Reason To Believe Read Online Free PDF Page A

nodded. She nodded.
    For a long, gentle moment they looked into each other's eyes, acknowledging that they had that much faith in each other. Where Annie was concerned, neither wanted the pain they caused each other to spill over. But it did. They both knew it did.
    She glanced away first. "I'm sorry I slapped you. I don't know why I..." Yes, she did, and so did he. But she turned to him again, her apologetic eyes glistening like sweet, warm maple syrup. "It's not like me. I don't do that sort of thing."
    Granted. He smiled, giving her credit for holding off this long. "Bet it felt good, though."
    "No, it didn't." Convincing herself required something physical, a firm shake of her own head. "It really didn't feel good."
    "Then how did it feel?"
    "It didn't feel like anything."
    He knew better.
    "It didn't feel like me, and it was stupid," she insisted. "A stupid waste of time and energy. We have to find Anna, and then we have to sit down and have a quiet, sensible talk about—"
    He interrupted her with a crossing-guard gesture as he cocked an ear toward the back door. "There's somebody outside."
    Clara closed her eyes and blew a deep sigh. "Thank God."
    Pancho scrambled across the kitchen floor, barking his head off. Ben followed as far as the hallway, avoiding light switches, listening in the dark. "Two somebodies," he reported quietly.
    Pancho made a growling beeline down the hall, tracking the movement outside.
    Wide-eyed, Clara sprang to her feet. "Her bedroom window."
    "I'll go around," he proposed, heading for the front door. She handed him his jacket on his way by. "You go back there to her room, but don't turn any lights on."
    He felt a little like a thief in the night, even though he was sneaking around his own bushes. When he rounded the corner to his own backyard he spotted two shadowy figures. He couldn't tell much about the one on the bottom, but he recognized the one who was getting the boost up to the bedroom window. The braided ponytail, the impossibly long hands, and the smaller version of his hawk's-beak nose belonged to his daughter.
    The tipsy giggle did not.
    He squared his shoulders, stepped out of the shadows, and took a Matt Dillon stance. "What's goin' on here?"
    "It's my dad!"
    "Shit." The booster took two stumbling steps back, nearly dropping his burden on the ground. "I mean—"
    "If you guys are playin' camel, you need a pool," Ben said, wishing for the days when he would simply be blowing the whistle on an innocent game.
    "We're not playing camel. We're playing spyyyy," Annie intoned drunkenly. "Spy and see if Mom's back is turned."
    Ben shut his eyes briefly, steadying himself. "But since Dad's back isn't turned, you might as well get down, Annie."
    The boy took pains to extricate himself without letting her fall. He left her hanging on to the window ledge, turned, and faced the paternal music. "I was just tryin' to help her out, Mr. Pipestone."
    "Who are you?"
    "This is Larry Prit—" reaching for the boy's shoulder, Anna leaned away from the house like a windblown willow "—chhhert. I was gonna give him an Indian name. Larry Pret-ty Churt. Chit. Shit. Priddy Shit." She gave in to the giggles as Ben edged closer. "Larry Pretty
    Shirt," she corrected, enunciating with exaggerated care. "Whuduhya think?"
    "It's Pritchert," the boy said tightly.
    The pungent smell of beer hit Ben in the face like a sack of cement. The crisp night air suddenly felt surrealistically thick and heavy. "Are you driving, Pritchert?"
    "I just gave her a ride. That's all."
    "I'm asking, should you be driving," Ben explained, summoning patience in the face of a strong urge to wring the boy's scrawny neck. "Are you okay?"
    "I didn't have nuthin' to do with this," the boy said, backing away. "She's a friend of a friend, and I'm just tryin' to help her out."
    "Yeah, Dad, he's jus' a fren, jus' sorta helpin' me out. So what's yer excuse for buttin' in, Dad? Jus' passin' through?"
    "I got a distress call from your mom." He