“I wish I could see her.”
“I know, but she needs to get through this right now, and I’m going to make sure she does. I promise you that.”
“Can I write to her?”
“Of course, you can.” I dug into my pocket, and instead of the hospital card, I handed her my personal one. “You can write or even email, and I’ll get it to her. I promise.”
She stuck it into her windbreaker jacket.
“Gracie, can you tell me a bit about your dad?”
The air around us thickened. “There isn’t much I can tell that you have not read already. I’m sorry. I have to go.” She looked toward the car, and we got up at the same time.
She stopped at the end of the porch. “Tell her I love her,” she said as she ran down the path and got into the car.
I watched as they drove off and wondered about the conversation we’d just had. Why was she not as keen to talk about her father as she was about her mother?
What are you hiding, Alyssa?
ChapterNine
Alyssa
Two Years Before the Murder
“You’ve scored right here, Mal.” Gregory Evans grinned, leaning in and taking one hand of mine in his, bringing it up to his lips and placing a kiss on it, his gaze never leaving mine.
I flushed, thanking him for his kind compliment, and Malcolm looked on appreciatively.
Gregory was an extremely handsome man with ebony eyes and hair to match. He was well built and dressed impeccably, but next to my husband, he was nothing. Malcolm Morgan made me the envy of many women, and he had since we started officially dating.
Gregory was Malcolm’s partner for two years, but this was the first time I was meeting him. “This is my wife, Marley,” Gregory introduced, smiling at the beautiful blonde woman beside him, who looked less than half his age. She couldn’t have been older than eighteen. She belonged on the cover of those fashion magazines. She extended a hand which I took, and we smiled at each other cordially.
“Enough with the formalities.” Mal laughed. “Let’s actually get some food, shall we?” He placed a hand on the small of my back, leading me toward our table. When he let it slip to my ass and gave it a pat, I flushed but kept staring ahead.
The restaurant was spectacular, on the highest floor of the Radisson Blu Hotel overlooking the train station opposite, the city lights like a starry carpet beneath us. Gregory flew in from out of town earlier this morning, which wasn’t odd, despite the fact it was solely for the purpose of this business dinner between him and my husband. To be honest, I had no idea what their new business venture actually was, but I doubted it would interest me. The mind of a lawyer was far from that of an entrepreneur. When my head was buried in books, his was in the clouds, looking out for the next big thing which would make him even richer than he was.
Marley looked about as disinterested as me, but she pretended to hang onto every single word her husband said, leaning in and expressively laughing at a joke or gasping at something amazing he’d told us.
There was something odd about the couple, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Having worked with couples for years, I knew when there was trouble in paradise, and these two lacked a connection. There were simple things—the way she drifted off whenever he wasn’t looking, the fact that the best part of the evening for her seemed to be the expensive shiraz on the table, and they didn’t make eye contact or touch.
When I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room, she followed and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we were out of earshot of the men.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you?” she snapped, and I frowned.
“Well, I have no reason not to be,” I responded, taken aback.
She scoffed. “You’re all the same, or should I say we are, the trophy wives, so don’t go pretending you’re not.”
“Excuse me,” I spat out. “I’ll have you know I’ve been married to my husband for ten years, and I’ve known him far longer.
“Oh,” she replied, confusion on her face. “I just thought… never mind.”
“No, go ahead, thought what?”
“That you were one of us,” she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. “I’m sorry. Please don’t say anything.” The look on her face was reason enough for me to keep quiet.
