Free Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little Page B

wasn’t Tessa. This was the inn’s owner.
    “Ms. Kanty?” I asked.
    She waved her hand. “Call me Cora.” Her eyes crow’s-footed at the corners when she smiled; had they not, I might have believed that she was still in her late twenties. Her hair was in a charming little braid, a bit wispy and pinned in a coronet to the top of her head. The style should have been too young on her, but it complemented her ruddy cheeks, which were flushed not from cosmetics or the cold but from what appeared to be—high spirits?
    Second-generation rich , I decided. Conditioned to her privilege but still delighted by it.
    “—is going to be particularly special this year,” Cora was saying, “and I really think you’ll—”
    “Is anyone else joining you?” Rue asked.
    I started. “I beg your pardon?”
    “Do you have a boyfriend?”
    “Really, Rue,” Cora said, sharply.
    “What?” Rue said. “I just need to know how many chocolates to put on the pillows. I mean—I can probably guess, but I just thought I’d check.”
    “Rue, that’s enough.” Cora twisted her smile back into place before turning to me. “Teenagers,” she said. I nodded sympathetically, even as part of me spat and scrubbed its tongue at the realization that I was siding with someone’s mom.
    Cora grabbed me by the elbow and led me into the foyer, away from Rue’s little smirk, and my body’s focus narrowed down to the ten or so square inches of contact between us. Even through three layers of clothing it felt like she was running a bristle brush over a half-healed burn. It took all my concentration not to pull away.
    “We have nothing planned tonight for the festival, I’m afraid,” Cora said, “but if you’d like, we’d love to have you join us for dinner.”
    I’d rather fuck a Christmas tree.
    “I’d love to.”
    She clapped her hands. “Wonderful! Now why don’t you let Rue show you to your room, and then we’ll all head over together.” She reached over and tucked my hair behind my ear. “And don’t mind Rue. So what if you’re single? Who knows—maybe you’ll meet someone here.”
    Rue was already halfway up the stairs by the time I started after her. She looked back at me over her shoulder with a vulpine twinkle. “You’ll be up in the attic,” she called down cheerfully. “Just like Bertha Mason!”

 
    Exam of A. Butler, Cont’d
    By Mr. Thompkins
    Mary Ann Palmiter
    Official Court Transcriber
    1 MS. BUTLER: I DIDN’T EVEN INVITE HER, FOR ONE THING. SHE JUST
    2 SHOWED UP.
    3
    4 MR. THOMPKINS: AND HOW DID YOU KNOW THE DEFENDANT?
    5
    6 MS. BUTLER: WE WENT TO SCHOOL TOGETHER. WHEN SHE BOTHERED
    7 TO SHOW UP, THAT IS.
    8
    9 MR. THOMPKINS: AND DID YOU SEE HER THAT NIGHT?
    10
    11 MS. BUTLER: I DID.
    12
    13 MR. THOMPKINS: CAN YOU SAY AT WHAT TIME?
    14
    15 MS. BUTLER: TEN OR TEN-THIRTY, I THINK.
    16
    17 MR. THOMPKINS: DID YOU SPEAK TO HER?
    18
    19 MS. BUTLER: YES, AND IT WAS VERY UNPLEASANT. SHE WAS
    20 ANGRY AND AGGRESSIVE AND VERBALLY ABUSIVE AND I FEARED
    21 FOR MY SAFETY.
    22
    23 MR. THOMPKINS: WERE YOU SURPRISED BY HER BEHAVIOR?
    24
    25 MS. BUTLER: NO. SHE WAS A BITCH, ASK ANYONE.

 
    Exam of M. O’Malley, Cont’d
    By Mr. Thompkins
    Mary Ann Palmiter
    Official Court Transcriber
    1 MR. THOMPKINS: MS. O’MALLEY, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE
    2 DEFENDANT’S STATE OF MIND ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 14TH?
    3
    4 MS. O’MALLEY: SHE HAD BEEN DRINKING.
    5
    6 MR. THOMPKINS: COULD YOU GUESS HOW MUCH SHE HAD BEEN
    7 DRINKING?
    8
    9 MS. O’MALLEY: MY IMPRESSION WAS THAT SHE WAS VERY DRUNK.
    10
    11 MR. THOMPKINS: DID YOU ACTUALLY SEE HER DRINKING?
    12
    13 MS. O’MALLEY: YES.
    14
    15 MR. THOMPKINS: HOW MANY DRINKS?
    16
    17 MS. O’MALLEY: JUST ONE, ACTUALLY.
    18
    19 MR. THOMPKINS: THEN WHY WOULD YOU SAY SHE WAS
    20 “VERY DRUNK”?
    21
    22 MS. O’MALLEY: BECAUSE SHE WAS ACTING SO WEIRD.
    23
    24 MR. THOMPKINS: IN WHAT WAY?
    25
    1 MS. O’MALLEY: LIKE SHE KEPT STARING AT THE FLOOR OR AT THE
    2 WALL, AND THEN WHEN AINSLEY CAME IN,