Girl of Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

loved.”
    Julia sniffed. “They love you…our parents are just screwed up. They don’t know how to show it. And…we love you. Your sisters.”
    “You say that, but you know as well as I do that except for you, I barely know the others. Carrie might as well be a stranger.”
    Julia shook her head. “That’s not true. She practically raised you.”
    “ Until I was what…six?   I don’t even remember.”
    “I feel like we failed you.”
    Andrea sighed and sniffed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…I just…sometimes I’m so lonely, you know?”
    She’d cried that day, and Julia held her. Two days later, she flew back to Spain. She and Julia talked on the phone twice a week, whether they had anything to say or not. She called once every two weeks to check on Sarah and Carrie. Sarah was recovering from her injuries and Carrie was going through her pregnancy.
    Her mother rarely asked to speak to her during those calls. That loneliness pervaded her.
    The helicopter circled the hospital, a low bass vibration rising up through the soles of her feet. Bright light sparked out in the harbor, sunlight reflecting off the waves.
    The crew chief sat across from her. “We’re going to land in a minute…they’re going to want to do the full VIP work-up on you. Keep your chin up, okay? I know it’s going to suck, but they just want to cover their asses and look out for your best interests, okay?”
    The unexpected kindness caught her off guard. Andrea nodded. The crew chief touched her shoulder and said, “Did you get any of his blood on you?”
    “Yeah,” she said at a whisper. He couldn’t hear her, but he could see her shudder.
    “You’re gonna be all right, kid. This is just about the best hospital in the country. They’re gonna do all the tests and make sure you’re good to go. You got nothing to be worried about.”
    She sniffed. She wasn’t used to being called kid and having someone reassure her. She wasn’t used to needing other people. But something about the crew chief reminded her of her Uncle Luis, and before she could stop herself, she said it. “I’m scared.”
    She hated herself for saying it. He smiled kindly then squeezed her shoulder.
    “Here we go,” he said. He stretched up a little, wrapping his hand around a handle mounted above the door. The helicopter landed gently.
    “You ready, kid?”
    She nodded. “Thanks.”

2. George-Phillip. April 28
    “Daddy, I love you.”
    “And I love you, darling.”
    George-Phillip leaned close to his daughter and kissed her on the forehead, then tucked her in. Jane was six years old, raven haired with green eyes. Creative. Mischievous.
    Trouble .
    His lips turned up in a half smile at the thought.
    “I’m turning out the light, Jane.”
    “No…” she said.
    He said, “I’ll leave the door cracked?”
    “Thank you, Daddy.”
    He smiled, switched the light out and stepped out into the hall, leaving the door open six inches.
    Adriana Poole, Jane’s nanny, sat reading a book in the room down the hall. “She’s down,” he said.
    “For now,” Adriana replied. “I’ll be here, sir.”
    “Thank you.”
    He sighed, walking down the hall. He left the overhead lamp off in the study, choosing to only turn on the small desk lamp that lit one spot in the center of his desk. He turned on his computer and looked out at Belgrave Square.
    Department security had warned him repeatedly about the wisdom of having his study facing the square. But Dukes of Kent had occupied this home for more than a hundred years. Princess Alexandra had been born in this house in 1936. Grudgingly, SIS security had installed additional equipment, bulletproof glass and a twenty-four hour security detail on the premises. And George-Phillip kept his study where he could see into the square.
    The Wakhan file had been troubling him ever since O’Leary brought him the news of Andrea Thompson’s travel to the United States. It was one of the oldest files he’d worked on. One