Read Online Once and for All by Jeannie Watt - Free Book Online Page B

at Sam’s place.”
    Her eyebrows rose.
    “Pick-up game.” Margarite’s eyebrows remained in an elevated position, and Jodie realized the housekeeper had no idea what she was talking about. “I played basketball with him and his nephews.”
    “Oh.” Margarite made an if-you-say-so face.
    “You had to be there,” Jodie said as she started unpacking the bags. “Sam seems to spend a lot of time with his nephews.”
    Margarite glanced over at her. “He should. He’s their guardian. Their parents were killed in a hit-and-run accident about a year and half ago. I thought you knew.”
    The can Jodie had just pulled from the bag almost slipped from her hand. “No.”
    “Yes. Sad thing.” Margarite placed the candied fruit next to her other baking supplies.
    “So Sam’s raising his nephews? Alone?”
    “Yeah.”
    Jodie carried the canned goods to the pantry as she calculated. A year and a half ago…a couple months before her dad had filed suit. Talk about a double whammy—losing his brother and then getting sued for malpractice. With instant parenthood added in, he’d actually experienced a triple whammy. No wonder he hated her father. Joe had sued him at one of the most vulnerable times of his life.
    “He seems to be taking his job seriously,” she said when she came out of the pantry.
    “Sam goes the extra mile.” Margarite opened the fridge and started putting fresh vegetables into the drawers. “I remember when my sister’s dog got hit by a car not long after he and his brother started the practice—”
    “His brother was a vet, too?”
    “They graduated a year apart. His brother did small animals, Sam did large. Anyway, Dave—his brother—wasn’t at the clinic when my sister brought her dog in, its leg rolled out flat like a pancake. One bloody mess.”
    Jodie felt an instant surge of queasiness.
    “You okay?” Margarite asked, giving her a sharp glance. Jodie nodded, doing her best to appear interested and not nauseous at the mental image she’d conjured up. “So anyway, instead of amputating, Sam worked for hours putting that leg back together. The bones, the muscles. Too many stitches to count. And he charged her only a hundred dollars, since she’s on a limited income. She paid him ten bucks a month. He did the checkups for free.”
    “And the dog survived?”
    “He’s still alive. The leg’s not one hundred percent, but he has it and can use it some.”
    No wonder Margarite thought Sam was a good vet.
    “Did the accident take place here? His brother, I mean, not the dog.”
    “Vegas,” Margarite said. “The Strip.”
    In Jodie’s territory. “Did they catch the driver?”
    “Oh, yeah.” Margarite nodded with satisfaction. “They got him a day later. A casino executive, no less.” Jodie felt an odd prickling sensation at the back of her neck. “He had prior DUIs,” Margarite continued, “but had gotten off because he had the bucks to buy a good lawyer who cared more about money than doing what’s right.” She spoke with an edge of bitterness, then seemed to remember who she was talking to. “No offense.”
    “None taken,” Jodie said faintly as she wadded up the empty plastic bags and stuffed them in the recycling box. She did not like the déjà vu nature of Margarite’s story. Not one bit.
    Don’t be stupid. What were the chances…?
    Casino exec…vehicular homicide while under the influence… Actually, the odds weren’t that bad….
    “You can probably see why you and Sam haven’t exactly hit it off. Between your dad’s suit and what happened to his brother, well, he’s not real fond of lawyers.”
    “Do you happen to remember the name of the guy that killed Sam’s brother and his wife?”
    “No.” Margarite eyed Jodie shrewdly. “Does the case sound familiar?”
    “I might have read about it.” She hoped that was all she’d done.
    “I guess the news changes up pretty rapidly in Las Vegas, but here…it was all we talked about for a long