The Devil's Eye by Dawn Brown

Author:Dawn Brown [Brown, Dawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460330708
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Brynn hesitated outside her sister’s bedroom, fist poised ready to knock, but Reece’s words played in her head.

If you stay, you won’t survive.

A chill danced along her spine. She gave herself a mental shake. The man claimed to have received that message from a ghost. Clearly, he was deranged, or full of crap. Maybe both.

She rapped on the smooth wood. After a long moment, hinges creaked and the door opened a few inches. Eleri’s pale face peered out from the narrow gap.

“What is it?” Her voice was gravelly.

“That was a lousy thing you just did to me. I want an explanation. Now.”

Eleri nodded and pushed the door open wider. Brynn entered her sister’s room—similar to her own, but larger. Cream-colored walls inlaid with pale green wallpaper, a large canopy bed and every light in the room glowing softly.

“I shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess,” Eleri said, and gestured to one of the two couches before a low fire burning in the hearth.

Brynn sank onto the cushion. “Why did you? The truth this time.”

“I’m in a lot of trouble.” Eleri sat on the opposite couch. “I contacted you because you survived.”

Brynn frowned. “Drowning?”

Eleri nodded and turned to glowing coals crumbling in the fireplace. “And me.”

Cold washed through Brynn. If you stay, you won’t survive. Was Reece right? Was her sister on the verge of confessing?

“After your visit to The Iron Kettle last night, I’m sure you’ve heard all about me, and the men I supposedly killed.” Eleri met Brynn’s gaze, her eyes dark with pain. “It wasn’t me, none of it. I wasn’t even here when Matthew Langley disappeared. I’d been living in Manchester for two years, and they’re still trying to tie me to his murder.”

A twinge pulled at Brynn’s chest. If Eleri was lying, she deserved an Academy Award for the performance. The desperate, haunted expression leaving her small features drawn and tired looked real to her. “Shouldn’t his murder clear you?”

Eleri let out a humorless chuckle. “You would think so. When Harding turned up at my flat and told me what had happened, for a moment I was thrilled. I know that makes me sound terrible, but all I could think was finally they would see it wasn’t me. I should have known better. Stephen Paskin claims he saw me the night Langley disappeared. I was home in bed when it happened, but he blames me for his son, Griffin’s—” Her voice caught, but she cleared her throat and continued “For Griffin disappearing. I suppose he figures me getting blamed for one is as good as another, so long as I wind up in prison.”

Slow dawning settled over Brynn. She leaned forward, holding her sister’s gaze. “You were involved with his son.”

Eleri nodded. “I would never have hurt him.”

“What do you think happened to him?”

“He left, went to France to be an artist. He hated his father, and swore he’d never speak to him again. Stephen Paskin is an awful man.”

The man had appeared friendly enough to her, and certainly more pleasant than anyone at Stonecliff.

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