Free Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder by Carol Shenold

just about fallen asleep for the third time when I heard a noise. The clock shone four a.m.
    I’d checked on Sean but not Cass or Mumsie. Mumsie slept like the dead. She’d never be up this early. I pulled on my robe and looked around for a weapon. If someone broke in, they’d have a problem. Anger still ran through me when I thought about the time someone painted witch on the front of the house a few months ago. I grabbed a giant carving knife as I crept through the kitchen, past the sliding door in the dining room, which was secure. I stood in the alcove next to the laundry room trying to hear any noise from the green room. A faint rustle told me someone was there.
    I shivered, imagining any number of things, none of them pleasant. Dang it, the boys had me spooked. This was ridiculous.
    I walked into the room and stood on the landing as my daughter, Cass, and the new boyfriend left nothing to the imagination with their antics on the couch. That was how Aiden and I must have looked.
    I yelled. “Cassandra Mary Cates, put your clothes on, right now. You too, young man. What do you think you’re doing? Sean could walk right in on you. It’s not as if there’s a door you can lock, or a door at all.”
    “And how long were you sneaking around watching us?” Cass jerked on her jeans. “That’s sick. Besides, you have no right to spy on us.”
    “As long as you’re living with us, you have no right to act as if you’re the only one in the house. Banging around the house at four a.m., scaring me to death, is not considerate. And if you are going to do something requiring privacy, for God’s sake and mine, find some.”
    “I can take care of that. I’ll go home with Chase. He won’t be so picky, will you Chase?”
    So far, Chase had not said anything, and he grew pale at Cass’s question. “Well, honey, I have a roommate, you know, and I don’t think you could bunk with the two of us, not that it wouldn’t be nice and all that, but I don’t think you’d like it very much…” He trailed off, looking guilty and sneaky at the same time. What the hell was he hiding? I was so tired of secrets and mysteries.
    Cass whirled on Chase. “You go then, and sleep with your precious roommate. I wouldn’t want to bother that arrangement.” Venom dripped from the words and he stepped back.
    Chase reached for her hand and she jerked away. “Cass, you know I didn’t mean it that way. Listen for just one minute.”
    “Don’t slam the door on the way out,” I said, ever the good hostess, and I left them to finish their argument. Chase looked more puzzled than angry.
    Cass needed to learn to think things through, but I was angry at myself for overreacting. I had to stop screaming before I turned into the fishwife she thought I was. Aiden would say I had the right to get angry and show emotion but showing, expressing negative emotion was never encouraged when I was a child. Holding it all in was a difficult habit to break.
    Since sleep had deteriorated into an impossible dream, I put on some coffee. It was a warm October. Sometimes we didn’t get a hard freeze until Halloween. I could put on my robe and sit on the deck. I didn’t want to hear the yelling in the living room, which wouldn’t last because I’d go in there and kill them both if they didn’t cool it.
    After I brewed a pot dark enough to stand on its own, I took a large cup outside and sat at the picnic table, looking over the edge of the deck toward the football field. I inhaled the aroma of the rich, strong coffee. I always spent too much money on good coffee, and then I’d add whipped cream to the top.
    The full moon lit the yard until the house felt dark. Everything stood out in stark detail: tree leaves, grass, even pecans hiding from the squirrels. I jumped at a movement until I identified a possum walking across the far end of the field. An early-bird wren called and a cardinal answered.
    I faced a long day with the Duchess Contest this afternoon