Rest in Peace Read Online Free PDF Page B

shut my eyes and drew a deep breath. “The secretarial position, you mean?”
    “Yeah. You know we’ve needed someone for a while.”
    I waited.
    The look he threw my way was definitely worried, if not downright guilty.
    “You hired her,” I stated.
    “Why not? She’s qualified.” He shrugged. “Oh, come on, Victoria. Don’t be jealous just because she’s pretty.”
    “What? I’ll have you know I’m not jealous. I just don’t like her. She was very hostile toward me.” And he thought she was pretty.
    “I’m sure it’s just your imagination, Vickie.”
    “Excuse me. I know what I saw. And don’t call me Vickie.” How dare he call me jealous, and how dare he call me Vickie. He knew I hated it. That is, I used to hate it. Not so much this last year or two, but I hated it now.
    “Come on, honey. I don’t know what the problem is here. If it bothers you that much, I’ll tell her I’ve changed my mind.” He reached across the table and took my hand.
    I sighed. Was I just jealous? God had dealt with me aboutthat last year, and I thought I’d overcome it. But the thought of Benjamin spending time with that little vixen made me cringe. Still…I needed to grow up. And I trusted Ben.
    “No, I’m sorry. I overreacted. I’m sure you’re right. I must have imagined her attitude to be worse than it was.” There. “I’m all right with it, Ben.”
    “Sure?”
    “Yes, sure.” In a pig’s eye. Oops.
Sorry, Lord
.
    We talked about other things on the ride back to Cedar Chapel. After all, the little squabble was over. Only I didn’t feel like it was over. We kissed good night at my door, and I went inside.
    I went to my office, took the notebook and pen out of the drawer, and scratched out the question mark by Christiana’s name. I then added three exclamation points, tossed the pen on the desk, and went up to bed.

CHAPTERFOUR
    A fter breakfast the next morning, Miss Aggie asked me to watch out for Whatzit while she went to Pennington House to help. They were doing last-minute decorating at this point, and she couldn’t bear to stay away. The rest of the seniors stated their intentions of going to the senior center. I grabbed Miss Jane and Miss Georgina before they could take off.
    “Could I talk to you two for a few minutes?”
    The nervous glances they darted at one another caused a pang of guilt to run through me. I should probably stop using these two sweet ladies as my information highway.
    “Why don’t we go in the parlor? It’s more comfy.”
    I linked arms with them and escorted them in.
    “Now Victoria, I don’t know what you’re up to, but we have to hurry. There’s bingo at the center this morning, and we don’t want to be late.”
    “You won’t be. I promise.” I smiled and sat on the wing chair beside the fireplace.
    With obvious reluctance, Miss Jane and Miss Georgina sat on one of the sofas.
    “Okay, all I want to know is if either of you knew that Clyde had a wife and daughter.”
    “We knew he had a wife, of course. But that was years ago,” Miss Jane said. “He met her in New York, married her, and brought her home with him.”
    New York? That’s where Aggie’s brother, Forrest, lived and worked after college. His mother’s family owned a textile business there.
    “Was Clyde there visiting Forrest?”
    Miss Jane shrugged. “He never told me why he was there. And I wasn’t about to ask him.”
    “Me either.” Miss Georgina shivered. “I stayed as far away from Clyde as I could.”
    They’d told me before that Clyde had a cruel streak when they were young. Miss Aggie was the only one of the girls in their group he hadn’t terrorized, and that was because she was his hero’s little sister.
    “So, tell me about Clyde’s wife.”
    “I didn’t know her except to say hello in passing. You didn’t either, did you, Georgina?”
    “No, but I always felt sorry for her. I wasn’t much surprised when she left him.”
    “What about their daughter?”
    Miss Jane