The Grave Soul Read Online Free PDF Page A

grandmother. One for my Uncle Doug and Aunt Laurie. One for my Aunt Hannah.”
    â€œAnd one for us. That’s five.”
    â€œYou think my grandmother’s going to let us to sleep in the same room?”
    He looked over at her. “Isn’t she? I mean, we live together.”
    â€œNot when we’re under her roof. You better make your peace with the fact that we’ll be staying in separate bedrooms.”
    â€œUntil everyone goes to sleep.”
    She glanced at him and grinned. “We can’t get caught. Gram is very religious.”
    â€œWhat flavor?”
    â€œCatholic.”
    â€œI never knew that. When I asked you, you said you weren’t religious.”
    â€œI’m not. My dad wasn’t big on church stuff. I never went much as a kid—only when Gram made me. I mean, I’m sure Dad considers himself Catholic. My Aunt Hannah goes sometimes with my grandma, when she’s in town for the weekend. My Uncle Doug thinks religion is a crock. Aunt Laurie is a wonderful woman, but she’s a mouse.”
    â€œIs that a religious affiliation?”
    She chucked him on the arm. “No, I just mean she’s quiet. She blends in, makes an effort to go with the flow.”
    â€œYou mean she stays under the radar?”
    â€œI suppose that could be her motivation. For all I know, she’s a practicing Buddhist. She was like a second mother to me growing up. I don’t blame her for being quiet around my uncle. You know how they say every family has a few jerks? Uncle Doug’s ours. He knows everything there is to know about politics and isn’t afraid to tell you.”
    â€œSounds like Thanksgiving at the Adlers may have a little drama.”
    â€œWe’re all pretty well behaved. Except, as I said, for Uncle Doug.”
    â€œDid your dad ever remarry?”
    â€œNever.”
    â€œYour mom was probably a hard act to follow.”
    Kira chewed her lip and didn’t respond.
    â€œNo interest in women?”
    â€œHow do I put this politely? Dad has a number of … friends in town. Friends with benefits. He rarely wants for female attention, but there’s nobody special in his life.”
    They reached the farm just after eleven. Guthrie stood behind his ancient Subaru Impreza and lifted the luggage out of the trunk. As usual, he and Kira had both overpacked. Guthrie cut himself some slack because he wanted to make a good impression and wasn’t entirely certain from what Kira had told him whether the family tended toward the casual or formal. He had to cover all his bases.
    Grandma Evangeline’s house, a rambling old farmhouse with white clapboard siding and Victorian pretensions, sat perched on a small rise surrounded by hoar-frosted fields dotted with trees. There was an old garage, the kind with doors that folded to the side, and a barn that looked new.
    â€œIt was a working farm once upon a time, right?” asked Guthrie, refolding his scarf over his wool cardigan.
    Kira stretched her arms over her head as she gazed up at the cloudless late-autumn sky. “Dairy cows. When my Grandpa Henry inherited the place, he sold off a bunch of the land and all of the cattle. Did I ever tell you that Great-Grandpa Adler started the New Dresden Herald back in the early 1920s? He was minor royalty in town. He ran the newspaper until he retired and turned the reins over to Grandpa Henry.”
    â€œDid the royalty status transfer with it?”
    She smiled. “Yes, for a time. There was more to it than just the newspaper. Henry married Jamie Carmody’s daughter, Evangeline. Old Jamie C. was a wealthy businessman, owned property all over the county, bootlegged during Prohibition. He supplied—if not outright owned—every bar in a hundred-mile radius of New Dresden. Bars are big in rural Wisconsin, in case you didn’t know.”
    â€œSo I’m dating a princess of the realm.”
    â€œAnd I expect to be