Read Online Greedy Bones by Carolyn Haines - Free Book Online Page A

camp. Her clothes were worn and torn, her face lined with worry.
    "For goodness' sake, have some chicken potpie." I pushed the pan toward her.
    "It isn't food I need," she said, "but you have some more. You're lookin' too thin."
    "Do you realize that you're impossible to please? I'm too heavy, too thin, too busy, too lazy, too here or too gone."
    "What's got you in such a fractious mood?" she asked.
    "I miss Graf. I miss making movies."
    She sat down at the table, her silver bracelets jingling softly as they slid down her arm. "You gave up a lot for friendship." For once she wasn't deviling me.
    "And I don't regret it at all. It's just that I feel useless. I haven't accomplished anything. Oscar is still at death's door, and Tinkie is suffering. I don't know a single thing more today than I did three days ago."
    "The fact that Oscar, Gordon, Regina, and Luann are hangin' on is a good thing. And no one else has come down with this epizootis. Now that's got to count for somethin'."
    "It does?"
    "You're on the trail of figurin' it out."
    "I wouldn't go that far." I twirled my spoon in the chicken potpie. "I want to fix this."
    "Back during the Great Depression, folks got caught up in a lot of things they couldn't stop or control. Hard times touched most ever'body."
    "I don't know if I can stand to hear about this." I looked around the kitchen. Outside, night had almost fallen. I heard Reveler's soft whicker and Miss Scrapiron's answer.
    "You can leave this and go to Graf, you know."
    "I can't--"
    "Sure, you can," she interrupted. "You can put a 'For Sale' sign out front and head to Hollywood anytime you want."
    "It's not that easy."
    She studied me in that frank way of hers. "You can't hold on to two different dreams, Sarah Booth. Not ones that are so far apart. But life has a way of showin' you the path you need to take."
    "I'm not very good at listening," I said.
    Her laughter was rich and soft, almost a touch. "You sure down in the dumps for a big-time movie star."
    I got up and gave Sweetie the last of my potpie. She woke long enough to wolf it down in one quick whisk of her tongue. "I hate being helpless."
    "Lots of folks are feelin' that same way. Times are tough. Not just here in Sunflower County, but all over. This ain't the Great Depression, but it sure ain't Camelot, either."
    Jitty had the benefit of nearly two hundred years and those times she hadn't physically lived through, I believe she visited as a specter. I'd learned never to argue history with her.
    "I could stand a dose of Camelot."
    "You got a home here, friends here, a man in Los Angeles who loves you. You got riches that most people never see."
    Oh, swell, a case of shame was exactly what I needed. "Thanks, Jitty. I feel worlds better now."
    Her laughter filled the kitchen. "Now that sounds like my Sarah Booth. Sarcastic and sassy."
    I headed out of the kitchen knowing she would follow me. "I'm going out to the Carlisle plantation. I want to look around myself."
    "No, you are not!"
    I faced her. "You can't stop me."
    "Use your head, Sarah Booth. All Tinkie needs is to have to keep vigil over you and Oscar. Stay away fromthat place. You got other people beside yourself to worry about."
    I hadn't seen Jitty so worked up in a while. "I need to look for clues myself."
    She sniffed. "Can't see no clues at night. Might as well wait until tomorrow."
    On that note, I had to concede. Besides, I was weary. I'd had a busy and hectic day, but not enough to warrant the bone-deep fatigue that had seeped into me. I was barely able to keep my eyelids up.
    "Tomorrow then," I countered.
    "Get yourself in bed and take care of that body you treat so shabbily. I'd make you some hot chocolate if I could."
    Chocolate laced with a shot of Kahlua--that was a great idea. I turned to the kitchen to heat some milk and whistle the dogs inside. In the morning I'd investigate the place where all of this madness had started. When the sun was shining, I'd use the skills as a private