Read Online Joanne Dobson - Karen Pelletier 05 - The Maltese Manuscript by Joanne Dobson - Free Book Online Page B

Or, rather, Charlie had talked about it. What he really wanted, of course, was The Big Commitment, but the mere idea of another marriage freaked me out at some deep, dark level I couldn’t bear to probe.
    Maybe Jill was right; maybe I did suffer from a congenital inability to commit. After our conversation at Rudolph’s, Earlene had called to apologize for being so pushy about me and Charlie.
    “I’ll tell you what,” I’d said to her, “I’ll take the wedding cake. But no wedding.”
    “But, really, isn’t your relationship with that beautiful cop already the same thing as being married?” Earlene had queried. “Don’t tell me you don’t worry about him all the time, anyhow.” She laughed. “Only this way, if he dies in the line of duty, you don’t get the pension and the insurance.”
    I shivered, my blood suddenly frozen. “Jee-zus, Earlene,” I’d snapped at her. “I thought you were going to butt out of my personal life.”
    ***
    “Hey, is this the book you’ve been looking for?” Charlie had discovered a copy of a brightly covered Hardcastle novel shoved behind other books. “ Bad Attitude ?” He held it up. The lime-green and jonquil jacket featured the Hardcastle motif, a stylized woman aiming a huge hand gun at the reader.
    “No. The one I’m looking for is titled Rough Cut . But put that one aside, too.”
    “Sure thing.” He placed the book on the coffee table, lowered his hand and ran it slowly down my leg, then cuffed my ankle. Umm.
    “What’re you guys doing?” Amanda wandered out from her bedroom, still in her leggings and sweatshirt. Awkward with Charlie in his Mom’s-boyfriend role, she gave him a high five instead of a hug, then plopped down on the couch and picked up the TV remote.
    I sat up straighter. “We’re looking for a book called Rough Cut . You remember it, Hon? Hardcover. Hot pink with a gun.”
    “One of those Kit Danger books?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I read them all when I was—oh—maybe, thirteen.” Her voice grew reminiscent, as if that were decades in the past, instead of a scant nine years. “Decided right then and there I was gonna be a hot-shot private eye when I grew up.”
    Charlie grinned. “You’d be a natural.”
    I cast him an evil look. “Over my dead body. I didn’t raise this girl so she could put herself in harm’s way.”
    Amanda squinted at me. I changed the subject before we could take the discussion any further. “So, you have any idea where my copy of Rough Cut went?”
    After a short beat of silence, she said, “You kidding, right? We’ve moved twice, no, three times, since then. What do you want it for?”
    “Sunnye Hardcastle’s going to be on campus for a conference next weekend. I’m her escort.”
    “Cool! Wish I was gonna be around. I’ve never met an author.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, well, I’ve met this one. You’re not missing much. She’s a pain in the ass, even if she is a terrific writer. Rough Cut was her first novel. I want to ask her to sign it.”
    Charlie had a flannel rag I’d cut from one of my old pajamas and was dusting each book so carefully you’d think he was checking for fingerprints. “Your mother’s convinced she’s got a gold mine hidden away somewhere,” he said, “a rare first edition. She’s gonna sell it and put you through grad school.”
    Amanda’s dark eyes momentarily became opaque; she dropped her gaze. “Grad school? I don’t think I—” My daughter paused for a few seconds. Then she shook her head as if to clear it, and recovered her usual aplomb.
    Charlie stacked the dusted books in piles by author. By the time he was done, I’d have the cleanest and best organized library in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
    “I hate to say this, Mom,” Amanda nonetheless said, “but when we moved up here from the city, didn’t you donate, oh, maybe, seven or eight boxes of books to the Salvation Army?”
    “Ouch! I think you’re right. But would I have put the