Read Online Death Rides the Surf (A Kate Kennedy Mystery Book 5) by Noreen Wald - Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t wanted to let Katharine out of her sight.
    “Mom said she had an appointment with a client up in Palm Beach yesterday morning, but I know she’s been spying on me, Nana. Now she’s insisting I go home with her today. But I’m not going. Not today. Not ever. I promised Jon Michael’s grandmother when I called her this morning that I’d be at his funeral and no one, not even Jennifer Lowell Kennedy, can stop me.”
    So Katharine had spoken to Florita Flannigan, who Marlene had suspected might be Diamond Lil, bank robber extraordinaire. What had the girl been up to yesterday? And why had Grace Rowling wanted to talk to her? Grace had declined to tell Kate, only saying she needed to speak to Katharine alone and she’d be back.
    Confused and overwhelmed, Kate tried to keep it simple. “I heard you come in last night,” she said as the kettle whistled. She poured the boiling water into her cup, and then jiggled the tea bag as if that would make the tea brew faster. “But I didn’t hear your mother.”
    “No reason you should have, Nana. We weren’t talking and Mom went straight to bed.” Her granddaughter sounded drained, but much more like her old self, the hard edge gone.
    Kate stuck a bagel in the toaster, though she wasn’t sure she could eat, then faced Katharine. “Marlene and I were worried last night. We wondered where you’d been all day.”
    Katharine stared at the tile floor, beige and bland like almost everything else in the condo. Less is more, Edmund, her son Peter’s partner, had assured her. One day she’d paint the kitchen walls red, but for now she waited, sensing Katharine might open up.
    “I’m sorry, Nana. I screwed up.” She sounded as if she meant it; her eyes welled up with tears again. Katharine wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “Life sucks.”
    Kate spread strawberry jam on the two halves of the toasted bagel and handed one to Katharine. “Yes, I guess right now it does. Have another cup of tea and we’ll take Ballou for a walk on the beach. Maybe we can sort things out; then, if you’d like, we can go see Mrs. Flannigan later.” If Kate had an ulterior motive, she didn’t feel obliged to mention it.
    “Cool. Let’s get out of here before my mother wakes up.”

      
    In the glow of the morning light, the sun on their backs, its rays dappling the sand with golden streaks, and the Atlantic Ocean caressing their bare feet, Kate inhaled a brief moment of happiness; then Katharine spoke.
    “I wanted to kill Jon Michael, Nana. That’s why I’m so upset he’s dead. Why I have to go to his funeral.”
    Trying to show no emotion, Kate asked, “Why? What did he do to you, darling?”
    “He broke my heart and, worse, he made a fool of me.” Katharine sighed. “No, that’s not true. I was already a fool for loving him.” She kicked a dead crab out of her path and into Ballou’s. He eagerly explored the prize.
    The sadness in her granddaughter’s voice made Kate want to take the girl into her arms, but she had to hear this out.
    “When I met him in Acapulco, he seemed so wonderful, so thoughtful. And so cool. Jon Michael made me laugh, tried to teach me to surf. I think I loved him from the moment I met him. But he didn’t love me back. Not even in the beginning. And when I left Acapulco, he never said good-bye and never called me. Do you know how I found out he was in Palmetto Beach, Nana?”
    Kate, afraid to say a word, afraid Katharine might shut down, just shook her head.
    “From Amanda Rowling’s mother on the Today show. Maybe I’m lucky I didn’t disappear too. Amanda arrived in Acapulco like three days after I’d left.”
    “If Jon Michael hurt you so, why did you follow him here?” She tried to keep her tone neutral and calm, but a hint of fear had crept in.
    “I loved him.”
    Kate had never heard three little words convey so much sadness.
    The wind had picked up, heralding rain. In South Florida, no one got too excited about a sudden storm;