Read Forever After for Free Online Page B

smart, I’m tellin’ you, and as slippery as an eel.”
    Glen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Smart? She has ovaries, for chrissake.”
    “That don’t mean she ain’t got brains. She’s sharp, I tell ya.”
    “Luck, sheer luck. You find her, Sanders. Do you understand? No excuses. It’s been five weeks. With every day that passes, the trail grows colder.”
    Glen rose from his chair, aborted the call with a jab of his finger, and strode angrily around his desk, his gaze fixed on the painting of his son, Daniel, that hung in an ornate, gilt frame above the mantel.
    His boy .
    Taking care not to step on the Dobermans that slept before the hearth, Glen drew to a stop and stared at the image of Dan’s face. He tried never to think of how that face had looked when he’d gone to the morgue to identify the body. A car accident . Just that quick, and Dan’s life had been snuffed out. Glen still couldn’t believe it had happened. Even now, he kept expecting his son to walk through the door, alive and well, these past months of grief nothing but a nightmare.
    Now the only blood relative Glen had left was his granddaughter Tamara. He wanted the child back. She was a Calendri, by God, Glen’s only living heir, and she would be raised by a Calendri, not by that stupid little bitch his son had married. Glen would see to that. And if the broad just happened to get herself eliminated in the process, so much the better.
     
    Sammy stood on a kitchen stool, both arms thrust into the sudsy dishwater. Standing behind her, Meredith supervised as the child ran a sponge over a plate.
    “You missed a spot.” Meredith pointed out a stubbornalphabet noodle that still clung to the dish. “Very good, Sammy! Now, into the rinse water.”
    Sammy swished the plate in the clear water, then went up on her tiptoes to stack it in the drainer, Meredith clasping her waist to make sure she didn’t fall.
    “I’m almost as good at washing dishes as you are. Right, Mommy?”
    Meredith was pleased to see Sammy so engrossed in what she was doing. Supper had been a trial, with the child leaping at every noise.
    She bent to kiss the crown of her daughter’s head. “You’re the very best four-year-old dishwasher I’ve ever seen.”
    Sammy pushed an arm farther into the water, pulled the stopper, and watched the suds spiral slowly down the drain. The sluggishness concerned Meredith, making her wonder if the plumbing was partially blocked. In this house, anything that could go wrong did go wrong. High-rent districts were definitely a thing of the past. Until Sammy started to school, at least. Then Meredith would be able to work outside the home in her chosen field again, computer programming.
    When she’d leased this place, Meredith had been determined to make it into a home. Now, after meeting the sheriff, she was no longer sure that staying here would be such a wise idea. Not that she had a choice. At least not for the next six months.
    After drying Sammy’s hands and dimpled elbows, she set the child down and returned the stool to its place under the light switch next to the ancient refrigerator.
    “There. We’re all done,” she said, glancing around the tidy kitchen.
    “Yup.” Sammy hugged her waist, looking forlorn.
    “Want to watch television?” Meredith asked.
    The child wrinkled her nose.
    “How about a game of Old Maid?”
    “Nah.”
    It was going to be a very long evening if she couldn’tthink of some way to keep Sammy’s mind off that dog. “You know what sounds fun to me?”
    “No, what?” Sammy asked, her blue eyes luminous in the light from the ceiling.
    “Making sugar cookies,” Meredith replied in a stage whisper and leaned forward to place her hands on her knees. “We could cut out fun shapes and decorate them.”
    Sammy’s dimple flashed. “San’a Claus cookies?”
    Meredith saw no reason why not. “And Christmas trees? I’ve got green sprinkles and confectioner’s confetti.”
    Sammy raced to the cupboard