Not This Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

sniffed, took Kelly’s hand, and tried to lift herself but couldn’t. Ben and Mark stepped in and got her to her feet. “My knees are mushy, my boy,” she told Mark. “Can you help me over to the kiddie pool? Annie? Where’s Annie?”
    “I’m right here, Nora.” Lisa’s mother rushed to get to her roommate.
    Nora clasped her arm. “You tell Hank we’ll be planning Clyde’s funeral for Tuesday. I know what he wants and I won’t have it not done right.”
    “I’ll tell him, hon.” Annie patted Nora’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry. We’ll do exactly what Clyde wanted.”
    Jeff Meyers walked past. Nora snagged him. “You were late. I’d blister your ears, but considering somebody gassed us, I’m thinking it’s a blessing you weren’t here.”
    “There was a problem down at Ruby’s—”
    She cut him off. “Beth told me.” Nora leaned hard on Mark, wagged a warning finger. “I don’t care if the whole village erupts in a war, you’d best not be late for Clyde’s funeral.”
    “No ma’am. I won’t.”
    Her clouded eyes burned bright and her voice cracked. “You find ’em, Jeff. They took my Clyde.” She shuddered, stiffened, and hiked her chin. “I’ll have your word on it.”
    “Yes ma’am. I promise.” Jeff slid Beth a help-me look.
    “He’ll be on time and he’ll find them, Nora. Mark and Ben will help.” That should ease Nora’s mind . “They’ve stopped NINA twice.” First with Kelly Walker and then with Dr. Lisa Harper . “They surely can get whoever did this.”
    “Could be them. That Karl Masson is still on the loose,” Nora said. “Kelly and Lisa can identify him.”
    Masson was the latest NINA operative they’d battled and he’d escaped. His boss, Raven, had been tagged as existing, but despite enormous efforts by all resources, she remained a mystery. Nora’s observation about Masson had Jeff frowning. He’d spent many a night awake in a cold sweat.
    Mark dipped his dark head, his expression stern. “We’ll handle it, Nora.”
    “I know you will.” She reached up and patted his angular face.
    “Definitely.” Beth said it, and prayed it proved true. “You get cleaned up now, Nora. We’ve got things to do.”
    Mark and Ben walked Nora over. She tottered, still unsteady on her feet.
    Annie scanned the clusters of people in the courtyard. “I need to find Hank.”
    “He’s over with Clyde,” Beth said. Now why was Sara staring at the cake, as still as a statue? That “boom” message and the strings being tied to their fingers had scared her socks off. Beth’s too, but Sara seemed … worse. Why? Beth walked over. “You okay?”
    “Robert still has his phone turned off.” Tall and svelte, Sara lifted her blond head, her voice as vacant as her blue eyes. Her chignon had half fallen; strands of long blond hair brushed her shoulders.
    Right now, Beth couldn’t care less about Robert Tayton. “He’ll turn up.” Bad pennies always do . “I asked about you.” Sara didn’t look unreasonably anxious, but her reassurance would be welcome. Anxiety really complicated her lifelong medical challenges. “You okay?”
    “No, I’m not.” Sara craned her neck and looked Beth straight in the eye. “I doubt I’ll ever be okay again.”
    Sara wasn’t being melodramatic. She always had been fragile. “You can’t fall apart right now. Honest, Sara, you’re going to have to cope like the rest of us. Nora’s a wreck, Nathara’s grating on everyone’s last nerve, and there isn’t a soul who doesn’t think NINA’s behind this attack. We do not need you getting wound up and triggering an attack that lands you in the hospital, so just don’t go there.”
    “NINA is involved.” Sara blinked hard, her eyes full of fear.
    Beth stilled. The way Sara said that … she wasn’t speculating, she knew. But how could she? “What aren’t you telling me?”
    For a second, Sara looked as if she might say, but then a shield slid down over her face and she