Half Past Dead Read Online Free Page B

believe someone will contact you about the robbery. Not all of the missing money was recovered. We believe they’ll double-check to see if you have it or know where it is.”
    â€œWhat am I supposed to do if they contact me?”
    â€œWe’ll give you a number to call. We just need to know the identity of the caller.” He said each word slowly and deliberately as if he was trying to have an intellectual conversation with a toddler. “It’s possible this is part of a larger money laundering scheme.”
    This must be a bigger operation. That’s why the MBI was involved. She was being used as bait in what was probably a dangerous situation.
    â€œIf I refuse to do this—”
    â€œYou’ll remain in jail until you come up for parole next year.” Triumph crackled in Harlan’s voice. “Your mother might die before then.”
    She gasped, shock seeping through every pore and spreading through her body with a mind-numbing speed. “Is my mother ill?”
    Harlan glanced at the warden with a frown, then turned to Kat. “Your mother didn’t tell you she has ovarian cancer?”
    Kat shook her head. She didn’t bother mentioning she hadn’t heard anything from her mother and sister since she was arrested. How could Tori not have at least dropped her a note about their mother?
    Cancer.
    Her mother was dying. The revelation hit a target she hadn’t realized still existed—the hollow spot that had once been her heart. The news resurrected old demons, feelings she’d believed had died here in prison.
    Kat had convinced herself that she no longer cared about her mother. She hated her mother for deserting Kat when she’d most needed her. Her feelings toward Tori were more ambivalent. No, Tori hadn’t come to her aid either, but there had been times, when they’d been growing up, that Tori had tried to help Kat. Above all, Tori never tattled. If Kat slipped out to visit her friend in the trailer park, Tori kept her mouth shut.
    â€œWork with us and you can go home and see your mother,” Harlan said.
    â€œOkay,” she replied. She didn’t have a choice, and both men knew it.
    â€œYou’ll be undercover. Only you and your contact will know the truth. Don’t tell anyone—not even your mother.”
    She would be free but everyone in Twin Oaks would still think she was a criminal and treat her like one. This just kept getting better and better. It didn’t matter, she decided. Anything was better than being in prison.
    â€œThe field agent who will handle you is with the bureau’s office in Jackson. Contact him if you have anything to report. He’ll give you another number. It belongs to an agent who’s been working undercover in Twin Oaks. Don’t call it unless there’s an emergency.”
    â€œTell me what’s really going on,” she demanded. “Will I be in danger?”
    Harlan lifted his briefcase off the floor and stood up. “I don’t have the details. I’m sure the agent who picks you up tomorrow will brief you.”
    Â 
    K AT NEVER RETURNED to the kitchen. Instead she went to her cell and stretched out on her bunk. The paperwork was complete, and she would be released first thing in the morning. The agent from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation office in Jackson was scheduled to drive her to Twin Oaks. He would get her a car and arrange for a place for her to live.
    Her mother had ovarian cancer. Unbelievable. How long did she have to live? Would her mother want to see her? Kat thought about it and couldn’t decide.
    Her mother had barely tolerated Kat when she’d been growing up. She’d often wondered why her mother loved Tori but not her. She’d asked her father. He’d solemnly told her that it was his fault. Loretta Wells still loved Tori’s father.
    Being near death changed people, or so Kat had heard. Despite the way her mother