“I’m Eloise Burroughs, Rob’s sister-in-law. And you are?”
It all clicked together. Jasper took an awkward step back, confused, a little shocked. Lacy’s mom.
“Jasper. Jasper Warren. I was Lacy’s, excuse me, Heather’s, roommate in Chicago. I think we met briefly—” He cut himself off before he could say, “at her wake.”
“Of course.” She nodded and then cocked her head to one side. “But what are you doinghere?”
Jasper didn’t know what to say, so he simply stood a little farther back. Besides, was what he was doing here really any of this woman’s business? “You must be hot out there. Would you like to come in?”
She flounced by on a cloud of floral scent. Jasmine?
They stood in the dark foyer staring at each other for several moments. Jasper wanted to be the one to ask again what she was doing there but feared being so direct would be rude. He really had no place to ask.
So he put on his best smile. “Was Rob expecting you?”
“I don’t see that that’s any of your business. Is he home?”
“No. He went to the grocery store. Would you like to wait in the kitchen?” He pointed to it. “Or maybe out by the pool? Could I get you something to drink? There’s a pitcher of some tasty cocktails in the kitchen.”
She took off her sunglasses, it seemed, for the purpose of rolling her eyes. After a moment, she said, “I’ll just wait in the living room. I don’t need anything.”
Jasper watched her step down into the sunken living room and take a seat on the big white sectional, which seemed to swallow her up.
“I’ll just be in my room if you need anything.” Jasper swallowed, suddenly feeling very nervous. He left her to hide.
In his room, Jasper thought,Well, isn’t this an odd turn of events? Odd enough that I’m here in Palm Springs, California, courtesy of a free, open-ended first-class ticket from perhaps the world’s most famous author of psychological suspense, now I have to contend with being only one of a pair of visitors, both of whom loved a young woman whose life ended all too abruptly. Jasper eyed his duffel, lying open on the floor, spilling the contents of his clothes as if it had exploded.Or maybe the duct tape gave way?he thought, causing his cheeks to burn once more with embarrassment.
He made his way over to dig through the clothes lying on the polished concrete floor. Even alone in his bedroom, he felt too raw in only a pair of shorts. He needed more to feel decent.
The jeans he’d worn earlier were near the top of the pile, and he yanked them on and pulled a black Obey T-shirt over his head.
He lay down across the bed. It had a white chenille bedspread that felt soft beneath him. But he couldn’t relax, couldn’t simply allow the time to pass until Rob returned, and perhaps he could get some answers to his questions.
Was it just a coincidence that Lacy’s mother, of all people, turned up here on the very same day he arrived?
It wasn’t out of the question, he concluded. She and Rob were, after all, family. Perhaps she came out west to visit him on a regular basis. Maybe their protocol was that there was no need to phone first. Open-door policy and all that.
Who knew?
Jasper sat up, nerves tingling like something small was scurrying beneath his skin. Once again, his mind went to the flee part of his fight-or-flee instinct, and he contemplated simply packing up his bag and calling an Uber to take him back to the airport. He could sit among the palm trees and wait for his flight home in the warm breeze. Even if it was a long wait, it wouldn’t be so bad.
Before he had a chance to entertain this flight of fancy any further, he heard the front door open and close and Rob call out, “Jasper? You inside?”
Hand on the doorknob, Jasper paused when he heard Eloise say something. Her exact words weren’t clear, but he imagined the look of surprise on Rob’s face. That was, assuming he was surprised, but Jasper could imagine no earthly reason Rob would arrange for the two of them to be at his house at the very same time.
Jasper pressed his ear to the door and learned that he was right.
“Eloise? What on earth?” Rob asked. There was a small quiver to his voice, almost as though he were afraid.
“I needed to talk to you. Maybe we could have handled things over the phone or even email, but you’re not responding to my calls or my texts. So I thought I’d take the bull by the horns as it were.”
“Does my brother know you’re here?”
“Of course. It was his idea. I was driving him nuts anyway. He probably just wanted to get rid of me, and now you feel the same, don’t you? Well, it won’t be so easy, my friend, as deleting a text.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You have obligations to us, sir. Reparations to be made. And no, that is not high talk. I’ll say it before you do. We’ve never dealt with what needed to be said. You’ve never done what needed to be done. I had hoped we could have a long talk at Heather’s funeral, but you disappeared from the wake, and then I never saw you again. How could you just leave without saying goodbye to her? To us? You can’t imagine our pain.”
