Read Online Pushed to the Limit (an Emma Cassidy Mystery Book 2) by Karen Chester - Free Book Online Page B

choicest tidbits of gossip, gobbling them up, and then
bragging about them far and wide. People get annoyed with her, furious even,
but she’s immune to criticism. I should know.” Lorraine snorted. “But now she’s
angered the wrong person. Someone who wants to stop her gossipy tongue for
good. She didn’t fall down those stairs. She was pushed. Someone tried to kill
my sister.”
    A chill spread through Emma, and it wasn’t
due to the anemic AC. But she couldn’t say she was all that shocked because the
same suspicion had lurked in the back of her mind ever since she’d discovered
Faye’s crumpled figure. Faye was an indiscriminate gossip, and sometimes—often—
she did hurt people, and she didn’t seem to care. Still, it might be unwise to
jump in and enthusiastically agree with Lorraine when the woman was in a deeply
emotional state and might later regret her words.
    “People do fall down stairs,” Emma said,
striving for a mild tone.
    “Faye is as sturdy as a horse. She’s never
fallen down anything.”
    “We-ell, you don’t live with her,” Emma
cautiously pointed out. “She might have had some mobility problems recently
that she didn’t want to tell you about.”
    “If Faye had any health problems she’d be
chewing my ear off in an instant. She’d have me running errands for her all day
long. She loves attention. If you think she’d pass up on the opportunity to
guilt trip me into paying her attention, then you don’t know my sister!”
    Emma waited until she had pulled the car
into Lorraine’s driveway before answering. “Okay, then. So Faye didn’t have any
health issues, but do you really think someone could get so mad with her that
they’d want to do away with her?”
    Lorraine picked at some dirt under her
fingernails. “I’ve wanted to strangle her myself plenty of times,” she blurted
out. At Emma’s wide eyes, she lifted her work-roughened hands. “Come on, you’ve
felt the urge to throttle my sister yourself. Admit it.”
    “Uh, well, I admit I’ve been annoyed with
her at times.”
    “Merely annoyed?” Lorraine shook her gray
curls. “She blabbed about your previous business troubles to Debbie Scheel, and
as a result you lost her daughter’s wedding. That cost you a lot of money and
kudos. Don’t tell me you were only annoyed with Faye.”
    “Okay, yeah, I was pretty mad.” Emma
wriggled in the seat, wishing she could escape Lorraine’s attention. “But I
wouldn’t harm her.”
    “Oh, of course I know that! Not on purpose,
you wouldn’t. I’m just saying that everyone has their limit. Given the right
provocation, even the most angelic person could snap.” For a few moments Lorraine
stared ahead as if she were trying to figure out the likeliest suspects. Then,
with an abrupt change of mood, she reached for the door handle. “No point in
speculating. Faye will tell us as soon as she wakes up. She’ll tell us who
tried to kill her. Thank you so much for the ride, dear.” She heaved herself
out of the car, waved goodbye, and made her way slowly to her front door, her
curls glinting silver in the sunlight.
    Emma drove home slowly, her head aching
from everything that had happened. When she parked her car in the driveway, she
saw that her fingernails were ragged from nervous chewing. The cold ball
anchored in the pit of her stomach didn’t auger well, either.
    She had to find out if Faye really had been
pushed down those stairs, and if so, who had done it. And she had to find out
soon, before Faye woke up and told everyone who might listen that she had been
attacked by Emma Cassidy.

Chapter
Nine
    The warm, sugary
scent of waffles and strawberries filled Emma’s nose.
    “Mm.” She breathed in deep before lifting
her fork. “I shouldn’t be eating this. I should have ordered oatmeal or
muesli.”
    Across the table, her father shook his
head. “It’s Sunday brunch. You can’t have oatmeal.” He squirted ketchup over
his fried eggs and bacon.
    They were