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.When he heard her wrap up, he sat with his knee in one hand, and nodded, and thought.Then he scooted away and asked, “What happened to the bones?”“The bones.” Her mouth felt stiff.“The bones?”“Didn’t you find the bones?”Shock held Elizabeth rigid, and she stared at Charles Banner in disbelief and terror.“How did you know there were bones?”“Misty told me,” he said.Elizabeth couldn’t breathe.She couldn’t think.She couldn’t speak coherently or ask the right questions because … because no matter how she looked at it, this didn’t make sense.And her father sat on the floor, his head tilted, and watched her with eyes both wise and innocent.How could she have forgotten the crime he had committed? How could she have forgotten the house drenched in blood? Yet she had forgotten all of it, or at least wiped it from the memories of her childhood.He had forgotten what had happened.So had she.Were they so very different?Yvonne’s low, gentle voice spoke from the doorway.“Mr.Banner, how did you get out of bed and sneak in here?”He spun to face her.“Misty told me Elizabeth was in here, and when I came to see her, you were asleep.I didn’t want to wake you.”“Thank you.That’s sweet of you.” Yvonne came in and helped him to his feet.“Now Elizabeth is tired, and so will you be in the morning if you don’t get back to bed.”“I’m too excited to sleep.If you had only seen the film—Elizabeth filmed the tsunami!”“I’m sure it was wonderful.” Yvonne led him toward the door.“So why don’t you go to bed and think about what you learned from it?”“I will.” As he walked with her down the corridor toward his room, his enthusiastic voice faded away.Elizabeth tucked her shaking hands around her bent knees and pondered the interlude.Those moments showing him the film had been so normal, or as normal as they could be with an Alzheimer’s-stricken father confined to a care facility, in a night disturbed time and again by earthquakes.But that last bit about the bones was too weird.Okay, maybe he had heard the story about the prostitutes’ cemetery.And maybe he had figured that it would be washed away.But with all the tons of debris that had been sucked into the sea, the chance of her finding a human bone was minuscule, and to ask about it … when her mother’s body had never been discovered …Yvonne spoke from the doorway.“He’s already asleep.”Elizabeth looked at her, eyes haunted by memories … or lack of them.Yvonne looked both tired and sorry.“I apologize for leaving you unguarded.I don’t think you’re in any danger, but I know he scares you.I won’t sleep again.”“Yes.Thank you.” Elizabeth slid back onto the pillows, pressed her face into the synthetic foam, and whispered to herself, “But he asked about the bones.How did he know about the bones?”Just before she slept, she felt the naked steel of the knife blade, which she still held in her hands, and she was comforted.CHAPTER TWENTYAndrew Marrero finished presenting his paper, now rendered obsolete by the evening’s cataclysm in Virtue Falls, to an almost empty auditorium.And not an auditorium filled with seasoned geologists, as he had rightfully expected, but a sparse number of pimply-faced students, probably visiting from the local college.Where were his fellow geologists, the men and women who should be here paying him homage?Down in the bar, gathered around the Internet, watching with rabid geek fascination as videos of the Washington earthquake were posted.Even his own crew pretended to pay attention, when in fact their eyes were fixed on their iPhones held low in their laps.Damn them all.As soon as the scant polite applause died down, Andrew had them raise the house lights.“Any questions?” he asked.Half a dozen hands shot into air.Andrew pointed at the blond young female with the long, long legs and the short, short skirt.“Yes, Miss…?”One of the brash male geologists shouted from the back, “What changes do you expect the earthquake will have made to the area?”“As I said earlier, I can’t be sure of the changes the earthquake made to the area, but I speculate a tsunami in Virtue Falls Canyon will have proved all of the theories I’ve expounded tonight.” He pointed again at the young woman.The same geologist shouted, “So you’re sure there was a powerful tsunami in the area?”“Without a doubt,” Andrew said crisply.“Did you not listen to any of the presentation?”“No, I came in late.” The man walked from the dim back of the auditorium toward the front.He was young, handsome, intent.“I read that you’re the leading geologist for the affected stretch of the Washington coast.”Luke Baker, second in command of Andrew’s team, must have finally decided it was time to do a little judicious sucking up.“That’s true,” he called.The student didn’t even glance at him.All his attention was fixed on Andrew [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]