The Drowned Woman: An absolutely unputdownable mystery and suspense thriller (Jericho and Wright Thrillers Book 2) by CJ Lyons

Author:CJ Lyons [Lyons, CJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800191945
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-11-09T18:30:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

As she fixed Emily and Nate their dinner, Ruby kept talking about how proud she was of them both. But that didn’t make sense to Emily. Shouldn’t she be in trouble? She didn’t hit anyone, but she had made Jimmy fall.

“When’s Mommy coming home?” she asked Ruby. Miss Ruby was good when you needed loud voices or to run away, but Emily had quickly realized that she wasn’t the best at actually thinking through a problem. Not like Mommy or Daddy.

“Late. She’s busy at work.”

Emily sighed. Mommy was always busy at work. Helping other people. Guess it was up to her to figure this out on her own. Nate was in worse trouble now because of her—trouble with the Homans, trouble with Luka for losing Nate’s great’s war medal, and trouble with Ms. Driscoll. She couldn’t help with Ms. Driscoll, but maybe she could help with the Homans and the lost medal.

“Why’d you stand there?” she asked Nate in a low tone as Ruby stirred the flavor packet into the chili. Emily liked how Daddy cooked better—he let her decide which spices to try so every time it was like a new experiment. Daddy always said to start with “why” when approaching a problem. “Why’d you let them throw those balls at you and call you those names?”

Nate shrugged. “Got called worse back home. Your mom gonna let us sleep in our fort? We don’t have to tear it down?”

“Why not? It’s not hurting anyone.”

His eyes grew wide. “Never got to do anything like that back in foster. Everything had to be cleaned up before bedtime.”

“How’re we going to get your great-great’s medal back?” Emily said it only to be polite—she already had a plan. And now that she understood Nate’s why—he was afraid of speaking up and being sent back to Baltimore or foster where people treated him even worse than the Homans did. She couldn’t ask the grownups for help; it was just her and Nate. When Nate shrugged, she continued, “You know Billy and Jimmy’s house is just through the woods? There’s a path down the mountain they come four-wheeling on. Ruby was swearing at them for tearing up the far lavender field, said she’d get a shotgun and shoot them next time.”

“No, sir.” He shook his head. “We’re not gonna shoot anyone. I can’t afford any trouble. They want the medal so bad, they can have it.”

“Won’t Pops and Luka be mad that you lost it? That could get you in trouble, too.” Besides, it was just wrong, the Homans taking Nate’s medal. Emily couldn’t stand by and let that happen.

He considered that, gulping down his own glass of Quik, leaving a milky brown mustache in its wake. Emily took another drink, so now they matched. It was one of the good things about having a friend; you didn’t have to be different all alone.

“What’s your plan?” Nate asked, dropping his voice to a whisper. He gave Ruby a sidelong look, but she was humming to herself and dancing in front of the stove as she stirred the chili.

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