Read The Grave Soul for Free Online Page B

drink?”
    Guthrie waited for the brawl to begin. Instead, he heard the sound of wood creaking as Doug resumed his chair. After that, neither man spoke for a while.
    Finally, Doug muttered, “All the beds in this house should be taken out and burned. They’re so old they probably have fleas.”
    â€œThe price we pay,” said Kevin.
    â€œWe all know about paying prices.”
    Kevin said nothing.
    â€œI think … I … am officially drunk,” said Doug.
    â€œI think you’ve been officially drunk all day.”
    â€œShut up. On my days off, I like to relax.”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œThat kid,” continued Doug. “You ask me, he had a lot of nerve asking all those questions about Delia. I felt like we were being interrogated.”
    â€œHe’s head over heels for Kira,” said Kevin. “But yeah, he’s definitely the nosey type.”
    Guthrie stiffened. He’d joined Doug and Kevin in the living room to watch the Green Bay game after dinner. Had he gone too far with his questions? After all, he and Kira were serious about each other. It stood to reason that he’d want to know about her mother.
    â€œIt just pisses me off,” said Doug. In a voice apparently meant to mimic Guthrie’s, he said, “Where’d you meet Delia? Was she depressed before she died? God, Kevin, I hope you weren’t the one who found her.”
    â€œHe doesn’t know jack shit,” said Kevin.
    â€œExactly,” said Doug. “We covered our tracks. End of story.”
    â€œExcept, it’s not the end. I’m not sure it will ever end.”
    A wave of apprehension rolled through Guthrie’s chest. Covered our tracks? What did they mean by that?
    A new voice was added to the mix. Hannah’s bedroom was on the first floor. Guthrie hadn’t heard her moving around downstairs, but suddenly she said, “What are you boys talking about at this hour?”
    â€œThe usual,” said Kevin.
    â€œYou gonna share that whiskey?”
    When Guthrie heard chair legs scraping the linoleum again, he assumed that Hannah had joined them at the table. He was so freaked at how easily he might be caught eavesdropping from the stairs that he got up and headed back to his room. How could he ever tell Kira what he’d just heard, especially since nothing had been explicitly stated? Would she really want to know if her family was responsible for her mother’s death—or, at the very least, was keeping some aspect of the death a secret?
    If Guthrie took a cold, pragmatic approach, he supposed Delia’s passing, however it happened, could be considered water under the bridge, unlikely to have any impact on Kira’s life today. And yet, he knew himself well enough to realize that if he and Kira got married—and he was planning to pop the question on Christmas Eve—it was a scab he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from picking. Even more worrisome was the fact that Kevin Adler knew that he was more interested in Delia’s death than he had any right to be. That had been Guthrie’s mistake, though there was nothing to be done about it now.
    This trip hadn’t turned out to be the kind of up close and personal he’d been looking forward to with the Adler family. He’d be a fool if he didn’t wonder, now that he’d linked his life with Kira’s, what kind of a hornet’s nest he’d just stepped into.

 
    PART THREE: LATE DECEMBER
    For every complex problem there is a solution—simple, neat, and wrong.
    â€”H. L. MENCKEN

 
    8
    SIX DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
    Minneapolis
    Jane leaned back in her chair and tossed her reading glasses on the desktop. She’d been concentrating for hours on the late-winter menu, sourcing possible options for specials, working on expanding some of the “Small Bites” options for the Lyme House’s main-course menu. She needed a break. The