Deceived (A Hannah Smith Novel) Read Online Free

lured off on a tangent.
    “We were talking about that missing fishing reel,” I insisted.
    “How’s a woman who gets no sleep expected to remember anything?” she said in an accusing way. “Lord A’mighty, you’ve never heard such a terrible yowling in your life, and pray you never do. You’ve seen that monster owl—he roosts in the oaks behind the house.”
    No, I hadn’t, but I’d heard him calling, a baritone
boom-boom-boom
that was sometimes answered by owls on neighboring islands miles away. “Maybe some sweet tea will improve your memory,” I said, and went to make it.
    “I’m not going to sit here and lie,” she continued, pressing her advantage. “I didn’t like that ugly ball of hair. He’d hike his leg on my collards and pooed in the garden—any wonder I haven’t made greens lately? That new neighbor woman and I had words about that, believe me! But the dog hasn’t been born deserves to be eaten by a giant bird.”
    My mother sat back in her recliner, reached for the TV remote and added, “Suppose I could use something cool to drink, darlin’. This time, don’t be so stingy with the sugar.”
    I had no idea, of course, that the missing reel would turn out to be significant or that its disappearance would convince me that my mother and her friends were being victimized by thieves whose conscience had been replaced by sickness, and who were capable of theft, and even murder. So I allowed my attention to waver. Had Loretta actually seen an owl swoop down and grab the neighbor’s pet Pekingese? The woman’s damaged brain followed strange branches and was sometimes confused. However, she was also smart enough to use that impairment to disguise her true motives or to conceal her own bad behavior. Truth was, I suspected that she’d probably sold the reel or traded it for marijuana, which she had never admitted using but was quick to praise as a healing drug. Loretta had always been tricky when it suited her needs, a trait I’d found irksome even as a little girl.
    “There’s no reason to make up stories,” I warned, ice crackling as I poured tea into a pitcher. “I just want to know where the family antiques have disappeared to.”
    The reel and the book weren’t the only items missing from the attic.
    “The dog’s dead,” Loretta repeated. “You’ve been here, what, an hour? How many times you heard that little rat yapping?” She motioned toward the pitcher. “And don’t forget the sugar!”
    It was true that the dog barked all day most days, including yesterday when my clients had followed me up the shell mound to the house. But on this warm April afternoon, I’d yet to hear a peep.
    “That is kind of strange,” I said.
    “Biggest owl I’ve ever seen,” my mother replied, as she’d just proven her point.
    “Maybe I should go next door and ask about him.”
    Loretta sat up straight. “Don’t you dare! Say anything, those people will suspect I had something to do with it. Besides, they probably started drinking already. Afternoons, they sit on the porch and play tropical music. I can practically smell the booze.”
    My mother’s tone forced an awful possibility into my head. “Loretta, please tell you didn’t hurt their dog.”
    My mother didn’t make eye contact. “What in the world you talking about?”
    “You heard me. Did you run over that poor little thing last night or take him somewhere? Someone used Jake’s truck—don’t think I didn’t notice it’s been moved.” Yesterday, my late uncle’s old Ford had been in the carport where it belonged. Now it was parked in the shade of an avocado tree.
    “How could I?” she answered. “You took my keys and cut up my driver’s license.”
    The part about cutting up her license was fantasy, but I was thinking,
Uh-oh.
“
Someone
used that truck,” I said, “and it wouldn’t be the first time you snuck out on your own.”
    My mother glared. “Now you’re accusing me of being a dog killer
and
a liar!” She