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9
7:15 AM
MISS TRUST
At the kitchen door the next h of relief She was safe for a few , Jess Toast?"
Jessica checked for signs of i in her mother&039;s expression but saw only sleepiness and the usual lines of stress Apparently Beth hadn&039;t raised any alarht
"Sure, Mom Thanks" Jessica sat down at the table Maybe Jonathan was right, and the trick to dealing with Beth was to call her bluff
So to be that easy
Her mother popped two slices of bread into the toaster, then turned her attention back to the coffeeht?"
"U on, was that question a subtle recognition of the fact that I&039;rounded anymore?"
"Not exactly subtle," her mother said "I don&039;t do subtlety before coffee" She splashedfixed on the black bre dribbling into the pot
"Well, you&039;re tons more subtle than Dad Yesterday afternoon he said he was keeping an eye on oing to say that I trust you How&039;s that for good parenting?"
"It&039;s great But didn&039;t you used to be the bad cop?"
"Yeah, I think so" Her ave the coffeepot a look of intense concentration "Takes tooup the slack somewhere"
"Well, thanks anyway I won&039;t let you down" The words cauilt as they left her lips She had crossed a new line just the night before It was one thing sneaking out during the secret hour, which hardly counted as breaking curfehen every clock in the world was frozen, surely tis to slay and lost kids to rescue
But last night she hadn&039;t gotten hoht real time Crusty sleep still caked her eyes, and red Oklahoma dust had spun around the drain for a solid retted it Their visit to the motionless river had been worth any a the blue time, the water had been as war in the middle of winter With the current arrested, the broad river was like one big heated swi pool The water had seemed to wash away the pain in her slither-bitten hand, not to mention all the tension between her and Jonathan
"That&039;s Jessica, all right: Miss Trustworthy," Beth said fro she&039;d been standing there Maybe she had been waiting for the sounds of Jessica getting up and had followed her down the hall
Nota spy in your own house
Jessica cleared her throat "That&039;ssweetly at her sister "Get it?" she asked "Miss Trust?"
At the exact same moment Jessica&039;s toast popped up and the coffeeot it, Mom" Jessica ju them like chopsticks to remove the toast