Blood Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked.
    “They investigate.” I sighed. “I should probably call Emily’s parents. God, she put them through a lot. Now this…”
    “Give it a few days, okay?” she said softly. “It’s only fair to them. And you.”
    “Alex, I lied to the detectives.”
    She grimaced. “About?”
    “I didn’t tell them Emily and I were engaged.”
    Alex bit her lip. “I had no idea.”
    “No one did,” I said. “We were going to elope. Only Aaron knew. And then, when it fell apart, we never told anyone else.”
    Alex squeezed my hand a second time. When she pulled away, I felt the coolness of her wedding band slide over the back of my hand. “You okay?”
    I tilted my hand side to side in a so-so gesture.
    Her face lit up in a radiant smile. “Why don’t you let me take you out for dinner tomorrow?”
    “What about Marcus?”
    “Business. He’s back east again for a week.”
    “And Talie?”
    “Dad can watch her.”
    “Very tempting…” Her understanding face lifted a bit of the load off my mind. But reason prevailed over emotion. “I’m not sure dinner is such a good idea,” I said, remembering the last fateful time we had gone out for dinner and drinks, a year earlier at a conference in San Francisco, and nearly wound up in bed together.
    She took a final sip of her coffee and then put the empty cup down. “Good friends go out for dinner, you know.”
    “I know.”
    She smiled. “There’s no harm in a phone call, though, right?”
    “None.”
    She jabbed a finger at me. “You call me, Benjamin Dafoe. Day or night! Understand?”
    I nodded. “Thanks, Alex.”
    “I better get back to the pit.” She pointed in the direction of the ER as she rose to her feet. She crossed over to my side of the table and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Day or night,” she repeated.
    She made it three steps from the table before she stopped and turned back. “Why?”
    I frowned. “Why what?”
    Her eyes bored into mine. “Why was Emily carved up?”
    I broke off our eye contact and spoke to the table. “I don’t know, but something tells me it has to do with what happened to Aaron.”

Chapter 4
    At first, I incorporated the ringing phone into my dream. But the second set of rings dragged me back into consciousness. I stared bleary-eyed at the clock radio whose fat red numbers read 5:35 A.M.
    I groped for the phone. “Hello,” I muttered.
    Nothing.
    I’d barely crammed the receiver back into the base when it rang again. I picked it up. “Yes?”
    Another pause, then “Benjamin?” spoken in a whisper.
    “Who is this?” I asked, feeling a sudden cool rush.
    “I was there.”
    My skin crawled. “What are you talking about?”
    “The fight. I saw it.”
    My heart rate sped up. “What fight?”
    “The fight, Benjamin,” the whisperer repeated. “You and Emily. And J.D. Let’s not forget J.D.”
    I sat up in my bed. “J.D.?”
    There was a soft chortle on the line. “It’s going to work out, Benjamin.”
    “Listen!” My voice rose, in spite of myself. “You’re not making any sense.”
    “I think we both know that I am.”
    “Who the hell are you?”
    “A friend.”
    “Friend,” I growled, “You’re getting me confused with someone else!”
    Another laugh. “Not if you’re the Dr. Benjamin Dafoe who I saw fighting with Emily and J.D. before they died. The one who—”
    I clicked the END button and threw the cordless receiver across the room. When it rang again, I just stared at it. My hands trembled—part fear, part fury.
    A good minute after it stopped ringing, I climbed out of bed and picked up the receiver. I scrolled through the call display with a still-shaky thumb. The readout read: CANADA.
    Canada ? And how the hell did he find my number ? Like most physicians’, my home number was unlisted.
    Confused and edgy, I changed into shorts and a drip-dry shirt. Grabbing my shoes, I headed out of the house through the basement to the attached garage. I unlocked the racing bike, which