Shadow of Doubt by Terri Blackstock Read Free Book Online

to break the news, but delicacy had never been one of Aunt Aggie’s traits.
    Aunt Aggie closed her eyes, as though bracing herself for what came next, and when she opened them again Jill could see pure rage in her eyes. “No, Celia didn’t do it, just like she didn’t do it last time, but you never believe that ’cause you don’t know your daughter. All you care about is yourself and your stupid, silly family name, which nobody cares nothin’ about!”
    Incredulous at how badly this was going, Jill snatched the phone out of Aunt Aggie’s hand. The old woman surrendered it gladly.
    â€œUh…Mrs. Bradford? This is Jill Clark, a friend of Celia’s.”
    â€œWhere is my aunt?” the woman asked. Hers was a soft voice, very similar to Celia’s, and she didn’t sound like the shrew Aunt Aggie had made her out to be at all. “I need to talk to my aunt.”
    â€œUh…she doesn’t want to talk to you anymore, Mrs. Bradford. But I thought you should know that your daughter needs you now more than ever. Because of her first husband’s cause of death, the police have been questioning her.”
    â€œThen they’ve arrested her again?”
    â€œNo. They’re only questioning her.” She could hear the muffled sob on the other end, something that surprised her. “I know it would help her tremendously if she had your moral support now, especially on her birthday. I’m an attorney and I’m doing everything I can to clear this up, but for now—”
    â€œI should have known.”
    Jill hesitated. “Mrs. Bradford, you should have known what?”
    â€œThat this reconciliation, this reunion…was too good to be true.” A moment of silence passed. “I had such hopes.”
    â€œYou can still have a reunion.”
    â€œIs he dead?” The words seemed to come on a wave of emotion.
    â€œNo. He’s in a coma.”
    â€œHe was a nice man. I liked him very much. I could see why Celia loved him.”
    She ignored her use of past tense. “Yes, it’s quite a tragedy. More so because of what Celia’s going through.”
    â€œThank you for calling, Miss Clark. I appreciate it.”
    Jill sat there for a moment, holding the line. “Is that all? Aren’t you going to come?”
    â€œNo, I don’t think so.”
    â€œBut your daughter needs you.”
    â€œShe has my aunt.”
    â€œMrs. Bradford—”
    The phone clicked in her ear, and Jill froze, still holding it.
    â€œHanged up on you, didn’t she?” Aggie asked.
    â€œYes, she did.”
    â€œIf there was a hell, it would be for folks like her.”
    â€œThere is a hell, Aunt Aggie. And you don’t want to wish it on your niece.”
    She watched as the old woman dug a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. Across the room, Sid got off of his own telephone and headed toward her.
    â€œWhat did you find out?” she asked as he reached her.
    He leaned over the desk, bracing himself with his hands. “There wasn’t a trace of arsenic in any of the evidence we collected from the house,” he said, “’cept for what Stan had…purged.”
    â€œAll right, now we’re getting somewhere,” Jill said, springing up with renewed energy. “Sid, you have to see that if Celia had done this, there would have been some evidence.”
    â€œShe didn’t have to do it at home, Jill. She’s experienced, remember? She knows how to cover her tracks.”
    â€œCover her tracks?” Jill asked in a whisper, to keep from giving the gossip mill more fodder. “Give me a break! She’d have to be pretty stupid to think she was covering her tracks by poisoning her husband someplace else, with the same poison she was accused of using on her first husband! Don’t you think she’d know that she would be the very first suspect?”
    â€œMaybe