Bones Never Lie Read Online Free PDF Page A

inform his superiors, didn’t take leave. He told no one his destination or when he’d return.
If
he’d return.
    That no one included me.
    I’d numbed the pain by blocking Ryan from my thoughts.
    Now, as I tried to focus, it all crashed back.
    Murdered children in Montreal. Murdered children in Vermont, possibly Charlotte. The unthinkable. The horrific possibility that Anique Pomerleau was active again.
    Pressure to locate a man I’d forced myself to forget. To persuade him to reenter a world he’d abandoned.
    And waves of fever rolling over me.
    At nine I gave up.
    After a hot, steamy shower, I downed two more tabs and dropped back into bed.
    I’d been there only moments when the landline rang.
    The voice blindsided my overwrought, overmedicated brain.

CHAPTER 4
     
    I LOVE THE Carolina mountains. Love driving the narrow two lanes that worm like twisty black ribbons through the humpty-back giants.
    That morning the beauty was wasted on me. I hadn’t the time. Or the mindset for a Blue Ridge outing.
    The dashboard clock said 7:44 A.M . I’d been up two hours, on the road ninety minutes. Surprisingly, I felt good. Or at least better. God bless chemistry.
    Just before Marion, I turned east off Highway 226. The sun floated above the horizon, a yellow-orange ball winking on and off as I rounded curve after curve. Long slanted rays sparked mist still lingering in low spots between the ridges.
    I passed a field with a chocolate mare grazing side by side with her colt. Both raised their heads and ears, mildly curious, then resumed eating.
    Within minutes a sign peeked from the foliage on my right. Wrought-iron script announced the entrance to Heatherhill Farm. Discreetly. If you don’t know we’re here, just keep on motoring.
    I turned onto an unmarked strip of asphalt arrowing through enormous azaleas and rhododendron. When I cracked the window, a post-dawn mix scented the car’s interior. Pine, wet leaves, damp earth.
    Soon I passed buildings, some small, some large, each looking like a set straight out of
Christmas in Connecticut.
Ivy-covered chimneys, long porches, white siding, black shutters.
    I knew Heatherhill’s forty acres contained multiple structures. A chronic-pain center. A gym. A library. A computer lab. Amenities for the well heeled with issues.
    Knew only too well.
    Beyond the four-story main hospital, I split off onto a tributary road, passed a low-rise building housing business and admissions offices, and made another left. The tiny lane ended fifty yards later in a rectangle of gravel enclosed by a white picket fence.
    I parked, grabbed my jacket and purse, and got out.
    Through a gate in the fence, a flagstone path led to a small bungalow. Above its door, a sign said
River House.
One calming breath, then I started toward it.
    On the inside, River House could have been anyone’s mountain cottage. Anyone with a predilection for antique reproductions and a whole lot of bucks.
    The floors were wide plank and covered with Oushaks and Sarouks that cost more than my house. The upholstery involved shades a decorator probably called mushroom and moss. The wooden pieces were stained and distressed to look old.
    I wound through the living room, past gas-fed flames dancing in a stacked stone fireplace, and exited double glass doors at the back of the house. The deck held a teak table and matching chairs, several tubs planted with pansies and marigolds, and four chaise lounges with bright melon cushions.
    The farthest chaise had been displaced several feet and angled away from the others. On it was a woman with white hair cut pixie-short. Before her, on the porch rail, sat a thick ceramic mug. The woman wore khaki slacks and an Irish sweater that hung to the middle of her thighs. On her feet were ballet flats, two-tone, the leather on the toes a perfect match for the pants.
    I watched a moment. The woman sat motionless, hands clasped, eyes fixed on a forest thick with morning shadows.
    I approached, my