Read Online A Thorn Among the Lilies by Michael Hiebert - Free Book Online

Frustration Girl, but ass face gets so much more across with just two little words.”
    â€œYeah, I like it. I’ll give you permission to use it. Not like it’s copyrighted or anythin’.” She laughed.
    Jonathon pushed the box containing the leftover four pieces of pizza toward the crow. It got scared and flew back into the maple, but within five minutes all four of them were down in the box basking in the delight of Raven Lee’s pizza.
    â€œI always knew crows had no taste,” Jonathon said. “Anyway, I really gotta get these pizzas delivered. It certainly was an incredible pleasure to meet you, Carry.”
    â€œSame for me. Call me soon. Please. I always feel like a princess locked up in some tower unable to get away. We can go out and do stuff. Even before Christmas break if you want. I would love to do anything between now and after New Year’s.”
    â€œSounds like you just love Satsuma High.”
    â€œIt’s not any particular school I hate, it’s all schools. And it’s not that I do badly at it, my marks are usually quite good. I just hate goin’ to school.”
    â€œI think I understand. Anyway, see you later, Destroyer of Food.”
    â€œSee you later,” Carry said, “Deliverer of the Ice Pizza.”
    Jonathon stood and Carry followed suit. Then he said, “Do you mind if I hug you?”
    She felt her face flush. “No, not at all. I’d like that, in fact.”
    He gave her a nice, tender hug that lasted at least ten seconds. Carry felt her insides melt in his arms. When he broke free of their embrace, he picked up the remaining six pizza boxes and said good-bye with a smile before he continued up Hunter Road, whistling as he went.
    Carry watched him until he disappeared over the hill, disbelieving what had just happened. Madame Crystalle’s premonition had come true. She’d met a boy. And he may not have black hair and muscles—he had blue eyes and was extremely funny and cute. And in the end, extremely funny and cute wins out over muscles any day.
    She was a little leery about introducing him to her mother after what happened last time her mother met a boy she was seeing. Madame Crystalle may have said her mother would be okay with it, but when your last experience ended with your mother pointing a loaded firearm at your boyfriend’s private parts and threatening to blow his balls off, you tend to become a little skeptical.
    But Carry didn’t care. She still had a stomach full of air balloons from Jonathon’s hug. She felt herself falling into a big hole, like the one Alice did in Through the Looking-Glass. Only, Carry wasn’t sure she’d ever want to get out again.

C HAPTER 8
    L eah stood in her kitchen trying to think about what to make for supper. She was home unusually early, so she wanted to take advantage of it. Uncle Hank had gone to Satsuma for the day to do a little shopping, and the kids were out, so it was just her and her thoughts—always a bad combination.
    She still couldn’t get her last view of Mercy Jo out of her mind. Leah hated autopsy rooms, and she felt like she was really starting to let Mercy Jo down with the investigation. Leah was running out of leads, and she was running out of them fast.
    Putting on some coffee, she sat down at the kitchen table and thought about all the things they didn’t know about this case. Questions like, Why did the killer keep her alive for a week with her eyes sewn shut, basically torturing her before finally killing her? Was this symbolic in some way?
    Why was she left with a sculpted cross in her pocket? Again, was this a symbol of some sort? Or a gift? Or did it hold some bigger meaning?
    What is so important about the words drawn across her chest? This one really bothered Leah. She felt certain they were there for one reason and one reason only: to taunt the police. And that meant this was someone who should be on the radar. In