FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3) Read Online Free PDF

her grim
expression registered belatedly, he looked up again. “What’s wrong?”
    She started to head for
the chair in front of his desk but then changed course, walking straight into
his arms instead. Trying not to cry, she told him how the note had arrived and
what it said, while he gently patted her back.
    After a minute, she
stepped away, shaking her head. “It’s probably hitting me harder than it should
because I’ve had such an intense week. Must be a full moon or something.
Everybody’s falling apart on me at once.”
    Rob steered her to his
desk chair. “Can I see the note?”
    She took it out of her
briefcase. He held it by the edges and read it, saying the words softly out
loud. “She lies, you know. She’s tearing us apart with her lies and your
helping her.”
    “ You’re is
misspelled,” Kate said lamely.
    Rob perched on the
corner of his desk, laying the note down next to him. “Do you know who might
have sent this?”
    Kate shook her head.
“Not a clue. I’m going to meet with Sally on Monday. Maybe if we go over my
cases we’ll be able to figure it out.”
    Rob started to say she
should call the police, then realized that wasn’t feasible. She couldn’t
violate client confidentiality and give the police any names unless she was
sure who had sent the note. And maybe not even then. The message wasn’t overtly
threatening.
    “What do you want to
do?” he asked.
    “Besides change
careers?” she said, only half joking.
    “Yeah, besides that.”
    “Not much I can do. Can
you think of anything?”
    “Not really. You might want
to call the police, just to file a report. In case anything else happens.”
    “Maybe. I’ll have to
wait until I talk to Sally. See if she wants to do that.”
    Rob invited her to come
over to the house for dinner and some moral support. But Kate was too exhausted
to think about going out that evening. She thanked him for the thought.
    Halfway home, Kate was
wishing she had accepted Rob’s invitation. After Maria retired to her
third-floor rooms and the baby was in bed, the evening would be long and
lonely.
    She pulled up in front
of her house but she didn’t get out of the car. Digging her cell phone out of
her purse, she called Skip. When he answered, she said without preamble, “If I
ask you to come over this evening, do you promise not to take advantage of my
weakened state?”
    She heard him chuckle.
“I try not to make promises I’m not sure I can keep, but I’ll make every effort
to restrain myself.”
    Kate didn’t say
anything.
    “You okay?”
    “No.”
    “What’s the matter?” he
asked, alarm in his voice.
    “I’d rather not get
into it over the phone. I just need... a friend.”
    “Be there in fifteen
minutes.”
    When Skip arrived, Kate
introduced him to Maria. He chatted with her in Spanish as she herded them
toward the kitchen. Kate could only make out a word here and there but she got
the gist of it.
    “She’s right. There’ll
be plenty. Cooking’s not in her job description, but she took it over in
self-defense,” Kate said, with a rueful smile. For some reason she had never
successfully mastered the skill of making food palatable. “She always cooks for
an army on Friday nights, so I can eat the leftovers over the weekend.”
    “What’s the matter?”
Skip asked quietly, resisting the urge to take her hand.
    “It can wait until
after dinner,” Kate said. Now that he was here, she felt much less need to tell
him about the note. She would rather forget about it for a little while.
    Skip nodded. Maria was
already setting another place at the table next to where Edie was sitting in
her highchair, happily smearing applesauce on her chubby cheeks.
    “ Gracias, Maria, ”
Skip said as he sat down. He tickled the baby’s neck and was rewarded with a
giggle and a big grin.
    Kate helped Maria bring
several fragrant bowls and platters to the big oak table. As they ate, Skip
asked about the ingredients in the dishes he didn’t