Distortion (Moonlighters Series) by Terri Blackstock Page B

think. Bob may have taken this woman to the Bahamas . . . He may have had an affair that lasted months. The baby . . .
    She couldn’t let her mind follow that path. Not yet.
    “Okay,” she said finally. “Yes, call the police.”

CHAPTER 19
    T he more Juliet knew, the darker she felt. She had always been one to find joy in every situation. Depression didn’t often find a resting place in her heart. Even when tragedy struck their family and grief wound its way around her soul, her brain’s need for happiness quickly moved her along. Whether it was wiring or faith, she didn’t know. But that trait that others found so admirable in her had now fled. She wondered if she’d ever feel joy again.
    The boys were brooding when they arrived back at Jay’s house. Juliet went inside, keenly aware that, at a time when they needed her most, she had been pulled away to deal with her dead husband’s mess. It seemed like betrayal. They needed to remember their father’s goodness, and here she was helping dismantle his reputation.
    She was thankful Jay had taken another day off work, so at least they weren’t really alone. Both boys slouched on thecouch, looking utterly miserable as Karate Kid played on TV . Abe clung to her after she hugged him, but Zach recoiled from her touch.
    “I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long.” Her voice sounded distant, foreign, inadequate. “We had to go to your dad’s office to get some things. Then we had to talk to the police again.”
    “Will you stay now?” Abe asked.
    “Yes, honey. I don’t expect to have to go out again today. But I’m going to be in Uncle Jay’s study talking to Michael about some things.”
    Abe whined and asked to come with her, but she put him off. When she, Michael, and her siblings were closed into Jay’s study, she set her hands on her hips. “Michael, I need to look at Bob’s e-mail. Can you access his computer hard drive from here?”
    “No,” he said. “I have it at the office. I’ve already gone through a lot of his office e-mails, but he had a Gmail account for other e-mail. I haven’t made it through those yet. You could get that from here.”
    Juliet sat down at Jay’s computer and opened the Google home page. “Yeah, I know that account. I used it sometimes to send him personal e-mails.”
    She typed in Bob’s e-mail address, and the log-in screen popped up. “If he used the password he used to use . . .” She typed it in, but an “invalid password” message came up. She tried another of his old favorites, but it didn’t work either. She tried to think. Bob didn’t like remembering passwords, so he tended to use the same ones over and over. He’d once used Two2kids, but that was years ago. She tried that one. The ball began spinning, and the messages came up.
    “You got it,” Cathy said, standing beside her.
    “Let’s see what he has from Amber.” She typed the name into the search box. After a few seconds, dozens of e-mails came up in a list. Her throat grew dry. She paused to prepare herself, then scrolled down to the e-mails in May and opened one from Amber after the dates he’d been in the Bahamas.
    Her heart stopped as she read.
    Had a wonderful time last week. You’re spoiling me. Sure you can’t see us this weekend? Robbie misses his daddy.
    Juliet sprang up, knocking over Jay’s penholder.
    Cathy leaned closer and read it out loud.
    Holly’s chin set. “That dirty cheating skunk.”
    Juliet’s heart pounded in her ears. The veins in her temples felt as though they would burst. “ ‘Robbie misses his daddy’?” she rasped out. “He had another child! No wonder that baby looked like Abe. And she named him after Bob!”
    She was falling apart, bit by bit, and she couldn’t seem to catch the pieces. She tried to keep her voice down, but she couldn’t stop the sobs tearing from her throat. “My life was . . . nothing but a lie. All these years . . . he lied to me . . . about everything !”
    Holly tried to put