Yes, we can,” she insisted. “If he were alive, wouldn’t he
have contacted us in the last eleven years to let us know?”
    “I admit that part doesn’t make sense, but Mike was angry at
the world when he left for New York. He wasn’t getting along with any of us.”
Maria could tell that her arguments weren’t swaying her sister. She tried
another tactic. “Don’t you want to know what I found out about the phone
number?”
    “Sure.” Annalise didn’t sound optimistic.
    “The calls came from a prepaid phone, as if whoever made them
doesn’t want to be found,” Maria said. “He must be in Key West, though. That’s
where the envelope was postmarked.”
    “I’ll admit the entire situation is strange,” Annalise said
slowly, “but Mike didn’t make those calls or send those photos.”
    “Then who did?” Maria asked. “It seems out of character for
Mike to have given that nude photo of Caroline away.”
    “C’mon, Maria. Someone else might be behind this.”
    “Maybe,” she conceded, “but I think it’s worth looking into the
possibility it might be Mike.”
    Annalise held up a finger and got her cell phone out of her
purse. She appeared to be scrolling through a list of numbers before she pushed
one.
    “Hey, this is Annalise,” she said after a moment and turned
away, walking to the other end of the room so it was harder for Maria to hear
her.
    That was fine with Maria. She already guessed that her sister
had Jack on the line. Their surviving brother had moved to Virginia’s Eastern
Shore earlier in the year to be with his girlfriend. Maria suspected Annalise
was trying to enlist Jack’s help in convincing her she was wasting her time. A
part of her didn’t blame her sister for trying to protect her. If Maria raised
her hopes too high and came up with nothing, it would be like losing Mike all
over again. But if she found him...
    She went back to the computer and entered her brother’s name in
a search engine. She got quite a few hits, each one of which she’d need to check
out. Figuring there was no point to delay in making her airline reservation, she
called up another tab and went to a travel site.
    “Promise me something.” Annalise suddenly stood beside her,
looking over her shoulder at the computer screen. Maria hadn’t even realized her
sister had gotten off the phone. “Promise me you won’t make that reservation
until you talk to him.”
    Annalise’s eyes looked tortured. She’d lost a brother, too,
Maria reminded herself. All three of them had. If Annalise wanted her to talk to
Jack before she started her investigation, it was the least she could do.
    “I promise,” she said. “I won’t make the reservation until I
talk to Jack.”
    “Jack?” Annalise shook her head. “That wasn’t Jack on the
phone. It was Logan Collier.”

CHAPTER TWO
    L OGAN SPOTTED A NNALISE DiMarco the instant he entered the noisy Italian
restaurant, which was decorated for the holidays with strung holly and tiny
white lights.
    He barely had time to breathe in the scents of spicy tomato
sauce and baked bread before she sprang to her feet. After pausing to say
something to her dining companion, a