Body Heat Read Online Free PDF Page B

on it every chance you could get. You’re the reason she’s dead. You and Edna. ” He pronounced Bruce’s wife’s name with the disdain he believed it deserved.
    â€œI’m not the one who encouraged your mother to come to America. That was her decision. And I never promised her more than I gave her. I provided work, that’s all. It was as good a job as she could get anywhere.”
    â€œYou gave her a baby, that’s what you gave her,” Roderick growled. “A baby she struggled to take care of, along with her little brother.” That brother had returned to Mexico not long before Carolina’s death. Roderick had lost touch with him, but he thought about Arturo often. From time to time, he considered looking him up. He would have done it, except he was afraid Arturo was dead from some drug deal gone awry. He’d caused a lot of trouble before he left. Chances were that if he’d survived, he wasn’t on the right side of the law. He was one of those restless spirits who could never find peace. At least, that was what his mother had always said.
    â€œI gave her some money…now and then,” his father said.
    Rod was surprised he didn’t mention how hard he’d tried to persuade her to get an abortion. Or the money he’d offered her in those early years to leave the ranch, leave Bordertown. “So…what? You paid her medical expenses and gave her a few bucks to help feed the kid you fathered? That means you deserve a medal?”
    â€œNo, no, you’re right. I—I didn’t do enough. I’m sorry about that.”
    â€œLife’s a bitch, Mr. Dunlap. Babies don’t go away just because you regret making them.” Especially if the mother refused to get an abortion and refused to give up hope that her child would someday be accepted.
    â€œI don’t regret you. I regret how selfishly I acted. I was…scared. I didn’t want what I’d done to cost me my wife and family.”
    Roderick rolled his eyes. “Or your inheritance.”
    â€œMy father wouldn’t have been sympathetic. Times were different back then. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but it’s true.”
    Bruce, Sr., had never once acknowledged Rod, even when his mother made it a point to cross his path and say, “That’s your grandpa.” She was so proud of her son she couldn’t understand why the male Dunlaps, at least, couldn’t see things her way. It was the male Dunlaps who, in her mind, held the power and controlled the money.
    â€œI wish I could go back and do things differently,” his father said. “But it’s too late for that. I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
    Roderick glanced at his watch. “Then why are you calling?”
    Bruce sighed. “Some racist son of bitch is killing illegal immigrants as they come over the border. Shooting them at point-blank range and leaving their bodies to rot.”
    â€œThe only racist son of a bitch I know is you. Besides your father. But he’s not around anymore.”
    There was a moment of silence. One that told Rod he’d hit his target. Then his father said, “I deserve that.So would he, if he was alive. But this isn’t about me. Or him. I think this case is more than the local police can handle. They don’t have the funding, the manpower or the experience to deal with it. I’m afraid a lot of people will wind up dead if we don’t get some help.”
    Noise, coming from the reception area, indicated the other operatives were returning from lunch, so Rod stepped into the conference room Milt had just vacated and shut the door. He was acting tough, but speaking to his father shook him, made him feel like a little boy again. A hurt little boy. And the hurt resurrected the anger he’d shoved down deep inside. News of the killings brought that anger back, too. He kept imagining women like his mother creeping