Killer Cousins Read Online Free PDF Page A

leader faced him. “And one cigarette might literally kill you. Outside a few minutes ago, you told me you’d quit last night. And if you smoked one, you’d want more. Then more. And before you know it, you’d be right back to where you were yesterday, coughing your lungs out.”
    “Ugggh.” I covered my mouth with my hand. All eyes trained on me. “Sorry. That wasn’t a pleasant image.”
    Faces in the room all looked tense.
    “Are you a smoker?” the leader asked me. “It’s late for you to be joining our sessions.”
    “I only tried smoking twice but got weak and coughed so much I gave up. In fact, both times I was with Stevie, in the cemetery near her house.”
    “Appropriate place,” the last man said. With extra-wide shoulders and a baby-smooth complexion, he wore cappuccino-colored linen slacks with a piece of grass sticking out of its cuff. The pattern of his dark brown rayon shirt resembled squids.
    “Everyone,” Stevie said, “this is my cousin Cealie Gunther. She’s visiting me.”
    The shapely woman gave me a warm smile—the camaraderie of short people. No one else appeared happy that I was here.
    “Hi,” I told the group. “Good luck with your goal. I empathize. Quitting smoking isn’t easy.”
    “You can say that again,” the taller woman said, others nodding.
    “And that’s the reason we’re here.” On an easel the leader set a poster with only a title: THE QUITTERS GROUP.
    I didn’t think that an appropriate name, and knew an apostrophe should have been behind the second word. I also didn’t know any of these people’s names.
    The leader’s mouth opened to speak. I interjected, “Excuse me. You all know who I am now, but I don’t know you. Not fair, is it?”
    Tha-rump tha-rump came from Stevie’s fingertips on her shoulder bag on her lap.
    The leader gave me a pinched expression. “I’m Ish Muller.” His brief nod allowed me to glimpse his premature bald spot.
    “Father Paul Edward,” the man with the cane said. He wore street clothes.
    “Kern Parfait,” said the man wearing squids.
    “Hey. I’m Fawn.” The small woman waved.
    I grinned, then looked at the larger woman who seemed unnerved by my stare. She swerved her eyes away. “Jenna.” She swallowed her last name.
    “Now,” Ish said, regaining everyone’s focus, “tell us how you all made out. Did everyone quit last night?”
    Shaky heads with gloomy eyes nodded.
    “Good. Now let’s hear what the last twenty-four hours were like for you,” Ish said.
    “I yelled at my husband and almost killed both my kids.” Fawn held up a red-striped straw. “But sucking on this kept me from hurting anyone.” She sucked on the straw, removed it, and exhaled.
    “Anything that helps. What else? Anybody?” Ish said.
    “I kept busy with my work,” Father said.
    “I took lots of deep breaths.” Stevie, at my side, surprised me with her quiet tone. And I hadn’t noticed her doing deep breathing at home. Of course, I arrived after a man died there. “And meditation helped,” she added.
    That’s what she’d said she was doing when I rang her front doorbell. She’d also said she didn’t know the dead man, but now I’d discovered he belonged to this group. What else wasn’t she telling me?
    And why weren’t any of them concerned about their fellow member’s demise?
    The group peered at Jenna. Her cheeks flushed. She kept her head down.
    Finally she looked up. “All right, I admit it. I had one today. But it was just one. And mid-afternoon. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”
    “That’s okay.” Fawn patted Jenna’s arm. “You won’t do it again, right?”
    Jenna hunched forward, hands twisting in her lap. Everyone focused on her. She looked so dejected under such scrutiny that I had to turn my eyes away. No one should have to squirm and sit in other people’s judgment while trying to stop a habit.
    After long moments, during which I imagined she nodded, Ish again spoke. “So—you’ll all continue to