Or any of them.
“Want something to drink?” she asked him.
“Sure.”
She poured him a glass of iced tea. He sat at the kitchen table with her, smiling. He was as cute as could be, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“So… there was an argument last night?”
“An argument?”
Michael shrugged. “Oddly enough, I do know my brother. Something strange was going on at Jan’s and thinking back—and being the observant chap that I am—I put two and two together. I think that maybe, yesterday, a lot of people put two and two together.”
She sighed deeply. “Michael—”
“Sorry. None of my business. Maybe it is. He’s a great kid. Lori, is he my nephew?”
“Michael, I—”
“Sorry, really. Honestly. I guess that isn’t open to discussion yet. But I hope we are related. I really like your son.” He glanced at his watch. “Where the hell is that brother of mine? I’ve a meeting again with Seaquarium people…” He looked at her. “Want to come for a ride?”
“What?”
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Come for a ride with me. In my van.”
“Where?”
“The Seaquarium. We’ll open the windows, feel the breeze. It’s a nice day. Maybe you’ll relax.”
“I am relaxed,” she lied. She felt ridiculously tense, afraid. She didn’t want to be in a van with Michael, she realized.
Alone.
To her relief, she heard another vehicle in the road. “Sorry! I can’t. The alarm people are here.”
“You’re having an alarm put in?” he asked her sharply.
“Yes.”
“Jeff Olin’s friends are doing it?”
“Yes, why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t particularly trust Jeff.”
“Why on earth not?”
Michael wrinkled his nose. “He’s an attorney.”
She laughed. “So is Brad!”
“Did I ever say I trusted Brad?”
“What about my cousin, Josh? You couldn’t find a nicer guy.”
“Really? You should ask a few of the women he’s dated about that.” Michael stood. “I guess I’m just not fond of attorneys—knew too many when I was young. Prosecutors, mostly, I’ve got to admit.”
“Jeff does good work, defending the innocent—”
“And not so innocent, I imagine. Anyway, kid, tell Sean I was by. And watch out for any alarm Jeff Olin’s friends install.”
“I think he’s done very well—Michael, what’s up with you?”
“Sorry. I like dolphins; lawyers are sharks! Just my opinion. And if you’ve got a houseful of other men, I’m leaving.” He grinned. “Watch out, now,” he warned.
“I’ll watch out,” she promised, humoring him. At the door she waved good-bye, wondering how long he would have stayed if the men from the alarm company hadn’t arrived, and why she had felt so terribly uneasy in his presence.
As the two men started working, she realized the irony of the situation—she was letting two strange men into her house so that strange people couldn’t break into her house. Michael had warned her to watch out, right when she had been thinking that she needed to watch out for Michael. She decided that absence was the better part of valor, gave her treasures up to thieves if that’s what they proved to be, and drove to the fabric store for more samples while they worked in her house.
She came home to find Ted, Jeff, and Andrew standing around, watching the workmens’ progress.
“Lori, you’re not supposed to let strangers in your house and leave them there,” Jeff told her.
“I thought I was being smart by leaving, so that I wouldn’t be alone with strangers.”
“You wouldn’t have been alone with them; I was coming over to be here with you,” Andrew chastised her.
She realized she wanted to smack her brother. He meant well, she supposed, but he was irritating her to death at the moment. He had added to the uncomfortable situation with Brendan, and now he was behaving as if nothing had happened.
“It’s okay, Lori,” Ted told her. “I’ve checked everything out; the van is empty—they haven’t taken any of your household treasures!—and these guys are licensed and bonded.”
“They can show you how to work the alarm,” Jeff volunteered.
“Great,” Lori said.
The two men installing the system were young, polite, and efficient. But when she had to give them a number code to punch in to set the alarm, she realized that Jeff, Ted, and Andrew were all right behind her shoulder.
One technician seemed to understand her dilemma, and he took her aside to speak privately. “No one should know your code, and certainly not Dave and me here. Just remember the number you pick. Once you punch it in, it’s recorded at the office.”
By noon she had her alarm system. Jeff left to return to work, Ted returned to his patrol car, and she was alone with Andrew.
In the foyer he closed the door slowly, then turned to stare at her. “Lori, look, you’re my sister, my friend, we’ve kept secrets from one another, but I know that you’re angry right now… and I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how Sean could have heard me… I was upset, because I didn’t know the truth. I thought my nephew was about to get heavily involved with his half sister or something. I knew that you had just married Ian Corcoran to give your baby a father, and since you hadn’t shared the fact that you’d had an affair with Sean Black with me—”
“It wasn’t an affair.”
“Then, what the hell was it? Never mind, I don’t want to know. At the moment Sean and I just don’t get along anyway. If he did something… wrong with you—”
“He didn’t force me into anything, Andrew. It was just one occasion, rather accidental, and not an affair, that’s all.”
“So he really, truly, is Brendan’s father.”
“Yes.”
“If I caused you a lot of trouble—”
“Andrew, you didn’t cause anything. Sean knew before you started carrying on. And he was bound to find out anyway.”
“Why hadn’t you told him?”
