Gone to Her Grave by Wendy Dranfield

Author:Wendy Dranfield [Dranfield, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781803142326
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2022-04-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

SIX YEARS AGO

Ruby’s a little shaken from her accident with Detective Douglas’s car. He’s already pulled away and she’d like to take a minute to compose herself but she can’t because the cars she’s blocking are honking their horns loudly now. It makes her even more flustered.

“Grandma? I want to see Mommy.”

She risks a quick glance back at Oliver’s pale face. “Don’t be afraid, sweetie. These people are all being silly. We’ll go and get some lunch now, okay?”

He nods but his T-Rex sits forgotten on the seat next to him and she can tell he’s upset. He’s probably overtired from the excitement of the dinosaur museum too. She’ll see if he’ll nap after lunch. That would give her time to do some digging into the problem that’s preoccupying her.

She starts the engine and carefully drives them to Matt and Jo’s house. Jo’s mom will be arriving in town tonight or tomorrow—Ruby forgets exactly—to spend Thanksgiving with them all. She likes Patricia. She’s a no-nonsense woman like her, and Ruby’s grateful to have some help in the kitchen as Jo’s not really interested in cooking.

She pulls up outside the house. It’s a pretty one-story home that’s not too big or too small, just right for the three of them, although they’ll need an extra bedroom when they get around to having another baby. The pretty white plant pots she bought them for their wedding anniversary are sitting either side of the front door, and Oliver’s grim-faced pumpkins—left over from Halloween—are slowly rotting on the front lawn. For some reason they remind her of one of those body farms, where human corpses are left to rot outside in controlled conditions all in the name of science. She shudders at the thought.

Once inside the house, Oliver appears to be happy as he runs to the TV and finds a strange cartoon about under-ocean creatures. Ruby pulls her wet jacket off and hangs it near the front door. As she walks into the living room, she notices a new couch. It’s leather with two reclining seats at either end and a matching footstool in the middle.

“When did your dad buy a new couch, sweetie?” She takes a seat in the recliner and instantly relaxes back into it. “Oh, Lord. I need to get one of these.”

“Some men brought it yesterday,” says Oliver.

Ruby knows Matt’s been working extra hours lately just to help make ends meet. The couch wouldn’t have been cheap. She goes to the kitchen and starts making a PB&J sandwich for Oliver. Her eyes happen upon a fancy coffee machine in the corner. She leans in and pulls her reading glasses on. “Cappuccino, macchiato, latte. Wow, that’s fancy for a home kitchen.”

She suddenly feels uneasy about that and the couch; how can they afford them?

“That’s an early Christmas gift,” says Oliver, waiting to collect his sandwich. “Daddy said he was so good this year that Santa visited him early.”

Ruby raises her eyebrows. “Did he really?”

Oliver nods, almost letting his sandwich slip off the plate in his hands.

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