Read Online FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3) by Kassandra Lamb - Free Book Online Page A

cup of tea.
    “ ¡Dios mio! What
wrong, Kate?”
    “Who left this here?”
Kate held the note by its corner, as if it were coated with poison.
    “Leave qué ?”
Maria responded, confusion on her face as she attempted to see what was written
on the paper in Kate’s trembling hand.
    Kate took a deep
breath, trying to calm herself. “I found this in Edie’s playpen. How did it get
there?”
    Maria shook her head.
“Not see again... before?” Kate’s obvious agitation was making her nervous.
    Another deep breath.
“Maria, did anyone come to the house today? Did you let anyone in?”
    “ Si. Lady come,
from iglesia ... church. Want clothes, for los pobres. I give bag
in closet. Iz okay?” Maria had helped Kate, a few weeks before, sort through
her closet to weed out clothes she never wore. A few sweaters and a pair of
stretch pants Maria liked and could wear. The castoffs had been put in a bag to
be taken to Goodwill, a task Kate had not yet gotten around to doing.
    “You left the woman out
here with Edie while you went in the bedroom!”
    “No,
no, Edie wid me.” Maria mimed carrying a baby on her hip. “Not okay give
lady bag?” She was now looking distinctly anxious.
    Kate tried to muster a
reassuring tone. “Yes, it’s okay that you gave her the clothes. But you can’t
let people in the house, ever!”
    Maria shook her head in
confusion. Was it okay, or not?
    Kate dropped the note
on the table and grabbed the portable phone from its charger on the counter.
She punched in Rose’s cell phone number.
    Rose answered with a
curt “Hernandez.”
    Kate gave a rather
incoherent explanation of what had happened, then said, “So you’ve got to
explain to Maria.”
    She started to thrust
the phone toward Maria, then heard Rose’s voice saying, “Wait! Explain what?”
    Kate put the phone back
to her ear. “Maybe you need to come over, Rose, if you’re not busy. Sorry to
disrupt your evening, but it’s kind of an emergency.”
    “That much I got,” Rose
said. “I’m at the restaurant. I’ll come over while Mac finishes closing up. Be
there in ten minutes.”
    Kate disconnected and
then called Skip’s cell. It went straight to voicemail. She left a message that
she needed to talk to him right away. It was urgent.
    He had not called back
by the time Rose arrived. After exchanging a short greeting in Spanish with her
cousin, Rose turned to Kate. “So where’s the note?” Kate took her into the
kitchen and pointed to it on the table. “And it was in the baby’s thing, out in
the living room?” Rose asked.
    “Yes, and the only way
it could have gotten there was from this woman who came to the door, supposedly
collecting clothes for some church,” Kate said.
    Rose asked Maria
something in rapid-fire Spanish, followed by a lengthy answer from the latter. 
“She says the woman was nice but kind of ugly. Had thick glasses. Tall and
maybe fat, but hard to tell. She was all bundled up. Heavy coat. Hat pulled
down. Scarf around her neck. Covered her chin and part of her mouth.”
    Rose asked another
question in Spanish. Maria said a few words.
    “Little bit of hair she
could see was black, coarse. Real bright blue eyes.”
    “That sounds like a
disguise, maybe a wig and contacts,” Kate said. 
    “Distinct possibility,”
Rose agreed. Maria chimed in with another comment in Spanish.
    “She says the woman had
some dark hairs sticking out beside her mouth and a couple above her upper
lip.”
    “Hmm, tall, bundled up
to hide their build, stubble on the upper lip. Sounds like a man trying to look
like a woman,” Kate speculated.
    “Could be, but to
Maria, many women would be described as tall.” Rose’s cousin was even shorter
than she was. “Can’t rule out a woman. Mi madre has some chin hair, and
a bit of a moustache, since she’s gone through menopause.” Rose turned to Maria
and asked her another question.
    Maria thought for a
moment, then shook her head and said something back. Rose asked