Head Over Heels Read Online Free PDF

in baffled horror. “I sure never envisioned anything like this . How could Eddiehave done it? I always thought he was the nicest, most forbearing guy, because, face it, we both know what Crystal could be like. But this! I mean, I knew they were in the middle of a custody battle for Lizzy, but I never thought…I never dreamed …” Shoving her hair off her forehead, she swallowed hard. “Gawd, I actually encouraged her to let him raise Lizzy, because I thought he was the better parent.”
    â€œHe was the better parent. I guess he just snapped.”
    â€œThey’re positive he’s the one who did it, though?” Veronica shook her head impatiently. “Well, of course they are—it had to be him, didn’t it? Otherwise he never would have run and left Lizzy to deal with everything all on her own.” A bitter taste coated the back of her tongue.
    â€œEddie and Crystal had a pretty public fight at the Tonk that night, too,” Marissa said gently. “He made some threats. And the police found his leather jacket in a dumpster in the same lot where they found her body. She had trace evidence from it under her fingernails.” Then, her face stricken, she reached over and squeezed Veronica’s hand. “I’m sorry, V. That was insensitive. Let’s talk about something else, what do you say?”
    â€œYeah.” She swallowed hard, wanting desperately to erase the images that had sprung to mind. “Help me figure out someone really good to stay with Lizzy when I have to work.”

3
    B Y THE TIME M ARISSA ’ S KIDS AND L IZZY BURST through the kitchen door a few hours later, Veronica had made some decisions concerning her six-year-old niece’s welfare. She studied Lizzy for changes as the little girl entered on the tail of lanky, eight-year-old Riley, who was wrangling loudly with his sister Dessa, whose static-charged blond curls seemed to take on the energy of her personality as she argued with pedal-to-the-metal ferocity. Lizzy’s golden brown hair was neatly combed as always, her retro pea jacket and jeans spic-and-span, her tennis shoes firmly tied. Her genes were an interesting combination of both parents, and she had Crystal’s smaller stature and delicate bone structure. Veronica thought she looked thinner as she trailed quietly in the rambunctious Travitses’wake, her expression solemn. But the moment her gaze settled on Veronica, her entire face lit up.
    â€œAunt Ronnie?” She stopped dead by the kitchen counter, her backpack dangling from one shoulder where she’d started to take it off. “You’re here!”
    Riley and Dessa quit arguing and turned to stare at Veronica, who had risen to her feet at their entrance. Backpack thumping to the floor, Lizzy launched herself across the room but stumbled to a halt just inches away from hurling herself into Veronica’s arms. Her chin dipped to her chest and her narrow shoulders hunched up around her ears as she stole a hesitant peek at her aunt through the silky curtain of her bangs.
    Her uncertainty tore at Veronica’s heart. “C’mere, you!” She hauled the child into her arms and held her tightly to her breast. “I’ve missed you! Do you know how long it’s been since we were last together? It’s been exactly two months, three weeks, and—”
    â€œSix long days ,” Lizzy said in unison with Veronica, tilting her head back to look up at her aunt as she completed the litany of their time spent apart. She relaxed into Veronica’s embrace. “I counted it up on my calendar last night.”
    Crystal had been in the habit of driving her daughter over the Cascades and dropping her off at Veronica’s whenever she had hot plans for the weekend. And since she’d often had hot plans, and an even hotter determination to keep Eddie from having custody of Lizzy one minute longer than their original agreement