A Spider Sat Beside Her by K. E. Lanning

Author:K. E. Lanning [Lanning, K. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780999121016
Google: t9ybswEACAAJ
Amazon: B077J13NT5
Goodreads: 37905512
Publisher: K.E. Lanning
Published: 2017-07-16T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Lowry drummed her fingers on the table, glancing again toward the entrance of the lounge. By the time she had returned to the hotel from her meeting with Nick, her father had left a message, asking to meet with her. She had decided that it would be best to meet him at a neutral location, and since she knew a bar would be a natural place for him, she had asked him to meet her in the hotel lounge that evening.

She sat there sipping her wine, trying to relax but readying herself for the fight ahead—cat-and-mouse was an old game between them. Her father loved her as best he could, but hidden in the folds of his psyche was a nasty streak, and like a stiletto, it popped out at inconvenient times, cruelly slicing with his words. Lowry had learned to study him for signs of attack like one watches a mean dog.

She clenched her jaw. It wasn’t that long ago that her father had struck her for the last time—a form of stress relief for him. Instead of a second shot of whiskey, how about a smack in the face for the rebellious kid? And even now, the weather was about the depth of their discussions if she didn’t want an argument.

Lowry absently tapped her lips.

Her father was intelligent but petulant, never seeming to forget a perceived slight, no matter how minor. Friends would politely say he had never “realized his potential.” He had found his true calling when an obscure political position in Antarctica became vacant and he grabbed it. He took to politics like a religion. With his manipulative personality, he had risen in the ranks and weaseled his way into the provisional governor’s post. It was far from being a powerful position since his constituents were primarily miners and prostitutes, but he was as content as he had ever been.

She swallowed hard at his appearance at the door. He was a handsome man: tall and thin with a full head of dark hair except for the gray at the temples, which he bragged made him look more patrician and, happily, more electable.

He nodded as she weakly waved to him. Ever conscious of others’ perceptions of him, he strode over to her table with his broad, politician’s smile, and she rose to exchange “pleasantries.”

With a brisk hug, he said in his faint Scottish burr, “Good to see you, Lowry, my girl!” Then he told the approaching waiter, “Scotch and soda, please.”

He sat down. The sharp glint in his eyes belied his good humor. Lowry steeled herself for a fight.

Duff’s smile faded, and a tense silence fell between them.

He cleared his throat and said with a brittle edge to his voice, “I hear that you’re testifying on this crazy intrigue involving the space station?”

“Yes, I’ve gotten sucked into this charade.”

He pursed his lips, tapping the table with his finger. “You know, Lowry, I’m up for reelection and don’t really need any negative publicity right now.”

She gritted her teeth.

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