Falling Angel Read Online Free Page A

the windows to let in some fresh air.
    The phone rang. Cara checked her watch and decided to let the machine answer. She had to leave now if she wanted to be on time for work.
    Moments later, the voicemail clicked on and her mother’s stentorian voice filled the apartment.
    “Cara? Are you there? Pick up, dear . . .”
    Cara groaned. It was too early for her to deal with Louise Walker. But if she didn’t talk to her now, she would keep calling, getting increasingly anxious, until she’d convinced herself that her only child had been run over by a bus or kidnapped by a serial killer.
    Cara lifted the receiver. “Hi, mom. I’m just heading out to work.”
    “I’ve been up since 5, myself,” Louise said. “Terrible insomnia. I’ve been so worried about Jemma’s leg. She won’t stop gnawing it, so I’m taking her to the vet today to get one of those awful collars put on.”
    Jemma was her dog, a miniature salt and pepper Schnauzer she had bought as a puppy six years earlier, when Cara left home to attend Michigan State. Jemma now occupied the same place in her life that Cara once had. Louise kept Jemma on a tight leash. Alternately spoiled and bullied, the object of all her strongest emotions and attentions, Jemma was expected to repay this vigilant care with total obedience and undying affection. Cara thought the dog probably did a better job of this than she ever had.
    Cara made an effort to pay attention as Louise recited the litany of drugs and treatment methods that had been administered to Jemma. Finally, her mother came to the real reason for her call. “So anyway, of course I haven’t forgotten your birthday next week, and I’m wiring money to your account. I want you to use it to go out and buy something nice for yourself. Nothing practical, for once. Just enjoy.”
    Cara felt ashamed of her bitter thoughts in the face of this unexpected generosity. “That’s great, mom. Thanks.”
    “So funny to think, when I was twenty four you were already in preschool. Can you believe it?” Louise laughed in a fluttery way. “And now you’ve left the nest. You’re all grown up. Have you been seeing anyone?”
    The question made Cara think of Ben.
    “No one special,” she said.
    “Well, that’s good, dear. It’s wise to wait for the right man to come along. You know what a mistake I made, marrying your father. I was young and stupid. Thank God you finally broke up with that Barry boy. I was terrified history was going to repeat itself.”
    “He broke up with me, mother.”
    “I was out of my mind with worry. What if you’d gotten pregnant? Your life would have been over.”
    Cara had to literally bite down on her lower lip to prevent herself from making a sharp retort. She was so tired of her mother hectoring and admonishing her. In truth, it was a large part of the reason she had moved thousands of miles away.
    “Do you know what my father said after your father left me?”
    “You’ve told me a million times.”
    Louise went on as though Cara hadn’t spoken. “‘Serves you right,’ he said. ‘You always were a headstrong girl. Now you’ve made your bed, you lie in it.’ He would have sent you and me out into the street if my mother hadn’t managed to talk him out of it. Every day we lived with them I had to put up with his disapproval. Besides giving us a room to sleep in, he never lifted a finger to help. I had to raise you on my own until I met Andrew. I married him because he was able to offer us a decent life. No one could wish for a better man.”
    Privately, Cara thought that Andrew was a less than stellar catch. He’d always been pleasant to her, going so far as to formally adopt her when she was ten, although it was clear he didn’t think of her as his own child. He was unfailingly punctual, staid, conventional, and dull. There were certainly no surprises with Andrew.
    “You know I only want what’s best for you, dear,” Louise said. “You’re my daughter, my only child. I