The Reckoning Stones: A Novel of Suspense Read Online Free

nestled in the hollow of her throat, warming, and she got the same sense of love and delight that always came over her when she worked with that gem. It had been given and worn with love, she was convinced, wishing she could keep it.
    “Exactly what Letitia asked for,” Jane said with satisfaction. “Thank goodness not everyone has jumped on the vintage bandwagon.” Jane’s gaze fell to the sleeping cat and she abruptly changed the subject. “The vet’s worried about Edgar’s kidneys.” She stroked the long fur and the cat slitted his eyes with pleasure. “She’s got him on a special diet. I could put him through college for what the special kidney food costs.”
    She spoke with asperity, but Iris recognized the worry beneath her words. “He’s what? Nineteen? Twenty?”
    “Twenty. I got him the year we met, remember?”
    The now somnolent cat had been a frisky ball of orange fluff. Had she changed as much? “One of the two strays you adopted that year.”
    Jane cleared her throat and spoke briskly, as if to get them past the emotional moment. “You got an offer for another commission this morning. It’s an award. A cup or sculpture of some kind—your discretion—to recognize the outstanding employee at Green Gables, an eco-green construction company. Materials and style up to you.” She named a figure that made Iris whistle.
    “Can’t turn that down,” Iris said, “and the project sounds intriguing. Not my usual.”
    “You can work on the new piece in Colorado. Maybe the change in environment will spark some new ideas.”
    “I’m not going to Colorado,” Iris said, as if she hadn’t been awake half the night, thinking about it. “Too much work.” She listed half a dozen partially completed commissions, stacking them like bricks, creating a barrier between herself and a journey into her past. “I haven’t even got a design yet for Jack Weston’s emerald and he wants to propose—”
    “Tell me you didn’t come over here this morning knowing I’d poke at you to go.” Jane cocked a near-invisible eyebrow.
    “I can’t go.” Her eyes met Jane’s. “What would I do if I went?” Her voice sounded thin, uncertain in her own ears, and she hated it. Still, she let the question stand.
    Lowering Edgar to the ground, Jane reached for her glasses and put them on. The purple rectangular frames made her look less vulnerable, more like the savvy businesswoman Iris had known for two decades. “I don’t know. See your family. Reconnect with your roots.” Jane rose. “Disconnect the man’s ventilator hose.”
    Iris laughed.
    Jane gave her a serious look. “You can’t go on like this, Iris … nonsensical forays into vigilantism, sleeping with men half your age—”
    “Not half!”
    “—and drifting around the country, aimless, rootless.”
    “My ‘aimless drifting’ netted me close to a quarter million last year.”
    Ignoring her sarcasm, Jane continued, “To use a gardening metaphor”—she gestured to their surroundings—“you’ve got to dig up your roots before you can transplant them successfully. Pack your trowel and get on a plane.”

three
    jolene
    Jolene Brozek sat at the kitchen table after school Wednesday, the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph spread in front of her, a pile of Romeo and Juliet essays to be graded at her elbow. Clove and baked ham perfumed the air. She’d decided to make a special dinner as a sort of celebration of her father-in-law’s awakening. It would please Zach. The delicious smells competed with the less savory odors coming from the bird cage near the sliding glass doors. The canary hopped from a perch to his water dish and tried a brief trill, apparently unperturbed by a cage that was a week overdue, at least, for cleaning. Jolene wrinkled her nose, but couldn’t seem to make herself move or even summon Rachel, whose chore it was.
    Her right hand rested lightly on the article, the one detailing her father-in-law’s virtually unheard-of return