Evergreen (a suspenseful murder mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page A

fling that she kept to herself. Mary didn’t know who it was, they were twins but the bond they had shared in the past -- the secrets they had told -- was no longer there, hadn’t been for a while. She only knew because she had caught her sneaking in at night -- they slept in the same bedroom, their bed inches apart.
     
    She had her suspicions about who it was, had pinned down one of the Taylor brothers as the likely targets. Aileen liked the older boys, the men. The Taylor brothers had doted on her since she was thirteen, they were ten and twelve years older than her but they didn’t let that stop them. The community wouldn’t like it of course, which was probably why Aileen kept it hidden from them.
     
    Her walk took her to the McCleary home, as it usually did. He lived with his dad, Aidan McCleary, who was at the pub getting drunk.
     
    She stopped outside, stared into what she knew was his bedroom window. His light was on; he would probably be inside playing on his computer games, practicing his guitar or writing. He didn’t actually play guitar or write, but in her mind he did.
     
    The night was greying fast. In the distance a handful of florescent streetlights spat into life, flicking on the horizon. She could hear the commotion from the Dog and Bull, she could see the radiation of light that washed out of its doors and windows and spread across the grass of Evergreen like napalm.
     
    She checked no one was watching her and then crept closer, pinning herself up against his window, pressing an ear to the cold Perspex.
     
    She sighed pleasurably, breathed in deeply, then the caravan kicked back at her. It shook, rocked. She pulled her head away quickly, an instinctive hand on her cheek. She frowned at the shifting structure, grumbled under her breath. What the hell was he doing in there?
     
    She moved around to the front, she was surprised to see that the front door was wide open. The entrance leading into the kitchen and short hallway beckoned her enticingly; she could see his bedroom door, cracked open slightly, gently rocking in the light breeze that cut through the caravan.
     
    She checked around again, confident no one was watching. She moved forward slightly, her heart pounding in her chest. Her sister was the rebellious risk taker, not her. The last thing she had done that sent her nerves aflutter was when she had stolen a chocolate bar from the local shop six years ago. She’d returned it in panicked haste five minutes later.
     
    She climbed the steps, cringing as they creaked. She thrust her head through the open door, scanned the hallway and the main room from where she stood. She couldn’t see anyone, no one there to watch her as she crept into Matty’s room, to the right of the open door.
     
    The floor groaned with a hollow thud as she crossed onto it, every noise was accentuated in the mischievous silence. The door to the second bedroom and bathroom was closed but there was no one else in the caravan, she was confident Matty would be in his room; confident his father was in the pub.
     
    She pushed a palm against the open door, creaked it open another inch and then stuck her head in the gap, her eyes blinking into the lit bedroom.
     
    There was a bump on the bed, a mound beneath the covers big enough for two or for one very fat person. Matty wasn’t fit, he was muscular, trimmed, toned. She gulped, feeling a wash of euphoric desire rain down on her as she thought about where she was, what she was seeing. This was his room.
     
    She strained her neck to see the pillow, see if she could catch a glimpse of his head, his face. She saw the back of a woman’s head, long hair messily sprayed around, a tanned, trim neck arched in the throes of passion.
     
    Her heart sunk. She felt sorrow and anger at the same time. How could he do this to her?
     
    Then she recognised the hair, recognised the blotchy fake tan on the neck line. It was Aileen. Her promiscuous, whore of a sister. She was sleeping