Blood Relations Read Online Free Page B

perfect for her. Then she discovers the diary of his first wife, who supposedly died in an accident. Reading it she finds out that the woman was afraid she was about to be murdered — and now the heroine, the second wife, has to find out if her husband is really a murderer. That's where I fell asleep."
    She peered sheepishly over the rim of her cup of chocolate. "Neither of you boys knows how the movie comes out, do you?"
    Joe and Frank stared at her for a long, silent moment and then at each other. Finally Frank said, "Not yet, Aunt Gertrude, but we hope to know soon. Real soon."

Chapter 5
    "ANYTHING NEW?" WAS the first thing that Frank asked Greg and Mike when he and Joe met them at Mr. Pizza the next afternoon.
    "Nothing," said Greg. "I called Dunn at noon to see if he'd found out anything, and he told me he'd had no luck. He had done something, though. He said he managed to put a bug on Dad's phone at the office as well as at home. He didn't want to go into details, so I didn't ask. But it might let us in on what our stepfather's up to."
    "And if he's not up to anything," said Frank, "it'll let us know when the kidnappers get in touch with him. Mr. Rawley might try to keep something to himself."
    Before they could discuss the matter further, Tony Prito came over to their table. Tony, wiry, agile, and always moving, expertly juggled his life as a student at Bayport High with a good-paying job as manager of Mr. Pizza.
    "Hi. How's everything?" he asked. "Just sodas today? No pizza? Want to try a slice with broccoli. It's new. I'll treat you."
    "Broccoli? Sounds different," said Frank.
    "Tony, you're definitely going to be the next pizza king," said Joe.
    But Greg said, "Some other time. We have to be going real soon."
    Frank caught his quick look and said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Some other time, okay?"
    Tony shrugged. "Okay. But the offer won't last forever."
    After Tony moved off, Joe asked, "Why do you want to cut out so fast?"
    "It occurred to me that meeting here isn't a great idea," said Greg quietly. "It's too public. Why don't we meet at our house? Our stepfather's almost never there. Who knows who might be watching us and putting two and two together."
    Just then, as if to prove Greg's point, Callie Shaw walked into the pizza parlor and headed straight for their table. To everyone's surprise, the grim expression on Greg's face dissolved into a smile as he watched Callie move toward them.
    Frank saw his smile, and didn't like it. He told himself he had no reason to be jealous; Callie herself had told him so too. But the way Greg looked at and talked to Callie irritated Frank.
    Frank also noticed that Greg didn't seem to be in all that much of a hurry now that Callie was there.
    "Hi, Callie. How's it going?" Greg said, scooting over to make room for her to sit down. "I've wanted to ask you if I could look at your physics notes. There're a couple of problems I'm not quite clear on."
    "Sure," Callie said. "If you'll let me check out your French notes. There're a couple of irregular verbs I didn't get straight."
    "Maybe we should have a study session sometime," Greg suggested.
    This time it was Frank who said, "Hey, Greg, Joe and I are heading home. Don't you have to cut out now?"
    Greg tore his eyes from Callie with obvious effort. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot."
    "Going?" Callie said. '"I'll go out with you guys. I don't see anybody I feel like hanging out with, and I told Megan I'd go over to her house."
    "Can I drop you off?" Greg asked.
    "Sure," Callie said, surprised but obviously pleased.
    "The van's outside too," Frank said. "Maybe you'd rather — "
    "Rather ride in your van than our convertible?" said Greg, grinning. "On a nice warm September afternoon like this? No way."
    "It is a pretty afternoon," Callie said apologetically. "And Megan's is near Greg's house. You don't mind, do you, Frank?" She smiled sweetly at him.
    "Sure, I understand," said Frank.
    "Well, see you later," Greg said cheerfully as he pushed open