Letter of the Law by Carsen Taite

Author:Carsen Taite [Taite, Carsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626397514
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2017-04-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Mom, I forgot my lunch.”

Bianca looked across to the passenger seat of the Miata, a rebuke on her lips, but she stopped before the words came out. Who was she to blame Emma for being distracted? After a weekend with a dead body dropped in her lap, she’d been plenty distracted herself. She pointed to her bag on the floor between them. “Take a five from my wallet and try to buy something semi-healthy with it. Abeula’s going to pick you up after practice because I’m probably going to be home late, okay?”

“Because of the dead body?”

“Yep, but that’s between you and me. Your grandmother isn’t big on dead bodies, especially ones that make me have to work late.”

“She only likes the kind of drama on telenovelas, not the kind on the news.”

“Exactly.” Bianca couldn’t help but smile. Emma was full of these nuggets of wisdom, but her insights never failed to amaze.

“Mom, do you think we’ll ever get to ride horses at Valencia Acres again?”

She’d been waiting for this question since the abrupt end to their outing on Saturday, but she still didn’t have a satisfactory answer. No, was the only response she had, but Emma wasn’t the type of kid who would let it go at that. The litany of questions would probably go something like: “Because you think Jade was involved with the body?” “No” “Well, then why? Did Jade do something wrong?” “No” or not that I know of anyway. “Well, then why not?”

She skirted the issue altogether. “I have another friend with horses. How about I check and see if she has one you could ride?”

“So, you and Jade aren’t friends anymore? Is it because of the dead body?”

Bianca nearly groaned as her honesty-only policy continued to bite her in the ass. These two seemingly simple questions held layers of dangerous territory. She thanked the universe Emma’s school was in sight and settled for the most vague, yet still truthful response she could muster on the fly. “It’s all good, but they’re going to be busy out at Valencia Acres for a while.” She pulled over to the curb. “Don’t forget to ask Ms. Cleary for the new practice schedule so I can make plans.”

“Sure, Mom.” Emma piled out of the car and waved before wading into the crowd. In a few seconds this entire conversation would probably be a distant memory for her as she exchanged stories about her weekend with her friends. But Bianca wasn’t as lucky since the events of the weekend were certain to be the hot topic at the office.

She wasn’t wrong. Ida, the receptionist aka gatekeeper at the front counter, cornered her the second she walked in. “I heard you found a dead body riding horseback this weekend.”

Bianca bit her tongue to keep from saying that actually her eleven-year-old daughter was the one who’d spotted the body first. Instead she shrugged it off. “That’s me. Out finding crime, even on my day off. Is Mr. Gellar in?”

“He is, but he’s in a meeting.

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