Dark Star Read Online Free PDF

hand through his hair, leaning back against the cushions of the sofa.
    “She was too successful. You’re threatened by strong women.”
    He grinned at me. “Now you’re just stabbing in the dark. But nice try, kid.”
    I was flustered, so I didn’t say anything, just picked up my cards and began shuffling them idly.
    “My turn,” he said. “And I won’t use any cards or fortunetelling.”
    “Somewhere you’ve got a file on my mom. It probably tells you everything you need to know about me.”
    “I don’t need a file. You’re easy to read.”
    I frowned, watching him warily, but kept my silence.
    “You’re close with your mom,” he began.
    “Wow. Impressive.”
    He ignored me. “Protective of her. It’s just the two of you, so you think you need to look out for her. You worry that I mean her harm—but I don’t. And I think you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say I believe your mother is a very gifted individual.”
    The front door eased open.
    “Mom!” I called, jumping up and running to meet her, to warn her, before Detective Wyle caught her off guard. She tilted her head at me when she entered, frowning slightly. Mom was in the habit of dressing brightly during the day to contrast with her nightly attire, and today she wore old blue jeans with a rosecolored belt and a vivid pink tank top—but over it she wore her dark H&H Security coat. Very official looking. She yawned into her free hand as she looked at me.
    “We, uh, have a visitor,” I said.
    He was already at my side, leaning against the door frame and giving my mother a lazy smile.
    “Entertaining kid you’ve got here, Mrs. Whitticomb. I’m thinking of recruiting her.”
    I could see the storm brewing behind her eyes, and took a step backward.
    “Miss. I never married,” she corrected. “As I’m sure you know.” She clenched a fist. “Audrey, how exactly have you been entertaining?”
    “Um … I gave Mickey a reading.”
    “I thought we were sticking with Wyle,” he said.
    “Mickey is less threatening,” I told him. “My mom’s a little vulnerable right now. She turns forty next month.”
    She sounded strangled. “Audrey. Room. Now.”
    Oh well. I already had a talk in store. I gave her a quick salute, then leaned in close to whisper. “Be careful, Mom. He’s totally on to you.”

5
    Over the years, Mom had been interrogated by the police on a number of occasions.
    It was sort of inevitable, given her choice of careers. In the past, she’d always managed to explain away her activities with her connection to H&H Security. She even had a couple of friends on the force—or acquaintances, at any rate; Mom wasn’t very big on friends. She tended to laugh off the idea that she’d be caught. Cops were far too pragmatic to believe in Morning Star, she told me. And maybe she was right. She’d never been arrested. She’d never been charged. Detective Wyle had been the first to even truly suspect her of anything.
    “He’s a pain in the ass,” she’d told me, after the first time he’d questioned her. “But I can handle him.”
    Personally, I’d always thought Mom rather liked being able to fool everyone. She didn’t have to wear a costume, I’d argued once. It would be easier if she just saved the city in obscurity. Her response had been to tell me that Morning Star wasn’t a costume, it was an identity. Part of who she was.
    It hadn’t begun that way. Not intentionally. It hadn’t even been an outfit at first; it was just a bulky sweater with a star on it that some great-aunt had knitted her one Christmas.
    “I wore it ironically,” Mom had told me. “And because I didn’t care if I ruined it.” She had ruined it, too. She’d thrown it away after it became nothing more than a tattered, bloodstained rag, but by then, more than a few witnesses had seen a teenage vigilante running around wearing an eight-pointed star.
    “And thus a legend was born,” I’d joked.
    That, apparently, had been the