She arched a brow. Then shrugged. “At the time, I couldn’t. He was gone. And now… now, I guess I just hadn’t gotten to it.”
“Did you tell Brendan?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you going to?”
“Eventually, yes.” She lowered her head and bit into her lower lip. If she didn’t, Sean would. Eventually. For now, Sean seemed determined to hold his peace. If he had lost faith in her, he had not done so with Brendan.
“I’m sorry, kid, really.”
She nodded. “You didn’t do anything, Andrew. Really. I’m a big girl—with an alarm system now. I can manage my life. So, out. I’ve got some work to do before I pick up Brendan.” Obligingly, he left, telling her to turn on the alarm as soon as he was gone. She did. She returned to her work, becoming so involved that she didn’t even turn the stereo on. At three she went to pick up Brendan. She stopped at an art supply store to buy Brendan some of the things he told her he needed for a drafting class, and then they drove to the Grove, where she was to meet Jan.
“Think Tina and I can still walk around alone together?” Brendan asked her defensively.
“In the right areas,” she assured him gravely, trying not to smile. Ah, young love. She remembered it well.
Far better than she wanted to.
It was nearly five when they got to the bookstore and Brendan asked Jan politely if it was all right if he and Tina took off alone together. Jan said of course, if they stayed smart and on the main streets. “And behave!” Jan chastised them.
“Oh, Mom!” Tina protested.
Brendan didn’t utter a word.
When they had gone, Jan took Lori’s arm. “I need a drink. And surely, you must, too. Just no champagne.”
“All right. But you love champagne?”
“Well… I really overindulged. It w
as the only way I could do it.”
“Do it?” Lori said, puzzled. Then she gasped. She’d been so wound up with her own fears and personal traumas, she’d forgotten about her friend’s dilemma. “Jan! You—you went through with Brad’s fantasy?”
“I told you, I need a drink,” Jan said firmly. “If you want me to talk, I need a drink.”
Lori couldn’t help but smile. “You didn’t say a thing to me yesterday!”
“I didn’t have a chance.”
“Of course I want you to talk. I’m dying of curiosity. Let’s go over to the place on the first floor at Mayfair.”
“Fine. I’ll talk—and you can tell me about Brendan’s daddy.”
“I don’t have much to tell. And how you and Brad knew that anything was going on—”
“Easy. You should have seen your face!” Jan said, winking. “Come on.”
A few minutes later they were seated in the restaurant at the bar, sipping pina coladas. “Well?” Lori asked.
Jan went crimson. “You first.”
“Quick easy story. He was mad.”
“Naturally. You had his child, and neglected to tell him.”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
“Of course not. But I don’t want to know about last night. Tell me how on earth you managed to have his child when no one—I mean no one!—ever had the slightest inkling that you two were ever anything but friends. Want to hear something funny? Brad’s ticked—all these years later—that you cheated on him. But then again, he was glad to hear it was Sean when he realized that many of us thought that Brendan might be his.”
Lori shook her head. “People shouldn’t think.”
“They have no choice when other people don’t tell them the truth,” she remonstrated softly.
Lori sighed. “Jan! I was seventeen years old.”
“You were always hung up on Sean.”
“Maybe. I went to see him when he was down after his brother Daniel died. One thing led to another. That was it.”
“That was it? Something that charged and emotional must have been traumatic. You never told me.”
“I never told anyone.”
“You were a teenage girl! You were supposed to spill everything to your best friend, me.”
Lori shook her head, sipped her drink. “At first, I didn’t know. And I had my pride. I mean, I think I did have a terrible crush on him, but I couldn’t admit it, because as far as I knew, he and Mandy were hot and heavy.”
“You didn’t even say anything to me!”
“Well, I just did. Now.”
“Almost fifteen years later—and only because you were finally caught!”
“All right, enough about me. I—”
“No, no, not yet. More about Sean. Was he really that angry? He covered it well at our house—you gave away much more than he did.”
Lori frowned. “Yes, he’s really angry. He told me what he thought, and left. And I haven’t spoken with him since.”
“I can’t believe that. He’s so protective of you!”
Lori shrugged. “He slept at the house.”
“Ahh!”
“Downstairs.”
“Oh.”
“It’s all right.”
“It will be. You’ll get it together, you know.”
“Maybe. Now, Jan, your turn. You tell me about yesterday.”
Jan flushed. “It was fine,” she said, adding, “I drank a bottle of champagne in about five minutes flat.”
“Really?”
Jan set her left hand on the table. A dazzling diamond twinkled from her ring finger.
“You’re remarrying him!” Lori gasped.
“Well, I told him I wasn’t sure yet. Oh, Lori, it was so strange, I thought I’d die. I refused to be bribed, and Brad said it wasn’t bribery, just a last fantasy to be fulfilled before…” Her voice trailed away. “I—” she began again, then broke off. Lori saw that she was staring at the news that had come on the television situated on a ledge at the back of the bar.
“Oh, God, look!”
Lori looked. The young anchor was speaking in a dramatically grave voice, saying that another body had been discovered, apparently the victim of the same killer who had murdered Eleanor Metz.
