The Whispering Room by Amanda Stevens

Author:Amanda Stevens [Stevens, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2009-06-05T04:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

The next morning, Evangeline pulled to the curb in front of the address Lapierre had given her the day before. It was a little before nine, and she was glad to have a few minutes to herself before interviewing the mysterious Lena Saunders.

Evangeline hauled out the notes she’d scribbled earlier at the station, but she found it impossible to focus her thoughts. Her eyes burned from fatigue, and she squeezed them closed for a moment against the blinding sunlight that bounced off the windshield of a parked car.

She hadn’t slept much the night before. Too much on her mind.

On the heels of Nathan’s disclosure had come the news of her parents’ impending separation. She supposed the trouble in that marriage had been brewing for a long time, too, but she’d managed to convince herself they’d work things out. If their relationship had survived the hell her brother, Vaughn, had put them through back in his youth, she would have thought they could weather any storm.

Apparently, she’d been wrong about that, too.

Was there such a thing as a healthy marriage these days? she wondered.

Her parents. Mitchell and Lorraine. And now the memory of her and Johnny’s marriage was tarnished with doubt.

Glancing at her watch, Evangeline saw that it was almost nine. She climbed out of the car and took a moment to gaze around the neighborhood. Lena Saunders lived only a few blocks over from Meredith Courtland in the Garden District. The houses along this street were slightly smaller, but the yards and gardens were just as well kept, the white facades of the homes just as sparkling in the summer heat.

Out on the street, two boys rode by on bicycles, ball gloves swinging from their handlebars. They laughed and clowned as they sped through the lawn sprinklers, and Evangeline wondered for a moment what her life would be like when J.D. reached that age.

She watched the boys until they were out of sight, and then she turned and started up the walkway. The bushes were still dripping from the sprinklers, and the air smelled of wet grass and honeysuckle.

The door was opened by a young man in linen pants, leather sandals and a thin cotton shirt. His light brown hair was stylishly cut, and behind the thick black frames of his glasses, green eyes twinkled with good humor.

“You must be Detective Theroux,” he said, stepping back from the door so that she could enter. “Come on in. Lena is expecting you.”

He led her from the light-flooded foyer into a large room decorated in gray and black with punches of red. The layout of the house reminded Evangeline of the Courtland home, but the clean, minimalist furnishings were a far cry from Meredith Courtland’s lush, eclectic style.

But the view from the French doors was exactly the same—a sun-drenched courtyard and sparkling pool.

“I’m Josh, by the way.” He waved toward a spectacular leather sofa in silver. “Make yourself at home. I’ll go tell Lena you’re here.”

After he left the room, Evangeline wandered over to the French doors and stood admiring the garden.

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