Do Unto Others by Jeff Abbott Read Free Book Online Page B

Etiquette was no longer a certainty with Mama, but today, at least, she hadn’t forgotten her manners.
    “Mama, I want you to think. Do you know a lady named Beta Harcher?” I enunciated the name carefully, as though that would help Mama fight through the choking mass of abnormal nerve cells the disease spawned in her brain.
    “Who?”
    “Beta Harcher.”
    Mama looked blank. I asked again; she looked blank again.
    “Maybe she’ll remember later,” Sister offered.
    “She probably won’t remember this conversation later,” I snapped. Sister looked wounded and I said, “Sorry. I’m stressed.”
    I took a deep breath. Try association. “She was real active in the Baptist church, Mama. She’s short, dark hair, kind of frumpy. Sort of bossy?”
    This complimentary description of Beta didn’t penetrate far. “I don’t know,” Mama said. She looked down into her lap. “I don’t know,” she repeated, her voice wavering.
    “It’s okay, Mama. Don’t worry. You watch your show now.” I stood and switched the TV back on.
    “Try again later,” Sister suggested.
    I leaned down and kissed Mama’s cheek. Her hand came up to my head, unexpectedly, and her fingers tangled in my thick hair, so close to the strawberry-blonde color of her own. I held the embrace for a moment, then turned back to Sister.
    “Her Bible still up in her room?”
    “I think so,” Sister answered. “C’mon, Mama, let’s have a glass of iced tea.”
    I left them in the kitchen and bounded up the stairs. In my room I got paper and pen, then walked down the hall. Mama’s room was quiet and comfortable, with Irish lace curtains and an antique oak bed that had been her aunt’s. Pictures of Sister and me as children, joined by the more recent photos of Mark, dotted the walls. I sat on the quilted bedspread and opened her Bible. It occurred to me that I didn’t know which translation of the Bible Beta had used to select these quotes; I could only hope that I got the gist of the meanings from the same verses in Mama’s Bible.
    I smoothed out the folded list and considered it. Beta had written it, then hidden it. Why?
    It was a diverse roster. Each person had a connection with the library, although some were more tenuous than others. I decided to treat it as a list of folks that Beta Harcher had a gripe with. I knew the people on the list weren’t her friends and she didn’t want us to be. Certain folks and certain verses. There had to be a reason.
    Mama and me first. I looked again at the verse next to my name: Isaiah 5:20. I flipped through the Bible till I found it:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.
I said the words aloud. Did the woman think I had my sensibilities reversed? Considering I kept books in the library that she considered objectionable, I suppose so.
    I looked up the quote indicated by Mama’s name. Genesis 3:16:
In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.
I didn’t retain much from the Sunday school classes that my parents made me attend, but I did recall that verse referred to Eve’s curse of blood and painful childbirth. Good God, what did that have to do with my mother? She’d had two children and plenty of pain in the process due to our large Poteet heads. But why would Beta Harcher write this down? Perhaps Beta considered bearing a heathen like me to be the utmost in maternal agony.
    I copied my makeshift list into a notebook and then copied the verses. I started through the rest of the list, writing down each corresponding verse by each name. It made for interesting reading.
    I sat back on the bed. The police would surely be talking to these people. Junebug and Billy Ray were probably conducting their own version of the Spanish Inquisition right now. Then I heard Billy Ray’s words:
I’m going to nail your skinny ass to the wall.
Maybetheir questioning of the others was going to center around me. I had access to the scene; access to the weapon; and I’d fought with the deceased. I shut my eyes,