Dead Girl Running (Cape Charade #1)(58)

“It’s not that much different than Memorial Day,” Kellen pointed out. “They visit the graves, remember their dearly departed…”

“Are you kidding? Have you seen how they decorate the skull cakes?” Birdie shuddered. “I wouldn’t eat one of those things!”

“Sounds like Temo isn’t the only superstitious one.” Kellen thought of that pale face floating outside the window, and a quick, sharp shudder ran up her spine. “Did he tell you what happened in California?”

“A little. He was terse. I think with his mother in prison, he has to support his sister and you know how much it costs to live in California.”

“So…money problems?”

“Maybe. But what’s that got to do with Adrian? Why are they teaming up? Why are they avoiding me? And you.”

Temo would do anything for his little sister. He needed money to support her. Maybe he could bring her to Yearning Sands. But if Adrian was the Librarian’s assistant—he wasn’t smart, but he was good with heavy lifting—and if he had brought Temo into the operation, they’d have one smart guy who could fix anything. All of the logic worked. That didn’t mean it was true.

Birdie said, “We have so much work to do to get the resort and the vehicles ready for spring, and the guys are just…not here for me.”

“I’ll speak to them.”

“No. No. I think maybe it’s me.”

“You?” Kellen’s indignation rose. “Why are you blaming yourself?”

“I’m lonely and I’m sad. It makes them avoid me.” Birdie leaned her cheek against a stack of manuals. “The trouble with being a widow is you bear up at the beginning and tell everyone you’re okay, and eventually they believe you and go away. Then you’re alone and there’s nobody…forever.”

Kellen scooted over and rubbed Birdie’s back. Birdie had always been thin, but now every vertebrae felt as distinct as a piano key. The guys weren’t the only ones who had not been there for her. Kellen hadn’t realized, hadn’t thought, that Birdie had barely begun to grieve for her husband, that the shadow of his death would weigh on her for months and maybe years. “I’ll tell you what,” Kellen said. “When Leo and Annie get back, we’ll go on vacation, someplace warm and sunny, maybe one of the Di Luca California resorts. It would be good for both of us.” Kellen remembered tonight, and that flash of a white, dead face at the window. I don’t remember an entire year of my life. Perhaps Annie was right; Kellen needed to go somewhere else and relax. Right now, Yearning Sands wasn’t the safe haven she had hoped. “Does that sound good to you?”

Birdie nodded. “Maybe we can get Carson Lennex to drive us down.”

“What?” Kellen stopped rubbing.

Birdie lifted her head. “We store his car for him. He came by and asked if I’d tune it up, make sure it was road ready. He doesn’t fly, and he’s leaving soon on a trip.”

“Is he?” Kellen thought she kept her tone neutral.

But Birdie glared. “You don’t have to sound that way. I didn’t really mean to ask him if he’d drive us. That would be embarrassing, to treat a movie star like a cabdriver.”

How to warn her without giving offense? “I don’t know that I’d accept a ride from Carson Lennex even if he offered.”

Birdie’s thin spine snapped straight up. “Why not? What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s an actor.” Kellen waved a cautiously dismissive hand. “He’s always wearing a mask, and no one can see beneath it.”

“He was nice and genuine! Honestly, you act like everyone’s out to get you. You’re not that important!”

Kellen caught her breath. That hurt. The tension, the death, the weather—it was eating at them all. “You’re right.” She tried for a little humor. “Only in my own mind.”

The outer door flew open, slammed shut. Temo called, “Birdie, are you here?”

Birdie looked at Kellen.

Kellen shook her head. She didn’t want to talk to Temo; in the kitchen, he had been dismissive of her.

Birdie stood and went over to the railing. “What do you need?”

Kellen heard him rattling around the worktables.

“I’ve got to pick up my tool belt, grab a few things and go to work.”

“Now? It’s dark!” Birdie leaned farther out. “Can’t it wait until morning?”

Kellen hunched down and waited in terror for the answer.

“I was gone. Things need to be done, and I have to keep this job.”

“Kellen won’t fire you for taking time for your family!”

Temo stopped rattling. “She doesn’t have family. She doesn’t understand what they are worth.” The rattling started again. “From now on, I’ll work as much as I can, when I can. That’s what has to be done, and I’m not stopping for anyone.”

Kellen wasn’t family to Temo. It sounded as if he didn’t even consider her much of a friend. And a shiny edge of Kellen’s fantasy crumbled away.





26

In the morning, Mara sat staring at the house phone. As if of its own volition, her hand moved toward the receiver, then back, then out again and grasped it. She lifted it to her ear, dialed the number and fidgeted while the phone rang.