L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Series, Boxed Set: The Deceived, The Taken & The Silent Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyes lit up. “A girl her age should be having fun and not be so serious all the time.”
    Jillian chuckled and pulled a chair to the card table. “It’s called adolescence, and I wish they’d invent a formula or something so we could just skip that whole stage and go right to mature.”
    “Maturity ain’t so hot, either,” said another silver-haired resident on Jillian’s left.
    “Is my son here yet?” Harriet asked. “He’ll play rummy with me when he gets here.”
    “No,” Jillian said softly. “He’s gone now. Remember?”
    Her mother-in-law’s hopeful smile switched to a frown. “Yes, of course I remember. I remember when he left in that truck of his. Dangerous thing, I told him. He should be careful, but then, he never listens to his mother.”
    Jillian wondered what Harriet’s reaction would be if she knew the police wanted to exhume her son’s body for testing. She’d be horrified, no doubt. A year after Rob died, Jillian had wanted to replace the temporary headstone for a permanent one with a meaningful inscription, but Harriet had made her promise she’d never disturb Rob’s grave in any way, not even for that.
    Jillian had discovered then that Harriet had deep-seated beliefs about death, and disturbing a grave meant you’d disrupt the person’s afterlife. Apparently she’d passed her beliefs on to Rob, because he’d told her the same thing.
    “My boy will be back soon,” Harriet said to the aide standing by the door.
    Jillian’s heart turned over. For Harriet, time seemed compressed, and she talked about the past and the present as if they were the same. Jillian had never gotten used to hearing Harriet talk that way, and now, since the visit from the detective, Harriet’s habit had an eerie prescience.
    “That’s nice,” the aide said.
    Harriet eyed Jillian. “There’re cards in the drawer over there. Are we going to play rummy or not?”
    “Sure.” Jillian got up and crossed to the table for the cards.
    “You mix ’em up and deal,” Harriet said. “I don’t do that so good anymore.”
    “You do just fine, Harriet. But okay, I’ll start.” Jillian sat down again and shuffled the deck. The cards, somewhat tacky from use, kept sticking.
    “Harriet,” Jillian began slowly, deciding how best to phrase the questions she felt compelled to ask. “Do you remember when we buried Rob?” One by one, she dealt out the cards.
    Harriet gathered her hand and fanned it out, pondered briefly, then switched a few cards around. “Of course I remember. It was the worst day of my life. Don’t you remember?”
    “Yes. Yes, I do.” Jillian sighed, ready to go on with her questions, but Harriet stopped her by raising a gnarled finger.
    “The police still don’t know nothin’ about my son,” she said to the aide. “Did you know that?”
    The aide shook her head.
    “Have you heard about all the new scientific advancements these days?” Jillian asked. “With improved testing, I understand they can find out information they couldn’t before. Maybe if they did more tests—”
    “You sound just like that detective.” Harriet waved a hand in dismissal, then laid down two sets of cards, three of a kind. “He asked too many questions. I told him I wasn’t going to tell him anything and he was just going to have to talk to Jack.”
    Jillian stiffened. Ramsey had been here, too, and he hadn’t said a word to her about it. Or had he come here after he’d talked with her?
    But why? Did he think Harriet could convince Jillian to agree to exhume Rob’s body? Or was he looking for other information?
    Harriet plucked up another card and inserted it into the fan of cards still in her hand. “Jack told me not to talk to anybody. He wouldn’t like it if I talked to that man.”
    Jillian made her play. “Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you talked to me.”
    “Nope. I said I won’t say anything and I won’t.” She plunked down another set of cards, dropped a discard on the pile