Thicker Than Blood Read Online Free PDF

Marty was a good kid. But your grandpa, he spoiled him. Me, I never had no kids. Maybe I woulda done the same. But it’s a blessing Enrique is not alive to see him now.”
    “Pop never got over Mama.”
    “Fine woman. You are like her, I think.”
    “You wouldn’t believe how wrong you are.” She was surprised to hear herself blurt: “You know Jason Karl was killed?
    Bruno nodded. “Hit and run. Dirty coward. Jason and me, we weren’t friends—” He frowned at her. “That’s got nothing to do with the agency’s account with you, does it?”
    “I think the car that ran over him is parked right here.” She pointed at the floor.
    “Rachel baby, you’re not in any trouble, are you?”
    “No, no. I’m fine. It’s just that it seems like the right thing would be to call the police, but Pop made me swear I wouldn’t.”
    “At least Marty still has some brains left. You stay out of it. None of your business. You want I should have Aaron call you and explain why you don’t want to get mixed up in something like that? You want to hear about all the do-gooders who got their noses whacked off by cops?” Aaron Reiner had been her attorney.
    “No,” she murmured. “I don’t need to talk to Aaron. You’re right.”
    “Good. Now I got this proposition for you.”
    Rachel squeezed her eyes shut. “I know.”
    “Not that one,” Bruno cut in. “This is for while you’re making up your mind on the other. I got some money I want to put into this God-forsaken flophouse for cars. Partners. We could expand. Do some towing. Triple-A maybe.”
    Rachel ran her hand through her hair. Her forehead was damp. She needed a shower. “I don’t know.”
    “You don’t know? Piece of cake.”
    She rested her head in her hand. “Maybe. I just don’t know.”
    “Rachel, the other, take your time, I’m not gonna pressure you. But this is a walk in the park. Good for you, good for me.”
    She closed her eyes and rocked back and forth. “Can you give me some time? I’m too tired to think.”
    “What’s to think? Just say yes.”
    Something surged inside her: “Bruno, you’re a dear, kind, wonderful guy. I owe you my life. And I love you. But I don’t think we should get married, and I like my business as it is.”
    “Sorry, kid, I shoulda known better. You had a bad day. What can I say? I’m a dumb Dago. My wife, that’s what she used to say. Take your time. Think about it.”
    Chapter Seven
    By the time Bruno left, Rachel wanted nothing so much as to put her head down on the counter and sleep. But in bed, sleep did not come. Her arms, legs, head, felt made of lead. She was almost too weary to turn over, her eyes burned with fatigue.
    Insomnia was something new. Even when she had plummeted into despair that night she was in jail—before Bruno made her bail—she had slept.
    A little after midnight, she got up. With Clancy blinking at her from the arm of the sofa, she fixed some warm milk, moving about in the dark like a burglar in her own home for fear that light would wake her more.
    The air in the apartment seemed thin and dead. She opened a window. The night had not cooled much. Maybe it would help to go outside, just for a few minutes. She threw on a tee shirt and jeans, took the elevator down, and slumped her disheveled body onto the small white bench in the narrow patch of green in front of the garage.
    Magnolia trees that graced the entrance to the water district headquarters across the street had shed their blooms and the carpet of petals along the sidewalk looked like the aftermath of a ticker-tape parade. Lights in the offices were going out one at a time. The cleaning people finishing up, Rachel decided.
    She leaned back and turned her face to the sky. The stars were barely visible in the haze above the city. It had been a night like this, the air swollen with unseasonable humidity, when she had nearly run that family off the road in Oakland.
    Someone touched her arm. Rachel flinched away, opened her