Betrayed: A Rosato & DiNunzio Novel (Rosato & Associates Book 13) Read Online Free PDF Page A

snorted. “You can depend on me, Barb. When have you not been able to depend on me?”
    Judy couldn’t take it anymore. “Mom, enough, let’s not fuss. Aunt Barb, I think we can all help, but either way, we should make a truce right here and now. No more quarreling. We need to pull together. Don’t you agree, ladies?”
    Judy’s mother fell stone silent.
    Aunt Barb only looked worriedly away, where Iris had gone.

 
    Chapter Four
    After dinner, Judy ducked out of the kitchen to make some phone calls, leaving her mother and Aunt Barb at the kitchen table over mugs of tea. The afternoon had passed without event, and their interactions had been limited to getting ready for the hospital and making the small talk that came easily to blood relatives. Judy couldn’t help but sense that Aunt Barb’s illness loomed over their heads all day and she had learned from her experience with her uncle that a cancer diagnosis changed the very air in a room, present but invisible. She’d learned, too, that for all the upbeat chatter about clear nodes and early detection, cancer could be cruelly unpredictable; her Uncle Steve’s lymphocytic leukemia had been in remission when it morphed like a shape-shifter into the deadly Richter’s Syndrome, striking him down within weeks. She prayed she wouldn’t lose her aunt to the disease.
    Judy tried to shake off her anxiety but couldn’t, and she headed into the living room for the couch, seeing Aunt Barb’s hand everywhere. The living room was tiny but super-cozy, with a loveseat and an easy chair with faded chintz slipcovers, piled with woven jacquard blankets that she collected. Her framed floral needlepoints covered the walls, which were of white plaster, and her gardening books filled the white-painted shelves. A rustic brick fireplace with a blackened surround left a permanently charred, woodsy smell in the air.
    Judy slid her phone out of her back pocket, scrolled to her phone log, and pressed the number to return Linda Adler’s call. It rang and rang, but the call went to voicemail and she left a message. Next she pressed in the number for her boyfriend Frank, whom she had already called on the drive to her aunt’s, but he hadn’t called back. He liked Aunt Barb, and Judy knew he would be upset by the news about her cancer, which was why she hadn’t left it on his voicemail or sent him a text.
    “What’s up, babe!” Frank shouted, when the call connected. The background was noisy shouting and laughing, punctuated by the thwap thwap thwap of basketballs hitting a gym floor.
    “Where are you? Did you get my messages?” Judy tried to swallow her annoyance. He hadn’t listened to her messages, because he never did, which drove her crazy.
    “I can’t, I’m filling in on a round-robin tournament!”
    “You’re not supposed to be playing basketball.” Judy didn’t bother to disguise her dismay. Frank had broken his hand on the job and was wearing a cloth brace for two more weeks.
    “Don’t sweat it, babe! It’s not a problem!”
    “Frank, think. Of course it’s a problem. It’s crazy.”
    “Don’t worry! I know what I’m doing! I shoot with my right hand!”
    “Are you serious? What if your hand gets bumped? Or you fall? What about your brace?”
    “I removed it! That’s why it’s removable!” Frank burst into laughter, which got drowned out by wild cheering. “It’s an emergency!”
    “A basketball emergency?”
    “Relax, Mom!”
    “I am relaxed.” Judy tried not to act like his mother, but it was difficult when he acted like a child. “And what about the dog? Could the vet dip her?”
    “I couldn’t take her because the guys needed me, Joey got sick! I can’t talk now! We’re about to hit the court! Call you later!”
    “No, wait, listen.” Judy worried she would be overheard by her mother or Aunt Barb, so she got up and walked around the couch, cupping her hand over her phone. “I won’t be home tonight. I’m staying at Aunt