Breach of Duty (9780061739637) by Judith A. Jance Read Free Book Online

relatively young by comparison, and she has both a brother and a sister right here in the Seattle area.”
    â€œMaybe the whole family has an aversion to funerals,” Sue suggested. “I don’t like them very much myself.”
    With that, Sue turned away and continued to stare out the window. Since she didn’t seem interested in talking, I shut up and drove. Traffic moved along smoothly until just north of the I-5/I-405 interchange at Mill Creek. There a combination of express-lane construction and a multivehicle fender bender turned the freeway into a parking lot.
    I stopped the Caprice behind a diesel-belching eighteen-wheeler, switched off the engine, leaned back against the headrest and closed my eyes. I was about to doze off when Sue woke me. “Fifty years,” she muttered.
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œThose people back there—the Lawrences. How did they stay married for more than fifty years? I barely made it to six.”
    In the months Detective Danielson and I have worked together, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that she’s definitely not a Chatty-Kathy type. Until that morning, I didn’t ever remember her saying anything about marriage one way or another. I knew she was divorced, but as far as personal life was concerned, she had never mentioned anything beyond talking about her two kids—Jared, a rebellious, obnoxious thirteen-year-old, and Christopher, an easy-going, sweet-tempered eight.
    Had I been paying attention, the sharp edge of bitterness in Sue’s voice should have warned me to be wary. Judging from past experience, I figured her brooding silence most likely had something to do with Jared. His special form of parental torture seemed to include using weekends to declare open season on his mother.
    Sue Danielson and I are partners, but she’s also a good ten years younger than I am. There are times when I can’t stifle the almost fatherly feelings I have toward her. That’s especially true when Jared is giving her hell. Having made my own mother’s life plenty miserable when I was a teenager, I have a soft spot in my heart for single mothers. I figured the least I could do was offer Sue an opportunity to vent. She might not want a shoulder to cry on, but I could give her a place where she could let off a little steam.
    â€œWhat’d he do this time?” I asked.
    She swung around and glared at me. “Who?” she demanded.
    â€œJared,” I said. “Isn’t he what’s bugging you?”
    There was a long pause before she answered. “Jared has nothing to do with it,” she said finally. “Not directly. Richie’s coming home. His plane gets in tomorrow night at six.”
    â€œWho’s Richie?” I asked.
    â€œMy ex,” she said.
    Until that moment, sitting stuck in northbound traffic on Interstate 5, I had never heard Sue refer to her former husband by name. The only thing I had known about the man prior to that was that he seldom if ever paid child support.
    I’ve been a divorced father. I’m proud to say that I never missed a child-support payment, not even back when I was still drinking. I have a hard time understanding fathers who figure a divorce decree gives them carte blanche to walk out on both their kids and their responsibilities. Admittedly, children can be a real pain in the butt on occasion, but kids—even obnoxious teenagers—are people, too.
    â€œYou don’t sound too happy about this impending visit,” I observed mildly.
    Sue shot me a smoldering glance. “Happy?” she snapped. “Why should I be? I’m pissed as hell as a matter of fact. After not being in touch at all for over two years—not even a birthday card or a Christmas present for either one of the boys—now all of a sudden he calls up on the phone, acts as though nothing is amiss, and says he’s coming down this week to take the kids to Disneyland. Not