Killer Cousins Read Online Free PDF

need help. Here is today’s material. Does everyone have a pencil or pen?”
    He passed out papers to all except me. I watched Stevie print her name in tall letters. Her paper contained lines for complete sentences or paragraphs. It also held cartoons of smiling people. I guessed those happy people had quit smoking.
    I leaned near her. “You didn’t tell me the man who died came to these sessions.”
    “I didn’t know.” A grimace froze on her face.
    “He was in this small group, and you didn’t know he was here?” I indicated the people following Ish’s instructions for writing. “How could you miss anybody in here?”
    My voice probably carried. Ish gave me a pained expression.
    “Sorry to interrupt you,” I said.
    “I never saw the man before,” my cousin told me. “If he was here, I didn’t see him.”
    “Who?” Fawn leaned forward.
    “Yes, may I ask who you’re talking about?” Ish didn’t hide his annoyance.
    I wasn’t about to tell them their fellow stop-smoker had died in Stevie’s yard.
    But Stevie did. “The man you were talking about when we came in,” she announced. “He was discovered dead in someone’s yard today. That yard was mine.”
    “Oh.” Fawn pressed back in her chair.
    “Your yard?” the priest said.
    Jenna’s face blanched.
    Ish came to Stevie. “Pierce Trottier died at your place?”
    “I guess so, if that was his name.”
    “I’m sorry a friend of yours died today,” I said to everyone. They probably would not like to know I fell across their friend. I didn’t like it, either. Suddenly, I felt him pressed against my shins.
    “How could you have not known him?” Ish asked Stevie.
    “I didn’t know him. When did he come here? I never saw him in any of our sessions.”
    “I want a cigarette!” Jenna said. “I’m sorry, I’m going to have one.”
    “No, don’t!” Fawn produced a straw from her purse. “Have a straw instead.”
    Jenna swept past her out the door.
    “Now you see?” The priest glared at Stevie. “You’re making her smoke again.”
    “I’m not making anybody smoke. And I didn’t know that man.” Stevie got up to her feet. “I’m leaving. Are you coming?” she asked me.
    “Of course.” I felt like her supporter, but wasn’t even sure I agreed with her. Was she lying to all of us? “Nice meeting you all,” I said.
    “Don’t forget your material.” Ish intercepted Stevie. “Read these. They’ll help you.”
    I stood behind my cousin and couldn’t see her face, but determined flames could’ve flared out her nostrils. She yanked the papers from his hands and stormed out.
    The moment I walked outside, I smelled smoke. I spied a tiny red glow behind bushes. “See you later,” I called to the person I figured was Jenna.
    No response. The red glow moved deeper behind the bushes.
    I snapped on my seatbelt a second before Stevie peeled into the street, her foot never seeming to touch the brakes, even at corners.
    “Well that was nice,” I said. Her face turned to me, her expression curious. “The meeting,” I explained. “Lots of interesting people.”
    Her throat made a gritty sound. She stared at the road, her hand dipping into the large purse at her side. She dug around.
    I hoped she wouldn’t pull out a cigarette, but knew she could do worse.
    Stevie withdrew a Tootsie Pop. “Want one?”
    I hadn’t eaten a chocolate Tootsie Pop in more years than I wanted to count. It enticed me, but my waistband still felt too tight. “Maybe later.”
    She stuck hers in her mouth. Within moments, she appeared soothed.
    At least that new bulge in her cheek and white stick dangling from her mouth gave her a semblance of the Stevie I’d known. The lively jokester had been her image, even until a few weeks ago, when we’d spoken on the phone. Something in the recent past had caused her personality to twist one hundred eighty degrees.
    Had the transformation come about last night, when nicotine started leaching from her system? Or