Unknown Means Read Online Free PDF

me. I rip his arms from his sides. I will tear out his heart.”
    Anger, Evelyn knew, felt more comfortable than fear. “And I’ll help you. How is she?”
    Tears gathered in the woman’s eyes.
    Evelyn hugged her, gently. “There’s nothing worse than seeing your child in pain. I know. But the doctors here will help her. She’ll be healthy again.”
    “This would never have happened if she’d stayed on our prada.”
    The old woman snuffled against her shoulder. “If she’d stayed with her family, instead of moving out without the grace of marriage to live with that man.”
    “She loves him. And violence can happen anywhere.” Evelyn patted her shoulder before stepping back.
    Mama Gonzalez pressed a clean handkerchief to her nose.
    “We’ve lived on the same street all her life, and never did anyone

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    touch her, not with her brothers around. You must find this man.
    She thinks you are so smart, she tells me so. Be smart now.”
    Evelyn did not make promises. She considered them risky. But no sort of qualification would do in this case. “I’ll find him.”
    “Come on, Mrs. Gonzalez,” Billy said. “Your son is in with the intake counselor, and they’ll need you. She’s in there,” he added to Evelyn, pointing at the last room on the left as he led Marissa’s mother away.
    With a deep breath, Evelyn walked into the hospital room. It took conscious effort. She didn’t want to see her friend—fiery, outspoken Marissa—laid out, scratched and bruised, with a tube in her agonized throat because some son of a bitch—
    A whistling sound came and went in the clear plastic tube protruding from Marissa’s perfect lips. Ice packs covered her neck. Her clothing had been replaced by a gown, and she had a scratch on her forehead. Long eyelashes rested on her cheeks. A doctor stood on one side of the bed; Evelyn approached on the other.
    This drained form bore no resemblance to her friend. She had never seen Marissa function at less than 100 percent, somehow ex-pending more energy than she took in, as if she culled it from the air.
    Evelyn felt the red rush of pure fury start at the back of her scalp and work its way down, until her nose tingled and her heart thudded with hate. She would find who did this. And they would pay.
    She grabbed the young woman’s hand as if one of them were drowning. She wasn’t sure which.
    The doctor spoke. “Evelyn.”
    She saw now who he was. She had noticed only the white coat at first. “Robert. How are you?”
    Dumb question. Despite being clean-shaven, wide awake, and neatly dressed in Dockers and a polo shirt under his lab coat, he looked like hell. His eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I hope you get this guy.”
    She nodded, unable to speak about their pain. Instead she gestured at the ice packs. “Okay if I take a look?”

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    “Anything, if it will help.”
    The ice bag felt subzero to her flushed palm. Marissa’s entire neck had turned bright red, from either the cold or the irritation, and seemed double its normal size. A dark red line ran through the middle of it, developing the purplish hue of nascent bruises. Evelyn bit her lip and looked closer.
    The ligature had left an inch-and-a-half-wide, uniform indentation, without dipping significantly in the middle. This indicated a flat shape, as opposed to a round type of rope or wire. The pattern had established itself in the front but wavered a bit on the sides, consistent with someone crossing the ends and pulling from the rear. It seemed to have a slight checked aspect. Like a weave. Like mesh fabric.
    Like Grace Markham.
    Damn.
    She replaced the ice, caught Robert’s eye, and jerked her head toward the door. They moved into the hall and conversed in low murmurs. “What is her condition?”
    “They intubated to keep her from suffocating. It was either that or a tracheotomy, and you know how Marissa would feel about a scar.”
    “I know how she’d feel