Page 29 of The Woman Who Couldn't Scream
“They know it.” Dawkins folded his hands over his belly. “The semester starts in August and until then, I gave in to Elsa’s desires and we’re touring the Washington coast. It’s very… picturesque.”
The way he saidpicturesquereduced the Pacific Ocean to the level of a lap dance.
“What areyoudoing here, Hele… Merida?” Elsa asked.
Merida typed, “I’m touring, also.”
“We should tour together!” Elsa exclaimed.
“That would be lovely, but I’ve taken rooms at the Good Knight Manor Bed and Breakfast for the next year and they’re nonrefundable.” Merida congratulated herself on a nice save.
“That’s where we’re staying!”
Fatal mistake.
“Dear Dawkins, couldn’t we extend our stay longer to visit with our Merida?”
Dawkins’s cheeks turned a slight purple that made him look like he was strangling. “Virtual Falls is ridiculously busy this time of year. And expensive. We barely got a reservation as it was!”
Gently, Elsa corrected him, “It’sVirtueFalls, dear.”
“I know that!”
Elsa smiled at Merida companionably, as if she expected her to understand Dawkins’s peevishness. Of course she would think that; she had seen Merida catering to her husband the same way Elsa catered to hers. What Elsa didn’t realize was that Merida had hated every minute of her servitude, and before she was done, someone would pay.
What was more, she couldn’t stand to sit by and watch this kind of abuse. It made her want to slap Dawkins—and Elsa.
Merida stood, gathered her tablet, touched her brow in a farewell salutation.
“Wait, dear! We should exchange phone numbers!” Elsa called.
Not while I have breath in my body.Merida again started toward the door.
Behind her, she heard Elsa say, “The poor dear was obviously overcome by our repartee. She must be missing Nauplius.”
Merida fled. She drove her car out to the beach, parked and walked along the sand, letting the wind, the salt air and the joy of being alone and at no one’s beck and call drive the distasteful memory of the Cipres out of her brain.
CHAPTER TWELVE
On occasions like these, Kateri wondered what kind of crapshoot was going on in the wonderful world of genetics.
Lilith had naturally blond hair that she styled in an upsweep with enough texturizing spray to make a Texas debutante coo with joy. Her fair, carefully tended skin glowed like an English maiden’s, and her makeup had been so carefully selected and applied one could not tell where the cosmetics left off and nature began. Her figure had been given the advantage of a lifetime of dance and a daily fitness regimen with a physical trainer. The only sign of Lilith’s age—she was thirty-nine—was mild wrinkling at the corners of her eyes and age spots on the backs of her hands, and she was so short—five-two—and thin that Kateri should be able to snap her like a toothpick.
Kateri knew better. Lilith was one frightening woman and Kateri would never, repeat never, run afoul of her. Making Lilith angry was akin to poking a stick in the tiger’s cage in the belief that your reach was longer. Being wrong could leave you bleeding and possibly eviscerated.
The fact Kateri had to take a fortifying breath to walk into her own office irritated her. So she fixed an artificial smile on her lips, took that fortifying breath and walked in. “Lilith, how good to see you after so many years.”
Lilith didn’t get to her feet. She smiled with the same artifice Kateri had utilized—Kateri realized Lilith’s mother had taught them both that smile—and she looked her over from top to toe. “Darling Katherine, you really were battered by that big wave, weren’t you?” Which was Lilith’s less than subtle way of saying Kateri looked like hell.
With her words, Kateri immediately felt every ache and pain. “The bullet four days ago didn’t help, either.” She headed around her desk for her chair and hoped she didn’t pitch forward in a faint. It wouldn’t do to show this woman any sign of weakness.
“I heard the men out there saying that you’d hit a tree, too.”
Another less than subtle suggestion that Kateri was a lousy driver. “Officer Moen hit a tree. I was the passenger.”
“Ah.” Like the manipulative bitch she was, Lilith held out her arms. “Katherine, an embrace of sibling affection.”
Kateri paused, halfway into a seated position. Damn. Really?
