Read Online Corrupted by Lisa Scottoline - Free Book Online Page A

at the sheet. “I swear, I don’t know what to do with Richie, I just don’t. He’s angry, we never know what mood he’s gonna be in when he comes home. Last week I had to break up a fight with one of the twins. I swear, I thought Richie was going to choke him.”
    Bennie tried not to act as shocked as she felt.
    â€œThey say ‘boys will be boys,’ but this is way beyond that, and the thing I worry about, besides when he beats up on his brothers, is when they start acting like him. If they grow up thinking they should be like him, then they’ll start bullying everybody, even me .”
    â€œThat sounds tough.” Bennie felt for her. “I’m not a mother, I don’t know what I would do in that situation.”
    â€œYou know what?” Doreen looked up from the cookies, her dark eyes flashing. “You wouldn’t do anything, because there’s nothing you can do. When Richie was little, I could punish him, I could make him take a time-out. I could take stuff away from him. Or I could beat his butt with the belt. But now, he’s way bigger than I am. He pushes me back . He doesn’t listen to a frigging thing I say!” Doreen threw up her hands, still holding the spoon. “He’s mad because his father left, so am I! Welcome to the club, kid! You think I wanted to be on my own with three kids? Or what else, he’s a bad seed, he gets it from his father, that’s possible, too! What am I, Dr. Phil? I don’t know what to do with him! And to be honest, sometimes I can’t stand him.”
    Bennie fell silent, and for a moment the only sound was the children upstairs, but Doreen seemed not to notice, gesturing at the front door with the spoon.
    â€œAnd when I hear him out there, his footsteps on the porch, I tense up. The twins do, too.” Doreen’s dark eyes blazed as she gazed down at Bennie. “It’s the truth, the absolute truth . I’m on eggshells. I thought of sending him to military school, but now he gets arrested, he’s a juvenile delinquent!”
    Bennie could see how much Doreen loved her son, but at the same time how deeply she was troubled by him.
    â€œHere’s the silver lining, maybe they can turn him around at River Street, scare him straight. Maybe he’ll listen to them because he sure as hell won’t listen to me !”
    â€œMOMMMEEEE, OWWWW!” yelled one of the kids upstairs, his cry unmistakably urgent.
    â€œOh no!” Doreen dropped the spoon, turned away, and hustled for the stairwell. “Sorry, you’d better go!”

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
    Bennie headed back to Wilkes-Barre toward the hotel, more determined than ever to get justice for Jason, since he’d been so clearly victimized by Richie, a boy troubled enough to victimize even his own family. She followed the street around a curve and spotted a lighted sign for Larry’s Beef ’n Brew, a long rectangular building of pine paneling plastered with white plastic banners advertising Miller Lite, Yuengling Beer, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule. Bennie realized she hadn’t eaten dinner and doubted the hotel would have room service this late, so she pulled in.
    She cut the engine, grabbed her purse, and got out of the car, hustling into the building through the snow. She yanked open the door, and the men at the bar turned to see who’d come in, every expression telegraphing: YOU’RE NOT FROM HERE, AND WE SUSPECT YOU HAVE OVARIES.
    Bennie smiled back politely, deciding where to sit. The place was a medium-sized room, dimly lit by recessed lighting in a dropped-tile ceiling. Beer bottle caps the size of hubcaps shared the paneled walls with mounted deer antlers, photographs of the Rat Pack, and sketches of Frank Sinatra that looked hand-drawn. The kitchen was at the back, there were a few tables on the right and a U-shaped bar with a TV on the left, where an older bartender served a handful