Suspense - 14 - Did You Miss Me? by Karen Rose

Author:Karen Rose [Rose, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Crime, Mystery & Detective, General
ISBN: 9780755373987
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2012-11-07T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Tuesday, December 3, 11.30 P.M.

Joseph parked in his parents’ driveway behind the police cruiser he’d had stationed there after the shooting. He hadn’t checked on his family all day so he showed his badge to the officer and let himself into the house, only to be met with a low growl.

‘Oh for God’s sake,’ he muttered. ‘It’s me, Patty.’ He turned on the foyer light and the growling immediately ceased, an adult Rottweiler jumping up on him to say hello. ‘No.’ He pushed the dog down, glaring. ‘You could learn a lot of manners from Tasha.’

He hung his coat over the banister and cut through the living room to the kitchen—

Where he stopped short, not sure what he was seeing. Not because the room was dark, but because . . . His mind registered the men’s Nikes on the floor next to a lacy white bra before he saw his youngest sister poking her head up over the back of the sofa, a pair of boxers in her hand.

Oh. My. God. He spun around clenching his eyes shut. ‘Holly?’

‘Joseph?’ Holly said tentatively. ‘Didn’t know you were coming home.’

‘I guess not.’ He shook his head, hoping to dislodge what he’d seen, and thought of Daphne waving her hands, saying Bleach for my eyes, stat! ‘Who is he?’

‘His name’s Dillon. We met at our social center. Say hi, Dillon.’

‘Hi?’ Dillon squeaked, then cleared his throat. ‘Hi,’ he said in a deeper voice that still trembled a little. ‘Is he going to kill me?’ he added in a whisper.

Joseph rubbed his pounding temples. ‘It depends. Is this . . . consensual?’ He choked out the word.

‘Of course. I’m twenty-eight, Joseph! I’m not a little girl anymore, so back off.’

He knew Holly thought he was over-protective because she had Down syndrome, but that wasn’t true. He’d felt this way about his other sisters, too. But Holly was more vulnerable, even if she didn’t want to accept the notion.

He thought about the bra and the boxers. This seemed a situation better handled by his mother. Because he just might kill the guy and that might be wrong.

‘Just put on your clothes. Please.’ He hurried to his father’s study, where there was a light on under the door. He knocked then went in, not waiting for a reply. ‘Dad, have you seen Mom? She needs to— Oh, hell no.’ He spun around for the second time in as many minutes. ‘Goddamn hell.’

Yes, his father had seen his mother. And now, so have I.

‘God put doors on rooms for a reason, Joseph,’ his mother said impatiently.

‘Next time wait for me to say come in,’ his father added, in a sour voice.

Joseph could hear zippers zipping and wanted to stick his fingers in his ears. ‘What is wrong with you people? Is this house under some kind of sex spell?’

‘What are you talking about?’ his father asked.

‘I just caught Holly and some guy named Dillon . . . You need to do something.’

‘She is twenty-eight, Joseph,’ his mother said.

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