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

another
question. Maria shrugged. “ Es posible .”
    “She can’t honestly
remember how tall the lady was. Just had the impression that she was tall. I
asked if it could have been a man. She said maybe.” Rose walked over to the
table, picked up the note by its edge and slid it into a plastic bag she
produced from her pocket. Then she studied the note through the bag.
    “We’ve been getting
notes at work, too. But my boss doesn’t want to involve the police. She doubts
they would do much since the notes are not blatantly threatening.”
    “She’s probably right,”
Rose said.
    “But this can’t go on.
Not when whoever is doing this is invading my home and making veiled threats
against my child! Rose, I want to hire you and Skip to find out who it is.”
    “Can’t do it, Kate.
You’re a friend.”
    Kate’s face fell.
    “I meant we wouldn’t
take your money,” Rose quickly added. “We’d do it for free. And before you
start feeling guilty, remember I need the hours of experience to get licensed.
I can probably get a buddy of mine at the police lab to check the note for
prints. But don’t get your hopes up. Paper doesn’t show prints well.”
    “Should we get the
handwriting analyzed?” Kate asked.
    Rose’s eyebrow shot up
to almost a forty-five degree angle. She had the most eloquent eyebrows of
anyone Kate had ever known.
    “Can’t say I’ve ever
been impressed with handwriting analysis,” Rose said, “unless it’s to determine
if two samples were written by the same person. Which we’re already pretty much
assuming here.”
    Rose turned to Maria
and said something in Spanish. “I told her not to let anybody into the house
from now on except me, Mac, Skip and the Franklins.” Kate nodded approval as
Rose said something else to Maria.
    Maria broke into a big
grin, not quite as beautiful as one of Rose’s, but close. She threw her arms
around her cousin. “Gracias, muchas gracias, Elena Rosa.”
      “What did you
tell her?” Kate asked, pretending not to notice Rose’s discomfort. Her friend
was not big on displays of affection.
    “That I’m going to try
to find out who the lady with the note was,” Rose said, as she attempted to
wiggle loose from her cousin’s grasp.
    Maria just squeezed her
tighter. “ Te quiero, prima mia. ¡Muchas gracias!”
      Rose’s
Latino heritage finally overrode her reserved personality. “ Te quiero
también, Maria,” she said, grateful that Kate couldn’t understand that
she’d just told her cousin she loved her too.
    The phone rang. Kate
grabbed it quickly so it wouldn’t wake the baby.
    “You okay?” Skip said
in a sharp voice before she could even say hello.
    “Yes, no. I mean we’re
safe. But...”
    “I’m on my way.”
    “Thank you,
sweetheart!”
    When Kate opened her
front door, Skip was about to gather her into his arms when he stopped himself.
She might have called him sweetheart, but the four-foot rule was still in
effect until she said otherwise.
    “You okay?” he asked.
She nodded mutely.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t
have my phone on. I was in a meeting with a potential client.” He vowed to
himself to never turn it off again. Even during surveillance work, he’d put it
on vibrate.
    “What happened?” he
asked as they moved into the living room. He nodded a greeting to Rose and
Maria who were coming out of the kitchen. Kate gestured toward the sofa. As he
sat down, she sank to the floor in front of him.
    Skip’s chest ached at
the look of fear on her face. Kate reached out her hand and he enclosed it in
both of his.
    Rose cleared her
throat. She was standing at parade rest a few feet away, Maria hovering behind
her. “Sit down, Rose. You too, Maria,” Kate said, shifting a little to the side
so she could see them as they sat in the two armchairs.
    “There’s been another
note,” she told Skip. “Only this one was delivered here. I found it in the
baby’s playpen.” Kate’s throat closed up on her.
    Rose took over