Legacy (Anna Strong Chronicles #4)

WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE ROOM, THERE'S SO much tension between David and Gloria it's like walking into a Deepfreeze. David is seated at the end of the bed, chair flat against the wall, as if trying to put as much distance as possible between the two of them and still be in the same room. Gloria is looking out the window, mouth pursed in a tight frown, avoiding David's eyes like a rat in a cobra's cage.

At least she looks better physically than the last time I saw her at the hotel. She's clean, her hair slicked back in a ponytail, but she's still pale. The lines of her face are drawn with anxiety and fatigue.

They both brighten when Jamie and I walk in.

Gloria scoots herself up in the bed so she's sitting up straighter. She looks at me. "Did you speak with Jason?"

I never had a chance to tell her that I was meeting with the kid. Only one way she could have known. "Yes. Obviously, so have you. What did he tell you?"

The corners of her eyes tighten a fraction as if she's suddenly aware she may have said something she shouldn't have. She recovers quickly, though, and moves her shoulders in an offhanded shrug. "Jason said that he was meeting with you this morning. He and I are friends. He knows I couldn't have killed his father."

Her voice drops off, waiting for me to pick up the thread, to share with David and her lawyer Jason's belief that it was his stepmother, not Gloria, who killed his father.

After all, it would sound so much more convincing coming from me.

"Anna told me what Jason believes," Jamie interjects. "He believes his stepmother is involved because he overheard them discussing a legal problem that could bankrupt the family. He thinks her motive was greed."

That's all she says. Nothing about my searching the O'Sullivan house or finding a gun.

Gloria's expression wavers. She's expecting more. It's clear she's talked to Jason. When? Before I met with him or after?

In either case, finding that gun feels more and more like a setup.

It must feel the same way to Gloria's lawyer. She asks Gloria a few questions about how many times she was in the O'Sullivan house and if she ever saw or handled a gun there. The questions are couched in general terms and when Gloria responds that no, she never saw or handled a gun, Jamie lets the matter drop.

To Gloria's obvious surprise and consternation. "That's it?" Color floods her face. "You're not going to tell Detective Harris about Laura O'Sullivan? About what Jason said to Anna? Shouldn't the police search the house for a gun? She obviously set me up. She even tried to have me killed. Someone has to make the police see that I'm being set up."

Jamie pulls a chair up to Gloria's bedside and leans her face close. "Isn't that what you and Jason are doing as well?" she asks quietly. "Gloria, I don't believe you killed Rory O'Sullivan, but what you and that boy are doing to prove your innocence is only going to get you both in trouble."