The Chicago World's Fair Mystery Collection by Shelley Gray

Author:Shelley Gray [Gray, Shelley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2016-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

You are certainly in a mood,” Maeve declared as she bustled around his kitchen, making him a fresh pot of tea.

“Can’t always be walking around with a grin plastered on my face,” Sean replied, not even attempting to curb his sarcasm.

She was making tea and bread-and-butter sandwiches. Sitting on another chair, but looking far more thoughtful, was Katie. As he gazed at his youngest sibling, Sean again couldn’t help but feel proud of her. Katie was the beauty of the Ryan family, and also had a more polished air about her than any of them. It was likely because by the time she was born his family had moved away from the rickety apartment and into a small house in a far nicer neighborhood. She’d also gotten the opportunity to get some schooling, so she had been reading at a young age. He hadn’t learned until he was twelve or thirteen. Maeve still was basically illiterate.

But Katie? She was their light. Smart and lovely. His parents expected great things for her. As far as he could tell, however, she wasn’t sure what she wanted.

Night and day from the way their Maeve looked at the world. Long ago she had made it her duty to tell everyone what she wanted, what she thought. At the moment he was in her sights. She stilled as she was slathering a thick piece of bread with butter. “Was work really as bad as all that?”

It really had been. His whole day had been filled with a million moments of regret for the callous way he’d behaved toward Eloisa. Coupled with everyone in the precinct’s interest in Eloisa’s appearance in their midst, their meeting behind closed doors, followed by Owen Howard’s careful escort out of the building, Sean had gotten next to no momentary break from all things Eloisa.

To make matters worse, after Owen returned, the two of them found it necessary to return to Miss Redmond’s house. The twelve hours following the notification of their daughter’s death had, of course, not been kind to her family. Her father looked haggard, her mother pale and extremely fragile. And though Sean had informed dozens of family members about loved ones’ deaths, there had been something worse about this family.

Added to the difficult situation was the unusual, new tension that had sprung up between him and Owen. Owen hadn’t come right out and said anything, but Sean knew his partner was displeased about his treatment of Eloisa.

To top it off, there now seemed to be something new brewing between Owen and Eloisa. In the last year that they’d worked together, Sean couldn’t remember Owen ever mentioning the beautiful Eloisa Carstairs, not even in passing.

But this afternoon, Owen had been intent on making sure he reminded Sean that only he had been able to ease her fears, not Sean. That he had been the one to escort her home, not Sean.

And though it was exactly as it should be—after all, hadn’t he very firmly reminded Eloisa that

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