Whiskey Island Read Online Free PDF

don’t want me here?”
    “You know I do! This place is as much yours as mine. It’s just…” Megan faced her and crossed her arms. “You said you weren’t ever coming back. Suddenly you show up and you want to stay indefinitely?”
    “I don’t want to stay. But I need a place to live, and I need a job. It’s that simple.”
    “You have an apartment and a job in Chicago.”
    “Not anymore. I subleased the apartment and quit the job.”
    “But you loved that job.”
    “You’ve never been a child welfare worker. I burned out.”
    Megan sidestepped a little and felt her way. “What’s the deal with the kid, Casey? Does she need a place to live, too?”
    “Ashley’s mother is a friend having a tough time. She finally got a decent job in Milwaukee, but she doesn’t have a good place to stay or enough money for decent child care. It would be better for her to settle in before Ashley joins her. So I agreed to take her for a while.”
    Megan didn’t point out that Casey didn’t seem to have a job or a place to live, either. This was not the time to argue. “My daytime bartender quit today, and the apartment’s empty. Think you can handle both?”
    “If I can handle everything that’s already happened….” Casey shook her head, as if she still had things that were bothering her. “Meg, that whole episode tonight was awful.”
    Megan’s throat tightened. “Well, sure it was. It was terrible.” She swallowed. “I can’t even guess how bad it must have been for you.”
    “Some homecoming, huh? Peggy and I wanted to surprise you. We thought it was time for a reunion. I thought it would mean a lot to have it here.” She paused. “After everything.”
    “You know it does.” Megan tried to smile. “Though the carjacking cast a pretty long shadow.”
    “I wanted to drive right over them. I knew the moment they materialized what they wanted. But they already had guns drawn. I couldn’t risk them shooting at us. Ashley was sitting on her booster seat. They could have so easily hit her.”
    “Are you feeling guilty that you didn’t prevent it? Casey, are you crazy?”
    “Not guilty. More like a screwup. The story of my life. One more thing I couldn’t get right.”
    “But you were so brave. I heard you threw yourself over Ashley and Peggy when Niccolo slugged the gunman.”
    “Niccolo came out of nowhere. It was like God sent an avenging angel.”
    Megan sniffed unappreciatively. “Niccolo was just walking by. People walk by. Sometimes they wish they hadn’t. You didn’t have a conversion experience, did you? A Road to Damascus sort of thing?”
    “Meg, Niccolo wasn’t the only person who came out of nowhere.”
    Megan had been about to chide her sister for magical thinking. She stopped instead and examined her, waiting for Casey to go on.
    “There was someone else,” Casey said at last.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “The blond guy, the one who was holding the gun at my throat?”
    “I hope they lock him away for a hundred years.”
    “He’ll be out on the streets by my next birthday. But that’s not my point.” Casey took a deep breath, as if she was reliving the experience. “He grabbed my arm and threw me toward the hood of my car. I just barely managed to keep myself upright. I stumbled to where Niccolo was standing with Peggy and Ashley. The blond guy had my keys, and it only takes a second to start the car. But he didn’t.”
    “Because somehow he was injured.”
    Casey nodded. “Remember Niccolo said he thought he saw someone running off?”
    “I know, but he was an inch away from passing out at the time. He wasn’t much of a witness. And you said there was no one there.”
    “There was someone, Meg. I saw him, too.”
    Megan waited a moment, but Casey didn’t go on. “What are you trying to say? That you’ve changed your mind? The cops’ll understand. I’m sure they realize the kind of strain you were under.”
    “I didn’t change my mind. I