Клэр Донелли - Hiss And Tell

So he stayed at the side of the road, just watching her.

Finally she started walking back to that place where she was staying. Silently, Shadow followed. He couldn’t trust her . . . but he couldn’t leave her, either.

*

Sunny lay inbed, eyes open, for a long time, going over the facts she’d gotten from her interrupted conversation with Will and his subsequent phone call. Given the outlines of the career Will had sketched out, there was certainly the possibility that Lee Trehearne had something worth blackmailing in his past. And who better to put the squeeze on during a big event than the head of security?

Taking it a step further, why couldn’t Trehearne be the Taxman? Sure, he was way out on the fringes of society, working for the Senator. But if he’d used information he discovered from the Kingsburys as a start, and then expanded his operation . . . That might even explain the Taxman’s business model, using former victims to lure new ones into his web.

On the other hand, Trehearne hadn’t looked much like a criminal mastermind while in bumbling pursuit of Shadow. Although Shadow had a way of driving even the most competent people to a hair’s breadth of screaming craziness.

Including myself, Sunny had to admit ruefully. But blackmail victim or perpetrator, Trehearne had the physical ability to do unpleasant stuff like strangling girls and slashing sheriffs. He also had the knowledge of Neal’s Neck, where the surveillance cameras were and how to avoid them, probably even what junk was stored where.

You can make a case against him, Sunny had to admit. But you can make a case against most of the guys stuck behind the security perimeter here. That doesn’t narrow things down. What I need is provable evidence.

Unfortunately, that, like sleep, seemed in short supply.

*

The morning waswell advanced by the time Sunny pulled herself out of bed, feeling droopy. She’d lain awake way too long but had finally dropped off sometime in the wee hours. She found herself at the late sitting for breakfast, joining Beau Bellingham and Tommy and Yardley Neal at the table. It wasn’t a comfortable meal. Everybody seemed a little stir-crazy.

“If I have to sit around that pool again today, somebody’s going to get drowned.” Tommy snarled as he stabbed his knife into a jar of preserves. A little belatedly, he realized how his words might sound and sent a suspicious glance over at Sunny.

“To tell the truth, I’m feeling the same way myself,” she admitted. “Maybe I’ll talk to Priscilla and Carson about arranging some kind of outing. There are lots of non-touristy things we could do.”

“If we don’t mind being followed by a bunch of paparazzi.” But she’d started Tommy thinking and his sour mood lightened a bit. “Maybe we could talk Cale into taking us out again on the Merlin, ” he said. “I wouldn’t even mind hoisting all the sails as long as it got us out of here for a while.”

With this plan in mind, they set off for the swimming pool, where they found Carson and Peter involved in a card game.

“I’m afraid Priscilla’s not here,” Carson said as he tossed his cards down. “She and Caleb left early this morning on some foundation business. She’ll be back for lunch—or rather, hors d’oeuvres, since we’ll be tasting some sample wedding cakes. “

“Probably too late for us to get out on the water.” Tommy explained his idea, scowling. “Unless,” he suggested, “I could take the wheel.”

“You really want to take Uncle Cale’s pride and joy off on a little unauthorized sail?” Carson asked skeptically. “He’d never forgive you.”

“All right, all right, you’ve got a point.” Tommy flopped down onto a beach chair.

Sunny noticed that Beau hadn’t paid any attention to the conversation. He’d just arranged himself on a lounge chair with a baseball cap shading his eyes, and in moments, his chest was rising and falling in easy sleep.

I wish I could do that, Sunny thought jealously.

“Feel free to join our card game,” Peter invited the others.

“I only play for money, Van Twissel,” Tommy replied. “And that’s something that neither you nor Carson has got.” He rose from his seat, shrugged off the loud Hawaiian shirt he’d been using as a cover-up, and jumped into the pool with a lot more violence than necessary, showering Sunny with spray.

“Tommy!” Yardley called after him in a scolding voice.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sunny told her. “It’ll get even wetter when I jump in later.” She undid the towel from around her waist and ran it over her hair, leaving it around her shoulders. “Would you mind another poor person at the table?” she asked.

They spent the morning playing all the most ridiculous versions of poker they knew, wild cards, baseball, even something Carson called “Indian poker,” where players had to hold their cards up on their foreheads, seeing what kinds of hands other players had, but not their own.

Between crazy games and crazy bets, Sunny had won a lot of imaginary money by the time Deborah Kingsbury appeared at the gate. “The Senator thought it might be nice to have everyone present for the cake tasting.” Lem’s wife didn’t have to add that whatever the Senator thought to be appropriate had the force of an order.

*

This is a stupid place, Shadow thought as he crept along the wall of the house. He was in a bad mood; things had not gone right since last night. Sunny had walked back to that place where she was staying, and Shadow hadn’t been able to sneak in after her. So he’d left her and gone back to his sleeping spot next to the planter. But when the sun came up, loud people with even louder machines had come to do things, and Shadow had run for his life.

After that rude awakening, he’d quickly become aware of an unpleasantly empty feeling in his middle. He’d tried another backyard visit to the place where the nice two-legged woman had fed him the other day. But he was out of luck. No kind human, just that stupid white cat being all unfriendly and brave behind the safety of the glass.

He’d tried foraging around, but all he encountered were the scents of large, dangerous animals apparently already hunting in the area. Not just biscuit eaters, but the nasty-black-masked critters.

Feeling a little desperate, Shadow went toward the big water, hoping to find something on the beach. But there, large white birds kept swooping down at him, screeching.

So, still hungry, he’d headed back through backyards toward the place where Sunny was. There was a wall barring the way, higher than he could jump, but Shadow had already found a spot along the base where some of the soil had washed away and a determined cat could squeeze in.

Maybe it’s better that I was empty before I tried that, he thought as he barely managed to squirm through.

He quickly darted to the side of a house and made his way through flowers and plants until he faced a large open area. Keeping a wary eye out for the aggressive two-legs in black, he made his way from bushes to flowers to trees, doing his best to keep out of sight. They might not be able to catch him, but he’d hate to have a meal interrupted because those ones happened to come along.

As he came to the place with the splashing water, Shadow heard human voices. He used his best stalking moves to slink up, peering suspiciously around the metal post that held a gate. Another disappointment—all he saw were a pair of male two-legs bent over a table. Nothing to eat, and the friendly female who’d fed him wasn’t there. He wandered on still in search of a meal.

At last he came to a big, big house. Shadow moved even more cautiously. This was where the Clumsy One had tried to grab him. It might not be a good idea to meet that one again. He had been angry, very angry, when Shadow got away.