The Devil You Know Read Online Free PDF

his work.”
    Nursing a broken heart or not, Barrett had a good life ahead, no loose ends from the old one lying around to trip him. If I had a suspicious mind I’d have thought he’d arranged it that way from the start. I only had his word on everything. For all I knew he’d done away with Emily, fired the servants, and had gotten me here to bump me off in revenge for Laura’s death.
    Imagination can be an ugly, illogical thing. I’d been mingling with rough company for far too long. Escott trusted the man, and I could trust Escott. He was good at figuring people out, and didn’t waste time on bad guys unless it was to put them away. He also didn’t waste time on fools, which gave me hope for myself.
    The road wound eastward, threading past various estates belonging to people who didn’t worry about money in the same way that others do.
    Sometimes I’d see a mansion through the skeletal trees and think about what living was like for those inside, but not for long since I didn’t know much about that kind of life, only what’d I’d seen in the movies. And how accurate was that?
    I bet those people all had really good cars, though.
    Our parade eventually passed the gates of a very old cemetery on the grounds of an equally old church. The brake lights for the hearse flickered, then held. Barrett slowed and stopped, and we quit the Studie, standing out of the way while the men with the hearse did what they had to do.
    I noticed Barrett slump again, head down.
    “You okay?” I asked.
    “This is difficult. Many of my family are buried here.”
    I couldn’t think of anything to say that would make him feel better. Uncomfortable, I thought of my own family and what the passage of the years would eventually accomplish. This wasn’t the first time it had crossed my mind, but I usually pushed it away, determined not to worry about things over which I had no control. I’d not told any of them about me; I didn’t know how or if I even should.
    Maureen’s sister had known about her change, and that had ended in disaster. Barrett and I wouldn’t be here tonight if—
    Damn it. Back roads named “if” were the worst. They wandered off in too many directions and no one had ever gotten anywhere traveling on them. But still. . .
    I couldn’t help feeling that I’d failed Maureen. If she’d just come to me I could have done something to help, and she would have never gone to Long Island. I’d looked at that if from every angle for almost two years, and frustration was the only result. Her choice had been to seek out Barrett. He knew all the background and was the right one to go to, but it hurt that she’d said nothing to me. Maybe she didn’t want to have the new man in her life meeting the old one. Maybe she thought I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Maybe—
    Back roads named “maybe” were bad, too.
    Whatever her reasons, she could never have anticipated a jealous fifteen-year-old girl would murder her.
    The men lighted a few kerosene lanterns rather than using more efficient flashlights. I liked that. The glow from the flames softened and warmed things, though the shadows seemed to get darker. The big bare trees looked forlorn now, but in summer their shade would make things cool and peaceful.
    “Barrett . . . is Laura here?”
    His eyes sharpened for an instant. This was the first time I’d mentioned her. “No. She was taken to Connecticut. The Franchers have a family plot someplace. I’ve not been. I couldn’t stand to go.”
    “Don’t blame you. This is a good place for Maureen.”
    She was in a part of the cemetery so old that I didn’t see how they’d found room for her. I noticed headstones going back to the 1700s, and saw the name BARRETT on some of them.
    “The place picked itself. She’s . . . she’s in my grave.”
    “Wha—?”
    “That spot was mine. Once. For a day, until sunset when I woke. I never went back. It’s been empty all these years. I didn’t think she’d mind