The Detective's Dilemma. Arlene James

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СКАЧАТЬ Mother, let’s not argue. My mind’s made up.”

      Megan sighed. “You always were strong-willed. But if your mind’s made up…”

      “It’s the best thing. Now, tell me, how was your day?”

      Megan looped an arm around Beth’s shoulders as they strolled side by side down the hall. “It’s better now. I’m looking forward to a long hot bath and a quiet dinner, frankly.” She grimaced and came to a halt. “I forgot. I asked you to invite Janelle and Connor to dine with us this evening. Oh, well. They aren’t really company. They’re family, aren’t they.”

      Beth faced her mother across the hallway. “They may be family, but they aren’t coming to dinner because I never got a chance to invite them. Janelle didn’t show up for her visitation today.”

      “That’s odd.” Megan’s brow wrinkled. “There was no one at the guest house when I stopped by after lunch, either.” Megan had come home for lunch to see Chase and had visited the guest house on her way to the clinic. Beth couldn’t help feeling that something didn’t add up properly with Janelle and Connor, and it bothered her that her mother didn’t seem to share her concern.

      “I thought Janelle was anxious to spend time with the baby,” she said pointedly.

      Megan bit her lip. “So did I, but perhaps she and Connor just need some time alone together. They haven’t been reunited very long, you know.”

      “Seems to me they’d want their child with them,” Beth said.

      With a wave of her hand, Megan dismissed the observation. “Soon enough all the formalities will be met and we’ll have to give baby Chase up to his parents’ care.”

      “Maybe so, but if he were my child, he’d have been here just long enough for the DNA tests. They’re simple procedures, after all.”

      “It’s like I said,” Megan insisted, not quite meeting Beth’s gaze, “Connor and Janelle need some time to work things out between them.” Beth sensed that her mother was more troubled than she wanted to admit, and finally Megan confirmed it. “Maybe I’d better go over there later, be sure everything’s all right.”

      An excellent idea, Beth thought. “You have your bath,” she told her mother. “Then we’ll have a quiet dinner and walk over to the guest house together.”

      Megan smiled and laid her forehead against Beth’s. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

      “Uh-huh, but it’s always nice to hear.”

      Suddenly Megan grew serious, cupping Beth’s face in both her hands. “I worry about you, darling.”

      “I’m fine, Mom.” It was true. She hadn’t murdered Brianne, and she wasn’t going to let anyone frame her for a murder she hadn’t committed. It helped that she had the Maitland influence and money behind her—and Jake’s connections, too—but her real strength was the truth. She kissed her mother’s smooth cheek. “You’re the one with too much on her plate right now.”

      Megan sighed, but then her chin went up again. “It’ll all work out,” she vowed, and Beth, at that moment, did not doubt that her mother was right.

      JANELLE ANSWERED the door in her bathrobe. “Megan, Beth, how sweet of you to drop by.”

      To Beth’s ears, her words sounded just the opposite. “We haven’t interrupted anything, have we?”

      Janelle gave her a brittle smile. “Of course not.”

      “We just wanted to check on you, dear,” Megan said, striding past Janelle into the tiny foyer of the guest house. The sapphire blue wool of her cape swirled and fluttered as Megan removed it. Beth caught the flash of irritation on Janelle’s lovely face and smiled. Apparently Janelle was feeling somewhat proprietorial about her lodging, but it would never occur to Megan to wait for an invitation into her own guest house, and Janelle ought to realize that by now. A smile smoothed the flash of irritation as Janelle followed Megan, leaving Beth to close the door.

      “Well, I’m glad you did,” Janelle was saying. “I was feeling a little lonely, actually.”

      Megan and Janelle were settling onto the comfy couch in the small living area when Beth wandered into the room. She couldn’t say why she disliked Janelle. Oh, she’d tried to like her, for Megan’s sake if nothing else, but something about Janelle rubbed Beth the wrong way. The small house felt overheated after the coolness of the clear February night, and Beth pushed her waist-length orange jacket off her shoulders, draping it over the chair that stood to the side of the small entry.

      “When you’re lonely you can always visit your son,” she said, to see Janelle’s reaction. “You knew Chase would be at the house with me today. I expected to see you there.”

      Janelle seemed shocked, but then she blinked her big eyes until they teared. “I know. It’s just that it’s so hard to see him when I know I can’t take him home with me.”

      “Seems to me you could fix that easily enough,” Beth pointed out.

      “For your information, I’ve sent for the necessary paperwork,” Janelle informed her coldly. She was all warmth and smiles when she turned to Megan, though. “That’s what Child Welfare wants, isn’t it? A birth certificate?”

      “I think that would work nicely,” Megan said. “I’ll speak to them to be sure.”

      Knowing that her mother relished having the baby in the house, Beth refrained from pointing out that the DNA testing would be quicker, and Megan deftly changed the subject.

      “I stopped by earlier to check on you, but you were out.”

      Janelle waved a hand. “Oh, that. Connor took me to lunch, then I had some shopping to do. I brought so few things with me, you know.”

      “I knew it was something like that,” Megan said. “Did you have a good day, get everything you need?”

      “Yes, thank you.”

      “Forgive me for interrupting,” Beth said unrepentantly, “but where exactly did you have to send for that birth certificate?”

      “What looked like panic flickered across Janelle’s face, but then she smiled, one hand fluffing her hair nonchalantly. “Why do you ask?”

      “Just wondering.”

      “New Mexico,” Janelle said.

      “New Mexico!” Megan exclaimed.

      “I wound up in Taos after Connor and I parted,” Janelle explained haltingly, “just wandering around, looking for someplace to settle.”

      Megan made some reply, but Beth wasn’t listening, her attention claimed by a noise from the back of the house. She could have sworn that someone was moving around in the bedroom.

      “Is someone else here?” she asked sharply, barely aware that she had interrupted Janelle’s complaints.

      “What?” Janelle asked loudly. Megan lifted a slightly censorial СКАЧАТЬ