Chapters (65)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- 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
- Forty–three
- Forty–four
- Forty–five
- Forty–six
- Forty–seven
- Forty–eight
- Forty–nine
- Fifty
- Fifty–one
- Fifty–two
- Fifty–three
- Fifty–four
- Fifty–five
- Fifty–six
- Fifty–seven
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Becky Masterman
- About the Author
- Newsletter Sign-up
Gloria took the housecoat she always left at the end of the bed and put it on. Then she sat as far away from him as she could without it looking like she was doing so.
“I’m sorry I was upset,” he started. “I was upset that you were going through my wallet in the middle of the night. You would be upset, too. Why did you do that?”
Gloria thought about it. “I was … thinking about how that woman came over and you said that she was lying about you going over there for dinner. But she never told me you were there for dinner. And I couldn’t stop thinking about that. I wanted to see if you had her telephone number or something in your wallet. I, I love you.”
He didn’t say I love you back this time, it was too pathetic, and too late. “Well, that was a real spunky thing to do, going into my wallet. But I have to say, somebody who loves somebody doesn’t do that. And doesn’t feel like they need to call their shrink in the middle of the night,” he said.
“I—” She had started to say she hadn’t done that, and then gave up. “I was s-scared.”
“Now why would you be scared of me? I told you I would never hurt you. And I never will.”
Gloria didn’t have an answer for that.
Beaufort said, “Why were you looking in my wallet? Was there anything interesting in there?”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“You didn’t see what was on that piece of paper?”
She looked at him as if trying to gauge whether admitting it would get her into more trouble. Then she shook her head, cautiously. “No. You grabbed me before I could look at it.”
She was a lousy liar. She was lying and he knew it. She knew that what was written on the piece of paper was a telephone number, and if she called it she’d know that at least one of the people living there was that Quinn woman. But chances are, even if she had seen it, she wouldn’t have been able to memorize it.
“Well, you can believe it wasn’t that woman’s phone number. I did go over there, but they’re really boring people and the husband had been pressuring me to look through his telescope. I got it over with and came home. I didn’t tell you because I figured you’d be jealous. And look at you.”
Gloria smiled her best, most trusting smile.