“I’m so sorry but not yet,” I say. “That problem I told you about with my mom. It’s ongoing. I need another half hour. Maybe forty minutes?” I swallow hard. “I’m really sorry.”
There’s a pause. Is he mad at me? Will he tell me to forget it? I’m still not sure where I stand with Josh. He’s so successful and good looking, the kind of blond god who stops women in their tracks, slack-jawed and drooling. It’s hard to believe he’s into me when he could choose anyone he wants.
“Okay,” he says, slowly. I’m not sure if he’s disappointed or angry or both. “Shall we make it another night?”
Now I feel disappointed. He’s met my mom. They seemed to get along great. He could at least ask what’s wrong, and if he could help. He could offer to meet me here. “If you prefer,” I say. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why don’t you just call me when you’re done and we’ll see where we both are,” he says. My stomach sinks lower. His tone sounds so clipped, like I just canceled some business meeting. I’ve never flaked out on him before. I’m reliable as an atomic clock, and obsessively punctual. He should understand that I’m well and truly stuck here.
“Okay.” I apologize again and hang up feeling lousy. My shoulders slump. Have I messed things up with Josh? I sigh. Enough already. This insecurity must stop. It’s ridiculous and pathetic. If he dumps me because of a family emergency, so be it. Not that this is a family emergency, but he doesn’t know that.
I sigh again. Damn Daphne and her missed appointment, and damn my mom’s crazy, pseudo-psychic feelings. If it weren’t for them I’d be sitting in the best restaurant in town, eating haute cuisine, and drinking good wine with a guy who’s at least partly to blame for global warming. Instead, I’m huddled on a hard step, freezing my bony ass off.
I hug my knees. When she shows up, Daphne had better have a damn good story.
CHAPTER 4:
COMING UP SHORT
I advised Colin to come around back. If the front hall is a crime scene, which I highly doubt, the less people tramping through it, the better.
I’m still sitting on Daphne’s back steps, feeling hungry and glum, when I hear the click of the side gate being unlatched.
Time to cheer up. I run a hand through my hair and rise to greet Colin.
He rounds the corner and stops. “Toby!” he says. His shy smile stokes mine. “Have you been waiting out here the whole time?”
I nod and stamp my high-heeled feet, which are frozen. In the glow cast by Daphne’s path lights, Colin reminds me of a 1950s movie star, dark hair framing an expressive face, bright-eyed and serious. He studies me intently. “You okay?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say, which is suddenly true. I push my shoulders back and walk toward him. “Thanks for coming, Colin.”
He smiles and walks my way too. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Good,” I say. Two months back, Josh and I were both badly hurt fighting off his ex-wife’s killer. Colin saved our lives. Having witnessed my recovery, he keeps reminding me to take things easy. Now, faced with his searching gaze, I find my hand going to my scarred shoulder. I force it down. When we’re a few feet apart I stop walking.
I inhale, ready to bounce onto my toes and give him a quick kiss, only to freeze. He’s not alone. A tall woman has rounded the house behind him. As she strides closer, her long ponytail sways. Despite the cold wind, she’s not wearing a jacket, just black pants and a dark turtle-neck that shows off her stunning figure. In the golden lights, she looks bronzed, impervious to the weather. I bet rain would bead off her.
The pig has noticed her too. Tail wagging, it trots toward her. Covered in glistening mud, it resembles a very fat slug, all its white bits now brown. When it gets close, I expect the woman to recoil in horror. Instead, she laughs and bends to pet it. “Ooh, a pig!” she says. “Did you dig up the garden? You naughty piggy!” Even her voice is lovely—deep with a sexy rasp, although with that perfect skin, there’s no way she’s ever smoked. The pig looks suitably charmed. She crouches to scratch its muddy chin.
When she stands, Kevin dives into a fresh mud puddle and starts to roll.
With a wide smile, the woman turns toward us.
“Toby,” says Colin. He looks a bit awkward now, like he’s not sure how to greet me. He touches my elbow, then gestures toward the tall woman. “This is Miriam Young,” he says. “My new partner.”
What? My stomach flips. He’s partnered with this goddess? Miriam Young looks like she just stepped out of Shape magazine. She wipes the mud off her hand and extends a slim yet muscly arm. We shake. Even though I’m in heels and she’s in flats, she towers over me. As do most people.
Her smile widens. Like the rest of her, her teeth are dazzling. “Toby. Nice to meet you.” A quick glance from me to Colin, like she’s trying to suss out our relationship. She turns to look up at the house. “So, who’s missing?”
I explain about Daphne Dane. “Come inside,” I say. “My mom and Daphne’s kids are up there.”
Colin and Miriam follow me up the back steps. The large deck lies empty. Lukas and Isobel have moved their argument indoors. Their angry voices float out of the kitchen: “You can’t just borrow it without asking!”
“What’s it to you?” says Lukas.
“I’ll tell Mom.”
“So? Go right ahead.” Lukas sounds sulky. “She’d let me use it.”
As an only child, I can’t judge. I have friends with siblings who never outgrew their early family dynamics. That’s clearly the case here: Lukas at least thirty and Isobel nearing forty, continuing a rivalry that’s been raging for decades.
I step inside, Colin and Miriam behind me. “Hello?” says Colin.
Lukas and Isobel fall silent. Gerard and my mom are sitting at a long table. Recognizing Colin, my mom’s face lights up.
He goes over and pecks her on both cheeks. “Hi, Ivy! Good to see you.” He turns and introduces my mother to Miriam, then introduces himself to the others. He looks around the kitchen. “So what’s the trouble?”
“We don’t know where my mother’s gone,” says Isobel. She nibbles anxiously on a hangnail.
My mother jumps in to explain about Daphne’s missed appointment. Thankfully, she doesn’t mention tarot or the Kau Cim. Gerard is busy typing on his phone. Lukas is peering into the cupboards. He withdraws a box of Dane crackers.
I watch Colin and Miriam for some reaction, but their faces remain neutral. Do they think Isobel and my mom are overreacting? Will Colin be annoyed that I’ve wasted his time?
“Can we have a look around?” Colin asks the Dane siblings.
“Of course. Follow me,” says Isobel, clearly relieved he’s taking this seriously. “It’s not like my mom to turn off her phone.” She swallows hard. “And she’s not getting any younger.”
While Lukas stays seated in the kitchen, eating crackers, the rest of us troop around the house again. Even Gerard joins us, although he keeps looking at his phone.
Colin and Miriam start by surveying the front hall. Having seen the destruction wrought by Kevin outdoors, I can see they’re unconvinced this was the scene of a struggle.