The Dying Room Read Online Free PDF

to disappoint them and Nina had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. They didn’t need another problem to deal with, so I handled it myself. I told them I wanted to take a semester off in Paris and they agreed. With Nina falling apart midway through undergraduate school, I think they were terrified I might fall apart, too.”
    “But you didn’t go to Paris,” he guessed. It was easy to see what was coming.
    She shook her head. “I spent the next six months in Sacramento. When I came home, I never told anyone what happened. You’re the first person to know.”
    No wonder she was so uptight. She’d been carrying this burden all alone for a hell of a long time. He appreciated her trust more than she could know. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”
    She exhaled a big breath. “I’d like you to find my daughter.”

 

Chapter 6
    Crescent Road, Mountain Brook, 8:15 p.m.
    “He was tortured,” Senator Robert Baron said somberly. He gazed at those gathered and wondered if any one of them understood the implications of what those words actually meant.
    This was no game... no mere threat or scare tactic. This was real and the intent was undeniably clear. This was the first time the four of them had been in a room together outside a social event in six years.
    Six
. There had been six of them when this began. Six brilliant young men determined to make their marks in this world. Too bad they hadn’t considered the long-term consequences a bit more closely. At the time all that had mattered was achieving the greatness they each desired.
    If only they had known then what they knew now.
    “You called this meeting,” Joseph Pratt fired back, “to tell us what we’ll see on the news by this time tomorrow?” He sipped his scotch. “Considering how many defendants he sent to death row, it’s a miracle this didn’t happen years ago.”
    Robert wasn’t surprised by Joe’s indifference. The former mayor had always been the last to see what was right in front of his nose unless it suited his purposes.
    “You don’t see the relevance between this murder, our old friend’s sudden disappearance, and the release of his loyal assistant?” Surely they recognized what was happening here. Robert certainly did.
    Craig Moore set his drink aside and cleared his throat. “Are you saying you believe that old bastard is somehow responsible for this?”
    “I am,” Robert confirmed.
    “Really, Robert,” Sam Baker shook his head, “the suggestion is absurd. How do we know Wilson Hilliard isn’t dead? And that crippled assistant he had forty years ago is a crippled old man now. How can you believe he’s behind Harmon’s murder?”
    “I’ve been briefed on the crime scene,” Robert insisted. “We need to take this threat seriously.”
    Isaiah Taylor held up his hands. “What do you suggest we do? It’s not like we can go to the police.” He looked from Robert to the others, his gaze resting briefly on each face. “We all have secrets we’d like to keep. Who of us is willing to open this particular Pandora’s box?”
    “What we can do is watch our backs,” Robert offered. “Of course, none of us wants to rehash the past with the public or the police. Be that as it may, we have to be smart. None of us wants to end up dead, either. I believe—”
    Joe waved his hands back and forth, cutting Robert off. “Whoever did this,” he argued, “the last thing we need to do is to panic and start spilling our guts. Frankly, I have enough trouble right now without one of you opening this can of worms.”
    Craig nodded. “I’m with Joe on this one. I have an election year coming up. I can’t afford any scandals. We need to stop making more out of this than it is. Murders happen. Harmon made himself an easy target.”
    “If,” Sam spoke up again, “Harmon’s death had anything to do with... what Robert is suggesting, that doesn’t mean any of us are in danger of the same end.”
    Robert held his temper. “How can