[BAD 07] - Silent Truth Read Online Free PDF Page B

insistent voice.
    She managed not to snap at him, but her quick glancemust have transmitted a bite of annoyance.
    He blew out a stream of air to let her know how irritated he was at being ignored.
    She wanted to tell him to stow the attitude.
    Don’t lose sight of the goal. She still needed that invitation from him. She needed her job, too, for all the obvious reasons, but Stuey couldn’t afford to lose her either. She hoped. He’d hired a new hotshot who had potential with some training, but Abbie had handed WCXB’s anchors a wall of Emmys. She hoped that played heavily in her favor. Getting into the Wentworth fund-raiser offered the only glimmer of hope for finding out what had happened to her mother.
    Tatum said if he could discover why her spleen had started malfunctioning after her mother visited the Kore Women’s Center ten days ago he’d have a fighting chance to cure her. But the Kore center blew him off, stating her mother had only donated blood and participated in routine tests. Nothing else.
    That’s when Tatum had divulged details on Kore that would rock the Wentworth Foundation, which supported the women’s center, if Abbie released Tatum’s disclosure as news.
    And she would do just that if she didn’t get to speak with Gwenyth Wentworth, who had yet to return a phone call. The Wentworth heiress hosted the fund-raiser. If Abbie could get inside the event, she’d find a way to talk to Gwen.
    When Hannah came back on the line, Abbie said, “I’ll call him when I get to the office.”
    “When are you coming to the medical center?”
    “Soon as I can, but I’m busy right now—”
    “Give me a break, Abbie. Just because I don’t clock in somewhere doesn’t mean I’m not busy, too.” The real Hannah had returned, shrouded in her usual self-importance and unwilling to be one-upped by a sister who worked for a television station. “Besides, how serious can digging up dirt on our police be? Whose life are you ruining this week?”
    “You want crooked cops on the streets?” Abbie snapped.
    “Of course not, but you act like everyone in law enforcement is on the take. Some of them are protecting us.”
    “I know that and I don’t think they’re all bad seeds.” Not really. Abbie switched lanes and pretended to ignore Stu’s finger tapping on his knee. “Back to what we—”
    “I have appointments, too,” Hannah said, cutting her off. “But I’m not letting mine take priority over Mom.”
    Bully for Hannah that she put Mom ahead of spa treatments and having her house redecorated. “I’ll come by tonight, but I gotta go now. Call you later.” Abbie ended the call before Hannah forced her to say too much in front of Stuey.
    “Boyfriend?” Stuey asked.
    “My personal calls are just that.” She threw a look of low tolerance at him. “Personal.”
    He twisted his fish lips, frowning as though he had a hook in his jaw. He was in his standard stewing mode, the reason her secret Stuey nickname fit so well.
    She used a fingernail to scratch the middle of the thick curls she’d twisted up off her neck and secured with a plastic clip. She couldn’t let temper interfere, not now when she had to get into that fund-raiser. Attending asnooty party meant wearing shoes designed by sadistic trolls and dressing to compete with women born to make fashion statements.
    She’d been born to pig farming.
    And had one outfit that might suffice. Her sister Hannah had given her a satin dress a half size too small for Abbie after being told dark green was not Hannah’s color. The only reason Abbie might be able to wear the Saran Wrap dress now was because she’d spent so much time with her mother at the medical center, where food just wasn’t appealing.
    Her mother was losing weight faster.
    “We’ll be at the station soon.” Stu’s voice switched from social to superior.
    Not helping his case one bit.
    Abbie sighed loudly enough to ruffle the flat silence perched between them in the seven-year-old