Annie's Answer Read Online Free PDF Page A

early.
Judge Orville Carlson had called a recess until two o’clock after a morning of
particularly tedious testimony from the prosecution’s first witness. If the
rest of the trial was as dull as the opening, Nathan’s biggest challenge would
be to stay awake.
    “Dad, you
stuck me with a loser this time,” he said as he slid into the front seat of his
Lincoln. The firm didn’t handle many criminal cases, but embezzlement was the
exception. So far he didn’t think his client had a chance, but J.P. Jervis had
stubbornly resisted a plea bargain.
    He should have
Bonnie bring him a sub so he could work at his desk while he ate, but he
couldn’t get Annie Williams out of his mind.  He must have been walking
around in a fog not to notice her at church, and he still had guilt pangs for
leaving her alone with his great aunt. How could a sweet little thing like her
cope with Aunt Mattie?
    Racing across
town, he went through two yellow lights and turned left after a third turned
red. He hadn’t had a traffic ticket in nearly two years, but he was willing to
risk one today. He couldn’t even explain to himself why it seemed so urgent to
get home.
    The house was
silent when he let himself in through the front door. The battered VW bug was
hers, so she had to be here.
    “Aunt Mattie,”
he called out, loosening his tie as he looked for her. “Hey, anybody here?”
    It was
possible Annie had driven his aunt somewhere in his mother’s car, but it didn’t
seem probable. More likely Mattie had sent her out of the house in tears, and
she was still somewhere on the grounds. His aunt had a razor-sharp tongue and
no inhibitions about speaking her mind, although she wasn’t intentionally mean.
    His jaw
dropped when he found them in the sunroom.
    “Didn’t expect
you home,” Mattie said in a conversational tone.
    “The judge
called a long recess. I just dropped in to.…”
    “To see if I
scared Annie into leaving.”
    “No, of course
not,” he hemmed. “I only wanted to see how you two are getting along.”
    He felt
foolish. The two of them were having sandwiches and iced tea, sitting on either
side of a low table. Annie had picked some flowers from the garden, and Mattie
had her foot propped up on a footstool. It was a picture of domestic bliss,
almost too good to be true.
    “As you can
see,” Annie said so sweetly it could have been sarcasm, “we’re having a nice
lunch.”
    “Her oatmeal
is dreadful, but her tuna salad isn’t half bad,” Mattie said. “Bits of red
pepper and celery mixed in, along with pickle relish and a touch of ranch
dressing instead of mayonnaise. I loathe mayonnaise.”
    “There’s some
left. Can I fix a sandwich for you?” Annie asked, giving him a challenging
look.
    “No—I
mean, why not.” He didn’t want to face an afternoon in Judge Carlson’s
courtroom on an empty stomach. “I can fix it myself though.”
    “Melt some
cheese on his,” Mattie said, ignoring Nathan as Annie stood to go to the
kitchen. “It will give me a chance to chat a little with my only grand nephew.”
    “Sure thing,”
Annie said, hurrying from the room.
    He was
surprised by a feeling of disappointment. He’d come home to check on the two
women, not to see his aunt’s companion. Or had he?
    “So things are
going well?” he said, pulling a chair up to the table.
    “What did you
expect? I’m not an ogre. If you insist on having someone baby-sit with me,
we’ll both make the best of it,” his aunt said.
    “It’s not
babysitting,” Nathan said, irritated although he usually took her outspoken
ways in stride. “You don’t know anyone in town, and I can’t come home to check
on you every day.”
    “Why did you
come home today?” Mattie raised one eyebrow in a skeptical expression.
    “I wanted to
see how you were doing.” Another stretch of the truth, but he didn’t want to
admit he felt protective of Annie.
    “Ha!”
    He never had
been able to fool his great aunt, although he had pleasant