Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,51
looked up, listening to his response. “Oh – hold on, let me get her.”
Jade tried to escape but she was pinned down by Toast. She had no choice but to take the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey Jade, it’s Matthew. I don’t mean to interrupt your work day, are you busy?”
There didn’t seem to be any anger in his voice. Maybe he hadn’t heard their entire conversation about him possibly being a cheater. “Not really – I was just taking a break to teach Toast a new trick. What’s going on?”
“Well, I ran into your mom today and – nothing is wrong – but I was thinking that maybe you two should have a talk. She’s…got some ideas about who our main suspect could be.”
“Oh?”
Matthew laughed. “It’s hard to explain. But I made this phone call to force her to go over and talk to you. But I also can’t really be involved.”
“Okay…” Jade said slowly. “Is something going on?”
“Let’s just say that I need you to help prevent your mom from pulling a Morgan.”
“Pulling a Morgan?”
“You know, taking the law into her own hands.”
Jade smiled. “Oh. I got you. Yeah, sure – is she there now?”
“Yeah, one second. Let me get her.”
A moment later, her mom was on the line. “Hi honey, I don’t want to bother you, but – ”
“Mom, did you get yourself arrested?”
“No! Of course not. Matthew just thought that…well I don’t know what he thought.”
“Do you want to stop by? We’re all just kind of hanging out right now.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Mom, you are never a bother. Please come over!”
There was silence for a moment before she responded. “Okay, if you insist. Hang on, here’s Matthew.”
Matthew cleared his throat and got back on the phone. “Hey, I’m sending her over. And if anyone asks – I was never here.”
Jade laughed. “Got it. Thanks Matthew.”
“Take care – I’ll see you later.”
As curious and concerned as she was about what her mom was up to, Jade felt oddly lighter as she hung up the phone. She’d never even considered that Laura would lie about cheating. And if Matthew wasn’t a cheater, that meant he could still be a decent guy. That meant…well, at least they could still be friends.
Chapter 20
Margie parked in front of Jade’s house, hesitating before getting out of the car. Matthew didn’t seem sold by her theory – and now, she’d have an even tougher audience with both Morgan and Tiffany involved. Maybe she should just wave, say hello, and run back home?
But then there was still the issue of Eddie’s cell phone. Couldn’t she just throw it away?
No – that was a real criminal move. Disposing of the evidence. She didn’t know what had gotten into her, but now she had to deal with the consequences. Matthew was right in saying that she was pulling a Morgan.
Truth be told, Margie now felt that she really understood all of the things that Morgan did in trying to find her mom’s killer. Though she was never a violent woman, if anyone so much as harmed a hair on Jade’s head – well, Margie didn’t know what she would do. Apparently, she was capable of stealing!
She let out a sigh and decided to go in and confess her crimes. When she knocked on the door, all three girls answered, eager and intrigued by whatever excitement she’d stirred up.
They sat down in the living room and Jade made tea for everyone. She also put out some freshly baked cookies – it was quite nice, except for the fact that Margie now had to lay bare all of her sins.
After two cookies and a sip of tea, she took a deep breath and told them everything – well, except for the fact that Matthew knew about the fire because he, too, was monitoring Jade’s house. Margie herself didn’t know what to make of it. She thought she couldn’t love him any more than she already did – but there it was.
And now…well, she thought it best to tell Jade this detail in private. It seemed too important to mix with the rest of this.
When she finished telling her story, she sat back and took a sip of her tea. “Alright, now you can all laugh at me and tell me how crazy I’ve been.”
“You’re not crazy Mom,” Jade said gently. “I just can’t believe that you actually stole Eddie’s phone.”
“I think it’s great!” Morgan said. “Now where is it? I have a feeling that Eddie