Kathleen O'Brien - Quiet as the Grave

“Are you guys talking about Granville?” Parker Tremaine, the Glen’s favorite local lawyer, plopped down on the other side of Mike. “Because, much as I like your grandfather, Mike, I honestly think he’s too old to be having quite so much fun dancing with Suzie Strickland.”

Natalie made an excited sound and immediately began scanning the dance floor for her irrepressible great-uncle. “That old devil,” she said, chuckling. “I didn’t even know Suzie was coming. Is he really making a pass at her?”

“I might not go that far, but he certainly is enjoying himself.” Parker raised one eyebrow. “Can’t say I blame him. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen her. She looks amazing.”

Natalie glanced back at Parker irritably. “But of course she looks amazing, dummy. Didn’t you know she always was a beauty under all that goop?”

“No,” he said flatly. “I didn’t. I knew she was cuter than she wanted to let on, and of course she was always a work in progress. But this—”

“There they are! Hmm…oh, dear. This may be the beginnings of a Granville moment.” Natalie scrambled to her feet, dusting off her yellow skirt. “I’d better go throw some cold water over him. Later, boys. Be good.”

Mike had located his grandfather and Suzie, too. He watched her smiling up into the old man’s face, accepting his ridiculous flirtation with sardonic good humor. She was wearing red jeans and a halter top that had a surprisingly sexy updated-Grecian look, with ribbons crisscrossing her breasts, then falling with a seductive flare around her hips.

She still looked different from everyone else, but she didn’t look wrong anymore. She just looked special.

As the music swelled, Granville dipped her, in old-style ballroom elegance. He bent over her arched body, nearly putting his nose in her cleavage. Mike felt annoyance squeeze his gut briefly…Granddad, you dirty old bastard.

But when Suzie straightened up her eyes were sparkling with laughter, and her cheeks were almost as red as her clothes. She put her hand on Granville’s chest and pushed, removing him to a respectable distance. But she didn’t look mad. She looked…

Amazing might be an understatement.

Parker was watching, too. He looked over at Mike. “Did you know? Have you seen her lately?”

Mike nodded. “Actually, I saw her a few days ago, for the first time since I—left town. I was shocked. I’m like you. I knew she had something, but at the same time I didn’t know…this.”

Parker smiled. “Obviously she didn’t want anyone to know. I guess she wanted us to appreciate her deeper qualities.”

Mike laughed. “Like her sweet personality?”

“Well, no.” Parker laughed, too, and the two of them had a moment of silence, remembering just how little sugar Suzie had bothered to apply to life. “Like her brains, I mean. Her talent. And her spunk. I never knew anyone with more spunk.”

Both men watched as Natalie grabbed Suzie and spun her into a bear hug. The two women had always been great friends.

When Parker spoke again, Mike observed that the older man’s voice was carefully casual. “So you saw Suzie again for the first time just recently? That’s quite a coincidence.”

That’s exactly what Mike had been thinking. He’d been home to Firefly Glen frequently during his decade of exile. He’d brought Gavin here as often as possible, so that at least some of the magic would rub off. But he had never run into Suzie. Her parents still lived here, and he heard she was in town fairly frequently. Though they didn’t exactly run in the same circles, it was hard to believe they hadn’t ever bumped into each other—unless she planned it that way.

She might have needed to ask him whether he’d avoided her deliberately while she painted Gavin, but he didn’t need to ask her about this. Ten years of dodging him in Firefly Glen could not have been a coincidence.

And, hell, he didn’t blame her.

So why, all of a sudden, would she abandon that plan and show up at this party? She had to know he’d be here.

Somehow he dragged his gaze away from the dance floor. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by Suzie. He had something important he needed to say to Parker.

It wasn’t going to be easy. He liked the protective oasis the Glenners had offered him. It had always been such a relief to be able to pretend, even temporarily, that there was no Justine.

But, deep inside, he’d always known the oasis was a mirage. Now he had to give it up. He’d finally met a battle so big, so uniquely his, that no one else could fight it for him. Not even the entire town of Firefly Glen.

“Parker, I need your help,” he said. “I think I may be in some trouble.”

Parker was about fifteen years older than Mike, and had always been like an uncle to him. He had called Mike immediately after Justine’s body was found and offered to recommend a criminal attorney, just for safety’s sake. Mike had been naive enough to say thanks but no thanks.

Parker looked concerned now, but not shocked. “It’s Justine, I suppose. You’ve been questioned, I’m sure. Did it go badly?”

“I didn’t think so. But they’ve been back twice, asking the same things over and over. They asked if they could look at my car. The one I was driving the day she disappeared.”

“Did you let them?”

“Of course I did. I don’t have anything to hide.”

“Did you retain counsel?”

Mike shook his head. He had trusted that innocence was everything. He had believed in the system. He still believed in it, at heart, but…

“I didn’t think I needed one. I thought it would look bad if I got a lawyer.”

Parker sighed. “So many people make that mistake. But everyone needs representation. Even innocent people need help handling the system.”

