Pushed to the Limit (an Emma Cassidy Mystery Book 2) by Karen Chester Read Free Book Online

a finger
at Faye. “If you go spreading lies about me, you’ll live to regret it.” He
stormed off, his face ugly with fury.
    Seemingly unaffected, Faye shrugged and
walked over to another stall. Emma frowned, uneasy about the exchange. She
bought a couple of books that interested her, and was walking back to her own
stall when once again she spotted Faye. This time she was talking to a skinny
young man of about eighteen or nineteen. The guy wore a Star Wars T-shirt and
baseball cap over grimy hair, and judging by his sullen eyes and pulled down
mouth, he wasn’t too happy to have caught Faye’s attention.
    “Is this what you’re doing now, Jason?”
Faye asked, waving a hand at the stall where the young man stood. Several
clothes racks were packed with what looked to be second-hand clothing. “Working
for a thrift store?”
    The man called Jason scowled at her. “I
didn’t have much choice after you got me kicked out of school.”
    “As I recall, you decided to drop out of
college.” Faye tilted her head. “And I was only doing my civic duty.”
    “Civic duty, my eye!” A woman swooped out
of the crowds and barged her way to Jason’s side. Putting a hand on his
shoulder, she glared at Faye. “You could have called Richard or me. You didn’t
have to call the police.”
    It was Helen Wylie, Richard’s wife, so the
young man must be their son, Jason. Last night Helen had furiously stated that
Faye had ruined Jason’s life, and here she was, even more incensed, defending
her son.
    Jason shrugged off his mother’s hand.
“Leave it, Mom,” he muttered, clearly embarrassed at having his mother fly to
his rescue, the confrontation attracting the attention of nearby people.
    “I always report underage drinking to the
police,” Faye said without a trace of apology. “If you were a better parent,
Helen, perhaps your son wouldn’t feel the need to break the law.”
    While Helen was still gasping in outrage,
Faye sauntered off. How could one woman cause so much upheaval? Emma was still
wondering this when she met Helen’s gaze. A red tide mottled Helen’s cheeks.
Emma lifted her shoulders and gave a rueful smile, trying to convey sympathy.
After a moment’s hesitation, Helen walked over to her.
    “Sorry you had to witness that,” she said,
twisting the silver bracelet on her wrist. As usual, she was stylishly dressed,
today in a pink linen dress and white sandals, but beneath her manicured
appearance she looked stressed and tired. “It’s just that…well, it makes my
blood boil. Thanks to Faye, Jason has an underage drinking conviction, and he
became so depressed he dropped out of college.” She glanced over her shoulder
at her son who was moodily tidying a stack of T-shirts. “Richard and I are
hoping he’ll return for the fall semester, but it doesn’t help to have her rubbing it in every time she bumps into us.”
    “It can’t be easy,” Emma murmured
diplomatically.
    “She’s so righteous and unscrupulous. Ugh,
it makes me so mad! If I never see her again it’ll be too soon.” She bit her
lip as if realizing how enraged and threatening she sounded. “Anyway, I have to
go.” With a brief nod, she bustled back to her son.
    As Emma resumed walking, she mused that Faye
had a fine knack for getting under a person’s skin and then rubbing salt into
the wound.

Chapter
Six
    As Emma neared her
stall, a tingle ran down her spine at the sight of the tall, broad-shouldered
man talking to Becky.
    “Hey there,” she said, hoping she sounded
nonchalant, schooling her fingers not to comb her hair which, she felt sure,
was not looking its best.
    Owen Fletcher turned and gave her a lazy
grin. Her heart squeezed a little. That, and the spine tingle, worried her somewhat.
When she and Owen had dated in their senior year in high school, she’d
experienced many tingles and squeezes and more. They’d been crazy about each
other. But they had broken up before graduation—too many