“Not Sue—!” Jan breathed.
A picture flashed on the screen.
Not Sue.
Jan and Lori gasped in unison.
“Muffy!” Jan and Lori cried simultaneously.
The two women stared at one another. “You knew Muffy?” Jan demanded.
“Yes,” Lori said. “She, er, worked for Andrew now and then. How did you know her?”
“She, she—” Jan stuttered, her face crimson.
“Oh, no!” Lori gasped. “Muffy Fluffy was… your third person?”
“Oh, my God! Just yesterday… and now… oh, my God, she’s dead.”
“All I can tell you is that there’s something your mother isn’t telling you,” Tina said to Brendan. “I could hear my parents talking about it last night. Then my mom talked to yours on the phone and got all whispery. And your uncle! Did you see his face when he caught us in my room? He looked as if he were completely wacko!”
“He lost it,” Brendan said, staring at a pair of boots in the window of a shoe store. “That’s all.”
“We’re old enough to date.”
“Yeah, but we were fooling around in your room at your house.”
“There’s more. Your mother and Sean Black went away mad—I know, cause the little big-mouth next door saw it all and told me. Brendan, your mother did something really wrong—”
“She did not!” he snapped angrily, but he was afraid, and he didn’t want Tina to see it. Something was going on. He could feel it, and he was confused—because his mother should have been telling him about it.
“I don’t think your father was your father at all,” Tina announced.
“What do you know about my father? He was a talented musician; everybody liked him!”
“Don’t go getting ballistic on me!” Tina said.
“Well, you’ve all but called my mother a whore and me a bastard!”
“Brendan, face facts—”
“I’m going into the sub shop for a Coke,” he said. Spinning around, he left her.
“Did you want me to join you?” Tina called.
“Suit yourself!” he said angrily, assuming she would follow.
Watching him go, Tina bit into her lower lip. She hadn’t meant to get mad, and she hadn’t meant to make him mad. She had rather thought the whole thing exciting—apparently, Brendan didn’t agree.
She stood on the street, feeling hurt, and very much alone.
She turned around. A van was moving along the street. She frowned, not recognizing it, yet the driver was slowing down as if he meant to talk to her.
Then the van suddenly sped up, passing her by.
She felt very uneasy, and she didn’t know why.
Lovely, he thought. The girl was lovely. Fresh, innocent, pretty as a picture. Ripe. So deliciously ripe. He was tempted. Her eyes were so blue, her hair so light a gold. She’d be so good to touch. And she'd be so stunned and so terrified…
The compulsion was great.
Yet he had a different taste for death today.
Still, watching her, he could almost smell her, feel her soft young flesh, ah, yes, the taste…
Women!
They were enough to drive a guy nuts!
He was half crazy about Tina, and now she was giving him all this talk about his mother. He didn’t want to hear it.
Even if he did know that it was probably true.
He strode angrily and quickly along the street, then stopped and looked back.
He didn’t see Tina. She hadn’t followed him.
He frowned, seeing that a van was slowing. He couldn’t see the driver as yet, but he sensed a familiarity. The van pulled to the sidewalk right by him, and the driver called to him.
“Brendan! Brendan
Corcoran, thank God! Come here! It’s Tina…”
Hell, yes, he knew the driver, the man looking at him now with such concern. Brendan rushed forward anxiously. “Tina? What’s wrong, what happened?” he demanded.
“Get in with her, hurry!”
He threw open the side door, worried sick. Had she tried to come after him, had she been hit by a car, hurt some way, what the hell…
“What is it, please, what’s happened, what’s wrong?” Brendan demanded, looking in.
The driver gripped him by the shoulders with powerful hands; pulled him in. No rear seats, Brendan saw quickly.
And no Tina.
“What’s going on? If you’ve done anything to Tina, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you!” Brendan said sharply, afraid, and determined not to be, and suddenly knowing…
“Hey, little man, tough guy, big talk from a kid. Tina’s just fine right now. Her time hasn’t come yet. It will. Trust me, it will. Can’t wait to taste that young honey, but for now, son, well, boy, welcome to my party.”
Like hell! He knew how to fight, and so help him, he would fight. Fight and fight…
But a wet towel was suddenly slapped over his face. He struggled to move it, trying hard to fight, to lash out. Make noise, if he could only scream…
But even as he inhaled, he knew there would be no sound. He breathed something sticky and sweet…
He struggled no more.
The fight was over.
21
“I’ve got to go to the ladies’ room,” Jan said, staring at the television. She was pure green.
“Are you all right?” Lori said, not sure that she was all right herself.
“I think… I don’t know…”
“I’ll come with you—”
“No… no… I’ll be right back,” Jan said, offering her a weak smile. “Lori, Muffy’s dead.”
“I know. I saw. Listen, let me help you—”
“No, no. I’ll be back.”
Lori nodded, stared at the television, and thought about Muffy. Muffy Fluffy. So nice, so sweet, strangely innocent despite the way she had chosen to make a living.
Lori listened to the news, trying to register the facts. Muffy, too, had been discovered in swampland, out on Alligator Alley.
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