Honeymoon - James Patterson [33]
Sparks flew. I lost control of the wheel. I spun out wildly, nearly flipping over. I would have were it not for one small detail.
Splash!
My face hit the air bag, and the yellow drums did the rest. It hurt like hell, but I knew right away. I was one lucky son of a bitch.
Traffic started to move again as I stepped out of the minivan. Like me, everyone else had survived with barely a scratch. There was water everywhere, pools of it, but that was it.
Idiot. I was furious with myself. Finally, I collected myself and made the call.
“I lost her.”
“What?!” snapped Susan.
“I said—”
“I heard you. How could you lose her?”
“I had an accident.”
Her register immediately shifted to concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“In that case, how the hell could you lose her?”
“The woman drives like a maniac.”
“What, and you don’t?”
“I’m serious. You should’ve seen her.”
“I’m serious, too,” she barked. “You should’ve never lost her.”
I was pleading with myself to stay calm. However, Susan wasn’t exactly making it easy. As tempting as it was to grab her anger and throw it right back, I realized I’d be better off just taking it on the chin.
“You’re right,” I told her. “I screwed up.”
She calmed down a bit. “Do you think maybe she spotted you?”
“No. It wasn’t like she was trying to lose me. She just drives fast.”
“How much luggage did she have?”
“A small roller. She carried it on.”
“Okay, then. Cut your losses and come on back to New York. Wherever she’s going, it’s safe to assume she’ll be returning to Connor Brown’s house soon enough.”
I decided that it was a good idea to change the subject. “Did we get the okay on the dig?” I asked.
“Yes, the dig is a go. The paperwork should come soon,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”
I said good-bye, and that should have been it. But this was Susan I was talking to. In case I wasn’t absolutely clear about her disappointment, she gave me one more shot.
“Have a safe flight home,” she said. “Oh, and try not to screw up anything else today.”
I listened as she hung up and then I shook my head slowly. I started to pace, trying to burn off the anger. It wouldn’t burn off. The more I paced, the worse I felt. The tension began working its way through my body, and before I knew it, it all collected in my fist.
Smash!
And like that, my rented minivan had one less window.
Chapter 43
NORA TOOK ANOTHER LOOK in the rearview mirror. Something had happened back there, maybe an accident.
If that’s what it was, she assured herself that it was merely a coincidence and had nothing to do with the weird feeling in her stomach. The one she had had after leaving the Hertz lot. The “I’m not alone” feeling.
Now, as she arrived in the heart of Back Bay, it seemed to disappear.
The traffic on Commonwealth Avenue fell somewhere between a slow crawl and a parking lot. There was some protest march over on Newbury, and every other street was paying the price. Nora lucked out and found a spot after circling only three times.
She’d put his wedding ring on while riding the shuttle bus at the airport. After her customary look in the car’s vanity mirror, she was ready to go. The suitcase came out; the convertible top went up. It’s showtime, babe.
As usual, Jeffrey was working when she let herself in. She’d come to realize there were only three things that took him away from his writing. Food, sleep, and sex, not necessarily in that order.
Instead of calling his name, Nora quietly walked toward the back of the brownstone. Between his deep concentration and the background music, there wasn’t a chance he’d hear her.
She opened the door beyond the butler’s pantry and stepped out onto the private patio. With its tall fleur-de-lis trellises covered in ivy and other strategic plantings, the cozy area offered seclusion.
It took her only a minute to get ready. Reclining on a cushioned wicker chaise, she reached for her cell phone and dialed.
Seconds later she could hear