Shell Game (Stand Alone 2) by Badal Joseph

Author:Badal, Joseph [Badal, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Thrillers, Suspense
ISBN: 0615654843
Amazon: B008APK9SU
Publisher: Suspense Publishing
Published: 2012-06-11T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Katherine was thinking about Carrie. The letter she’d received from her daughter had said that she would be released from a hospital in about a week. Considering the time that had passed since Carrie wrote the letter, she figured Carrie should be home already. But Katherine knew she was always doing something mysterious and her schedule was likely to change at a moment’s notice. The telephone rang, breaking into her thoughts. The display showed it was Edward.

“Hi, son,” she said.

“Hey, Mom. How are you doing?”

“Good. How about you?”

“Some reason for hope; nothing definite. But I didn’t call to talk about work; I’ve got something else we need to discuss. I was just checking to see if you were home. I’ll be there in a few minutes, if that’s okay.”

“Of course,” she said.

Edward sounded mysterious. Katherine hoped there wasn’t more bad news. She quickly shucked out of her dress and pulled on jeans and a work shirt. She opened a bottle of California Chardonnay, a 2007 Londer, and was halfway through her first glass when the doorbell rang. She went to the door, swung it open, and shouted, “Carrie!”

A grinning Edward stood behind Carrie, holding her travel bag.

Katherine moved to embrace her daughter, but Carrie took the wine glass from her mother, downed the contents, and tossed the glass over her shoulder onto the lawn.

“Now I’ll take that hug,” she said.

Mother and daughter squealed and danced around, all the while wrapped around one another. Edward squeezed around them and set Carrie’s bag inside the front door. Katherine and Carrie finally followed him inside.

“You look great,” Katherine told Carrie. “After I read your last letter, I was afraid you’d look like your brother did when he returned from Iraq.”

Carrie smiled at Edward and said, “I’ve always been tougher than Eddie. Actually, I’m feeling great. And I’ll feel even better after I have another glass of that fantastic chardonnay and you tell me where we’re having dinner tonight.”

“What do you feel like eating?” Katherine asked.

“Steak, steak, and more steak. I’ve had so much lamb, flat bread, and grape leaves, I’m starting to turn into an Afghani.”

“Is that where you’ve been, Afghanistan?” Edward said.

She waggled her hand in front of her and laughed. “Let’s just say where I’ve been is the armpit of the universe and I never want to return there ever again.”

“Okay, steak it is. How does Paisano’s sound?”

“Great!”

Edward hugged and kissed his mother. “I’ll go get Betsy and meet you there. Say, in an hour.” He turned to Carrie and hugged her as well. “Are you sure you’re up to this? I mean, you just flew more than halfway around the world.”

“Still looking out for me, big brother?”

“Absolutely.”

Carrie kissed Edward on the cheek and hugged him tightly. “Go get Betsy. I’m fine. Well, besides being starving.”

“What’s going on with Edward?” Carrie asked after she and her mother sat down in the kitchen. “Something’s bothering him.”

Katherine shook her head. “It’s a long story, but the essence is the federal government has overreacted to the banking and capital markets crises.

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