Кей Хупер - Whisper of Evil

Nell found herself staring into the widening eyes of her sister and had the sudden, terrifying knowledge that Hailey saw her. That she was actually, physically there, in the past.

No longer just a witness.

"Some detective I am," Justin muttered. "I don't even have a clue what I'm supposed to be looking for."

However reluctantly, Shelby had to agree with him, at least about their fruitless search. "Lots of births in this parish in the last forty years. Listen, are you sure there was nothing in George's desk at the bank to explain why he was so interested in these old records?"

Justin leaned forward to drop several pages of birth listings onto the stack on the coffee table, then stretched absently. "There was nothing I could see. Christ, look at the time. Didn't we just have breakfast?"

Shelby heard her stomach rumble and grinned at him. "My stomach says the donuts were hours ago. Why don't we really give the gossips something to talk about and go to the cafe for lunch?"

"Aren't you tired? We've been poring over these damned records for more hours than I want to think about."

"I'm a natural night owl, and it's not so unusual for me to skip a night's sleep if I get involved in something." She shrugged. "Anyway, since tomorrow's Sunday, we can both sleep as late as we want, so what the hell. You did say this is your weekend off, right?"

"Officially. Sheriff Cole has us all working overtime, but he's insisted everybody gets at least one weekend a month off the clock, and this one's mine. So unless another body turns up, nobody'll expect to see me at the office."

"Do you want to go home and crash? Or lunch at the cafe? Maybe we can figure out a way to find some clue as to what George was looking for in these birth records."

Justin had his doubts, but he was also enjoying Shelby's company and was far too wired to even think about sleep, so agreed that lunch sounded like a good idea.

It was fairly busy in town on this Saturday afternoon, but the lunch crowd at the cafe was already thinning out and they had no difficulty getting a somewhat secluded booth near the back.

Shelby, perfectly aware of several covert glances, managed not to laugh, but did say to Justin when the waitress had left with their order, "Life in a fishbowl, that's Silence."

Casual, Justin said, "Is it the fact that you're with me they're interested in, or the fact that I'm with you?"

"Both, I'd guess. You're a very visible part of the investigation, so everybody's naturally interested in what you do. As for me, well, let's just say I seldom have lunch with handsome men."

"That's a surprise. And thank you."

She laughed half under her breath. "Since I'm usually wandering around town with my cameras and probably see a lot of stuff I wouldn't otherwise see, I know most of the men in Silence very well. Too well, I guess. Makes it difficult for me to think of any of them as boyfriends or bed partners."

"Because your candid camera caught them being themselves?" Justin guessed shrewdly.

"Something like that. It's amazing how many people seem to imagine themselves in a bubble of privacy even when they're out in public."

Justin didn't ask for any of the details of what she'd seen, but he did wonder if even one of the hopeful suitors Shelby had undoubtedly turned away had the slightest idea why she found them unacceptable. But before he could say anything, she was cheerfully supplying some of the details he would just as soon not have had.

"I mean, it's hard to blame anybody for scratching an itch even in public, or dealing with a wedgie — because you really have to, after all — but nose-picking and cleaning out one's ears really crosses the line, you know? And I actually watched one guy clipping his nose hairs with one of those little battery-powered clippers. I found it extremely unsettling. And not at all attractive."

Justin laughed. "Obviously you're going to have to lower your standards."

"Or put away my cameras," she agreed ruefully. "Not that I'm prepared to do either. Which makes it a good thing that I don't at all mind being alone most of the time."

"Well, for God's sake, tell me if I do anything disgusting, okay?"

Shelby grinned at him. "I don't think you will."

He eyed her uncertainly for a moment while Emily poured coffee for them, and when the waitress had gone again he said, "You have pictures of me, don't you? Candid shots?"

"Just a few."

"Jesus." He tried to remember if he had done anything that he, if not she, would consider embarrassing, but found it all but impossible to recall movements or gestures that probably were unconscious anyway.

In a more serious tone, Shelby said, "One of the reasons I decided to approach you about the investigation was that I had watched you on and off these last weeks. It's obvious you're committed to your job and that you do it well. You've always been very intent, very focused on what you're doing at any given moment, and yet you always pay attention to the people around you."

"I didn't see you and your cameras," he pointed out wryly.

"That's because I didn't want you to see me. Not that I was spying on you or anything like that, it's just that I've developed the knack of watching people without their awareness."

"The way you watched Sheriff Cole," Justin said, deciding to turn the conversation in a less personal direction.

Shelby followed agreeably. "Exactly. Remember, I've been watching Ethan Cole for years, so when I paid closer attention to him after the first murder, I could see he was behaving differently. For a long time, there was nothing I could put my ringer on, but when I grouped all the photographs of him together, that's when I found what I showed you. These."

In her enthusiasm, Shelby reached into the big canvas tote bag she always carried and pulled out the manila envelope she had showed Justin the day before.

"These pictures mean something, Justin, and we both know it."

Alarmed, he glanced quickly around the cafe and found, as he expected to, that several people had noted Shelby's actions. To make matters worse, before he could stop her she opened the envelope and drew out the photos, handing them across the table to him.

"Take another look at them," she invited him.

Justin knew that making a big fuss would only draw more attention to them, but as he bent his head and looked at the pictures, he said under his breath, "I really wish you hadn't pulled these out, Shelby. Not here and now."

"Why not? Everybody in this town has seen me showing off my pictures, so there's nothing odd about it. They'll probably assume I'm just showing you pictures I took of you."

"Yeah, but if the wrong person is watching — or even hears about it — it could make him suspicious. Might make him think your candid camera caught him doing something he really, really doesn't want the law to know about."

After a moment, Shelby said, "Okay, dumb of me. But the damage, if there is any, is done, so you might as well look at them."

Unwilling to betray any undue interest to those watching eyes, Justin leafed through the photos quickly and then handed them back to her with a faint smile for the benefit of the observers. "I agree they could be important. But the sheriff talks to lots of people in this town every day; odds are he would have talked to each of the murdered men as well."

Shelby put the photographs away once again in her bag and tried to keep her expression neutral. She wasn't really afraid, but Nell had warned her to be very, very careful, and she was pretty sure Justin was right about this being a mistake. Still, since it was done, there was nothing to do but push on. "Yeah, but if you'd checked out the back of each of the photos, you would have found a date penciled in. I pulled all the negatives and checked each shot."