Someone to Trust. Ginny Aiken

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ you think Dad’s really going to be okay? I’m afraid…” She drew a deep breath. “I have to trust the hospital with Dad’s life. That’s just all there is to it. And they’d better not let me down. I’m not ready to do this parenting thing all on my own all of the time.”

      “Get over yourself, girl. You’re gonna do it, you’re gonna do it fine and you’re not gonna do it alone, not while he’s in the hospital and not when he comes home. You have friends who’ll help, like me. I’m not chopped liver, you know. Besides, the Lord’s gonna be right there with you, remember?”

      “Yeah. I remember. I just want Dad home again.”

      Zoe slowed to pull up behind the van. When she shifted the car into idle, she reached out and put a gentle hand on Cate’s arm. “And your dad will be home again. Have faith. And a little bit of trust won’t hurt either.”

      Tears welled in Cate’s eyes. “You’re right. Faith and trust, faith and trust. Got it.”

      They said their goodbyes and she headed for the van, her gaze on the rosy tint of the eastern sky. As the day became more real, details crossed her mind. Had Robby run the dishwasher last night? He often forgot to follow through on his chores. She decided it would have to be a cereal morning. Tommy would likely howl, because he loved his pancakes, but no way was she about to cook anything when she got home.

      Lindsay would take the news about her grandfather harder than the twins. She was the youngest, only an infant when her parents had died, but that wasn’t really the issue. Sweet Lindsay had a quiet nature, so much so as to seem almost withdrawn much of the time. She teared up at sappy commercials and she was shier than one of Miss Tabitha’s night-blooming primroses.

      As much as she loved her niece, Cate struggled to understand someone so different from her. She’d always prided herself on her tough and scrappy approach to life.

      Another pang of uncertainty pierced her. Was she really up to raising three kids? Her schedule usually kept her too busy to think about such things, so she did what she had to do to keep life moving along its regular tracks. Now, with Dad’s serious injuries, she’d been derailed. She was going to be on her own. Would she fail and prove all the town gossips right?

      Ten feet away from the van, she caught a glimpse of herself in a shop window. The dark shadows under her eyes made her look as though she needed a doctor herself. Her cheeks lacked color and her hair resembled tangled ropes of taffy—the real thing, not the carnival-style, rainbow colored kind. Even though once upon a time, rainbow hair had been her thing, as Rand had reminded her. She sighed.

      Still, rainbow hair or not, she didn’t look like she could be trusted to babysit, much less raise Mandy’s kids. Why Dad had thought she should, why he’d decided to trust her with his beloved grandchildren, she’d never know. Not that he had much choice now, thanks to his injuries.

      Fear struck. Her knees wobbled and she leaned against the side of the van, her mind going a mile a minute.

      Dad had always been calm and competent when the kids’ needs threatened to overwhelm Cate. But now that she thought about it, he’d started to turn the day-to-day stuff over to her almost the moment she moved back in. He’d said more than once that the kids would grow her up now that she’d become their stand-in mom. So far, she didn’t really feel all that different, but she had learned one very valuable truth: motherhood was not for wimps.

      When she opened her eyes, the blackened theater loomed before her. The events of the night tugged at her and she didn’t resist. She made her way to the old structure, then just stood and stared, letting the sadness and anger wash over her.

      Who? Who’d been making poison to feed to the town’s youth? Who would destroy this beautiful building? Who would have risked people’s lives? And for nothing more than pure greed.

      Cate thought of Loganton’s residents. She’d grown up in town, so she knew everyone. Even guided by suspicion, she couldn’t come up with one potential guilty soul.

      But someone was guilty. Dad and Wilma were in the ICU.

      As far as she was concerned, whoever was behind the meth lab was going down. Cate would do everything in her power to see to it. Even if she had to find the culprit herself.

      As awkward as she felt around him, she was glad Rand had come back to town. His arson investigation experience should serve the fire department well. But if he came up with no answers, well, then she’d just dig up those answers herself.

      Well aware that she shouldn’t, Cate slipped under the yellow tape and walked up to the theater. The tall glass doors wore a thick coat of black soot on the inside and she couldn’t look through them as she’d loved to do ever since her parents had taken her and Mandy to a special Mother’s Day showing of The Sound of Music. She’d always loved the theater, and movies of all kinds.

      Cupping her hands, Cate blocked the growing sunlight and leaned closer to the door. The soot layer did make it impossible to see, even from this vantage point. As she strained, she heard a sound to her right. She didn’t see anything unusual, but still couldn’t stop herself from pursuing her curiosity. She rounded the corner and arrived at the main exit. A montage of memories flew through her head. She remembered all the films she’d watched inside with her girlfriends. After the show, they’d leave in a cluster, giggling if they’d watched a comedy, sniffling if it had been a heart-tugger of some kind.

      All so innocent, in stark contrast to what the basement had most recently housed.

      The steel door was locked. No evidence of the fire on this side of the building. Even the sidewalk was clear. Clear but for a piece of trash three feet past the side door.

      Cate went to pick it up, but when she leaned down, she froze. The trash turned out to be a twisted lump of plastic, blackened by the fire. From the top, a metal clip, the kind on cheap key chains, stuck straight out as though pointing to the theater.

      A quick glance up and down the sidewalk revealed no other debris, nothing. And while she didn’t give it much importance, Cate couldn’t discount what she’d found, either. One of the firefighters might have dropped it when he’d carried something else from inside the building, and it might be relevant to the investigation.

      She couldn’t ignore it. Nor could she pick it up. As the daughter of a firefighter, she knew better. So she reached for her phone to dial the station.

      Next thing she knew, a blow to the back of her head knocked her off her feet. She smashed her forehead against the sidewalk.

      “Oh!” Her eyes filled with sudden tears. Behind her, footsteps pelted away. She scrambled upright, then stumbled in the direction they’d gone. “Hey! What was that about?”

      By the time she reached the corner, there was no one in sight. Cate rubbed her forehead, and then wiped the tears from her eyes.

      A cold shiver ran through her. Had she interrupted something? Had she seen something she shouldn’t have?

      Maybe someone had not wanted to be seen near the theater. Had her presence threatened the meth dealer? Or had he just wanted to make sure she didn’t see him at the scene of his crimes?

      It didn’t matter. Not right then. What mattered was to get someone with experience to take a look at that…that plastic thing. Cate followed through with her earlier start, and dialed the P.D. They asked her a handful of questions, then promised to send help.

      Cate СКАЧАТЬ