The Perfect Mother by Nina Darnton Read Free Book Online Page A

about that. And I tried to explain that there’s no way that would happen. How can you be so naive?”
    When Jennifer didn’t reply, Emma continued. “And why mention Paco? He had nothing to do with any of this. It won’t matter if he comes back or not.”
    Jennifer’s frustration overcame her caution. “I don’t know why you think that, Emma. What did they ask you when they questioned you? I don’t think they’re interested in your opinion on poverty or injustice.”
    “Thanks, Mom. Sarcasm is just what I need right now.”
    “You have no idea what you need, apparently, but I will tell you that you have some decisions to make and you need to make them fast. Daddy is coming in the morning. We’re meeting him at José’s office. If you want our help—and that’s all we want is to help you—you have to cooperate with us and stop preaching and let us in.”
    Emma didn’t respond. She finished her glass of wine and poured herself another and drank that. “It’s just that I feel like a different person from the one you know.”
    Jennifer sighed. “Emma, you’ve only been here for eight months.”
    “I know that.” Her voice expressed her irritation. “If you want me to talk to you, don’t dismiss what I say, okay?”
    “Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry.”
    Emma leaned forward, speaking earnestly. “I’ve learned so much. You were shocked at my apartment.”
    Jennifer started to object.
    “Don’t deny it. I saw your face. You asked me why I didn’t live in the Residencia. Well, that apartment is better than what lots of people have to live in for their whole lives. How could I live in some fancy, exploitive upper-class Residencia for rich foreigners when I know how all the others have to live, when I am in love with someone who came from the kind of poverty I’m talking about? I used that money to help him and he used it to help others—people in his village without jobs, without money for food. I’m not ashamed of it, but I knew you would condemn me for doing that. I’m going to devote my life to helping people who can’t fight for themselves. And I know I can’t do that from jail, but this whole case seems so crazy to me that I can’t believe that’s going to happen. I’m the victim, not the criminal.”
    Jennifer forced herself to sound calm. “Darling, I know you are. That’s what I’m here to help you prove.” She paused; her voice found the intimate tone she’d used in the past for their private conversations. “Do you really think you’re in love with this man?”
    “I don’t
think
I am, Mom. I am.”
    Jennifer sighed. She knew she had to tread lightly. “Well, maybe later, you can tell me all about him.”
    “Yeah. Maybe.”
    “But, you know, you shouldn’t be so quick to think you know what I would condemn.”
    Emma started to interrupt, but Jennifer brushed her objection aside.
    “Anyway, that’s not important. My only concern now is to stop you from behavior that will make you spend the best years of your life in jail, whatever you did or didn’t do. At the very least, you are the only witness to a murder and, as the police must have told you, there is still no sign of your Good Samaritan. Without him, it’s hard to verify your story. José said they found the murder weapon. What was that about? What did they want from you?”
    “That’s all they questioned me about. Over and over and over. Was I sure that that Spanish kid had a knife? Did I see it? What did it look like? They don’t believe me; I can tell. But if they have no evidence to verify my story, they also have no evidence to disprove it. It doesn’t matter what they believe; they need evidence. Paco knows all about the police.”
    “Paco? Have you been talking to him? Why isn’t he here?”
    Emma looked flustered. “No. I haven’t,” she said quickly, “and I don’t know where he is, but he’ll be back when he hears about this and he’ll advise me.”
    “Emma, everyone in the country has