Shoot from the Lip Read Online Free PDF Page A

and red-haired. What a difference a father’s genes could make. She was Emma’s opposite. Scott O’Meara, the nineteen-year-old, was supposed to call in from college.
    After all the introductions were done and everyone had a soft drink in hand, we’d visited for a while and Kate and I made sure all three had our cards with our cell numbers. Kate began the interview, starting with Emma.
    “Your brother and sister seem like great kids,” Kate said. “They’re polite, sound like they take school seriously, and they have the clear eyes of sober adolescents. Seems like you’ve done a fine job raising them.”
    Emma had shed her business suit and was wearing khaki capris and a peach T-shirt, but she looked just as exotically gorgeous in casual clothes and with little makeup. “These kids made it easy. They’re smart, they help me, they’re ...” Her voice cracked, and Luke, who was next to her on the couch, put an arm around her.
    “Emma’s way cool, too,” he said.
    Kate glanced at her watch. “It’s a little past seven thirty. Can we get your brother Scott on the line, since he hasn’t called us?”
    But though Emma tried several numbers, she couldn’t find Scott.
    “He’s probably mad,” said Shannon, staring down at the cat. “He stays that way.”
    “Mad about what?” Kate scribbled something on the legal pad on her lap.
    “How about everything?” Luke stroked Webster’s head. The dog sighed and settled on the floor, his head on Luke’s feet.
    “He’s had his problems,” Emma said. “If he won’t participate, does that mean we can’t go on with this?”
    Kate smiled. “Anger is a normal reaction to what you and your family have been through. He’s been living away from the family for how long?”
    “This is his second year at Texas A&M,” Emma answered.
    “That’s a long time,” Kate said. “Maybe anger is his way of separating, of being his own man. But don’t worry. His reluctance to participate won’t affect how Abby and I work with you.”
    Emma slowly nodded. “Being his own man. Yes. That makes sense.”
    “Okay, then,” Kate said. “What we need now is a family history. What happened when. Before I make any psychological assessments, I think Abby can ask those questions. Then I’ll get your feelings about possibly reuniting with a sister you never knew—that is, if we can find her.”
    “Can I ask something first?” Emma was looking at me. “What about the contract?”
    I told her I hoped to hear something from Mark soon, then redirected the conversation. I was sure what Mark would tell me, and Emma didn’t need to hear that now. “Emma, can you start with your father? Did you know him?”
    “No. I wasn’t even born when he went away. He was a soldier, died in Beirut in late 1983—the marine barracks bombing. His name was Xavier Lopez, and he bought the house we still live in. He left me the house along with a small trust to cover the taxes and insurance. My mother was so angry that he’d given her nothing, she made sure Scott, Luke and Shannon only had her last name, O’Meara, on their birth certificates. They don’t know who their fathers are—but that’s another issue, maybe for another time.”
    Hmm, I thought. More missing information.
    “Scott is half black, we think,” Emma said, “but as you can see, I’m half Hispanic, and Luke and Shannon are white through and through. Shannon looks a lot like Mom.”
    “Don’t say that.” Shannon said this loud enough to send Diva scurrying off her lap and out of the room. “I’m not her.”
    Kate jotted something on her pad while Emma said, “I’m sorry. You’re nothing like her on the inside, Shannon. Nothing. She was selfish and mean and a drunken idiot.”
    “An alcoholic?” I asked, writing for the first time in my own notebook.
    “Raging,” Emma said. “A binger. She’d leave us alone for days at a time, then come back and sleep for hours and hours.”
    “How long had this been going