When Ray Reid phoned his sister in Philadelphia and told her he was in a Florida jail on a murder charge, she told him to go to hell.
She flipped her phone off, shoved the book off her lap and got out of bed. Nervy bastard, she thought. He can't really be doing this. Geez, why didn't he make his one phone call to a friend or a lawyer?
Sleepless now, she clicked on the eleven o'clock news: something about an assassination in Florida, some politician. She heard her brother's name.
She picked up her phone then tossed it back down-she didn't need this. He had ignored her distress call years ago, and they had lived on different planets ever since. She stared at the phone. It rang startling her. "I told you to go to hell."
"You didn't tell me anything. Are you in some kind of trouble, Sandy?"
"Joanna, is that you?"
"Yeah, worked late as usual, just got home. I wanted to warn you, some media types phoned for you at the office. You've had calls from Fox, some producer at WCAU-TV and get this...I talked to Gretchen Henson at CNN, in person. They wanted your home address and phone. Luckily, I was the only one in the office. They got nothing from me. What'd you do, kill someone?"
"Maybe my brother did. He got himself tossed in a Florida jail. How'd they trace me so fast?"
"You told me your brother was dead."
"To me he was, now he's trying to resurrect himself. He wants me to go down there and help him. He mentioned some problem with a woman."
"You going?"
"And screw up my great job up here? Not likely."
"Well, good luck with the media. You'd better figure on extra mirror-time in the morning. If they're not at your door with the cameras at dawn, they soon will be. Let me know if I can help." Joanna said goodnight.
Back in bed, Sandy turned off the bedside light and jerked the covers over her. Damn him upsetting her like this, she thought, should go down there just to watch him suffer. It was no use; she was too irritated to sleep.
She turned on the light, found her phone and clicked his call. He answered on the first ring. She snapped, "You managed to get yourself on the national news and now the media are after me. Thank you very much."
"Sandy! You called back, great to hear your voice."
"You're guessing it's me, you forgot what my voice sounds like. Did you happen to give out any info about me down there?"