Кей Хупер - Whisper of Evil

Even Max Tanner . She didn't add that last aloud. She didn't have to.

"Don't worry," the sheriff said. "I know my job."

Instead of agreeing that he did, she merely said, "Keep me advised, will you? The town council is under as much pressure as we are, Ethan; it won't look good to the voters if we all appear to be sitting on our hands."

"Meaning they might take action?"

The mayor kept her tone mild. "Elected officials can't afford to do nothing for long, you know that." She didn't wait for a response but turned toward the door, adding over her shoulder, "We'll be talking, I'm sure."

"Yeah," the sheriff agreed. "I'm sure we will."

THURSDAY, MARCH

What Nell discovered when she wandered around downtown Silence on Thursday morning was that most people had forgotten old scandals and questions. Most people. There were, in fact, quite a few newcomers to the area, especially since the recently completed highway had brought heavier traffic much closer to the city limits the previous year.

She counted a dozen obviously new businesses just in the downtown area, most of them the sort she would have expected, like clothing boutiques and collectibles-type stores. All were enjoying brisk foot traffic. There was also, she noticed, an unusually strong police presence in the town. She counted three different cruisers patrolling, as well as a couple of deputies on foot roaming the sidewalks.

Nell had several reasons for being in town. She had to see the family attorney to sign various papers; she paid a visit to an insurance adjuster for referrals to appraisers she could employ to look over some of the furniture and artwork at the house; and she spent some time at both the library and the courthouse.

It was after lunchtime when Nell emerged from the courthouse, and after a glance at her watch, she picked a downtown cafe and found herself a rather isolated booth in the rear. The waitress was blessedly incurious, the food good, and Nell enjoyed a peaceful half hour or so alone with her thoughts.

"Wade Keever says you've turned down my offer."

She looked up to find Max scowling at her. She sat back and sipped her coffee to give herself a moment, then said, "He's talking out of turn. I said I'd consider it, that's all. I just haven't made up my mind about it."

"It's a fair offer. You won't get a better offer, Nell, not for that land."

"I'm aware of that."

"Then why the hesitation?"

She glanced around, grateful that most of the cafe was deserted and no one appeared to be paying attention to them. Still, she kept her voice low. "I told you. I'm not so sure I want to sell out."

Max slid into the booth, across from her. "Why not?"

Nell didn't waste time or energy commenting on his manners. "Because I'm not sure. Look, Max, I know you want that land and I know you want me gone. But maybe I'm not quite so eager to cut my last ties to this place. You don't have to worry, though — I won't sell the land to anybody else. It adjoins your property, and you'll have first chance at it. If I decide to sell."

Instead of protesting or questioning that, Max abruptly changed the subject. "Any more blackouts?"

Nell shook her head.

"What about that… episode in the woods? Has that happened again?"

"Nothing happened, Max."

"Don't give me that daydreaming bullshit again, Nell. Do you think I don't remember what used to happen to you? The visions?"

With an effort, she summoned a wry smile. "I was sort of hoping you had forgotten."

"It's still happening, isn't it? Just like the blackouts."

"Did you think it would go away? That I'd outgrow it eventually?" Nell had to laugh, however unamused the sound. "Curses are with you for life, Max, didn't you know that?"

"You used to call it that. The Gallagher curse."

"Most families seem to have something. Cousins that can't get along. Squabbles about property. Medical problems. A mad wife locked away in the attic. We have a curse."

"You never told me who else in your family had it."

Nell shook her head, reminding herself that it was far too easy to confide in some people. In him. "Never mind. To answer your question, yes, it is still happening to me. I see things that aren't there. I even hear voices sometimes. So if you want to prove I'm unfit to make decisions about the estate, you could probably at least give the judge something to think about."

His mouth tightened. "That is not what this is about, dammit."

"Isn't it?"

"No."

Nell shrugged but kept her gaze on his face. "Well, you'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit touchy about the subject. Keever was indiscreet enough to hint that someone had questioned my fitness to inherit the estate."

"Someone? He didn't say who?"

"He wasn't quite that indiscreet."

Max frowned. "Hailey was disinherited, and from what I heard there were no loopholes in that part of the will. True?"

"True, at least from a legal standpoint. I'm the sole heir."

"Could it have been Hailey?"

"Sure."

"But you don't think it was?"

Nell shrugged again. "I think it isn't like her to lurk in the background if she wants to fight about it, but maybe she's changed in a dozen years."

"But if it isn't her, with no Gallaghers left in Silence, who would stand to benefit if you were declared unfit or barred from inheriting?"

"As far as I know… no one." Her tone was deliberate.

"Except someone who might want to buy land you don't want to sell? Jesus, Nell, I'd think you knew me well enough to know I don't do things that way."

"Until this week, I hadn't seen or talked to you in twelve years, Max."

"Whose fault is that?" he demanded roughly.

For the first time, Nell avoided his dark eyes, fixing her own on the half-empty coffee cup before her. Ignoring the question hanging in the air between them, she said evenly, "How good a judge of character is any of us at seventeen? I thought I knew a lot of things then. And a lot of people. I was mostly wrong."

"Nell —"

She did not want to answer the question she knew he wanted to ask, not here and not now, so she cut him off before he could ask it. "I'll let you know about the land if and when I make up my mind. In the meantime, I don't think there's anything else we need to talk about, do you?" She made sure her voice was completely indifferent.

Max stiffened visibly, then slid from the booth without a word and stalked out of the cafe.

From behind Nell, a low and slightly amused voice murmured, "Looks like you still know how to push all his buttons."

She picked up her cup and sipped the nearly cold coffee, scanning the room to make sure no one noticed her talking to someone she wasn't looking at in the booth beside hers. She kept her voice as quiet as his had been. "His temper was always his Achilles' heel."

"A small but fatal weakness? Let's hope not."

"You have such a literal mind."

He chuckled. "Yeah, so I've been told. My one failing. Did you know, by the way, that Tanner's been following you around town all morning?"

"I was pretty sure he was."

"Any idea why? I mean, besides the obvious possibility?"

"Maybe he's suspicious."

"Of you? Why would he be?"

"I don't know."

"Mmm. You still sure about him?"

Nell drew a breath and let it out slowly. "I have to start with a certainty. That's my certainty."

"Okay. Then I'll stick to the plan."

"Do that. Oh — have you been out to the house, by any chance?"

"Checked out that place in the woods you told me about, but didn't find anything there. I didn't go near the house, though. Why?"

She hesitated, but only briefly. "It's probably nothing. I've just had the feeling a few times that someone was watching me" And calling my name .