Roller Coaster by Karin Kallmaker

Author:Karin Kallmaker [Kallmaker, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ! Yes
ISBN: 9781594931697
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2011-11-15T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

On Sunday Laura approached the Baynor house filled

with trepidation. She didn’t see how she could go on working

with Grace when she knew what Grace was up to. But Helen

was reachable only for an emergency, and she didn’t think this

counted as one. Knuckling under was not her strong suit, and

the stress over it had disturbed her sleep more than the hurt

from Suzy’s diatribe.

It was a relief to see that the minivan wasn’t there. Grace must

have taken the kids on errands. She checked the schedule board

as soon as she let herself in the side door. Justin was at a friend’s house and Julie was listed at an ecology day planning group at

the school. Before she lost her nerve she hurried to the study,

carefully pulled out the folder with the fabricated cash receipts 164 Karin Kallmaker

and took pictures with her phone. She also took a picture of the

monthly landscaping and housecleaning bills—she didn’t put it

past Grace to be pulling the same thing on the Latino women

who cleaned as she was on the landscapers. Twenty percent of that and twenty percent of the housekeeper’s bill was the equivalent

of some people’s car payments. Plus Grace was getting a salary

and living probably for free in the quarters attached to the rear of the garage.

She thought of her mother and was seared with anger. She

couldn’t change it, she couldn’t make it better, she reminded

herself. To the empty room she said, “And the last thing you’re

going to do is head for a bar because you’re angry and scared

and your mother died for a stupid reason, and after she gave up

everything she could have been for you, and endured things you

never understood because she loved you in spite of it all.”

She repeated that truth to herself as she looked in the folders

for any other evidence. Her predecessor, Mary, had turned in

perfect receipts, it seemed, but she wondered if Mary had been

easier to strike a deal with. What about her made Grace think

she couldn’t strong-arm her for a cut of her pay? Her friendship

with the kids? That Helen insisted on meeting with her? Maybe

Grace thought if she crossed a black girl she’d get knifed or

something. Kitchens were full of knives, after all.

She laughed out loud at herself. It didn’t really matter why

Grace hadn’t tried to blackmail her for her job. She wouldn’t

have succeeded. But there was nothing more to find. She only

had the conversation she’d overheard, the word of the landscaper

and the fake receipts for cash she’d never spent.

Retreating to the kitchen, she put away the groceries and

went about breaking down a whole chicken to oven-fry for

Sunday supper. If her mother were alive she’d ask for advice, but she knew what it would have been. “Bend your back for what you

love. Bend it for what you hate and you’ll break.”

She wished she knew the name of Helen’s accountant—stupid

woman, she told herself. It’s got to be in the files somewhere. But even as she decided to go back and look the minivan pulled in.

Grace and Julie were home.

Roller Coaster 165

“Mrs.

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