Hope for Christmas by Stacy Finz

Author:Stacy Finz [Finz, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-08-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Emily let out a gasp and Clay reached for her. He considered calling in the agents. They should hear this. If the woman dropped dead right this moment, they’d have no witnesses. Paige started crying and Clay didn’t know what to do first. Soothe Emily, pick up Paige, or demand answers?

The caretaker opened the door and gave them a pointed look. No way in hell was he leaving Emily alone to hear the rest of this woman’s confession. Or lies. Who knew what her endgame was? He got up, lifted Paige out of her carrier and nestled her against his chest, rocking her back and forth. That seemed to do the trick. The baby nuzzled closer, closed her eyes, and drifted off.

“I think the agents should hear this,” Clay said, and started to open the door.

“Not yet,” Maureen croaked, and took Emily’s arm. Her hands were paper-thin and he could see a trail of blue veins. “Water, please.”

Emily stood stock-still. Clay suspected she was still processing the words.

Duke took her. Duke took Hope.

He maneuvered Paige to one arm and poured the water from a tan plastic pitcher into a glass with a straw and held it for her. Honestly, he wanted to shove it down her throat.

“You okay?” he asked Emily.

“Yes. Please go on,” she told Maureen.

Maureen sipped the water, trying to hold the glass with her own hands. To Clay she looked as if she was at death’s door and he fervently hoped she’d be able to finish. Then they could parse her story, investigate whether it was true.

“I waited for you,” Maureen said. “Had to get this out.”

“I understand.” Emily nodded her head in encouragement. It was a miracle she was keeping it together. Clay touched her back. She still had on her jacket even though the heat was cranked to full blast.

“When that man . . . the one on death row . . . said he killed her and threw her down a well, I wanted to call you.” Maureen coughed hard until her entire body racked from it.

The caretaker, Jenna, came back in. “It’s too much for her. You’ll have to leave.”

Emily made a noise of distress and Clay said, “Not yet. My wife needs to hear this and Maureen needs to say it.”

Maureen nodded and Jenna said, “Just a few more minutes. Anything more than that is too much.” She grabbed a wad of tissues and wiped Maureen’s mouth, put her water glass back on the table and with a remote control adjusted the bed to a near sitting position. “Harper will be here soon.”

A tear rolled down Maureen’s face and she wiped it away with the back of her bony hand.

“Ring if you need me,” Jenna said, and left. Clay noted the hand bell on the table.

“You were saying you wanted to call me about the man in prison, the one who falsely confessed to taking Hope,” Emily reminded her.

“He lied.” Maureen attempted to pull her covers higher. Emily did it for her, tucking it under her chin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.