Edge Of Evil Read Online Free Page B

younger sister, Bree—short for Breezy Marie—hadn’t fared much better.
    Ali’s friendship with Reenie hadn’t extended as far as Bree, who, as the apple of her father’s eye, had been regarded as spoiled rotten and an obnoxious pest besides. All that was years in the past now, though, and Ali was glad Bree was there to help Howie and the kids with whatever was going on.
    “My mother just called,” Ali said. “Until then I had no idea any of this had happened. How are things?”
    Someone in the background on the other end of the call asked Bree a question. “It’s Ali Reynolds,” Bree answered. “She’s calling from California.” Then she came back to Ali. “Sorry. Howie can’tcome to the phone right now. The house is full of people, cops mostly.”
    “What’s going on?”
    Bree sighed. “How long since you talked to Reenie?” she asked.
    “I saw her briefly over Christmas,” Ali replied. “But there were all kinds of other people there. We didn’t have much of a visit. Why?”
    “Reenie had been having trouble with her back before Christmas,” Bree said, “but she didn’t get around to going to the doctor until January. She just got a firm diagnosis last week—ALS. She had an appointment to see the doctor—a neurologist out at the Mayo Clinic—in Scottsdale on Thursday. She went there, but that’s the last anyone’s seen of her. She never came home.”
    “ALS?” Ali asked. “As in Lou Gehrig’s disease?”
    “That’s right,” Bree said. “It’s a death sentence—a crippling degenerative neurological disease with no cure. Once you’re diagnosed, it’s pretty much all downhill after that, three to ten years max. Reenie was devastated when she got the news. How could she be anything else?”
    Ali felt sick to her stomach. It was incomprehensible that Reenie, her beloved Reenie, could be dying of some horrible disease, one that would leave her children motherless within a matter of a few years. Why hadn’t Reenie called? Why hadn’t she let Ali know?
    “How awful!” Ali breathed.
    “Awful isn’t the half of it,” Bree returned. “I’ve been reading up on it. ALS takes away muscle control. People are left bedridden and helpless, hardly able to swallow or even breathe on their own, but their mental faculties are totally unaffected. I think Reenie looked down the tunnel at what was coming and decided to do something about it.”
    “You mean you think she committed suicide?” Ali asked.
    “Don’t mention it to Howie,” Bree returned. “But that’s what I’m thinking. She would have hated being helpless and dependent. That isn’t Reenie. Never has been.”
    You’re right about that, Ali thought.
    Reenie Holzer had always been a doer, a mover and shaker.
    “How are the kids doing?” Ali asked.
    “Okay, I guess,” Bree replied. “The folks are here right now. They came up from Cottonwood as soon as church was over, so that’s a big help. They took Matt and Julie out for pizza. They just got back a few minutes ago.”
    “Should I talk to them, to the kids, I mean?” Ali asked.
    Bree hesitated. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Howie’s trying to play this low-key, and if everybody makes a big fuss about it…”
    “What’s he told them?”
    “That their mom has a disease, that she’s gone off by herself to think things over, and that she’ll be home very soon.”
    “I don’t blame him,” Ali said. “It’s bad news either way. And now that you’ve told me what’s up, I think I’ll wait a while to talk to Matt and Julie,” she added. “That way I won’t end up blurting out something Howie would rather I not say.”
    “Sounds good,” Bree returned.
    “How are you holding up?” Ali asked.
    “All right, I guess,” Bree said. “Things are pretty tough, but I’m glad I can be here to help. Howie’s taking it real hard.”
    Howie had always struck Ali as a bit of a prig, but he was a lot easier to tolerate than Reenie’s first husband, Sam