Bound in Shallows by Stephanie Black

Author:Stephanie Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2020-10-27T19:19:53+00:00

Chapter 15

“Go put our suitcases in the car.” Natalie touched Gideon’s shoulder. “I’ll finish this.” Gideon had been trying to put the lunch away, but he kept picking things up, wandering around as though he had no idea what to do with them, and setting them down.

“Right.” He stuck a dirty fork in the silverware drawer. “Suitcases.” He trudged toward the master suite. Natalie retrieved the fork and put it in the dishwasher. As soon as Gideon was out of sight, she raced to the coat closet, snatched the bag containing the knife, and took it and the cooler out to the car herself. She didn’t want Gideon to have to deal with those items on any level.

Bartholomew hadn’t told Gideon much—only that Juliana was alive but seriously injured. Nothing about the circumstances or the location of the stabbing. Thinking of the blood-covered blade, Natalie felt sick. The most desperate part of her brain kept trying to present the theory that this knife was a prank, a coincidence, that it had no connection with whatever weapon had injured Juliana.

Within ten minutes, they were on the road, with Natalie driving. For the first few miles, Gideon didn’t speak. Natalie remained quiet as well, giving him time to work through this at his own pace.

“Simon thought she was being paranoid,” he said at last. “I thought she was being paranoid. About Dana Pomeroy’s death. Everyone thought it was an accident. Juliana said Dana had been murdered, and we thought Juliana was paranoid.”

“Dana’s death might well have been an accident. We have no idea if there’s any link between what happened to her and what happened to Juliana.”

“Dana’s dead. Juliana takes her place and nearly gets killed.”

“Tell Detective Bartholomew about Dana,” Natalie said. “Though I’m sure Simon already has.” Was Gideon focusing on a possible link between Dana’s death and the attack on Juliana because he didn’t want to state the obvious? Someone had stashed that knife in the cooler. Andrea had been on their porch this morning before Natalie had brought the cooler inside. Juliana had fired Austin and humiliated and infuriated Andrea.

“You know what Simon told me?” Gideon took the water bottle from the center console and shook it hard, as though testing the water-tightness of the lid. “That Juliana’s grandmother dreamed that if Juliana came to our wedding, she’d end up bleeding at the hands of her enemies.”

“What a terrifying dream.”

“And I’m sitting here mentally splitting hairs—she didn’t actually get stabbed at our wedding, so technically, the dream didn’t come true, right?”

“Gideon, Juliana has been worried about her safety lately, as you pointed out. It’s not strange that her grandmother would be aware of her concerns and would have a dream with that theme.”

“Yeah. True. It’s just creepy.”

“It is.”

“I wonder what time Felicia delivered the cooler.” Gideon started texting. A minute later, he said, “She dropped it on the porch around eleven last night.”

Natalie nodded. “Let’s just say it: Andrea had a motive, and she certainly could have stashed the knife.

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