Act of Betrayal Read Online Free Page A

and death that hung around her face, in her hair and clothing. Ignoring the half-dozen empty tables, PJ and Schultz seated themselves at their usual stools at the end of the counter, leaving one place between them. Millie didn’t mind them taking up three places, because the middle stool was the one that wobbled, and all the regulars avoided it anyway.
    The utensils were cold to the touch, and the steam rising from other customers’ coffee cups actually looked appealing.
    The news had preceded them, probably in the form of a phone call from Dave, because Millie didn’t approach right away for her usual banter. Schultz had been coming to Millie’s Diner for more years than either he or the proprietress cared to remember, and the two of them had an established routine of insults.
    Millie eyed them from the safety of the kitchen, peering around the edge of the food pass-through, her halo of frizzy gray hair visible even though she thought she was hiding. When she couldn’t avoid it any longer, she brought out a cup of coffee for each of them.
    “Nice blouse,” Millie said.
    PJ mumbled her thanks.
    “I’m real sorry about what happened,” Millie said, finally making eye contact with Schultz. “He was a real pain in the ass, but he was family.”
    PJ held her breath. She wasn’t sure how Schultz would react to that description of his son, no matter how closely it sliced to the bone of truth. Rick had been serving time for selling marijuana to school kids, which was not exactly the occupation that a cop would choose for his only offspring. PJ knew that there had been arguments over behavior, money, getting a job, petty thievery, and minor vandalism. It was an escalating pattern. Rick had been sliding into career criminal status, and Schultz had been belatedly trying to apply the brakes and slow his descent—belatedly, because he hadn’t been much of a presence in his son’s life until his wife, Julia, abruptly washed her hands of him. Schultz’s tough stance and his refusal to get his son off easy on a drug peddling charge had led to a physical confrontation between father and son.
    Nevertheless, he was Schultz’s son, and she knew that Schultz hadn’t given up on the young man. In fact, Schultz had been planning to work with Rick to turn the situation around after he’d served his time.
    “You really know how to cheer a guy up, you old bat,” Schultz said. “You ought to work for a greeting card company.”
    Millie started to get her hackles up. PJ could see her forcing herself to be nice.
    “I’m not going to mess with that,” Millie said. “I figure we have a truce, at least for a while. It’s early for lunch. You still want your usual?”
    “Hell, why not? My bowels can use a load of grease.”
    She pinched her lips together, but kept her silence.
    “I’ll have a biscuit to go with my coffee, please,” PJ said. “Or a roll. Whatever you have today.”
    “Coming up,” Millie said. She headed for the kitchen. “Someone could learn a few things about being polite,” she said, just loud enough for the two of them to hear.
    So much for the truce, PJ thought.
    PJ’s sweet roll, a huge creation that could have filled a generous soup bowl, arrived in just a couple of minutes. She held her hand over it for a moment, enjoying the warmth. It was freshly baked. She sliced it in half, unwrapped two foil-covered pats of butter, and started one pat melting on each half. Her dad used to enjoy a sweet roll that way nearly every morning, and her mom teased him about adding butter to an already fat-laden item. “Like sprinkling sugar on Frosted Flakes,” she’d complain. PJ tried to lose herself in the sensations, the routine motions, and the memory as a way of avoiding what came next.
    She had no idea what to say to Schultz.
    A man she cared deeply for, respected, and trusted was… what? Angry? Numb? Sad? There had been that terrifying glimpse of what was going on inside him that she had gotten on the