Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- six
- seven
- eight
- nine
- ten
- eleven
- twelve
- thirteen
- fourteen
- fifteen
- sixteen
- seventeen
- eighteen
- nineteen
- twenty
- twenty-one
- twenty-two
- twenty-three
- twenty-four
- twenty-five
- twenty-six
- twenty-seven
- twenty-eight
- twenty-nine
- thirty
- thirty-one
- thirty-two
- thirty-three
- thirty-four
- thirty-five
- thirty-six
- thirty-seven
- thirty-eight
- thirty-nine
- forty
- forty-one
- forty-two
Once out of sight of the chicken coop, I ended the spell, walked to the screen door, and rapped. A dark-haired girl, no more than eighteen, glanced up, startled. I waved my PI license. She opened the door.
I introduced myself and added that Megan said I could speak to the girls, which was technically true. That put her at ease. She gave me her name—Deirdre—and a cookie-chocolate-chunk, still warm from the oven. After one bite I declared it delicious and offered to buy a box. She got one off a shelf and set it on the counter.
As the cookies cooled, we stepped outside and chatted, long enough for me to realize this was the girl I wanted to talk to, someone who liked a bit of gossip and wasn’t quite smart enough to know when to keep her mouth shut.
“I was hoping to talk to Alastair,” I said. “But Megan says he’s in a session. She really didn’t seem to want me talking to him.” I nibbled the cookie. “Seems suspicious ...”
Deirdre laughed. “No. She just doesn’t want you talking to Alastair.”
“So Megan and Alastair are ... a couple.”
“Sometimes. When there’s not a new girl sharing his bed.”
“Is that a requirement? For new girls?”
“Oh, no. Some girls do, some don’t. It’s up to them. He’s a nice guy. Not bad looking ... for his age.”
“And there aren’t many guys up here to choose from.”
She grinned. “Exactly.”
Compulsory orgies are all well and fine, but it’d be a lot easier to sleep at night if you told yourself the girls were coming to you of their own free will. Easier on the ego, too.
“And Megan fills the void between girls,” I said. “So how did she feel about Claire coming along, shoving her aside?”
“I can’t say for sure that Claire was sleeping with him, but Megan figured it was only a matter of time.” She leaned over. “Let’s just say we’re all really happy that the new girl isn’t exactly gorgeous. When Megan’s not getting any, we all pay the price.”
“And Claire was one of those times.”
“Oh, yeah. Alastair liked Claire. She wasn’t as pretty as Megan, but she was just as smart, without the bitch-itude. Claire and Alastair had private sessions all the time. It was supposedly therapy but ...” She waggled her brows. “It was a lot of sessions and—”
“Deirdre?” Megan called from the kitchen. “Where are you? These cookies are still baking on this hot sheet. I’ve told you to take them off—”
I backed up, but not fast enough to get around the corner. Megan glared at me as Deirdre slipped inside. I caught the screen door and followed her in.