Free Bone Deep by Debra Webb Page B

make herself a sandwich. But first, she had to figure out what was going on with her mother.
    Claire busied herself with preparing two glasses of iced tea, carefully placing a wedge of lemon on the rim of each. When she’d completed her task, she joined Jill at the kitchen table that had served Ellingtons for more than a century.
    “Chief Dotson called me,” Claire announced after tasting her tea.
    Jill almost choked on her first sip. “Have they found Cody?” Anticipation pounded in her chest. Why hadn’t her mother said something right at the start?
    Claire shook her head. “It wasn’t about my grandson. It was about you .”
    The anticipation drained away, leaving a deeper sense of exhaustion. “Me? Why did he call about me?”
    Claire folded her hands primly on the table and studied them, anything to avoid meeting Jill’s gaze. “He said you’d spent the entire day going all over town asking questions about your sister and her marriage.”
    Dumbfounded, Jill could only shake her head in confusion. She worked hard at keeping a respectful tone with her mother. Sometimes, like now, it was difficult. Jill had always tended to speak her mind, Kate was the more discreet one. What she’d done today shouldn’t surprise anyone, least of all her mother.
    “That’s true.” No need to lie. “I hope to find some lead on what happened to Cody and why Karl is dead. I would think you’d be interested in that as well.”
    Claire cut her a sharp glance. “Of course I’m interested in the welfare of my grandson. And certainly I would like this whole business solved. Put to rest once and for all. It’s you who’s creating trouble.”
    Trouble? “What on earth are you talking about?” All thoughts of food or fatigue evaporated.
    “How much more humiliation do you think this family can withstand? The chief is attempting to find some way to work this out for the best. Can’t you see that?”
    Stunned, shocked, neither of those things were an adequate description of how Jill felt at the moment. “Aren’t you the one who demanded I come home and fix this problem?”
    “That was before that man showed up.”
    That man? Anger rippled through Jill. “Why don’t we get to the heart of the matter, Mother?” Jill suggested with cold calculation. “There is only one adult member in this family besides me and Kate. So if I’m not humiliated by my actions, and, God knows, Kate isn’t, then it must be you. Would that be an accurate deduction?”
    “Don’t use your lawyer talk on me, young lady,” she snapped. “I will not have you coming here and working against what’s right. The Judge would turn over in his grave if he could see you now.”
    Jill shoved her feet back into her shoes and stood, the legs of her chair scraping across the floor. She didn’t need her mother to remind her that her father had been disappointed in her more often than not. “Well, the Judge is dead, Mother, he can’t see anything. However, you’re very much alive. I wonder why it is that you can’t see what’s right in front of you? Don’t you want Cody found and Kate cleared of guilt?”
    Claire Ellington’s cheeks flushed with anger, but her voice was calm when she spoke. “Of course I want those things! I love you, Jill, and I love your sister and my grandson. All of you are gifts straight from God. But I won’t allow you to drag this family’s good name through the dirt while you try and prove some pointless theory. I asked you to come here and see that your sister was properly cared for and that the situation was resolved appropriately. If you can’t do that, then you should at least have enough respect for what your father stood for to admit defeat and suffer through this as I am.”
    Jill stormed out of the room before she said something she would regret later. Her mother was unbelievable. Another blast of fury thundered through her at the idea that the chief was watching her. What the hell was wrong with these people?