Which she shouldnt have said in front of you. He ran a hand through his hair. Margo doesnt matter. But Phil and James
He stopped. No use going over it again. No use remembering when the three of them had been the three musketeers, back in their Citadel days. Hed thought the bonds theyd formed then were strong enough to survive anything. Obviously hed been wrong.
Phillips is still your friend. Hes just not brave enough to stand up to Margo. He never has been.
Maybe. Hed grant her Phil, and his patent knuckling under to the woman hed married. ButJames thinks I killed Annabel. He checked the stairwell, but Court was still safely out of hearing, rummaging in the attic.
Dinah started to say something. Then she closed her mouth. It didnt matter. Her expressive face said it for her.
You think I should have been prepared for that. You tried to warn me.
I thought it might be awkward. I didnt expect outright rudeness.
She sounded as primly shocked as Aunt Kate might have, and he couldnt suppress a smile.
You dont need to laugh at me, she said tartly. They were all brought up to know better.
Next youll say that their mothers would be ashamed of them.
Well, they would. She snapped the words, but her lips twitched a little. Oh, all right. Were hopelessly old-fashioned here. I suppose James has been in politics too long to have much sense left. And besides, you know how he felt about Annabel.
That startled him. Do I?
She blinked. Everyone knows he was crazy about her.
I didnt. Had he been hopelessly stupid about his own wife? How did Annabel feel about him?
Oh, Marc. Dinahs eyes filled with dismay. Dont think that. It never meant anything. Just a crush on his part.
And Annabel? Dinah wanted him to let it go, but he couldnt.
Annabel never had eyes for anyone but you. She justI think she was flattered by Jamess attention. That was all. Honestly.
She looked so upset at having told him that he didnt have the heart to ask anything else. But he filed it away for further thought.
He bent to pick up the stack of boxes. We may as well take these to the family room. If I know my son, hell drag everything out, but he wont be as good about putting things away.
Dinah went ahead of him to open the door to what would be the back parlor in most Charleston homes. Theyd always used it as a family room, and he and Court had managed to bring down most of the furniture that belonged here. By tacit agreement, theyd avoided the front parlor, the room where Annabel died.
Court looks so much like you. Looking at him must be like looking at a photo of you at that age.
He set the boxes down on the wooden coffee table that had been a barn door before an enterprising Charleston artisan had transformed it. Funny. I was thinking that I saw a little of Annabel in his face when he looked down from the stairs.
I know. Her voice softened, and he realized he hadnt done a good enough job of hiding his feelings. I see it, toojust certain flashes of expression.
He sank onto the brown leather couch and frowned absently at the tree theyd set up in the corner. Hed told Court it would be too big for the room. The top brushed the ceiling, and hed have to trim it before the treetop angel would fit.
Maybe its because were back here. My memory of Annabel had become a kind of still photo, and she was never that.
No, she wasnt. Dinah perched on the coffee table, her heart-shaped face pensive. Ive never known anyone as full of life as she was. Maybe thats why I admired her. She was so fearless, while I She grimaced. I always was such a chicken.
Dont say that about yourself. He leaned forward almost involuntarily to touch her hand. Youve been through some very bad times and come out strong and whole. Thats something to be proud of.
Im not so sure about that, but thank you.
For a moment they were motionless. It was dusk outside already, and he could see their reflections in the glass of the French door, superimposed on the shadowy garden.
He leaned back, not wanting to push too hard. Being back in the house againhas it made you think any more about what happened?
No. The negative came sharp and quick, and she crossed her arms, as if to protect herself. I dont remember anything about that night.
That summer, then. There might have been something you noticed that I didnt.
She shook her head. Do you think I didnt go over it a thousand times in my mind? There was nothing.
And if there was, he suspected it was buried too deeply to be reached willingly. Dinah had protected herself the only way she could.
Hed try another tack. Youre connected with the police. If theres any inside information floating around, people might be more willing to talk to you than to me.
Dinah stared at him, eyes huge. Someone already talked to me. About you.
Who? Whatever had been said clearly had upset her.
A detective I work with.
He was going to have to drag the words out of her. What did he say?
She. She said
He could see the movement of her neck as she swallowed.
She reminded me that the case is still open. And that youre still a suspect.
He should have realized. He, of all people, knew how the police mind-set worked. And this detective, whoever she was, wanted to protect one of their own. Wanted to warn her off, probably, too.
Dinah, Im sorry.
For what?
I didnt think. Ive put you in an untenable position. I shouldnt have. If you want to back off He shook his head. Of course you do. Ill make some excuse to Court.
