Runways and High Heels and Murder by Patti Larsen

Author:Patti Larsen [Larsen, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Patti Larsen Books/Mayhem and Murder Ink
Published: 2018-07-08T22:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Nineteen

Vivian’s expression was about as cold as was to be expected, though I couldn’t get past her initial reaction and how she’d seemed so vulnerable, trembling as I’d been trembling, though I imagined for different reasons.

What was she hiding? The two sweet ladies in the other room were nothing to be ashamed of, were they? At least she seemed to be taking care of them, I’d give her that. But the impression I had they were somehow trapped here, like prisoners in this gilded cage of wealth and old secrets gave me the shivers like nothing else, not even murder. What did Vivian have to do with Marie Patterson and, more importantly, did she have a key to the treasure?

“You’re not welcome here.” Vivian didn’t stop at the foyer, escorting me all the way to the front door and out onto the step where she firmly shut the big entry behind her. She even went so far as to cross her thin arms across her chest and glare at me like I’d somehow broken some code of conduct we’d agreed to even though we’d done nothing of the sort. I wanted to ask her if she remembered we were friends when we were little, but that annoyingly icy stare of hers just set me off like always.

Nice to know no matter what happened Vivian French and her better than everyone else attitude was a constant.

“I had questions,” I said. “You wanted me to investigate, right? That was the gist of your demands on me when you brought this mess into my life?”

Vivian flinched but didn’t relent. “Alicia did first,” she said, voice soft, defensive.

Grunt. “Listen,” I said, temper heating my words more than they would have any other time, if only because I still reeled from the reveal of the possibility her grandmother had information I needed to solve the hoard mystery and I now had zero access to her, “I’m here because you asked me to be. If you decide you want to leave things to Jill and Crew and Robert, you just say the word, Viv.” I watched her face fall, her clenched body unwind slightly, my own flare of anger retreating as she nodded, arms dropping to her sides.

“I just wasn’t expecting…” She glanced behind her, caught herself, tried for rigid control again but didn’t quite make it. It gave me a brief and sad insight into Vivian I hadn’t had before. She wasn’t angry I intruded. She was terrified of what I’d seen, protective of the women she guarded within. Did she think she was doing them a favor, keeping them safe from the outside world? Or was she truly hiding something? In a flash I remembered Vivian had lost her twin brother when they were little, the truth hitting me almost like a blow. Wait, I remembered him, Victor. He’d drowned, hadn’t he?

Vivian’s expression finally settled and I knew any chance of asking her questions was gone with her return to control. “I’m sorry.” Wow, an apology? Blunt and abrupt, but one nonetheless.

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