Free Deadly Obsession (A Brown and de Luca Novel Book 4) by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page B

reached into the closet and pulled out the blanket. “Mom got it for me when I was two.”
    “And you carried it around until you were almost seven.”
    Jere smiled and bent to gather up the letters. “I wasn’t hiding these from you. I mean, I was gonna tell you about them, but you got hurt.”
    Mason nodded. “Okay.”
    “Did you read them?”
    “Of course I didn’t read them, Jere. You’re practically a grown man, I’m not gonna read your mail without asking you first.”
    Jeremy sighed, then went quiet for a moment. Finally he nodded. “You probably oughtta read ’em.”
    “If you want me to.”
    Jeremy nodded again. “Yeah. I want you to. Like I said, I was gonna tell you. Most of them have come since you’ve been in the hospital. She heard what happened, and she’s all wound up about it. And about my graduation and wanting to come to it and...just read ’em.” He handed the stack of letters to Mason.
    “Okay,” Mason said, taking the stack.
    “Have you written back to her, Jere?” I asked.
    “Not yet. I’m working on it, though. I mean, it’s cruel not to. I just... I don’t know what to say to her, you know?” He lowered his head. “Especially after what she did. And what she tried to do to you, Rachel.”
    I looked him right in the eyes and said, “It wasn’t her fault. She was out of her mind, Jere. You know that. If she’d been herself, your mom never would’ve done any of that. She just lost it. Everything that happened was...it was too much for her to handle. She snapped. Some people just do.”
    “Yeah. I guess.”
    Mason put an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders. “It’s gonna be okay, Jere.”
    “I hope so,” he said.
    “It will. Come on, let’s go get some of that pizza before Josh and the dogs eat it all.”
    Jeremy nodded, but he hesitated, standing still when Mason would’ve pulled him out of the room.
    “What?” Mason asked.
    Jeremy looked his uncle in the eye. They were the same height. It was weird seeing Jeremy so grown-up. “Mom...she’s got some crazy idea that someone is after us. You, Josh and me. She thinks we’re in danger.”
    Mason nodded slowly. “Like Rachel said, she’s sick, Jere. She can’t help it. Still, I’ll look ’em over. I’ll make sure there’s nothing to worry about, okay?”
    “Yeah. And...make sure she doesn’t show up at graduation. Okay, Uncle Mace? I don’t...I don’t want her there.”
    “I’ll make sure.”
    Jeremy seemed very relieved. “Thanks, Uncle Mace.”
    “It’s what I’m here for, kid.”

5
    S o we had pizza, we played video games, and then we streamed a movie that bored the kids into going to bed. Joshua was afraid Myrtle’s feelings were hurt over the puppy, who hadn’t yet been named, so he took her to bed with him. Jeremy surprised us both by muttering something about the pup probably being unused to sleeping alone, then scooping it up to take to bed with him.
    I looked at Mason as the closing credits scrolled and asked myself why I’d been so wrought up earlier. So he didn’t want to move in with me. A couple of weeks ago I hadn’t wanted that, either. Why was I getting so damned weird about us?
    Because you almost lost him, Rache. That sort of close call has a way of putting things into perspective, don’t you think?
    Yeah, Inner Bitch, I think you might be right.
    He let the credits keep rolling across the TV screen, got up and brought the handful of letters from the kitchen, then dropped them on the coffee table. He picked up the top envelope, handed it to me. It was addressed to Jeremy, and the return address was stamped in the top left corner: Riverside Maximum Security Psychiatric Hospital. “You sure Jeremy’s really okay with us reading them?” I asked, looking up into Mason’s eyes.
    He nodded.
    “Including me?”
    “Yeah. Funny how they started coming just before my...accident.”
    His brave, child-saving, medal-worthy, selfless act of heroism, he meant.
    “I totally understand