Read Online Relative Malice by Marla Madison, Madison - Free Book Online Page A

I were destined to be together.” As if knowing he was being talked about, the big cat mewed softly and rolled over, seeking attention. Brynn rubbed his belly. “I thought Morrie told you about me.”
    “He didn’t say you were a witch.”
    Kendall saw her smile. Fleeting, but definitely there. A first.
    “That’s funny. No, I’m not a witch. I just started doing this for the money.”
    That was what Morrie had told her. “So, getting back to the Glaussons . . .”
    “The mother told me she wanted to know what the future held for her. Her cards were nearly the same as her daughter’s. They showed death. Violent death. I didn’t know what to say. Nothing like that ever happened before. It scared me.”
    Relieved Brynn had finally loosened up, Kendall had to admit the girl’s story was getting interesting. “So how did you handle it?”
    “I made up some things about her future, and told her she might want to be careful; there was a possibility of danger in their lives.”
    “How did she react to that?”
    “She laughed.”
    “So she didn’t take it seriously.”
    “She promised not to walk under any ladders or let a black cat cross her path, but I knew she was kidding around. I was frightened for them. They seemed like really nice people, so I told her a ten-minute reading wasn’t very accurate and offered to have her come here for a complete session, free of charge. That’s when I gave her the card. She never called.”
    Kendall shivered. In light of what she’d seen at the Glausson house, Brynn’s interpretation of the cards was eerie. “The cards didn’t tell you what was going to happen?”
    “No. But telling someone when he or she is going to die? That’s kind of . . . my specialty.”

9
    There were nearly a dozen private detective agencies listed in the yellow pages, but the few that Gray Glausson had been able to get through to on Sunday night either sounded like idiots or were overeager, making him suspect money as their only motivation. He didn’t pretend to know a lot about police work, but he knew the first few days in an investigation were critical.
    He paced the length of his office. A solution would come to him, but he kept seeing Chelsea’s face and feeling he’d let her down. Finding her little girl was all he could do for her.

    Adam Nashlund, grateful for an excuse to leave the house, showed his ID to the night guard at Chippewa Paper Products. The dark-skinned guard handed it back.
    “Sorry, Mr. Nashlund. Didn’t recognize you.”
    Why would he? As head of security, Nash spent most of his time traveling to CPP’s other locations in the state. “No problem.”
    The VP’s message had been to come to his office ASAP—he’d added no details. Nash had heard about what happened to the Glausson family. Under the circumstances, he wondered what Graham Glausson was doing at the plant and on a Sunday night to boot. He found him standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in his spacious corner office, hands laced together behind his head.
    Nash tapped on the door as he entered.
    Glausson turned and came over to greet him. He held out his hand. “Gray Glausson. Adam, thanks for coming. I hope I didn’t take you away from anything.”
    “No problem. Call me Nash, everyone else does.” If they were going to be on a first name basis, it meant only one thing—Glausson wanted something. Nash had only met Glausson once, right after he’d been hired and was introduced to all the big muckety-mucks. “I heard about your family. I’m sorry.”
    “That’s why I wanted to see you. You were a police detective in Eau Claire before you came to work for us, isn’t that right?”
    “I was.”
    Glausson wiped his face with his hands. “Okay, here’s the thing. I need some advice. I’m not very confident about the police in Eau Claire. I made some calls, checked into detective agencies, and so far, I have to tell you they didn’t sound any more promising.”
    “Who’s handling