He reached into his pocket. “Here—this is Harry Rouge’s card. I brought it today because I had a feeling you might need it. I knew Harry in D.C. He’s good, and he’s got some experience with murder trials.”

Mike felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. “Surely you don’t think this is going to get that far? To a murder trial?”

“Of course it will, with any kind of luck. She was murdered—there’s no getting around that.” Parker smiled grimly. “But Harry will make sure it doesn’t go to trial with you as the defendant.”

Mike took the card. It all felt like a bad dream. Even the card felt unreal. Or maybe it was just that his fingers were numb.

“Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Now you do me a favor, okay?” Parker pointed to the back of the courtyard. “See my poor beautiful wife over there being bored to death by Bourke Waitely?”

Mike looked. Sure enough, Sarah was sitting next to Bourke, a polite smile plastered to her face like a bumper sticker. She looked desperate.

“Yes,” Mike said. “I do.”

“Well, go save her, would you? Ask her to dance. I’m going to see if I can pry the amazing Miss Strickland from your grandfather’s clutches.”

Mike stood, then held out a hand to help Parker to his feet, too. He looked over at Suzie, but he’d barely begun to formulate his idea even in his own mind before Parker began shaking his head.

“Bad idea,” Parker said softly. “The last thing in the world you need right now is to appear interested in another woman.”

Mike frowned. “For God’s sake, Parker, I’m not—I mean Suzie’s not ‘another woman.’ I’ve known her forever. She’s just a friend. She’s just…Suzie.”

“Wrong,” Parker said flatly. “She used to be just Suzie. Things are different now. Look at her, Mike. Now she’s a motive.”

“OKAY, NOW…MAKE SURE you’re balanced, and that your legs are touching the wall, right?” Suzie, who was standing on her head, took a quick look over at Gavin, who had just arranged himself, also upside down, next to her along the wall of Summer House’s back porch. “You comfortable enough?”

Gavin wobbled, but steadied himself. “I guess so. This marble is pretty hard on my head.”

“Yeah, it helps if you have grass, or a pillow or something. But we’ll just have to make do. Now, the whole point is to stare at something interesting.”

She used one hand to fold up the loose part of her shirt, which was dangling down over her face, and tuck it under her chin. Good thing she’d worn jeans to this party instead of that skirt she’d been considering.

“How about the stairs that lead to the grotto?” She pointed. “Right over there, with the statues on each side.”

Gavin moved his hands for better purchase. “Yeah, the statues look goofy upside down. And look—there’s Cordelia, way out there. Hey, weird. I didn’t know she looks like her mom, but when you see her like this, upside down, you can tell. And she’s really got crazy hair.”

Suzie smiled, which was actually easier while you stood on your head. Gravity worked with you for a change.

She hoped it was making Gavin smile, too, or at least distracting him a little. When she’d run into him a few minutes ago, here in this secluded corner of the back patio where she’d come to hide from Granville, he had seemed upset. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it. He’d been willing to say only that one of the boys at the party had been a jerk.

But he had appeared on the edge of tears, so she’d pulled this old game out of her hat. It was the kind of crazy thing sensible people rarely did, so she hoped it would shock him out of his distress.

Her gaze caught on something nearer, something red and pointy. It was her fancy shoes, which she’d taken off before she’d stood on her head.

“Hey, look at my shoes. Man. I had no idea they were so plug-ugly.”

“Yeah!” Apparently Gavin was too young to know he was supposed to disagree. He laughed, which made his legs wobble again. “Those spiky heels look like knives, like weapons or something.”

Well, he was right. They did.

“I need new shoes, that’s for sure.” She brushed them aside. “But that’s the point, see? Sometimes, when things start to get you down, you need to step back and view the world from a new perspective.”

“Hey! There’s Dad! It’s like one of those movie tricks, where he seems to be walking upside down.”

Suzie watched Mike coming toward them, climbing the stairs with the physical grace that marked everything he did. Viewed this way, it was even more apparent. His body seemed to belong to him in a way hers had never belonged to her. She was always tripping on her own feet and flinging her elbows into things. He was a thoroughbred racehorse, and she was a just-hatched duck-billed platypus.

He was squinting, as though he couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing, and she saw his smile dawn as he finally comprehended. She briefly considered scrambling to her feet, but realized that would just look even dumber.

Better to brazen it out, even though she could tell that his gaze was locked on her bare stomach. Damn it, the blood had been flowing to her head for five minutes now, but he’d probably think she was blushing because of him.

“Hi, Dad,” Gavin said. “We’re getting a new perspective.”

“It’s a game we used to play in art school,” Suzie put in, trying to sound rational in spite of her bare feet and her hair pooled all over the marble. Also, with her lungs pressing into her throat like this, she sounded like Daffy Duck.

“Yeah?” Mike was still smiling.

“Yes. It helps you to start seeing what’s really there,” she explained, “instead of what you’re expecting to see.”