Against the Claw by Shari Randall

Author:Shari Randall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter 22

The force of Stellene’s displeasure and shock filled the narrow closet. Tinsley rolled her eyes but slid the wooden panel back into place. I sprang to my feet. Tinsley winced and shifted to her knees. I gave her my hand and helped her up.

Stellene stepped aside, wordlessly, as we left the room and eased the door closed. She walked down the hall to the patio doors. Tinsley and I retrieved our shoes and followed.

Stellene held the door for us, her shoulders back, her chin high, radiating disappointment.

“Sorry, Mom, I—”

Stellene shot her a look. Tinsley dropped her chin.

Stellene smoothed her hair and sat on the chaise longue where Lorel had been just a short time earlier. Stepping from the cool marble hallways of the mansion into the humid July air was like walking into a wall. I squinted in the sun and shaded my eyes.

I groped for something to say. “I should go see my sister.”

Stellene patted the seat next to her in the shade where the cop had moved the umbrella. Tinsley walked back into the house, looping her hair around her fingers. Reluctantly, I sat next to Stellene.

She turned toward the harbor and I studied her profile. Everything about her was slender and long—her nose, her neck, her hands, her feet in silver sandals. Tinsley’s round face, snub nose, and full lips must have come from her father. Stellene’s hair was a perfect blend of white-blond and silver. Silvery like steel. With her rigid posture, her name suited her.

“I’m sorry about all—this.” Stellene waved a graceful hand. “This isn’t how I thought last night would be.”

I couldn’t think what to say. Gee, the party on the boat was great until the dead guy showed up.

“Did you—” She turned to me. “Was everything all right on the boat when you went over?”

“Yes,” I said. “Wonderful. Actually, we all had a bit too much champagne. We went to sleep early.” Probably best not to mention Henry firing the gun. Oh my God, was that the gun that killed Patrick? My stomach clenched. I’d forgotten to mention to the cop that Henry’d actually fired it. How could I forget to mention that?

Stellene’s lips turned up. Did she care that much about being a good hostess? I guess she did. She’d caved in to Eden’s demand to stay on the boat and look where that got us.

“It’s a beautiful boat.” This small talk was excruciating.

Tinsley came back outside carrying sunglasses. She handed them to her mother and sat on a low marble bench. “We were talking about taking Model Sailor on a cruise, right, Mom? To Greece.”

Words from last night surfaced in my mind. That story about Tinsley’s party in Greece gone wrong, how she’d ended up in the hospital. Wild child. She didn’t look wild now. She looked young, literally keeping her distance from her mother.

“We will.” Stellene put on the sunglasses and looked out over the harbor, past the tidy waterfront boathouse and manicured half-moon of sandy beach, tiny Cat Island to the east.

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