Fatal Bonds by Harley Christensen

Author:Harley Christensen [Christensen, Harley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harley Christensen

Chapter Eighteen

I might have missed it had I not been looking right at her, but after her heated delivery of that comment, Mae bit her lip. Had she said too much?

I decided to take a stab at whatever it was. “You’re not suggesting Maria’s condition is—”

She waved a hand to cut me off and shook her head. “She probably did have an episode, brought on by stress…whatever…but I was just saying that Danielle would take liberties with the drama whenever she felt it benefited her cause. Or when she thought she could get a rise out of her mother. As if Maria didn’t have enough of her own challenges.”

I could think of one big one. “How’d she get the job working for Terrence Edwards’ wife?”

“Huh, I would have thought that either Kelly or Larissa would have filled you in on that.” I shrugged and used my hand to encourage her to continue.

“My father, as I mentioned, had a certain amount of clout in our community. At first, he only knew Terrence Edwards as a passing acquaintance, but as Edwards gained momentum at his firm, he started showing up around the community, making sure his name got out there, and he was seen by those whose word mattered.”

I didn’t really take Edwards as a man of the people, but if it was important to those he worked for, then he probably would have held a stinky baby if it put him in the favor of potential future clients, especially the ones with influence, like Mae’s father. The image almost made me laugh.

Almost.

“Anyway, back to the job Maria was hired for. After having a succession of kids over the course of a few years, the young Mrs. Edwards’ decided she’d had her fill of mommy duty and wasn’t about to waste the remainder of her youth changing dirty diapers.” When I arched a brow, she offered me a nod, followed by an abrasive chuckle.

“Rumor has it that the former debutante insisted on adding more people to her ever-expanding staff, which already included two cooks, a housekeeper and a nanny for each of the children. If she was to be seen on the arm of a rising star, after all, she needed additional support in the home so that she could tend to her own affairs. Big emphasis on ‘her’ if you get my drift.”

I nodded, returning a tight smile. I’d encountered the type.

“Anyway, Pops happened to be at the ribbon-cutting of a new park that was part of a neighborhood revitalization project Edwards’ firm spearheaded. Such involvement helped them keep a finger of the heartbeat of the goings-on in the community, which is precisely the way their ‘clients’ liked it.” She paused to tap a finger against the side of her nose.

“Pops and Edwards had seen each other at a number of other community events and got to chatting, realized they knew some of the same people, frequented the same places, that sort of thing. On this particular occasion, Edwards mentioned his

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