Secondhand Stiff by Sue Ann Jaffarian Read Free Book Online Page A

blond.” I nodded to let her know I knew who she meant. “But Ina doesn’t like her, and that woman doesn’t like Ina. Maybe it’s just a competitive thing, but I don’t think so. Ina’s in competition with a lot of these people, but I didn’t get the same feeling between her and the others.”
    â€œWhat about that man over there?” I tried to indicate Buck Goodwin without being obvious. He was still standing guard over Ina.
    Mom squinted at Buck almost a full minute before answering. I watched her profile as she concentrated. Although I had my dad’s eyes and short, stocky build, I clearly had my mother’s other features. If I lost weight and my face became less roly-poly, it would almost be like looking in the mirror, minus the silver hair. Greg had pointed this out when Mom first arrived, but I had failed to see it until now, or maybe I didn’t want to admit it. He had also claimed Mom and I were a lot alike in other ways—he almost ended up sleeping on the sofa for that remark.
    â€œCould be he’s making an advance on her,” Mom said, making her diagnosis. “A young widow might be easy pickings for a guy like him. If he provides a shoulder to cry on now, it might pay off later.”
    I looked at my mother with unabashed surprise.
    â€œWhat?” she snorted. “When you’re retired, you read and watch a lot of TV. Wouldn’t be the first time a man showed a grieving woman support to get into her panties. It’s a common theme.” She looked back over at Ina and Buck. “Or maybe he’s just being a comforting friend. Hard to tell.” Mom turned to me. “He was taking pictures of the body. I made him stop.”
    â€œI saw you. Good job.”
    My mother gave me a small smile. My mother didn’t smile often. Usually her lips were set in a concrete slash of disappointment and disapproval, but here she was, giving me a small, tight-lipped ooze of happiness. I was suddenly ashamed of my reluctance in having her extend her stay.
    â€œSo.” The word came out of Mom’s mouth alone and without any indication if it was a question or a declaration. The hint of smile was gone as she eyed me with expectation.
    â€œSo, what?”
    Mom peered at me over the top of her glasses and remained silent. I squirmed in my seat. It didn’t matter that until recently we hadn’t seen each other for over three decades or that she was getting up in years; she was still my mother, and, as such, she had some sort of magical bullshit detector. It made me wonder if she had the same power over Clark. I was relieved when Renee joined us. It not only diluted some of Mom’s voodoo spell, but I wouldn’t have to give the update twice.
    I stood up and relinquished the chair to Renee. “Greg is finding Ina an attorney to help her with the police questioning,” I explained to the moms. “He’s also on his way here.”
    Renee put a hand over her heart. “Thank God.” As soon as she said the words, she looked at me with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry, Odelia. I know you’re quite capable, but I always feel better when Greg or his father are around in times like these.”
    I caught my mother rolling her eyes and gave her my own brand of daughterly disapproval. The eye rolling froze.
    I knew Renee Stevens had a core of steel. The woman had nearly single-handedly pulled Greg through the aftermath of his accident and the resulting paralysis. It was she who showed him his life wasn’t over and that it could be full of love and success even if he was sitting in a wheelchair. And when Greg flirted with destructive drugs in his late teens, it had been Renee who’d reached into the depths of his black, hopeless depression and yanked him back into the light with tough love. Without Renee Stevens, Greg would not be the solid, positive, and accomplished man I love more than life itself. But