Dying Truth (A Thomas Cade Thriller Book 2) by Jay Nadal

Author:Jay Nadal [Nadal, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-23T22:00:00+00:00

18

Beth stared at the bottle on the kitchen table. It was a California white she had picked up from Charlie’s store on the way home with Maddie. Maddie loved Uncle Charlie’s store. To her it was an Aladdin’s cave of oddments in random places about the shelves and infinitely preferable to the sterile uniformity of the supermarket. And Uncle Charlie often had a little something for her whenever they went in—a foam plane made by slotting the wing piece through the body and sliding a transparent plastic nose cone, complete with a propeller, onto the end; or a ball that bounced against a paddle, attached by a piece of elastic; or a yoyo.

As a millennial child, Madison was used to high-technology entertainment—smartphones, CGI, tablets—but despite this, she seemed absorbed by the antiquated toys and games which Charlie seemed to have in abundance. This time she had left with a game of Guess Who? that Beth remembered playing when she was a child. As Charlie had shown Maddie how to play on the store counter, Beth’s eyes had wandered to the cooler.

She didn’t have a drinking problem. Charlie had glanced at her for a moment when she brought the bottle to the cash register.

“Do you have a beard?” Maddie had demanded.

“No,” Charlie told her.

Maddie leaned her elbows on the counter. From the vantage point of the high stool that Charlie always fetched for her, she scrutinized each face that she still had standing, deciding whether or not she needed to flip them down.

“I’d be happy to share that with you,” Charlie said clumsily. “Shouldn’t drink alone.”

Beth’s face flushed with guilt as she stared at the bottle. “It’s for dinner. You’re invited, of course,” she said as brightly as she could.

Charlie knew Beth didn’t have a drinking problem. Not really. But he knew how Beth had been not long after moving to Burford. Now, Maddie had dragged Charlie off into the living room to play another game of Guess Who? And Beth looked at the bottle of wine.

“Maddie. Your show will start soon. Why not watch some TV and give Uncle Charlie a break?” Beth called through.

“Okay, Mommy,” Maddie agreed quickly, after being reminded about her favorite TV show.

Charlie ambled through to the kitchen as Maddie turned the TV on and found the right channel.

“She doesn’t get bored with doing the same thing, does she?”

Beth smiled weakly, getting a glass from the cupboard and putting it down next to the bottle.

“Not for me this early, thanks,” Charlie said. “Besides, I might need to drive.”

Beth nodded and didn’t open the bottle. “I haven’t felt like a drink for over a year. I’m not on the wagon,” she added hurriedly. “It’s nothing like that. I sometimes needed a drink when times were stressful.”

Charlie nodded. “I can understand that. Think I’ve been in some tough places where only a bottle could cure me. Don’t think it ever did.”

“It’s just to release the pressure a little. To relax. It doesn’t matter,” Beth said despondently.

She checked her phone and then walked to the kitchen window to look out into the backyard.

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