As if hed heard his name, Court came into the room, arms filled with evergreen swags. I found them, he announced happily. But we dont have nearly enough lights, Dad. We need to go get some more before we can do this. Want to come, Dinah?
She stood, smiling at Court. You two go. She glanced at Marc, the smile stiffening a little. Ill unpack the ornaments while youre out. Ill be here when you get back.
He understood the implication. She wasnt going to run out on them, although she had every reason to do so. He felt a wave of relief that was ridiculously inappropriate.
Thank you, Dinah.
Was she crazy? Dinah listened as the front door clicked shut behind Marc and Court. Marc had understood. Or at least hed understood the spot hed put her in professionally, if not personally. Hed given her the perfect out, and she hadnt taken it.
She couldnt. She may as well face that fact, at least. No matter how much she might want to stay away from Marc and all the bitter reminders, too many factors combined to force her to stay.
Shed been thirteen when he married Annabel, the same age Court was now. With no particular reason to, hed been kind to her, putting up with her presence when hed probably have preferred to be alone with his bride, inviting her to the beach house at Sullivans Island, even teaching her to play tennis. Shed told herself she didnt owe Marc anything, but she did.
And Annabelhow much more she owed Annabel, her bright, beautiful cousin. Shed loved her with a passion that might otherwise have been expended on parents, siblings, cousins her own age. Since she didnt have any of them, it all went to Annabel.
And Annabelhow much more she owed Annabel, her bright, beautiful cousin. Shed loved her with a passion that might otherwise have been expended on parents, siblings, cousins her own age. Since she didnt have any of them, it all went to Annabel.
Finally there was Court. Her lips curved in a smile, and she bent to take the cover off the first box of ornaments. Court had stolen her heart again, just as he had the first time shed seen him staring at her with unfocused infant eyes when he was a few days old.
Whatever it cost her, she couldnt walk away from this. All her instincts told her Marc was wrong in what he wanted to do, but she couldnt walk away.
She began unpacking the boxes, setting the ornaments on the drop-leaf table near the tree. They were an odd mixsome spare, sophisticated glass balls that Annabel had bought, but lots of delicate, old-fashioned ornaments that had been in the family for generations.
One tissue-wrapped orb felt heavy in her hand, and an odd sense of recognition went through her. She knew what it was even before she unwrapped itan old, green glass fishermans weight that shed found in an antique shop on King Street and given to Annabel for Christmas the year before she died.
For a moment she held the glass globe in her hand. The lamplight, falling on it, reflected a distorted image of her own face, and the glass felt warm against her palm. She was smiling, she realized, but there were tears in her eyes.
She set the ball carefully on the table. Shed tell Court about the ornaments, including that one. That kind of history was what he needed from this Christmas in Charleston.
Shed been working in silence, with only an occasional crackle from a log in the fireplace for company, when she heard a thud somewhere in the house. She paused, her hand tightening on a delicate shell ornament. They hadnt come back already, had they?
A few quiet steps took her to the hallway. Only one light burned there, and the shadows had crept in, unnoticed. She stood still, hearing nothing but the beat of her own heart.
Then it came again, a faint, distant creaking this time. Shed lived in old houses all her life. They had their own language of creaks and groans as they settled. That had to be what shed heard.
She listened another moment. Nothing. She was letting her nerves get the better of her at being alone in the house.
A shrill sound broke the silence, and she started, heart hammering. Then, realizing what it was, she shook her head at her own foolishness and went in search of her cell phone, its ring drowning out any other noise. Marc hadnt had the phone service started. Shed given him her cell-phone number in case he needed to reach her.
The phone was in the bottom of her bag, which she finally found behind the sofa in the family room. She snatched it up and pressed the button.
Hello? Her voice came out oddly breathless.
Dinah? You sound as if youve been running. Listen, do you think a string of a hundred white lights is enough? Court put two strings in the cart when I wasnt looking.
Her laugh was a little shaky. You may as well get two. If you dont use the second one, you can always take it back.
I guess youre right. She heard him say something distantly, apparently to the cashier. Then his voice came back, warm and strong in her ear. Is everything all right? You dont sound quite yourself.
Its nothing. Really. I was just scaring myself, thinking I heard someone in the house. When she said the words, she realized that was what shed been thinking at some deep level. Someone in the house.
Get out. Now. The demand was sharp and fast as the crack of a whip.
Im sure I just imagined
Dinah, dont argue. Just get out. And dont hang up. Keep talking to me.
Logic told her he was panicking unnecessarily, probably visited by the terrible memory of coming into the house and finding Annabel. But even if he was, his panic was contagious.
Holding the phone clutched tightly against her ear, she raced across the room, through the hallway and plunged out the door.