White Hot by Sandra Brown

Author:Sandra Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780743466769
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2004-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

“My husband died last year.” As Mrs. Loretta Foster announced her husband’s passing to Sayre, she crossed herself. “God rest his soul.”

“I’m sorry. Had he been ill?”

“Not a day in his life. He just dropped dead right here in the kitchen while he was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Pulmonary embolism. The doctor told me he was dead before he hit the floor.”

“Sudden deaths come as such a shock.”

Mrs. Foster’s overpermed gray hair moved as a unit when she bobbed her head in agreement. “It’s good for the one who checks out. No fuss or muss,” she said, snapping her fingers. “But it’s hard on the ones left behind. Anyhow, it’s only me and my boy now.”

She gestured toward her son, who was sitting on the floor watching cartoons on a big-screen TV that took up most of the space in the diminutive living room of the small frame house. He was absorbed in the antics of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Mrs. Foster had placed a bag of Chee-tos and a glass of orange juice on a tray in front of him, admonishing him to be careful and not to spill on the carpet. He appeared not to have heard her and seemed completely unaware of Sayre, who was seated with his mother at the kitchen table, where they were sipping glasses of sweetened iced tea.

The “boy” was well into his forties.

“I guess you noticed that he’s not quite right,” Mrs. Foster said in a whisper that Sayre could barely hear above the manic sound track of the cartoon. “Born that way. Wasn’t anything I did while I was carrying him. That’s just the way he came out.”

Sayre, at a loss over how to respond, said, “I appreciate your letting me interrupt your afternoon.”

Mrs. Foster’s laugh jiggled her generous bosom. “We don’t go anywhere or do anything. Except for Sunday, when we go to mass, one day is the same as the next. As long as I get my boy’s supper ready by five-thirty, he’s content. This is about all we do with our afternoons, so I’m glad for the company and somebody to talk to. Except, I’m a little curious as to why you asked to come over.”

Loretta Foster’s name was on the list Sayre had obtained at the courthouse, thanks to Jessica DeBlance’s contact.

“I know a woman who works in the parish tax office,” she had told Sayre when she’d asked for a favor. “We’re not close friends, but I think she would be willing to help. What is it you need?”

What Sayre had asked for was the list of jurors who had served during Chris’s trial. Jessica placed the call to her acquaintance. The contact at the courthouse agreed to see if such a list could be acquired and asked for several hours in which to find out.

Sayre met her at the appointed time and was handed the list. “It was easier than I thought,” the woman told her. “They keep track of people who’re called to jury duty, because if someone is recalled within a certain length of time, they can ask for an exemption.

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.