A Taste of Love and Evil Read Online Free PDF

a waste of time. Jack must have loved school, to remember such obscure stuff.
    Juma leaned back, wondering what she would do when they reached Bayou Gavotte. Stevie had found her a week after she’d run away to New Orleans, a month ago. He’d found her at a friend’s place in Baton Rouge at three o’clock this morning after only one day away from home. Sooner or later he would find her again. When he did, he’d be more pissed off than ever. Not that she was all that worried about Stevie. He might tattle, but he wouldn’t hurt her, because he was more scared of Grandma than she was.
    Juma slid her hand into her jacket pocket and caressedthe book of poetry her dad had given her for her birthday. Dad slipped her the coolest books, and Grandma hadn’t found this one yet. Time to start memorizing it, because…
    No. She would not let Grandma find her. She’d get to keep her books from now on.
    “About hairdressing hell. Besides boring.” Rose showed nothing but kindly interest, but so did a lot of adults—and then they betrayed you.
    Still, Juma had to tell her something. “My grandmother wants me to go to beauty school and be a hairdresser like her. I refuse. End of story.”
    “She sent a hit man to bring you home because you won’t be a hairdresser?”
    With a truth freak in the back, Juma couldn’t risk a lie, but if she told the whole truth, they wouldn’t believe it. Nobody ever did. It was much easier for people to peg Juma as the delinquent child of druggies, and Grandma as the feisty old lady doing her best to help her poor, screwed-up granddaughter. Fortunately, Stevie’s behavior today made part of the truth credible.
    “Grandma will do whatever it takes to get me back. Ste-vie wants to get in good with Biff, so—”
    “Hold on a sec,” Rose said. “Who’s Biff?”
    “The man with the silver Caddy. He called Stevie this morning and had him detour to steal a Jeep at that hotel.”
    Jack cussed and swung upright again. “That was my Jeep! Where is it?” His eyes drilled into Juma.
    “I don’t know. Jeez, don’t look at me like that! I didn’t steal it. He left me in the SUV.”
    “Shall we go look for the Jeep?” Rose sounded eager. “It won’t take long. There’s an exit less than a mile away.”
    Panic filled Juma’s gorge. “No! It’ll take forever to get away again. Stevie drove the Jeep into a ditch.”
    Wrong move. Even without looking at him, Juma felt Jack seeing right through her. “Didn’t I tell you not to lie?” he said.
    “I don’t want to go back there!” Juma cried. “You said you’d take me to Bayou Gavotte. What if Stevie gets me again?”
    “Can’t you see she’s upset?” Rose said. “She doesn’t know whom to trust!”
    “Stevie’s sick of coming to get me. He’s really mad at me this time.” And Grandma will be even worse. Juma squeezed her fists tight and held her breath. Please!
    “I can’t afford to waste my time on liars,” Jack said.
    “I can’t afford to waste my time on jerks,” Rose said. “Sometimes there’s no choice.”
    “There’s always a choice,” Jack said.
    Idiots, bickering about philosophy while her life was at stake. Juma sucked in another desperate lungful of hope. “What if those old people saw us drive away and called the cops? What if the bad guys find us?”
    Jack said nothing. Rose slowed the van. “Juma, I won’t let Stevie get you. We’re almost at the exit, Jack. Make up your mind.”
    “No,” Jack said. “Too risky, and I think he’s disabled the Jeep. The solenoid wire lying on the rear seat of his SUV must have been mine.”
    Juma let her breath out with a whoosh. “Yeah, Stevie threw it in there.”
    “See,” Jack said in a patronizing voice, “you didn’t need to lie. I’ll get the Jeep later.”
    Rose gunned the van back up to speed, and Juma relaxed.
    Not for long. “Tell me what you know about Biff,” Jack ordered.
    Juma put on a cooperative face. “He’s somebody important in Bayou