Slow Burn Read Online Free PDF

they finished with her. Then she was brought upstairs and assigned a room.
    Kiera was pacing in the hallway. Isabel was sitting on the edge of the bed watching television. The footage of the aftermath of the explosion was all over the news.
    The second Isabel spotted Kate she jumped up, anxiously waited until she was in bed, and threw herself into her sister’s arms.
    “You’re okay, right? You gave us quite a scare, but you’re okay, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, I’m fine.”
    Kiera grabbed the controls and adjusted the bed so that Kate could sit up.
    “You’re not seeing three of me, are you?” Isabel asked. She was fluffing the pillow behind Kate’s head and causing her sister a good deal of pain.
    “If she were seeing three of you, she’d be screaming now. One Isabel is enough.” Kiera laughed.
    “Not funny,” Isabel said, but she, too, was smiling.
    Kiera picked up Kate’s chart from the metal slot at the foot of the hospital bed and began to read the doctor’s notes.
    “Should you be looking at that?” Isabel asked.
    Kiera shrugged. “If they don’t want you to read it, they shouldn’t leave it. They’re keeping you overnight for observation.”
    “I know,” Kate said. “I want to go home.”
    “You should stay . . . as a precaution,” she added. “Aunt Nora was still at her meeting, but we’ve left a message for her. No doubt she’ll want to bring a cot in here so she can keep watch all night.”
    “Did she crack her head?” Isabel wondered, peering over Kiera’s shoulder at the chart.
    “I don’t think so. Her skull is like granite.”
    Isabel took hold of Kate’s hand. “You scared me . . . I mean us. You scared us. I don’t know what we would do without you. It was lonely while you were in Boston. When Kiera was home, her nose was always in a medical book.”
    “She’s going to be fine, Isabel. Stop stressing.”
    Isabel walked to the window and sat on the ledge. “Okay, I won’t stress. So tell me . . . who was the man with the ambulance guys? He was really cute.”
    “Men don’t like being called cute,” a male voice responded.
    None of them had noticed that Nate was standing in the doorway.
    He was taken aback when all three sisters turned toward him. Damn, there wasn’t a homely one among them. Isabel’s face turned bright pink almost instantly.
    “Please come in,” Kate said. She introduced him to her sisters and waited for him to tell her why he was there.
    “I forgot to give you my card,” he said. “If you need anything or remember anything, no matter how insignificant you might think it is, I want you to call me.”
    “Yes, I will.”
    He hesitated but couldn’t think of anything else to ask or say that would keep him in the room. “How’s your head?”
    “Better.”
    He nodded. “Okay then.”
    He was turning to leave when Isabel called, “May I ask you something, Detective?” She took a step toward him and smiled.
    Kate and Kiera shared a look. Isabel was turning on the charm, her never-fail charm. She brushed her hair back and took another step.
    “Sure,” he said. “What do you want to know?”
    “Are the police going to put that painter, Cinnamon, in protective custody?”
    He leaned against the door frame. “Why would you ask?”
    She tilted her head toward the television. “She’s on the news, and she’s demanding police protection, which is really ironic when you think about it. She’s always trashed the police until now. One of the reporters on the news quoted some of the horrible things she’s said in the past. I think she said that you were all on the take or something like that. I don’t know why she hasn’t been sued.” She took a deep breath and then said, “Cinnamon says that it was a bomb and it was meant to kill her. She says people are trying to silence her because of her political views . . . and oh, her art, too.”
    “She thinks people are trying to kill her because of her paintings? Is she that bad?” Kiera asked.