Free A Conflict of Interest by Anna Adams

Carly. You go back inside. I want to talk to Maria.”
    “Mommy, it’s mine, and besides, I want to talk to her, too.”
    Maria forced a smile. Leah turned her daughter, gently, by the shoulder. “Go ahead, baby. I’ll be there in a minute.” She waited until Carly was out of earshot. “I heard what you did. I don’t want you around my girl.”
    “I didn’t do anything.”
    “Buck Collier says different.”
    “Buck?” Attorneys weren’t supposed to get personal. An errant, pointless thought brought her hope. Leila might have been wrong about Jake turning her in. “Mr. Collier called you?”
    “He came to my house, and that’s already got the neighbors chattering at top speed. People in this town assume the worst if a man’s only home when he can be and a woman’s got to work till late at night. They know what you did to Griff. It might make them wonder about Carly, too.”
    A vise threatened to close around Maria’s chest.“You know me. Carly really is like my little sister. I’d never hurt her.”
    “That’s not what Buck said, and I can’t take a chance. We don’t leave her alone because we don’t love her. We work hard so she can go to college and have an easier life.” Leah came out and shut the door behind her. “I’d kill you if I thought you hurt my baby. I’d kill you with my bare hands.”
    “Any mom would.” Maria could barely see through half angry, half sad tears. There was nothing to say. Leah’s neighbors would love a report of the exiled big sister boo-hooing on the stoop. She wiped her nose and her mouth, blinking hard. Then she held out the basket. “I didn’t put in anything that would hurt Carly.”
    Carly’s mother stared at the basket, of two minds. “Okay.” She tucked it against her side, still planted in front of the doorway in case she had to repel Maria.
    She didn’t. Maria turned away. She was halfway down the stairs when Leah apparently had second thoughts.
    “Maybe we’ll call you when this is all settled.”
    Just in time, righteous anger rolled back. Maria didn’t have to put up with these ridiculous lies. “Have I ever done anything to make you think I’d hurt Carly?”
    Leah looked as if she regretted speaking up. At last she shook her head. “But what would you do if she was your daughter?”
    “That’s a point.” It didn’t make Maria feel any better. “But I’m going to clear my name. I hope you’ll believe I’m innocent afterward.”
    Her bravado didn’t impress Leah. The other woman opened her door and slipped through it. Through thethin wood, Maria heard the rattle of one of those old-fashioned chains sliding closed.
    Maria made a living by her insight. She tried to be a reasonable person, but she was starting to get mad.
     
    L ATER THAT DAY, as she drove to Beth’s house, Maria searched for a way to fix this mess.
    Leah had reminded her that any parent would be wise to take precautions, and their children were more important than a stranger’s right to practice. But in the meantime, Maria refused to wear a scarlet letter on her chest. She could answer the questions when the board got around to asking them, but she’d be a long way down on their witness list. And what would anyone in this town think of her even after she was cleared? If they were all like Leah, she could forget a second chance.
    After dealing with Leah, she was dismayed to find herself parking behind several other cars in front of Beth’s lodge. Even though she might feel like a walking sore thumb, Beth ran a fishing lodge. None of her guests would know Maria, and they wouldn’t have heard the stories. Unless, of course, they watched the more salacious tabloid programs.
    Maria stared at the house, bemused about whether to run or face it. She’d faced plenty of stink eye since the trial.
    Her body answered for her. Without letting herself overanalyze, she locked her car and marched up the stacked stone steps to Beth’s rustic door. Beth answered the bell,