Death of the Family Recipe (A Scotti Fitzgerald Murder Mystery Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

on it." I shook my head. "I’m just too close to it." I laughed nervously. "It scares the hell out of me, but not knowing scares me more. Does that make any sense at all?"
     
    Joe nodded and thought about it for a while. "Mind if I ask you a question?"
     
    "Knock yourself out."
     
    "You had a long time to look into this, but you never did. Least, I expect you never did. So what’s changed? The baby?"
     
    I nodded. "Yeah. I’m getting married, I’m having a baby…" My weepiness returned. "My mother should be here. Helping me and giving me advice. And reassuring me." I swatted at my tears. "So, why isn’t she?" I stared at my beautiful engagement ring. "Some day, my daughter will want to know about her grandmother, and I want to have an answer for her."
     
    Gently Joe asked, "Just for her?"
     
    I raised my head. "For both of us. Ted has this big crazy family, and they’re so close, and they know each other so well. Why didn’t I have that? Birthdays and holidays? I want her to tell me why I didn’t deserve to have that."
     
    Joe nodded. "All righty then, we’ll get you some answers."
    I raised my brows. "You’ll do it? Really?"
     
    He took my hand and squeezed it. "Course I will, sunshine."
     
    I pulled out my checkbook before he could change his mind. "What’s your standard retainer?"
     
    Joe held up his hands and frowned. "Put that checkbook away."
     
    I continued making out the check. "The hell I will. I’m not asking for a favor. This is a business transaction."
     
    Joe shrugged. "Then we’ll make it a wedding gift."
     
    I shook my head. "No. Thank you, but no. It needs to be official." I tore the check out of the book and lay it on his desk. "Do you understand?"
     
    Joe pursed his lips and tucked the check into his top pocket. "Yeah, I understand."
     
    We signed a contract, and I was officially a client of Enders Investigations. It was a relief because Joe was probably the only person I’d trust to find the woman who’d abandoned me almost thirty years ago. Because he really was the closest thing I had to a father — he was family. My heart raced at the thought of finally facing her and asking the questions that haunted me all my life. All he had to do was find her and convince her to talk to me. And all I had to do was get up the nerve to ask the questions. "Will it take long?"
     
    Joe sucked in a cheek and chewed on it. "Hard to say. If she don’t want to be found, then probably." He patted my back. "But could be she’s looking for you too."
     
    My heart triple-axled at the thought. "You think she could be looking for me?"
     
    "You’re looking for her, ain’t you?" He cupped my chin. "My advice? Try not to expect too much."
     
    I frowned and pushed his hand away. "But you just said she might be looking for me."
     
    He nodded in his slow southern gentleman way. "I did. But it’s been a long time since you was left in that church, Scotti. A lotta things can happen in that kind of time."
     
    The brakes slammed on what little hope I felt. "Like what?"
    Joe flapped a hand to chase away my question. "Let me do what I do. We’ll see what falls out when I shake the tree." A little disheartened, I gathered my things and started for the door. "Scotti?" I turned back to him. "Does Ted know you’re looking for your mama?"
     
    I shook my head slowly. "No. If you find her, I’ll tell him."
     
    Joe scratched at the stubble on his chin. "It ain’t the kind of secret you wanna keep from your future husband."
     
    I pursed my lips. "It’s not a secret. But this is my battle, not Ted’s. If we come up empty, he’ll feel sorry for me. Think it’s his job to make it up to me. I don’t want to put that on him." I looked to Joe for approval. "You know what I mean?"
     
    Joe hugged me. "It’s going to be all right, child. Don’t you fret."
     
    But I was fretting. A lot of things can happen in thirty years, and I was doing my damnedest to avoid thinking about those things. But the ball was