Each keening cry seemed to cut through Emma’s chest. She spun in circles, looking for the source of the sound. For a split second she was sure that Garrett had another victim here, somewhere on his property. But then two enormous peacocks came hustling out from the backyard, their tails dragging behind them. One of them tossed its head back, its throat shuddering as it gave the cry she’d mistaken for human. Emma shrieked as they beelined for her. She jumped up onto a stone bench next to the pond just as the birds swooped toward her. They flanked her, angling their heads to glare at her with their beady eyes.

The front door opened, and a thickset woman with sandy blonde hair stuck her head out, calling, “Rocko! Salvador!” Then she saw Emma cowering on the bench. Her eyes widened, and she bustled through the doorway. The peacocks pivoted their heads on their long necks to look at her, and one stalked toward her, looking hopefully at her hand. “Shoo!” she said. “I don’t have any corn, you wretched things.”

This had to be Garrett’s mom. She had the same hair, the same molasses-brown eyes—though where her son was all muscle, she had the rounded corners of a teddy bear under her loose linen pants and brown sweater. Amber rings glittered on every finger, amber drop earrings hung from her lobes, and a pair of cat-eye glasses hung at her chest from a chain made of amber beads.

Emma held her breath as the woman made warding-off motions with her hands while the birds stood and stared balefully. She didn’t know what Garrett might have told his mother after their breakup, or what kind of relationship Sutton had with her boyfriend’s mom to begin with. But when the peacocks had finally strutted away around back, the woman broke into a warm smile.

“Sutton!” she exclaimed. She extended a hand to help Emma down from the bench. “It’s been so long! Sorry about the boys,” she said, sighing toward the peacocks. “They’ve been so aggressive lately. I don’t know what’s gotten into them.”

Emma gave the woman a tentative smile. “I’m sorry I, uh, got them all riled up. Thanks for saving me, Mrs. Austin.” As soon as the words left her mouth a cloud moved over the woman’s expression.

“That’s Garrett’s stepmother’s name, dear,” she said coolly. “Remember? My maiden name is Ramsey.”

Emma cursed herself inwardly. Of course—Garrett’s parents were divorced. But as quickly as it had appeared, the woman’s darkened expression passed. “Besides, why are you calling me Mrs. anything? You always used to call me Vanessa.”