Lovers and Madmen(Sasha McCandless 4.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

isn’t until eleven. You have
plenty of time for breakfast.”
    She didn’t answer but kept her head down, refusing
to meet Sasha’s eyes.
    Sasha turned to Connelly, unsure of how to handle
a noncommunicative, twenty-year-old college student. She knew how to cajole her
nieces and nephews, but she doubted peek-a-boo would work on Kathryn.
    He walked into the kitchen, trailed by the kitten,
crouched in front of Kathryn, and took her hands in his.
    “Are you okay?”
    Even Kathryn couldn’t ignore Connelly when his
angular face was filled with such raw concern and his strong hands were
enveloping hers. It probably helped, Sasha thought, that all the girls at Jake’s
had crushes on him.
    Her cheeks flushed pink under the bruises, and she
said, “I’m fine. I just think … maybe I overreacted last night. It was just a
silly fight.”
    “Have you looked in the mirror, Kathryn?” Connelly
asked in a gentle voice.
    Her gaze returned to the floor.
    “He didn’t mean to hurt me so bad. He was just
worried because he hadn’t heard from me. And he got, like, crazed with jealousy.”
    Sasha bit down on her lower lip to keep from
shouting at the girl and let Connelly handle it. She busied herself with
feeding the hungry cat, who was rubbing its head against her ankle with vigor.
    “No matter how romantic you may think that is, you
aren’t in a healthy relationship,” he told her.
    “You don’t understand, you don’t know Nick—”
    Sasha turned and slammed her coffee mug down on
the counter, scaring the cat, who scurried out of the room with all four legs
going different directions.
    “No, Kathryn, you don’t know Nick. But I
do. I want you to look at me and listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”
    She waited until Kathryn dragged her eyes up to
meet her gaze, then she leaned forward and said in a slow, measured voice, “If
you don’t get away from Nick now, while you have the chance, he’ll kill you. He
will kill you . And Leo and I aren’t going to let that happen. You’re taking
a shower, you’re getting dressed, and you’re getting on that plane if I have to
drag you on by your hair. Do you understand me?”
    Kathryn shot her a sullen look and turned on her
heel. She stomped up the stairs.
    A moment later Sasha’s bathroom door slammed shut.
Sasha picked up her coffee and willed her hands to stop trembling.
    The water pipes creaked to life overhead, and the
shower started.
    She exhaled.
    Connelly was watching her.
    “What?”
    “He killed his wife—didn’t he?”
    She kept her face as blank as she could and said, “I
can’t answer that question, Connelly. It wouldn’t matter whether I said ‘yes’
or ‘no’—it would be a violation of my obligations under the Rules of
Professional Conduct.”
    His gray eyes flashed. “He did.”
    “I can’t answer that.”
    “But, Moravian—or Vickers—whatever his name was,
he killed Clarissa. He’s in prison.”
    Sasha walked over to the couch and curled her feet
under her. Connelly followed.
    “Talk to me, Sasha.”
    It was a relief to have this conversation; she
just had to have it carefully, choosing her words with precision.
    “He’s in prison because he pled guilty to killing
Ellen Mortenson. He admitted that. He admitted that he was going to kill
Martine Landry when he was apprehended. And he admitted that he intended to
kill Clarissa. But he always maintained that he couldn’t go through with it
once he learned she was pregnant. He says she was alive when he left her.”
    Connelly sat down next to her with a thoughtful
expression. She could almost see him sifting through the information.
    She waited while he mused.
    “Costopolous was arrested when the police saw that
his hammer was missing from his tool set.”
    “That’s right. He told us the real killer must
have stolen it. And I believe that did happen.”
    Connelly nodded and continued slowly, “But, as it
turns out, the hammer from his tool set wasn’t used to kill