Her Sister's Keeper. Julia Penney

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СКАЧАТЬ was a room-service cart draped with a white linen parked near the door. A single long- stemmed rose, apricot-colored, in a slender glass vase with a spray of baby’s breath and a sprig of leather leaf, was on the cart, along with a covered plate, a napkin, still folded and unused, several pieces of silverware and a teapot with accompanying cup and saucer.

      “What did she order for room service, T. Ray?”

      “Looks like a bowl of clear beef broth, some soup crackers and a pot of ginger tea. Didn’t touch any of it, though. I’m not surprised. She must’ve been pretty sick for a while, judging from how dehydrated she is.”

      Kent checked out the bathroom, noting the neat array of feminine toiletries beside the sink, and the thick terry-cloth towel, damp and crumpled in a careless heap on the floor after the victim had apparently taken a shower.

      “Has the bathroom been checked out?” he called to T. Ray.

      “Head to tail with a fine-tooth comb. You know how Murphy is. They’ve vacuumed for hair samples and sprayed for blood, videotaped, photographed, measured and sketched. Paw around all you want, Doc, just don’t touch the body. That’s my domain.”

      Kent pulled his own notebook out, annoyed by the tremble in his hand as he wrote. Melanie reminded him of Susan. There was no use denying the way she made him feel, and it wasn’t just the beauty and grace of her. There was something else, some intangible quality he couldn’t quite put his finger on…. He moved through the guest room methodically, jotting notes and making sketches, his years of police work inuring him to the buzz and bustle of activity around him until he heard Murphy speak his name. He glanced up as she strode into the room.

      “How’s it going, Kent?” she said, her words terse and her dark eyes flashing with a restlessness he’d grown used to over the years.

      “I’m about done here.”

      “Good. Your young woman’s asking to speak with you,” she said. “The paramedics have checked her over. She’s in a state of moderate shock, not surprising considering that’s probably the first body she’s ever seen. The next time you ask a woman out, I suggest taking her to the movie theater instead.”

      “She’s not my young woman,” Kent said with a flash of irritation. “She’s just a client who gave me a ride to the scene and for some reason followed me up here.”

      Murphy’s eyes narrowed skeptically. “Whatever you say. I’ll have one of the officers drive her home when she’s ready. She’s in no condition to sit behind the wheel of a car. She’s pretty shaken up, though she won’t admit it.”

      “Thanks. And I’m sorry about her barging in like that. I don’t know how she ever got through the barricades.”

      “The officer thought she was with you. You’re forgiven, just barely. What do you make of the victim?”

      Kent crouched on his heels again to examine the body. “Looks pretty much like the victim we found this morning. I’m thinking we’re going to see the same cause of death.”

      “If that’s the case it will be the first real clue that these two women have a common denominator.” She straightened with a frustrated shake of her head, then touched Kent’s arm. “Better go see your young woman. She could use some professional soothing, but make it quick. I’m going to ride along with

      T. Ray to the preliminary postmortem.” Kent rose to his feet, too distracted to correct Murphy for a second time about his lack of involvement with Melanie. At the present moment he didn’t feel the least bit professional, or even remotely capable of soothing another human being. The two crime scenes today, plus Melanie’s involvement, had brought back too many memories of Susan. Nonetheless, he forced himself to return to the adjacent room, where Melanie was sitting up on the edge of the bed, refusing to take the hot drink that one of Murphy’s officers was offering. As soon as Melanie spotted Kent, she rose to her feet. Her face was still very pale. Murphy was right. She was badly shaken and appeared on the verge of tears.

      “It’s all right,” Kent said to Melanie, giving the officer a nod of dismissal after retrieving the mug of hot cocoa from her. “I’m sorry you had to see that, but you shouldn’t have followed me up here. This is a crime scene, and civilians aren’t allowed.”

      “I…I didn’t know if you wanted me to wait for you or not….” She sat back down again. “You left so suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. I was parked in and couldn’t leave, so I thought I should find you and ask….”

      Kent felt a pang of guilt. He had left her abruptly, with no explanation. “You should drink some of this,” he said, extending the mug. “It might make you feel better.”

      Melanie shook her head. “Thank you, but nothing will make me feel better right now.”

      Kent sighed. He set the cup on the bedside table and drew up a chair. “Look, if you think it’ll help, I’ll write out a prescription, something that you can take when you get home….”

      She shook her head, then drew in a sharp, gasping breath and covered her face. She remained rigid for a few moments, then dropped her hands. Her eyes burned into his, filled with the same nameless torment he’d glimpsed in his office…only this time it was far more intense.

      “You don’t understand,” she said in a voice that trembled with emotion. “My sister Ariel and I haven’t spoken in six months. I never wanted to see her again after what she did. When Stephanie called and begged me to come to the special dinner to celebrate the birth of Ari’s little girl, I…I hung up on her! Oh, God, she was my best friend. That was the last time we talked….”

      Kent had to resist the urge to take Melanie into his arms when she buried her face in her hands and painful sobs shook her slender, vulnerable form. Instead, he racked his rattled brain for something soothing to say while at the same time he was processing everything she’d just said. Melanie wasn’t making any sense, but she was obviously distraught. Hadn’t Murphy said the victim’s name was Stephanie Hawke? And the movie star with the young baby was Ariel something-or-other? Was it possible that Melanie was connected in some way with this crime scene? Kent’s thoughts were jumbled.

      “I’m sure she realizes why you were upset,” he said, confused. “That’s what best friends are for. Maybe you should consider calling her back and accepting that invitation to dinner. Whatever happened between your sister and yourself, it’s never too late to make amends.”

      Under the circumstances, this was the best Kent could manage, but if Murphy had thought his professional training would be of some comfort to Melanie, she’d been dead wrong. Never in his entire career had Kent’s words generated such a negative response. Melanie dropped her trembling hands, raised her streaming face and stared at him for a few moments in silent shock.

      “You don’t understand,” she repeated. “I’ve known Stephanie for years. She was my closest friend, yet I lost my temper with her because she befriended my sister. I can’t ever make amends for that, because she’s lying on the floor of that bedroom, dead. My best friend is dead.”

      CHAPTER THREE

      TWO HOURS AFTER officially identifying Stephanie’s body СКАЧАТЬ