ON DEVIL'S BRAE (A Psychological Suspense Thriller) (Dark Minds Mystery Suspense) Read Online Free PDF

the unmentionable. The answer was simpler and staring her in the face. Cassandra’s mother, Daphne Potter, had never liked children. In fact, if Cassandra had been braver, she would have said her mother hated children. Was that why her brother had gone to Thailand? He was older than Susan and a young man when he left home. If only she could remember.
    Cassandra panicked as she thought about what she had missed during her childhood. She realised there were gaps in the family photograph albums, spaces where dabs of glue still adhered in four corners of a page from a missing snapshot; odds and ends which turned up infrequently in the garden and garage; odd dolls’ arms and legs and a rusting girl’s bicycle forgotten behind piled-up tea chests stored in the large garden shed. She knew they didn’t belong to her. Occasionally, her parents would mutter some remark about a time or place from the past, followed by a black look and a drawn-out silence of which Cassandra thought she was the cause. If she had known, she would have seen the clues.
    Confused and with an ache in her throat, Cassandra croaked, “Why did my sister leave home, and why didn’t she come back? In fact, why did Rupert go away as well?”
    Daphne’s mouth screwed up even more as she hissed out those fateful words. “She was a dropout and a difficult child from the moment she was born. Out all night, drinking, smoking, sex, and…those drugs. She caused so much awful misery to Daddy and me and Rupert with all her terrible lies. When she finally left home, it was a relief. Rupert left because…because he wanted to travel. It was as simple as that. He fell in love with the Far East and never returned.”
    For some inexplicable reason, Cassandra wasn’t so worried about her brother. Because he was such an older, shadowy figure and had left when she was young, she accepted it. But discovering a sister was entirely different as far as she was concerned. She thought her mother might have been exaggerating and persisted with her questions. “But…but don’t you ever keep in touch? Do you hear from her, ever?”
    Cassandra watched Daphne touch her tight curls with one blood-red manicured hand, her fingers covered in sparkling rings. Mummy was always impeccably turned out. She was the perfect lady about the house and town. “No. Never and we’re happy with that.”
    Cassandra’s heart contracted. “And you’ve never tried to find her?”
    There was a pause, and she stole a look at her mother’s forbidding face. “No. We did hear some time ago that she was a sculptor of some sort. Apparently, she had an exhibition in London, but we never made contact. Besides, she knew where we lived, and she didn’t bother getting in touch with us.”
    Cassandra moved away from her mother and reached out to touch the petals of a pale-yellow rose. “A sculptor? Do you think Susan might like to know me?”
    Daphne gave her daughter an impatient look. “I doubt it, darling. Why would she bother?”
    Cassandra recoiled as if from a blow. She wanted to know. She didn’t want to ask questions or appear too interested, but the need was great. “What did she do? What trouble did she cause? What was she like?”
    “Apart from what I’ve already told you, I find it distressing to remember, and I certainly don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Daphne refused to make eye contact, her upper body rigid and unyielding. “It’s enough you know about her now. She looked a bit like you. Same mid-brown hair.” This was all she would concede and took a step away. Cassandra knew that she was about to end the conversation.
    “But please, Mummy! What did she do that was really so wrong?”
    Daphne folded her arms across her chest, lightly rubbing her elbows. She licked her lips. “Must I repeat myself? She caused trouble by making up a lot of dreadful stories and telling outrageous lies. Susan was wayward and unstable from the time she could talk. She was never quiet or