A Whisker of a Doubt by Cate Conte

Author:Cate Conte
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Chapter 22

Sunday, December 27: five days after the murder

Afternoon

After Craig left, I turned to Grandpa.

“Don’t you think you were a little hard on him, doll?” Grandpa asked.

“No! I can’t believe you two went and violated her privacy that way.”

“Maddie. This is police work. Look, Katrina was ordered by her boss to stay away from that neighborhood. She violated that order and went anyway. A man ended up dead. They are seriously looking at her, and if we want to help her, this is one of the ways we can do it.”

Intellectually I knew he was right. That didn’t mean I wanted to hear it. “I need to go out for a while. Clear my head,” I said. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

I grabbed my coat and keys and drove to my parents’. I needed to get my mom’s thoughts on all this. I let myself in through the side door. “Hello,” I called, listening for my mother.

“In here, sweetie.” Her voice floated out from the kitchen.

I followed the sound. “You won’t believe—” I started, then paused when I realized she wasn’t alone. Lilah Gilmore sat at the table with her.

As always, Lilah looked like she was dressed up for some fancy tea at the Plaza rather than an impromptu visit to my mother’s house, with her pink suit and subtle string of pearls nestled around her neck. They had teacups and a plate of scones in front of them. From the fancy china plate and lacy doily they sat on, I gathered Lilah had brought them. My mother didn’t bake that much, and when she did it was for a holiday or other special occasion. I didn’t think Lilah visiting would warrant it.

“Why hello, Maddie,” Lilah said, waving at me. I half expected to see lacy gloves, but her hands were bare. “Come have a scone!”

They did smell good. I went over and kissed my mother’s cheek, then sat. She immediately got up and grabbed me a plate. “They’re delightful,” she said with a wink. “Blueberry lavender.”

“Wow. Fancy.” I plucked one off the plate and broke off a piece. It was still warm. “Sorry to interrupt,” I said around a mouthful. “And this is delicious, by the way.”

My mother passed the teapot. “I did teach them not to talk with their mouths full,” she told Lilah dryly. “You’re not interrupting, Maddie. Lilah just stopped by for a visit. So what won’t I believe?”

“Hmm?” I was still engrossed in my scone. It felt like forever since I’d eaten that cinnamon bun this morning. Diet of champions lately, for sure.

“You came in and said ‘You won’t believe’ … and then you stopped.”

“Oh. Yeah. I forgot,” I lied. “It wasn’t important.” I didn’t want to get into the Katrina thing in front of Lilah. I didn’t think Lilah believed Katrina did it, but I wasn’t sure where her loyalties were.

Although I should’ve known that Lilah had come over to talk about just that. And now that I was here, the topic was even more ripe for discussion.

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