The Baby Couldn't Tie Him, The Lie Did novel · Chapter 17 of 32
Chapter 17: Thirty-Four Weeks
Virginia didn't hurry down the aisle.
She let the cane do the walking. Tap. Step. Tap.
The waitress behind the counter stopped pouring.
Virginia reached our booth and stood at the end of it, looking down at the three of us.
"Well," she said. "Isn't this cozy."
Nobody answered.
She looked at the housekeeper first.
"Eleven years," she said. "And you couldn't even find new work before you found new friends."
The housekeeper's hand had closed over the purple phone.
"I'm just having coffee, Mrs. Thornton."
"With these two." Virginia glanced at my mother's smock. "Cleaners' union meeting?"
"How did you know we were here?" I said.
Virginia didn't look at me.
"I know where my former staff go when they're bitter. It's usually a diner."
She leaned one gloved hand on the table, right next to the housekeeper's mug.
"Let me remind you of something," she said to her quietly. "The brooch you took was appraised at eleven thousand dollars. That's a felony in this state."
"I never took it."
"I held off on the police report. Out of kindness. Because of your years with us." Virginia tilted her head. "I can file it at two o'clock this afternoon. The police chief and I sit on the same hospital board."
The housekeeper's face had gone gray.
"You wouldn't."
"Your grandson's at the community college. Nursing, isn't it? The Thornton scholarship pays his fees." Virginia smiled. "I wonder who'll pay them after a conviction."
My mother started to get up.
"You leave her alone."
"Sit down, Mrs. McCallum. You have your own court date."
The housekeeper stood up so fast her coffee spilled across the table.
It ran over the edge and dripped on my knees.
She shoved the phone deep into her parka.
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