Hard Truth Read Online Free PDF Page B

sentiment perfectly.
    But they hadn’t found Melinda that night, or any other night. It would be years before Lorna dropped the “and please bring Mellie home” from her prayers. The thought that Melinda could have been right there, on the Palmer land, all this time, twisted Lorna’s stomach into knots.
    I would have known, wouldn’t I, if my best friend had been murdered and buried in a place I could see from my bedroom window? Wouldn’t I?
    Only in books, or in movies,
she told herself, slapping at the mosquito that had landed on her leg.
Not in real life.
    But if it was Melinda, and she had been buried out there at the far end of the farm, it would go a long way toward easing that little twinge of guilt that bit at Lorna every time she thought of how she’d not given up the secret hiding place.
    Thunder rumbled from somewhere over toward West Grove, and Lorna stood to watch the darkening sky. The clouds were low hanging and fast moving. The storm would hit within the next twenty minutes or so, she figured, but wouldn’t last too long. Above the rain clouds, the sky was lighter and held promise. Maybe after the rain passed, she’d walk down to the family plot and sprinkle some of her mother’s ashes, as she was bound to do.
    Or maybe she would just sit there on the porch, and wonder what had become of her friend all those years ago.

T hree
    At eight forty-five on Wednesday morning, Lorna was seated at the dining room table, eating dry cereal from a small blue plastic bowl and preparing a profit-and-loss statement on her computer for one of her clients. To access the Internet, she’d had to plug into the house phone and go the dial-up route. It had been a long time since she’d done that, and the squawk through the phone line sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard.
    She made a mental note to look into broadband service while she was there. Even if it took her a month to finalize things in Callen, it would be worth the connection fee to have cable brought into the house.
    She’d set up the laptop at the far end of the table, so that her back would be to the china cupboard. Empty of its contents, it reminded her of a mouth without teeth. Each piece of china or crystal had left its footprint on the dusty shelves, ghostly reminders of holiday dinners and birthday parties long past.
    Stone crunched under the tires of a car in the driveway, and she went to the front door, arriving just in time to see Chief Walker get out of his cruiser.
    “Hi, Chief,” she called as she unlocked the screen door and stepped outside.
    “Hey, Lorna.” He walked toward her, one hand resting on the holstered gun that sat on his right hip.
    “What’s going on?”
    “Just thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing, make sure everything is all right.”
    “Everything’s fine, thank you.”
    “Wanted to talk to you a bit about the bones we found out in the field on Monday.”
    “Want to come in? Or have a seat on the porch? It’s probably cooler out here.”
    “The porch will do just fine.”
    He walked up the steps and sat in one of the rockers.
    “Can I get you something?” She paused beside the second rocker.
    “I’d love a cup of coffee, but I’ve already surpassed my daily limit.”
    “Just as well, then.” She sat in the rocker nearest the door. “I’ve been buying mine at the mini-mart up the road. I did find Gran’s old percolator, so I’ll probably pick up some coffee on my next trip to the market. Maybe I’ll get up there later today.”
    “We were all sorry to hear about Mary Beth. She was a good woman, your mother was. We’ll all miss her.”
    “Thank you, Chief. We appreciated the card you and your wife sent. Please thank her for us.”
    “Least we could do.” He rocked for another moment, then said, “About those bones . . .”
    “Any idea yet who it might have been?”
    “Actually, it looks as if they’ve been identified.” He stopped rocking and leaned forward a bit, his elbows resting