Poisonous: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

wasn’t a big town, and everyone knew everyone else and stuck their big fat noses in everyone else’s business.
    He ran through the backyard and called up into the tree house. “Tommy! You up there?”
    Tommy’s blond head poked through the window. He grinned and waved. “Hi, Austin! What’s the code?”
    Austin sometimes tired of Tommy’s games, but Tommy would sulk if he didn’t give him the code. “SpongePants SquareBob.”
    Tommy laughed. Even though only Tommy and Austin used the tree house, Tommy changed the code the first of every month.
    Austin climbed up the ladder and pushed open the door. The tree house was pretty cool and large enough for both him and Tommy to haul up sleeping bags and a portable DVD player and watch movies until midnight. Jenny never allowed Tommy to sleep in the tree house overnight; she was afraid he’d wake up and not know where he was and fall out. Austin promised he’d sleep over the door so Tommy couldn’t fall out, but Jenny still said no. She worried too much.
    Bill had made the tree house for Tommy just before the divorce. Austin thought that Bill had built it out of guilt. Based on the timing, Bill had started construction on it about the same time he started screwing Austin’s mom up in Seattle. When Bill started dating his mother, Austin didn’t know he was still married to someone else; a year later, Bill and Jenny filed for divorce. Paula moved the family to Corte Madera and she and Bill got married.
    “When do you have to be home?” Tommy asked.
    “Six.”
    Tommy looked carefully at his watch. He set the timer. “I don’t want you to get in trouble again because of me so I set my alarm to go off in one hour.”
    Austin’s fists clenched. “It’s not your fault, Tommy. I told you that!”
    Tommy didn’t say anything. He just looked out the tree house window.
    Austin took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I yelled.” He was trying hard not to get mad at Tommy. He wasn’t mad at Tommy, he was mad at everyone else. His stepfather for letting his mother banish Tommy from the house; his mother for being a snobby bitch; Tommy’s mother for being such a worrier and treating Tommy like he’d never grow up; and Ivy. Ivy, his dead sister. He’d always hated her, and he felt like shit because she was dead and he still hated her.
    “I saw the reporter today,” Austin said.
    Tommy’s eyes widened. “She’s here? For real?”
    “Yes. She told you she was coming.”
    “I know, but people say a lot of things and sometimes they aren’t true.”
    “She’s here. I saw her. And Emma’s dad.”
    Tommy leaned forward, his pale blue eyes wide and inquisitive. “What’s she like? Did she—”
    “I didn’t talk to her.”
    Tommy frowned again. “Why not?”
    “She said she’d contact you when she arrived. Did you check your e-mail today?”
    “Yes, just like you told me to. And I have my phone with me, I’m not going to forget it. And I’m going to try not to answer my phone if my mom is around.” His brow furrowed. “Why will my mom get mad about the letter? I think my mom will be very happy if Ms. Revere finds out who killed Ivy. Everyone will be happy.”
    Everyone except the person who killed her, Austin thought. The scary thing was that it had to be someone they knew. Austin had been thinking about it for more than a year, and that was the only logical conclusion. Everyone hated Ivy, but who hated her enough to kill her?
    “Do you really think Ms. Revere will find out what happened?” Tommy asked.
    “Yes.” She had to. Tommy had been so sad since Austin’s mom kicked him out of the house. Austin missed him. Bella missed him. But more than anything, Tommy was regressing back to his simple ways. Austin had known him since his mother married Tommy’s dad, when Tommy was eleven and Austin was six. Tommy’s mom did everything for him. She didn’t want him to get his driver’s license, she didn’t want him to go away to college—didn’t even want him