Love by Association

Sitting up, she grabbed it from just inside her holster and squirted a bit on her thigh and chest. What was left, she sprayed on the newly laid laminate wood floor.

And then, as preplanned, she screamed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

COLIN PLAYED HIS PART. But as thirty minutes passed, as more people visited him, clearly enjoying themselves, when he should have felt satisfaction that the work was paying off, that the venture was successful and the library would be certain to receive over and above the projected donations, he grew increasingly unsettled.

Chantel had been murdered. That was the big secret. From what he’d heard, there’d been a scream and then Leslie had called them all together in the main room to make the announcement. He didn’t understand how the maneuver added anything to the night’s adventure. Were people supposed to think that whoever had killed the first two perps was still among them?

Still murdering?

He didn’t like it. Too much tension could result in panic.

Instinct told him to leave his post immediately. To investigate.

His new outlook on life urged him to take a deep breath. To trust the women in his life to know what they were doing. Julie and Chantel were both writers.

Who was he to question artistic license?

When David Smyth Sr. entered his room, he was ready to bolt and kick ass. Not necessarily in that order.

The elder Smyth was traveling the mansion with his wife, along with Paul and Patricia Reynolds, but entered the room alone as the other three were stopped by mutual friends just outside the door of the study.

“I’m glad I have a minute alone with you, son,” said the man who’d once been his father’s best friend.

“Don’t call me son.” Colin wanted to take the words back the second they were uttered. He was exposing himself. Something he’d sworn he would never do in front of that man.

Smyth bowed his head. “I apologize.”

What kind of game was the bastard playing?

“I just wanted to tell you that you’ve found a good woman. That I know your father would approve. That I miss him every day of my life. And I regret every day of my life the position my son put me in. I hope that someday, when you have children of your own, you’ll understand.”

Feeling the pulse beat at his temple, in time with the heat suffusing his entire head, Colin gritted his teeth.

“I was glad to see your sister here tonight. I can’t tell you the number of nights I walk my house, unable to sleep, with her pain on my conscience.”

Colin wanted to tell the man to rot in his hell. He thought he might have, but the others joined him before he got the words out of his clenched jaws.

Then he just played his part.

As always. He could count on himself for that.

* * *

CHANTEL HAD NO idea how two hundred people, in twos and fives, could all visit a room, gape at a prone body on the floor, look around at the rest of the nothingness and be gone within half an hour.

What she did know was that as she lay there, peering at them all through the arm she’d thrown over her eyes—to give her a way to observe surreptitiously—was that David Smyth Jr. had had a gleam in his eye as he’d stood with his wife, listening to her chatter about the evidence in the room. The two of them had been traveling alone, and at first, Chantel had worried that her plan was going to fail. If David’s wife had no one else to talk to, he might not come up here alone...

But then another couple joined them. A woman David’s wife was obviously fond of. When the woman, her husband and David’s wife all left the room, he paused, stared at her thigh and she knew that her plan was going to succeed. Because David Smyth Jr. wanted it to. She’d issued her invitation earlier, and he would have found a way to keep it even if she hadn’t made it easy for him.

Video chip was on and in place. The cop was on duty.

And justice would be done.

* * *

THREE PEOPLE WERE in the room with Colin when the lights went out. He’d been told to expect the moment, and he played along—pretending to be alarmed, wondering what was going on. The idea to lose the lights, momentarily, had been Julie’s—to add suspense to the evening.

He hadn’t been sure of causing panic in the dark, but when Chantel and Leslie had agreed with Julie, he’d gone along with it. He’d do just about anything to encourage Julie’s self-confidence. She was there. Taking part.

Thankful for the miracle, he made certain to instill calm in the three people he had with him and hoped to hell the evening’s guests played along as expected.

Commissioner Reynolds was there. While Colin had no personal respect for the man, he did believe he was a great cop who wouldn’t want mayhem and panic to break out among his peers. Colin could always hope that the man’s presence would invite a feeling of safety among the guests.