Truth and Justice - Fern Michaels Page 0,23

it’s time to eat. We’ve been at it for almost six hours, and speaking for myself, I’m more confused now than when we started. What’s going on here? We’ve never had this problem before.” The girls perked up as they recognized the irritation in Annie’s voice.

Kathryn let out a sharp whistle of her own. “Do ya think it maybe might have something to do with the client sitting down here in the war room with us? We’ve never done that before. No offense, Bella, but this is not how we normally do things. What makes this young lady special or different? Well, someone say something, or I’m outta here. We just wasted six hours. Six hours! Time is money, people!” If anything, her voice was even more irritated than Annie’s.

Every hand in the room went up. Time out!

The Sisters looked at one another and shrugged. Expressions were sheepish. None of them had an answer. Kathryn was right, and they knew it. And Annie had a right to be irritated.

Bella just looked confused. She looked around, wondering what she should do. She didn’t know these people, not really. What did they expect from her? She’d talked for hours, told them everything she knew. She didn’t ask to come down here to this dungeon; they had invited her, and now they were saying they wished they hadn’t. Even she knew something was wrong. It had to be her, what else could it be? Good Lord, what had she gotten herself into? She started to feel sick to her stomach.

Even though she didn’t know these women personally, she could tell that the women were out of sync all afternoon. Their tone was sharp, almost belligerent with one another. At one point, she thought they were a hair away from a knock-down-drag-out fight with one another. It was her. There was something about her and her case that was bothering them, but Bella had no clue what it was, and she didn’t think they knew, either. Myra, the one who seemed to be the boss, had it right when she said they needed to fall back and regroup. And she needed to get the hell out of here. She hated the way the one named Kathryn was giving her the fish eye. That was one lady she knew she never wanted to meet up with in a dark alley. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

Bella fell into line and followed the women up to the main part of the house.

Upstairs in the kitchen, Bella cleared her throat and asked if she could speak. Heads bobbed up and down, and hands waved in all directions, urging her to articulate. She took a moment to notice how different the women were here in the kitchen. They looked calm, and they were smiling. She wondered if it was her or them, or if they were just crazy like a bunch of female foxes.

“I’m glad to be here. Well, sort of. I am happy you all want to help me, but I think that my being here in person is throwing all of you off. I have nothing more to offer right now, so there doesn’t seem to be much point to my staying here with you all. You could light matches under my toenails, and I couldn’t give you one more iota of information. So, having said that, I’m going to go back to town and see if I can get my old job back—hosting nights at the lounge where I used to work—if I am going to stay in town a while longer. I appreciate all you’ve done, bringing me here and all. It goes without saying I will never ever divulge any of this to anyone. Your activities are sacred with me. I’m just grateful you all agreed to help me, so without further ado, I’m going to leave now. It was nice meeting you all. Oh, looks like you have company,” she said, pointing to the parking area outside the kitchen.

Instant pandemonium followed.

The dogs barked and yelped and yowled as they made a beeline for the door. “It’s Maggie! She’s the Post’s star reporter and one of us. She was on assignment and couldn’t get here with the others. I’m glad you are going to get to meet her before you leave,” Myra said, as the intrepid reporter blew into the kitchen, tussling with the dogs every step of the way as she called a greeting to one and all.

“I swear that the wind