Thin Blood Read Online Free Page A

he pre-empt
Jacinta and get to Narelle first, forewarning her as well as apologising? Or
should he do nothing except stand back and prepare himself for the inevitable
fallout?
    *
    Waiting for Grace to answer,
Jacinta leaned forward, setting her empty cup on the narrow, bleached-pine
coffee table.
    Grace stopped
twisting the fine gold band on the little finger of her left hand and looked
up. “I don’t even know for sure that Kirsty knew about the affair. I knew
something was bothering her, but that’s all.” She dropped her gaze, adding in a
half-mutter, “I only found out about it myself at the trial.”
    Even after all
these years, Grace’s disappointment that her best friend had been unable to
confide in her was still evident. Had Kirsty known about the affair between her
husband and sister? Reading between the lines, Jacinta felt sure that at least
Grace thought she had. How could she not have?
    So far, Grace
had not revealed much more than what Jacinta had read in the trial transcript.
Not surprisingly, she remained guarded, only divulging information already on
public record. What had Jacinta expected? She was a complete stranger to Grace
and, what was more, a journalist.
    A different
approach was called for.
    “Grace…” She
paused, waiting for Grace to lift her head, only continuing when she held her
gaze. “Were you aware that Craig Edmonds and Narelle Croswell had married?”
    For a few long
seconds, Grace sat there frozen. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, her
dark eyes suddenly widened, her jaw dropping as her mouth gaped in a giant ‘O’.
She tried to hide her shock behind visibly trembling hands.
    Jacinta had
expected some sort of reaction, but nothing as dramatic as this. So, the
wedding really has been kept hush-hush after all , she thought. She had
searched the Internet for any mention of the wedding, but had not come up with
one hit. Considering the hype surrounding the original case, that in itself was
odd. But she would still have expected someone like Kirsty’s best friend to
know about it.
    With a horrible
mixture of guilt and glee at provoking such a response, Jacinta took a deep
breath, her mind racing as she tried to untangle her thoughts. One part of her
wanted to reach out as a friend to Grace, but the journalist in her was
spurring her on to strike while Grace’s defences were down.
    Why not both? she thought, leaping to her feet and making her way around the coffee table.
She couldn’t let the opportunity slip by.
    She crouched
beside Grace’s chair, still unsure of what she should say. Before she could
open her mouth, Grace had dropped her hands and, with a fire in her eyes that
hadn’t been there before, turned to Jacinta.
    “That bitch! How
could she do it? How could she do it to her own sister?” She shook her head,
her dark hair grazing her pale cheeks. “Tell me, what sort of person could do
that?” She stared down at Jacinta as if she should have all the answers.
    Jacinta had no
answers, only questions. What was she supposed to say? That only a cold,
calculating person with no morals could do that? Was that what Grace wanted to
hear?
    In the end, what
Jacinta thought didn’t matter. Grace had risen from her seat and was pacing
backwards and forwards across the room, wringing her hands and talking to no
one in particular.
    Feeling like an
eavesdropper, Jacinta remained crouched beside the vacated chair, listening and
trying to make some sense of Grace’s incoherent ramblings. The news had clearly
disturbed her, and most of what she was raving about centred on murderers and
evil adulterers. What had Jacinta unleashed?
    It soon became obvious
that Grace held the same view as Brett in that Craig Edmonds, although not
convicted of his wife’s murder, was guilty all the same. Nor did she consider
Narelle an innocent party. Was it possible that the pair had been in it
together, as Grace was implying?
    Jacinta felt the
beginnings of cramp nipping at her calf muscle.