Ghoul Interrupted Read Online Free PDF

said at last.
    By now he knew something was up. “What’s happened?” he asked, but I could only shake my head, at a loss for what to say. But Heath wasn’t letting up. Cupping my face with his hands, he said, “M. J., whatever it is, just tell me.”
    I swallowed. “Your cousin’s here.”
    “Which one?”
    “Ari.”
    Heath leaned out of the bathroom and looked into the room. “Where?”
    “In the lobby, but she’s on her way up.”
    Heath blinked and his expression became playful again. “Aw, M. J., don’t sweat it. She knows we’re sleeping together.”
    I put my hands on his chest and looked him right in the eye. “It’s your aunt,” I said. “Ari’s here to tell you about your aunt.”
    “Which aunt?”
    It was my turn to blink. I had no idea. “I don’t know, but, Heath, something bad has happened again and you need to brace yourself.”
    Just then there was an urgent knock on the door. Heath’s head snapped in that direction and he hesitated ever so slightly before he let go of me and moved to answer it. Before he got there, he at least had the presence of mind to grab his jeans and put them on quickly.
    I stood where I was in the doorway of the bathroom, wondering if I should stay or go. One look at Ari’s face as she came into the room told me I should probably stay.
    The poor woman was a wreck. She was sobbing, nearly in hysterics and gasping for breath. “I was on my way over to pick you up,” she said, her voice thick and liquid, “when Brody called me and . . . Oh, Heath!”
    “Who is it?” he asked, and I had to marvel at how calm and composed he seemed. “Ari, just tell me what’s happened and who it is.”
    His cousin took a few more gulping breaths. “They came to tell Brody first,” she began. “Bev didn’t come home last night, and this morning Molly called me crazy with worry, so I got the word out and they found Bev’s SUV about a mile away from the Pueblo on one of the back roads near the burial grounds. She was probably going to look at the grave site for Milton. . . .” Ari’s voice trailed off here as she let out great gulping sobs before she could regain control again. “They said her SUV ran off the road and hit a tree. She didn’t make it.”
    Heath staggered back and if I hadn’t been behind him to catch him by the waist and prop him up, I think he might have fallen to the floor. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I squeezed him tight. It was a long time before anyone was able to speak.
    “Who are ‘they’?” Heath finally asked Ari.
    “What?”
    “You said ‘they’ said her car ran off the road and hit a tree. Who found her?”
    “Pena and Cruz.”
    I didn’t know who Pena and Cruz were, but Heath seemed to. He nodded, then let go of me and moved to wrap Ari in his arms, hugging her tightly while she cried and cried. Looking over his shoulder at me, his eyes revealed just how devastated he was. I knew that Ari had been like Heath’s sister, and Milton had been something of a surrogate father to him. I thought that maybe Milton’s ex-wife might still be considered his aunt, even though Milton and Bev had been technically divorced.
    After a bit he stepped back from his cousin and said, “Let me throw on some clothes and we’ll go.” He then grabbed some folded jeans and a sweater from his suitcase and ducked back into the bathroom. I fished around in my own luggage for my last pair of clean jeans and a turtleneck sweater, and changed in front of Ari without worrying about modesty.
    For her part, Ari just sat in a chair and stared numbly down at the floor. I really wished I could say something to take away even a bit of the pain, but nothing came to mind, so I just let her be.
    Heath came out just as I was shrugging into my jacket and wordlessly we headed out of the room.
    Once we were in the parking lot, I sent a text to Gilley that Heath and I had to take care of something and we’d be back soon. He’d need to sit tight until