The Perfect Mother: A Novel by Darnton Nina

Author:Darnton, Nina [Darnton, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Itzy, Kickass.so
ISBN: 9781101609385
Amazon: B00INIXQCK
Publisher: Plume
Published: 2014-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Two days passed during which Roberto tied up some loose ends on his other cases and he and Jennifer met to discuss their strategy. She awoke on the morning of the third day optimistic and energized, even though she had once again been refused permission to visit Emma and couldn’t reach her by phone. Still, she was a woman with a mission, and now she knew what it was. She would expose Paco, who she was sure was hiding something, and she would free her daughter, not only from prison but from the psychological stranglehold in which Paco held her. Once she was set on this plan, it simply did not occur to her that she might be wrong and that there might be nothing helpful to discover.

She glanced at the clock—it was 8:00 A.M. She stretched, turning over to lie on her back, where she stayed for a few minutes, a satisfied smile creasing her face as she recalled the plan she and Roberto had finally settled on. He would leave this morning for Paco’s home village and find out whatever he could about Paco’s background: parents, siblings, school reports, neighbors, whomever he could track down. José would check with his sources in the police department to see what they had found out. And Jennifer would try to contact Paco and Emma’s friends.

In some ways Jennifer’s job was the hardest. She had Julia as her contact to Emma’s circle, but she had no idea who Paco’s friends were. Still, she was eager to get started, and she figured she’d call Julia first. She got up and made her way to the bathroom, trying to ignore the lethargy in her limbs and her aching head. She shouldn’t have drunk so much wine, she thought as she splashed cold water on her face and reached into her medicine bag for some Advil. She showered and dressed and, feeling somewhat better, opened the door to pick up her copy of the International New York Times, which she intended to take with her to the breakfast room on the ground floor. The paper lay on her doorstep, front page up, and as she bent down to retrieve it her pulse quickened. In the lower half of the front page was a picture of Emma. And not just any picture. It was the incriminating shot of Emma dressed as a prostitute, the one the Spanish press had used and that Jennifer thought had been taken care of when Roberto had explained to the press that it was a costume for the American holiday of Halloween. But here it was again, with no explanation of its provenance, above a headline that read: PRINCETON CO-ED PRIME SUSPECT IN MURDER INVESTIGATION.

Her greatest immediate fear had been realized: The story was now the property of the international press. They would arrive in droves, she fretted; they would investigate, incriminate, sensationalize. They would turn an already painful situation into a circus. Most important, they would lessen any chance of getting Emma out quietly without a trial.

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