Kill Switch Read Online Free PDF

“How did you know Amy was at my house?” she asked him. “Her mother told me you two were having a playdate,” he replied, annoyed.
    Claire recovered. “It wasn’t burnt popcorn, was it.”
    â€œI saw smoke coming out of her purse. And then I saw the blood. All over her. I started to scream. She puts her hand over my mouth, grabs me. And she says ...”
    â€œWhat, Todd? What did she say?”
    â€œ ‘Come see what you did to your father.’ ”
    A sudden rush of footsteps. Amy screamed. Claire turned, just in time to see Mr. Winslow carrying Amy to his car.
    She saw Quimby’s tears were coming faster now. What’s happening to me?
    â€œI beg her, ‘Don’t make me go in there.’ I try to run but she grabs me in a choke hold and pulls me up the steps through the door. I can’t breathe.... I close my eyes and turn away. But she grabs my head and almost twists it off. ‘You’re gonna see this,’ she says, and then she grabs my eyelids and pulls them open and I see them.”
    â€œYour dad and Sara.”
    â€œMommy, Mommy, come out here! Please ...”
    â€œShe was still on top of him. And blood’s pouring out of her head. My father’s head ... is gone. She takes this huge gun out of her purse. Points the gun at me. Pulls the trigger ...”
    Claire’s chest tightened. She couldn’t breathe. It was hot and humid in the room. Like a storm was coming.
    â€œNothing happened,” Quimby sobbed. “She was out of bullets. So she threw the gun down and walked out.”
    â€œMommy! The man took Amy away... .”
    Claire was lost. Quimby was staring at her.
    â€œSay something! You put me through this bullshit, so why don’t you tell me why I’m so screwed up?”
    That brought her back. She chose her words carefully.
    â€œOnly a psychopath wouldn’t be affected by what you went through, Todd.”
    â€œThat’s it? That’s all you got for me? That’s why I keep getting into trouble?”
    â€œI think that’s why you have the attitude you do toward women.”
    â€œOh, now I have an attitude toward women?”
    â€œYour father made you watch him masturbate and have sex. Your mother forced you to see how she shot him to death. These experiences made you into someone who likes to watch. To shock people. To look at them and make them have to look at you. Like you’ve been looking at me the whole time we’ve been together.”
    Quimby’s eyes filled with rage.
    â€œI swear, as I’m sitting here right now, my mother should’ve shot me. I wish the bitch killed me too.”
    Why not me? Why didn’t Winslow take me? Claire thought. Her skin suddenly grew cold. Her back stiffened. Something inside her switched off. “When was the last time you saw your mother?” Claire asked.
    â€œThe day I testified against her in court. Then I came here to live with my grandmother.”
    â€œShe never took you back to visit?”
    â€œOnce. But Mom wouldn’t see me,” he said as he stopped crying.
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œShe said I had his face. And she hated it. She said the whole thing was my fault.”
    â€œTodd, it’s not your fault that she murdered him.” Mommy said it’s not my fault. What happened to Amy was not my fault.
    â€œSure it is,” Quimby answered.
    â€œWhy? How could you possibly think it’s your fault?” Claire replied softly.
    â€œBecause I didn’t blow the whistle,” Quimby said. “He protected me from her. And when he really needed me the most, I wasn’t there for him. I screwed up.”
    Thunder. Claire could see Amy, in tears, peering at her through the window of Mr. Winslow’s BMW. Somehow knowing they would never see each other again.
    Â 
    In the observation room, Fairborn waited for Claire to make her next move. But there was only