Polished Off Read Online Free PDF

that were patinated with age, and urns of various shapes and sizes, all mostly antique.
    “By this time tomorrow,” Patsy continued, “the pond should be finished and the men can start placing everything. I can hardly wait,” she added, excitement crackling in her voice.
    Though Charlotte didn’t quite understand Patsy’s obsession with a bunch of old statues and urns, nor did she understand her excitement over a hole being dug in her backyard, one that would no doubt attract even more mosquitos than normal, she found herself smiling at the younger woman’s enthusiasm.
    “I’m sure it will be just lovely when it’s finished,” she told Patsy. “Now, if you’ll let me in the front door, I’ll get to work.”
     
     
     
    Like most of the homes that belonged to Charlotte’s clients, Patsy’s was never really messy or terribly dirty. Besides dusting and cleaning the ceiling fans, Charlotte’s work consisted mostly of dusting furniture, polishing it, vacuuming up the dog hair, changing the bed linens, and cleaning the kitchen and the bathrooms.
    By two that afternoon, Charlotte had finished everything except for making up Patsy’s huge four-poster bed. She’d even been able to dust and clean the ceiling fans without much trouble. Just as she’d thought, Patsy still had a ladder stored in the pantry closet. Since it was taller than she’d remembered and more sturdy than the aluminum one she’d brought with her, the height of the ceiling fans hadn’t really been a problem after all.
    Charlotte had just smoothed out the comforter on top of the bed when her cell phone buzzed. Almost the second that she switched on the phone, and without waiting for even so much as a hello, Madeline launched into a tirade.
    “You’ve got to do something about Nadia, Charlotte!”
    “Guess this means you’re speaking to me again.”
    Madeline ignored Charlotte’s jeer. “She’s nothing but white trash, Charlotte, and the girl has the manners of a goat.”
    “Shame on you! Nadia is not—”
    But Madeline didn’t give Charlotte a chance to finish. “Do you know what she’s done?” she wailed. Without waiting for an answer, she raved on. “She’s canceled on me. The very nerve! And to think that I’d decided to give her a chance—for Daniel’s sake. Here I’d arranged this lovely high tea at the Windsor Hotel for this afternoon and invited my boss and some of my friends to meet her. And now she’s gone and canceled—just like that—an hour before our reservation, saying she’s ill. I tell you, breeding shows through every time. I knew from the—”
    “Madeline! Nadia is ill. She’s—”
    “Yeah, right. Sure she is. She’s just still in a snit because I wasn’t bowled over by their stupid announcement on Sunday, and it’s her little way of getting back at me.”
    “That’s absolutely not true,” Charlotte argued. “In the first place, she’s not like that. She doesn’t play those kinds of games. And in the second place, she has a stomach virus.”
    “Yeah, and I’m the queen of Mardi Gras. Can’t you see it? Not only has she pulled a fast one on my son, but she’s got you hoodwinked, too!”
    “Madeline, stop it!” Charlotte shouted, no longer able to keep a rein on her rising temper.
    “Don’t you dare ‘Madeline’ me,” her sister shouted right back. “I should have known better than to call you—should have known that you’d take her side against your own sister. You’ve never supported anything I did. Why—”
    Charlotte’s temper snapped. When Madeline was in the throes of one of her hissy fits, there was no talking to her, no reasoning with her at all. Charlotte jerked the phone away from her ear and with one click disconnected the call. With her hand shaking almost uncontrollably, she turned the phone off.
    For several long seconds, all she could do was stare at the floor while she tried to calm down. But not even breathing deeply and counting to ten helped this