Read Online Hints of Heloise by Laura Lippman - Free Book Online

can’t be there for me—well, I can’t be responsible for what happens.”
    Is Meghan threatening her? The thought is almost laughable, except…there is something steely in her sister’s voice, something cold and resolute that Heloise recognizes. It is a quality she remembers from Val, the willingness to destroy others, even at the risk of destroying oneself. Val killed a boy just for laughing at his name, and the striking thing to Heloise is that he has never expressed any regret about it. He has never said, I can’t believe I ruined my life over such a silly thing. Or: What was I thinking? In fact, whenever he spoke of the crime to Heloise it was in the context of the inevitable death-sentence appeal. He mused how, if he had to be in prison for the boy’s death, he wished he could go back and inflict more pain on him, not kill him with the relative speed and kindness of a single bullet to the brain. The cliché about bullies is that they back down when confronted. But Heloise has known a different kind of bully, men—and women—who will happily upend your life just because they can. Meghan knows what Heloise does for a living. Meghan has the power to ruin her and she won’t stop to think about how it might boomerang on her.
    â€œThe Starbucks by the mall?”
    â€œYes. As soon as possible.”
    Â 
    â€œI’ M A WHORE ,” H ELOISE SAYS. “I charge men money for sex. That doesn’t mean I know how to help you cover up a murder.”
    â€œKeep your voice down,” Meghan says, although she knows it’s her voice that’s closer to being out of control. Then: “And who said murder? That’s the problem. He’s still breathing, I think. His chest looked like it was moving.”
    â€œAnd you left him there?”
    It’s a curious feeling, seeing the horror in Heloise’s eyes, being judged by a whore, Heloise’s very word.
    â€œTemporary insanity,” she says, gauging Heloise’s reaction, wanting to see how this theory might play. “No, seriously, I just lost it. I was sitting there at Mark’s battle-of-the-bands practice, and I kept getting angrier and angrier, and when they broke for lunch, I couldn’t help myself, I drove back home to have it out with Brian. Don’t you hate that thing men do, where they drop some huge piece of information on you when they know there’s no time to discuss it?”
    Heloise, happily manless, looks baffled.
    â€œI just wanted to talk to him. I don’t know why I did what I did. But if he’s dead, then it’s over, there’s nothing to be done. But what if he’s not?”
    â€œMaybe he has a head injury. Then if he regains consciousness and starts talking about how you shoved him—”
    â€œI really didn’t mean to.” She’s beginning to believe this, the more she says it.
    â€œYou can say it’s the result of the fall. If he regains consciousness. You could have crippled him for life, Meghan. Your husband could be a paraplegic now.”
    It takes a second for Meghan to process the horror of this, the idea that she has created an invalid, someone who will require a lifetime of care and provide nothing in return. Dead, Brian is worth a lot to her. Permanently disabled, all he will cough up is a small lump sum, eighteen months of mortgage payments, and then they have to petition to get on the federal system. She knows this thanks to Dan Simmons, insurance agent extraordinaire. He’s been trying to tell her that they don’t have adequate coverage for disability, and she’s been blowing him off.
    â€œGo home, Meghan,” Heloise says. “Don’t leave him there, whatever you do.”
    She shakes her head. “I have to go get Mark. The practice ends in less than an hour.”
    â€œBut…then he’ll be with you when you go home. Do you want to do that to your son, have him see his father