Whispers and Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

almost forgetting I was speaking out loud as I watched her, mesmerized by the motion.
    “Anyone interesting on the horizon?” Alison rolled her head from side to side.
    “Not really. Well, there’s this man,” I confided, although I’d had no intention of doing so until I heard the words leave my mouth. “Josh Wylie. His mother is a patient at the hospital.”
    Alison’s head returned to the middle of her shoulders. She said nothing, simply sat and waited for me to continue.
    “That’s it,” I said. “He comes up once a week from Miami to see her. We’ve only spoken a few times. But he seems very nice, and …”
    “And you wouldn’t mind getting to know him,” Alison said, finishing my sentence for me.
    I nodded, deciding that was a mistake when the room continued bouncing around me like a rubber ball. Reluctantly, I struggled to my feet. “I think I’m going to have to call it a night.”
    Alison was immediately at my side, her hand warm on my arm. She seemed steady, as if the alcohol hadn’t affected her at all. “Are you all right?”
    “Fine,” I said, though I wasn’t. The floor kept shifting, and I had to balance against the side of the sofa to keep from falling over. I made an exaggerated show of checking my watch, but the numbers danced randomly across the dial, and I couldn’t tell the small hand from the large. “It’s late,” I said anyway, “and I have to be up very early.”
    “I hope I didn’t overstay my welcome.”
    “You didn’t.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Quite sure. I had a really nice evening.” I suddenly had the strange sensation that she was about to kiss me good-night. “We’ll do it again soon,” I said, lowering my head and leading Alison through the living and dining rooms to the kitchen, where I promptly walked into the table and all but fell into her arms.
    “You’re sure you’re okay?” she asked as I struggled torecapture my balance, if not my dignity. “Maybe I should stay and make sure you get into bed all right.”
    “I’m fine. Really. I’m fine,” I repeated before she could ask again.
    Alison was half out the door when she stopped suddenly, reached into the left pocket of her black pants, and spun around. The motion left me reeling. “I just remembered—I found this.” She held out her hand.
    Even with my head spinning and my focus blurred, I recognized the tiny gold heart at the center of the slender golden thread in Alison’s open hand. “Where did you get this?” I reached for it, watching it unravel. The delicate necklace hung from my fingers like a forgotten strand of tinsel on a discarded Christmas tree.
    “I found it under my bed,” Alison said, unconsciously assuming ownership of the contents of the cottage.
    “Why were you looking under the bed?”
    Surprisingly, Alison blushed bright red. She shuffled uneasily from one foot to the other, the first time I’d seen her look truly uncomfortable in her own skin. When she finally answered me, I thought I must have misunderstood.
    “What did you say?”
    “Looking for bogeymen,” she repeated sheepishly, lifting her eyes to mine with obvious reluctance.
    “Bogeymen?”
    “I know it’s ridiculous. But I can’t help myself. I’ve been doing it ever since I was a little girl and my brother convinced me there was a monster hiding underneath my bed who was going to eat me as soon as I fell asleep.”
    “You check underneath the bed for bogeymen?” Irepeated, thoroughly, if inexplicably, charmed by the notion.
    “I check the closets too. Just in case.”
    “Do you ever find anyone?”
    “Not so far.” She laughed, held out the necklace for me to take. “Here. Before I forget and take it home with me.”
    “It’s not mine.” I took a step back, almost tripping over my own feet, and watching the room rotate ninety degrees. Sixty-five ladies’ head vases tilted on their shelves. “It belonged to Erica Hollander, my last tenant.”
    “The one who still owes you several