Dangerous Relations Read Online Free

it to the police to find Suziette's killer. They were trained to
search for clues and to deal with motives and evidence.
    She waited several minutes before Aunt Julia came to the door. Although she was a large,
fleshy woman, today she looked like a pillow that needed fluffing up. She still wore her bathrobe.
She pressed Ardin close, enveloping her in her sadness.
    "I'm so glad you're here. Leonie's been asking for her mother and her daddy, and I've run
out of things to tell her."
    Her aunt was starting to sniff. To prevent a crying jag, Ardin took her by the arm and led
her toward the kitchen. "Why don't I make you a cup of tea? Where's Leonie?"
    "Here I am, Cousin Ardin. Drawing."
    Leonie sat at the round kitchen table. Behind her, the sun blazed through the picture
window, making her blonde hair glow in a halo of light. She wore a white polo and denim overalls.
Her plush giraffe, Mr. Bonkers, stood on the table amid a spray of colorful crayons. The little girl
reached out to the chair beside her and held up a teddy bear almost as big as she was.
    "Look what Uncle Frank brought to keep me company."
    Ardin stroked the head of the teddy bear. "He's great, Leonie."
    Leonie dropped the bear back in his seat and swept the giraffe into her arms. "I still love
Mr. Bonkers the most, and always will."
    Ardin looked down at the picture Leonie was drawing.
    "This is our new house. And here's Mommy and Daddy and me."
    "It's lovely." Ardin swallowed the knot of sadness she felt for her little cousin.
    Leonie pursed her lips. "I want to give it to Daddy. Where is my daddy?"
    Ardin gnawed at her lip. "I suppose he's at work. He came to see you yesterday, didn't
he?"
    "Yes, but today's a different day."
    Leonie fixed her sky-blue eyes on Ardin. "Grannie says Mommy isn't coming back."
    "That's right, honey." Ardin tried to draw the child into her arms, but Leonie wriggled
free.
    "Will you be my mommy?"
    Ardin blinked back tears. "I'm your special Cousin Ardin who loves you."
    "Leonie, why don't you and Mr. Bonkers run upstairs and play in your room?"
    Leonie pursed her bow-shaped lips together. "It's not my room, Grannie, it's the guest
room. And we played there all morning. All by ourselves."
    "Just for a little while, I promise." Aunt Julia's voice quivered. "Cousin Ardin and I need to
talk."
    Leonie poked a finger into one rosy cheek as she thought this over. "Okay, Grannie." She
offered a dazzling smile. "Then can we go to the park?"
    Ardin saw her aunt had reached her breaking point. "As soon as Grannie and I finish
talking, I'll play with you."
    "Do you promise?"
    Ardin placed her hand over her heart. "I promise."
    When Leonie was gone, Aunt Julia turned to Ardin, tears glistening in her eyes. "She's so
like Suziette when she was three-and-a-half: alert, curious, active." She sighed. "But what am I to
do? With my heart condition, I don't have the strength to raise another child."
    It was the perfect opening. Though Ardin hated to cause her aunt pain, she felt obliged to
bring up the subject of Brett's visit.
    "Aunt Julia, Brett wants to adopt Leonie. He started legal proceedings months ago."
    Her aunt nodded. "I know. Then why did Suziette ask me to be the child's guardian? She
must have had her reasons."
    Ardin grimaced. No one had ever fathomed what passed through Suziette's head. "We have
to consider Leonie's best interests. She adores Brett. She'll be happy living with him."
    Julia went on as if Ardin hadn't spoken. "Of course I said yes, without giving it a thought."
Her heavy shoulders trembled as tears streamed down her cheeks. "It was almost as though she
knew someone wanted to kill her." Her hoarse sobbing grew louder. "Who would want my dear,
beautiful Suziette dead? To--to strangle her with her own scarf and leave her like that in the
woods?"
    Ardin wrapped her arms around her aunt and let her cry. She thought back to Julia's frantic
call on Thursday evening. Suziette was supposed to have picked up Leonie at five-fifteen, two