To Thine Own Self Be True Read Online Free PDF Page A

sadly. “It’s possible.”
    The patterns on the floor stopped moving.
    I ran to the bathroom. And threw up.

Chapter Five
    The wind whistled through my windows most of the night, finally dying down around four. I know this because I spent those hours intensely aware of a piercing pain behind my temple, and a deep ache in my chest. A bucket sat by my bed in case whatever was left in my stomach decided to come out. Mandy was dead. That lively, obnoxious, funny woman was left to die thirty feet from where I lay, taking a nap.
    I didn’t ever want to sleep again.
    After my quick exit to the bathroom, the detective and Officer Beane hadn’t stayed very long. Shisler had told Lucy—for I was beyond being able to absorb anything she told me—that she would be in touch to see if I could help with anything more. Wolf was still out there somewhere, and they had to consider whether or not he was the one who killed his wife, no matter how much I protested the idea. Shisler had said she’d appreciate a call if something additional came to mind about the afternoon, or if I thought of some other source that could help. Her card lay on the kitchen table.
    I rolled out of bed, head pounding, and stood by the window, watching as clouds of snow blew by, obscuring the night sky. During one of the still moments I got a view of Nick’s Ranger, blanketed under almost a foot of snow. My head pounded even harder. With the horror of the evening I’d basically forgotten the man sleeping downstairs on my sofa. Lucy had taken over as hostess, offering to sleep in Tess’ room so Nick could have a real bed, but Nick wouldn’t hear of it. Said if he couldn’t handle a sofa, what kind of man was he?
    I leaned my forehead against the window, wondering what the hell I was going to do if Nick stuck around very long the next day, wanting to talk about things. About us. It wasn’t like I could just forget that his family lived on money made from developing land in Virginia. I mean, developers were my arch-enemy, and had been since I was a kid. Nick was now the CEO of the family business, after his dad had died earlier in the year, and I had no idea what he’d done with Hathaway Development since taking it over.
    I went back to bed, but turned off my alarm just before five, not sure exactly how much sleep I’d gotten in those semi-conscious hours. It would have to do.
    Coming out of the bathroom I almost ran over Lucy, who was heading toward the stairs.
    “Hey,” she said. “How’re you doing?”
    I shook my head and stumbled after her.
    “Maybe you should go back to bed,” she said. “I’m sure the storm was generous in the amount of problems it brought, and you need energy to deal with it. I can do the morning milking.”
    “I need to work,” I said.
    She understood.
    In the living room I turned on the TV with the volume down low. The five-o’clock news was just starting, and of course one of the headlines was Mandy’s murder. I waited through some commercials and world news before they finally got to the story. I watched, numb, before clicking the remote and entering the kitchen.
    “What are they saying?” Lucy asked. She stood at the counter, buttering a piece of toast. “I couldn’t make myself watch.”
    “No suspects they’re admitting to, and no leads on where Wolf might be.”
    “So nothing we didn’t already know.” She hesitated. “I called Lenny last night and told him. Shook him up, too. Said he’s not close to them, but Bart knows them pretty well.”
    Bart Watts, Lenny’s business partner, was another friend of mine with more tattoos than your average citizen.
    I turned toward the cupboard and glimpsed Nick standing at the kitchen door, rumpled and sleepy. I took a deep breath and concentrated on finding a cereal bowl.
    “Should I make the coffee?” he asked.
    My stomach clenched. “Only if you want it.”
    Lucy opened another cupboard, revealing a coffeemaker. “Here. It’s just a two-cupper, but it makes