After putting the container away in the garage, he returned to the kitchen and washed up before taking up his position at the parlor window once more.
He felt great relief at having taken care of that task. His retirement had allowed him to focus more fully on his goals. Every minute of life was precious. He did not want to waste even a second.
A smile touched his lips when CJ’s rental car rolled to a stop on the street. She was home.
The smile faded as an SUV parked close behind hers.
Detective Braddock.
Irritation swelled inside him. If the detective spent as much time attempting to solve his cases as he did following CJ around, perhaps he would be a bit more effective.
The two talked for a moment. Edward started to turn away, but then the detective reached out and pulled CJ into an embrace.
Uneasiness settled deep in Edward’s bones. This would never do.
You see! One should staunchly avoid the lower class, Edward. They simply cannot rise to our standard. She is beneath you ... unless, of course, you’re like your father. Are you going to fail as he did, Edward? Be like him?
“This time you are wrong, Mother.”
CJ pulled away and hurried up the walk to safety.
“You’ll see.” Edward would not fail.
CJ would not fail him. She was coming along exactly as planned.
Though his innocent CJ truly had no idea how many enemies were closing in on her. Circling like buzzards, threatening her future. He would guide her through this as he always did.
The doorbell chimed and Edward’s spirits lifted.
She was here now, and that was all that mattered.
He would keep her safe.
Chapter Thirty-One
The Mill Village Clinic
Friday, August 6; 6:30 a.m.
What the hell had she done with it?
Juanita looked around the office one more time. Every chart she’d viewed in the past two months was piled on her desk. She’d gone through every damned one.
Why the hell hadn’t she just shredded the lab results?
No, she’d foolishly thought she might need it in the future. Maybe when Cost forced Shelley to take a home pregnancy test or when her period came. If things had gotten hot enough, she always could have told him it had been a joke to get back at him for being a bastard. Otherwise he might have called the lab and thrown his granddaddy’s prestigious name around.
But Juanita had known it would never come to that. A few days would pass and Shelley would get her period. No big deal. Cost would breathe a sigh of relief and Juanita would have gloated about how she’d gotten him good. She’d waited a long time for the opportunity. But then things had changed. Shelley had gotten murdered before her period came, so Cost had never found out it was all one big fat joke.
Juanita had realized that she could use this situation to her benefit.
Now she couldn’t find the original damned lab sheet so she could shred it!
She slammed the file drawer shut and took a deep, calming breath.
The autopsy was today, but she shouldn’t worry. It wasn’t going to be a problem.
Lots of women had spontaneous abortions. The fact that the autopsy wouldn’t discover a pregnancy would be insignificant. CJ would question the results and the ME would say as much. It happened all the time. Women conceived and then abruptly aborted for whatever reason and never even knew it.
