Not a Word by Stephanie Black

Author:Stephanie Black [Black, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense, murder, lds, mormon, Mystery, clean, trust, secrets
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2016-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

As Natalie passed the reception desk, Jeanne rose to hug her. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay.” Over Jeanne’s shoulder, Natalie saw Kirk and Skyler speeding out of their offices. They stopped near the reception desk. When Jeanne released her, Kirk stepped forward and embraced her.

“I’m sorry,” Kirk said. “Anything we can do?” He stepped back so Skyler could approach.

“No, but thank you.” Natalie hugged Skyler. “And thank you all for the flowers.”

“What are you doing at work?” Skyler asked. “I told you you should take time off.”

“To do nothing? I’d rather be here. Clients are counting on me.”

The phone rang. Jeanne lifted the receiver, and Natalie, Kirk, and Skyler moved down the hallway for privacy.

“Do the police know what happened yet?” Kirk asked quietly. “Was it a robbery?”

“They’ve issued a couple of statements,” Natalie said. “How much do you know?”

Kirk glanced at Skyler as though seeking another male opinion on whether or not to bluntly state what he’d learned.

“We read that she died of strangulation.” Skyler took the initiative. “It’s being treated as a homicide, and time of death was between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. Saturday. The news reports didn’t say anything about . . . reasons.”

“That’s all I know too. They haven’t said anything about suspects or motives.” Natalie realized she was rubbing her throat. She dropped her hand, wishing she could shake the recurring, miserable question of how much Camille had suffered. “Skyler, did you . . . tell Kirk?”

“About her stalker worries?” Skyler asked. “Yep. Hope you aren’t mad at me.”

“Listen hard, lady,” Kirk said sternly. “You have good judgment. If you didn’t take her seriously, it’s because her concerns didn’t warrant it.”

“She’s dead,” Natalie said shortly. “Her concerns were serious.”

Kirk shook his head. “Her death might have had nothing to do with a so-called stalker.”

“That makes for a big coincidence,” Natalie said. “She was scared, and now she’s dead, but those facts aren’t related?”

“Maybe not,” Kirk said. “Coincidence is more credible than the theory that over a few days, somebody escalated from rearranging pumpkins to strangling her.”

“I tried to tell Natalie that,” Skyler said. “This could be a random crime or connected to some issue that had nothing to do with Camille’s notion that Jack the Ripper was peeping at her in the deli department. Rotten stuff happens. You can’t blame yourself.”

Natalie wanted to absorb their words and feel better, but she couldn’t yet.

“If she’d told me the things she told you, I would have thought it was melodrama and nonsense,” Kirk said. “Maybe there was a stalker, but given the evidence, I would have recommended therapy, not police involvement.” He scratched his jaw through his trim beard. “Poor Camille. Deborah and I took the kids for a walk at Lake Ohneka yesterday, and I kept thinking of you talking about how you and Camille liked to go stargazing there. At Beau Lac pier, right?”

Natalie nodded.

“That’s where we were. Nice area. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. I need to get ready for my client.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.