Read Online Full Circle by Mariella Starr - Free Book Online

anything I want?"
    "If you're smart, you won't pick junk food," Jack warned. "Josie's not in the mood to put up with crap from anybody; you included."
    With two fried-chicken dinners and a club sandwich with a side salad to go, they headed back. Alex was not a fountain of information on Josie. Jack tried to pump the kid, but he didn't give up much. The boy was onto him, and he either rolled his eyes or grunted at the questions.
    Josie was sound asleep. It was so much easier to close her eyes and let herself drift away from the pain.
    A repeated knocking on the front door awakened her, and the doorbell went off twice—annoying and loud. She had the doorbell set for the Westminster chimes at the maximum sound level because if she was working upstairs or some of the other remote rooms, with power tools and a radio going, she couldn't hear it at the normal settings. She did not want to hear them now! It took Josie three tries to get to her feet, and the effort almost took her breath away. She padded to the front door with bleary eyes and aching body. She was expecting it to be Alex since he had already lost his keys twice.
    She flung the door open and covered her eyes to block out the sunlight and frowned.
    "Mrs. Tarry?"
    "Ms. Raintree," the woman gasped.
    As Jack pulled into the driveway, he saw a man and a woman standing at the open front door. He jumped out, left Alex to follow on his own and went up the walk quickly. "Excuse me," he said, slipping around the people he did not know.
    He scooped Josie off her feet and carried her directly to the couch. "You're not supposed to be moving around!"
    The woman at the door followed on his heels. "Ms. Raintree, do you need me to call the police?" she asked Josie gently.
    "No, why?" she asked. "Why are you here, Mrs. Tarry?"
    "If this is a domestic issue, the police need to be called," Mrs. Tarry insisted.
    Josie laughed when she realized what the woman was thinking. "No, no, Mrs. Tarry, this is not a domestic assault situation and I am the police. Please have a seat. This is Jack Rawlings, a friend. Jack, this is Mrs. Tarry, the supervisor of Alex's caseworker. Mrs. Tarry, I was thrown from my horse last evening. I'm okay, but a little worse for the wear. Jack's been helping me, and he's a little gung-ho about precisely following the doctor's orders."
    "Mr. Shorey, ma'am," the portly man said, nervously offering her his hand. "Are you sure you're okay?"
    Josie shook his hand, although even that hurt. "I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Shorey. Yes, I will be fine in a couple of days, and I was checked out at our local clinic. I apologize for looking so ragged. I wasn't expecting visitors."
    "No, please accept our apologies," Mrs. Tarry said, as she seemed to relax. "We were in the area and I thought an impromptu meeting might be appropriate. Considering our conflicting reports from you against Miss Watson and hers against you, I thought I should check out the situation myself."
    Alex came in the front door slamming it shut and announcing, "We stopped for dinner, Josie. I told Jack you would want a salad, but he said you weren't a rabbit and should eat more, so he got you a sandwich, too." He stopped and looked around suspiciously at all the adults.
    "Come here, Alex," Josie said, patting the couch beside her. "Please, everyone have a seat."
    Alex searched Josie's face. He saw the bruises and scrapes that had gotten more colorful. "Do they hurt?"
    "No, not much," she lied and put a hand on his shoulder. "Alex, this is your new caseworker, Mr. Shorey."
    "I won't go back to her! I don't ever want to see her again!" Alex erupted angrily, jumping up from the couch.
    Jack leaned over, put his hand on the boy's shoulder, and bent over and whispered something in his ear. Alex cast resentful eyes up at him, but he clamped his mouth shut.
    Mr. Shorey scooted closer to the edge of his chair. "Alex, I haven't had time to go over your case files, but meeting with your mother is on my agenda for this week.