Duplicity_A Tale of Murder, Mystery and Romance by H. D. Thomson

Author:H. D. Thomson [Thomson, H. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic suspense with paranormal and science fiction elements
ISBN: 9781544913971
Goodreads: 35359554
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2017-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Katherine walked through the front door of her parent’s home, shrugged out of her jacket and hung it and her purse up on the coat rack. The murmur of voices and the smell of baking ham drifted from the kitchen.

She had made a point of being on time for dinner tonight, not wanting to fall victim to her mother’s disapproval and lose sight of her quarry. Paul Spalding. She’d called earlier in the week and casually learned he was joining her parents for dinner—the very reason she’d invited herself here tonight.

She needed to quiz her uncle. Nothing overt. She wasn’t crazy enough to throw some heinous questions his way, and she didn’t expect Paul to confess. But maybe, just maybe, if she tripped him up in some way, Katherine might find out something of interest regarding Miltronics, Clark and the missing boys.

Then there was her mother. They hadn’t spoken since their quarrel at her uncle’s birthday party, but Katherine couldn’t avoid her mother any longer with what she’d recently learned—which raised even more pressing questions—ones that she didn’t know if she had the guts to ask. Maybe after getting completely drunk on a bottle of wine... Maybe not even then...

Wiping clammy hands on the sides of her navy skirt, Katherine followed the murmur of voices and stepped into the media room. A massive gray, stone fireplace swallowed one wall. Behind the wrought iron fire screen, flames hissed and cackled as they attacked the moisture in the cedar logs. A large, flat-screen television, a prized state-of-the-art device, devoured the other wall.

Her mother didn’t curl up with a good book. Oh, no. Sharon preferred CNN by firelight, while her father, he’d be the first to admit he loved watching a good game of basketball.

Tonight, the television, the volume low enough for conversation, broadcasted the local news in a bland and dispassionate flare. A family of five gunned down by their father. No survivors. The lives of three children, a mother and a crazed father destroyed by one single, violent act.

Katherine looked away from the screen, unable to stomach the tormented face of a relative describing the event. So much violence. Unlike many of the teenagers who sought solstice at the Morning Dove from family brutality, she’d always observed from a safe distance. But now she found herself thrust into a world of violence and subterfuge.

On the rust-colored leather sofa that faced the television, her parents sat watching the headlines, while Paul, a drink dangling from one relaxed hand, reclined in a matching, overstuffed chair. He looked so innocent, so normal, so non-threatening sitting there. But beneath that urban veneer lay something apathetic, violent and—

No. She needed to stop thinking like that; otherwise, she’d crack before dinner started.

When Katherine walked further into the room, Sharon turned and smiled. “Hello, dear.”

From her mother’s pleasant expression, Katherine realized all was forgotten. Katherine quickly revised that. Her mother never “forgot” anything. Goodness knows, her mother would throw their last argument back in Katherine’s face sometime in the future.

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