Betrayed: A Rosato & DiNunzio Novel (Rosato & Associates Book 13) by Lisa Scottoline

now. We have to call the shots for her.”
    “No we don’t, Mom.”
    “Yes we do.” Her mother folded her arms in the thick bathrobe, and Judy’s chest tightened.
    “She’s not a child.”
    “The chemo makes her thinking foggy. It clouds the brain. I read that in the books. You heard what she said this afternoon.”
    “She’s not on the chemo now.”
    “It’s still in her system.”
    Judy suppressed an eye-roll. “Why don’t we not go there? Neither of us are doctors.”
    “The correct verb is is, and you don’t have to be a doctor. It’s common sense. Open your eyes. You saw her tonight, she’s very emotional. She’s all over the place. She doesn’t know her own mind right now.”
    “Mom, she’s having a mastectomy, not a lobotomy. She has cancer, not schizophrenia.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means she’s not crazy, she knows her own mind. Tomorrow she wants to go to church and plant a rosebush for Iris. Am I supposed to go with her or not?”
    “Church?” Her mother frowned in confusion. “When was the last time she went to church?”
    “It’s not for her. She’s going to Iris’s church and she wants to talk to the priest about funeral plans.”
    “She’s burying her now?” her mother asked, incredulous. “Where’s she going to get the money?”
    “I don’t know,” Judy answered, thinking of the ten grand in the needlepoint bag.
    “And I suppose you think you’re going with her to this church?”
    “I was going to. You should, too.”
    “Where is it?”
    “Who cares? Mom, it’s church. What could your possible objection be?”
    “Have you been listening to me at all?” Veins popped out in her mother’s lovely forehead. “I don’t think she should go, or you either, driving around. She should stay home and rest. Pack a go-bag, like it says in the books. We need to make sure she has her front-closure shirts, slip-on shoes, ice packs, and alcohol pads for her drains. Also the compression bras, we didn’t get to talk about that yet.”
    “Can’t I get those things for her, Monday afternoon? She says she has one day of freedom left. If she wants to go to church, she should go to church.”
    “Why do you have to talk to me this way?”
    “What way?”
    “Is this a lawyer thing? You turn everything into an argument.”
    “I’m not, you are!” Judy couldn’t help but raise her voice.
    “What are you talking about?” Her mother shook her head. “You’re the one who ran off, sending funny texts instead of calling. What is it with you two? Did you have your fun?”
    “ Fun? ” Judy felt her own anger give way. “Do you think it was fun to go identify Iris tonight? Do you think we were having a good time, trying to understand how she died? You know, Mom, I don’t understand you. It’s like you’re jealous.”
    Her mother’s lips parted, and she stepped backwards. “Jealous of what?”
    “You’re jealous of me and Aunt Barb. You’re even jealous of Iris and Aunt Barb.” Judy regretted that the words had slipped out of her mouth, but it was too late to stop now. “Why aren’t you happy that Aunt Barb has a best friend in Iris? Why aren’t you happy that Aunt Barb is close to me? You should be happy for her! She’s your sister!”
    “How dare you speak to me that way!” Her mother’s eyes widened in outrage, but Judy could see a flicker of pain cross her forehead and realized that she had just answered her own question. It was because Aunt Barb was her sister that her mother wanted to be the one who was closer to her. But Judy had no way to take the words back or to change their truth. Still her mother didn’t need it thrown in her face, and Judy felt a wave of shame.
    “Mom, I’m sorry—” she said, her cheeks aflame, but her mother had already turned away, hurrying from the kitchen.

 
    Chapter Thirteen
    Sunday morning, Judy and her Aunt Barb found themselves completely out of place in the crowd heading from the parking lot to