Advance Notice (A River Valley Mystery, book 2) by Hickey Cynthia

Author:Hickey, Cynthia [Hickey, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-06-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“You’re sister is a wanton girl who seduced my boy.” Darla’s face reddened. She poked Stacy’s chest with her forefinger so sharp, I almost feared she’d pop the silicone inside.

“It takes two to tango, missy.” Stacy put her arm around Amber.

I glanced over my shoulder. Yep, the quilting ladies all stared around the corner, not trying in the least to be subtle. “Would you three like to take this somewhere private?”

“Nothing’s going to be private for long.” A drop of spittle hung on Darla’s bottom lip. “Everyone in town will know within two months.”

Oh. Danny was going to be a daddy. Well, goodness. “It isn’t the end of the world, Darla. Young people jump into things all the time.”

She spun on me like a cat after a catnip-filled toy. “What would you know? You aren’t alone to raise that daughter of yours. You have your mother. It’s been just me and Danny since the day he was born. My mother was nothing but a drug user and died alone in her apartment. No one discovered her body for a week. A week! So, keep your opinions to yourself.”

How horrible. Darla might be a prickly woman with the personality of a skunk, but my heart felt for her. I understood a bit more why she never seemed happy at her job at the newspaper. She probably never felt happy ever.

“I’m sorry to tell you, but Danny isn’t here. If he’s working with Leroy today, they’re probably over at the house working on a new porch.” I plastered what I hoped was a sympathetic smile on my face. “Looks like he’ll need the money more than ever now.”

“Don’t simper at me.” Darla spun on her heel. “We’ll have nothing to do with the brat.”

Amber burst into tears and buried her face into Stacy’s blown up chest. My smile faded as fast as a falling rock. It was hard to be sympathetic to a woman who oozed discontent, no matter how hard a person tried.

“Come on, Amber.” Stacy guided her sister toward the door. “I’ll take care of you. We don’t need them.”

“But Danny loves me. He said he did. It’s that evil woman who’s behind this.” Amber raised her head. Mascara and black eyeliner ran down her cheeks in dark rivers.

“And Danny is too spineless to stand up to his mother. We all know that.” Stacy ushered her outside.

Well, it had been an interesting morning so far, and I couldn’t write any of it in the gossip column for tomorrow’s edition. I grinned. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to mention Darla would be a grandmother. Maybe making it public knowledge would force her to take some measure of responsibility or force her no-good son to man up. I could also be opening a huge can of worms, considering Darla knows I write the column.

###

The next morning, having dug up a few more tidbits while eating at Wanda’s Diner the night before, I slid the folder across the conference table to Frank.

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