Such a Beautiful Family: A Thriller(63)

Nora sipped a glass of wine as she made a cheese platter of Brie and crackers, olives and nuts. She was trying to relax and thought the wine might do the trick, until she returned to the family room in time to see David on the ladder, reaching high in order to place the star on the very tip of the tree. She could hear the kids in the kitchen, rustling around in the refrigerator, as she watched Jane step up onto the ladder and grasp hold of David’s lower hip area, her chest and chin pressed against his thigh.

She wasn’t sure if Jane realized she had entered the room. Not until Jane looked her way, her face still pressed against David. Nora held her stare, didn’t blink. And what did Jane do? She smiled back at her, a coy yet brazen smile that said, “There’s nothing you can do to stop me. He’s mine, all mine.”

Trevor stepped into the room at that very moment. He looked from Jane to Nora. “What is she doing?”

Jane pulled away, but not in a manner that would suggest she had done anything wrong. Instead, she pulled away slowly, indicating quite the opposite. She belonged here. The Harmons were, indeed, her family. “I’m helping your dad position the star.”

Trevor’s face reddened. “Mom. Are you okay with her pressing her body against Dad?”

“Trevor!” David said, looking over his shoulder at his son. “Jane has been nothing but helpful tonight. Apologize right now.”

Jane stepped off the ladder and pulled on the hem of her dress, which made no difference, considering her legs were a mile long. For the second time that evening, Nora wondered if Jane had planned this entire spectacle. Of course she had.

“I was only trying to help,” Jane said before leaving the room.

By the time they heard the door to the bathroom down the hall click shut, David had climbed down off the ladder. “What is wrong with you, Trevor? That woman is hurting right now, and you’re worried she’s trying to steal me away?” He groaned in obvious frustration as he looked from Trevor to Nora. “What is wrong with this family?”





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Trevor chewed furiously on a piece of toast with jam, making sure not to get any crumbs on his keyboard. He was starved. He’d barely eaten. His stomach had been upset since the moment he saw Jane at their house. He didn’t like that Jane was sleeping on the couch below. She was creepy and weird, and he didn’t care what anyone else thought; she wanted Dad so she would have a family of her own.

It was nearly midnight. Everyone had gone to bed. He wished Mom were awake so he could show her what he’d found. For the past few days, whenever he got the chance, he researched popular databases private investigators used. And he had found a gold mine of information. He paid for two databases, the ones that didn’t need too much information to sign in, using PayPal. He didn’t have much money in the checking account his parents had set up for him when he was ten, but he had enough. Besides, if he found anything useful and even if he didn’t, he was sure Mom would reimburse him.

Yesterday, as he’d scrolled through a list of Jane Lewitts, and there were plenty of them, he had found another article about Greg and Barbara Lewitt fundraising for a homeless shelter. This photo was different, though, because there was another couple, a younger couple, standing next to what looked like a ten-year-old girl and a boy he guessed to be seven or eight.

He clicked on the link he’d saved in his bookmarks. The picture popped up. Leaning close to the screen, he saw Jane’s resemblance to the younger couple and realized they must be her parents. But who was the little boy? The caption read: Greg and Barbara Lewitt at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Also pictured are Barbara Lewitt’s sister and brother-in-law and their two children, two weeks before Bill and Dorothy Schaefer and their son, Lucas, were killed in a head-on collision.

Lucas. Lucas Schaefer.

Grandpa had called Trevor by the name of Lucas. Coincidence?

He typed Lucas Schaefer’s name into the search bar at the top of the page.

He then leaned back in his chair and waited for the results. As he sat there, Tank jump to his feet, a sign that someone had entered his room. Thinking it must be his mom about to tell him to turn off the computer and go to bed, he removed his earbuds, excited to show her what he’d discovered. But when he looked toward the door, his heart skipped a beat.

It was Jane. She looked different. She wore no makeup. Her hair hung loose around one of Hailey’s bigger T-shirts.

His heart thumped hard against his chest as he wondered if she could see what was on his screen behind him. Had he clicked out of the image of Jane and her family? He wasn’t sure. Seeing her standing there had made him lose his ability to think straight. He prayed he had clicked out of the page he’d been on, but just in case, he straightened his spine, hoping his head would block the screen from her prying eyes. Keeping his gaze on hers, he raised his arm so that his elbow and forearm rested on his desk. If he could blindly reach for his keyboard, he could click a few buttons and shut down his computer.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

She smiled. “You’re obviously doing something.”

“Scrolling, tr-trolling, surfing the web.” He cringed. He hadn’t stuttered since he was in kindergarten. She freaked him out.

She took a step toward him. And then another. “Why don’t you like me, Trevor?”