Hush Little Girl by Lisa Regan (first e reader .txt) 📗

walked in, he stood, setting his things onto the table. His smile seemed forced. He looked beyond them to Celeste. “What’s going on? Have you found something out about the girl at the church?”

Celeste strode over to him. “They found something out, all right, but not about that girl.” Glaring at them, she said, “Go ahead, say whatever it is you’ve got to say.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” said Adam. He glanced at Tom, who stood just behind Celeste, always at her heels. “Does he need to be here?”

Celeste didn’t answer.

Tension filled the room like a thick, noxious gas. Adam looked from Celeste to Tom and back. Tom stood perfectly still, hands holding his iPad at his waist.

Adam said, “Celeste, what happens in this house doesn’t concern him.”

Celeste narrowed her eyes at her husband. “But what happens on the resort does. He’s the manager. He needs to know everything that might be of concern to the business.”

“It’s our business, not his,” Adam said.

Celeste sighed. “Tom has been with me almost as long as you have, don’t forget.”

Adam pressed an index finger to his own chest. “But I’m your husband. He’s an employee.”

Celeste gave him a cool glare. “This is my business. Mine. I decide what’s ultimately best for it. Tom needs to hear this.”

Adam opened his mouth, as if he were going to argue more, then clamped it shut, shook his head and gestured toward Josie and Noah. “What is it?”

Noah said, “Yesterday, Lorelei Mitchell was shot and killed in her home.”

Josie saw the tremor in Celeste’s lower lip even as she fought to control her emotions. “What did you say?”

Adam looked at Celeste. “Did you know about this?”

“Know about it? How the hell would I know about it?”

Josie said, “We looked into the property records. Her home is so remote, and we haven’t been able to find a single close relative. That’s when we found out that the house she lived in, the land she lived on, was given to her nineteen years ago by Harper’s Peak Industries.”

Celeste narrowed her eyes. “So?”

“So,” said Noah. “She paid one dollar for twenty acres of land. That’s pretty unusual.”

“Very unusual,” Josie said. “Which made us wonder why Harper’s Peak Industries would give a woman twenty acres of land for one dollar.”

“Get to the point,” Celeste snapped.

“We checked court records. They’re a matter of public record, but they’re also extremely old and some of the pleadings were sealed for privacy, but there was enough information for us to figure out the relationship between the two of you,” Josie said.

Celeste rolled her eyes. “There is no relationship.”

“Really?” Noah said as Josie handed him a legal pleading from the stack of documents she had brought with her. He made a show of studying it before holding it out to Celeste. She refused to take it. “It says here that she was your sister.”

“She was not my sister.”

Tom surged forward and tried to get a look at the document, but Adam snatched it from Noah’s hand and made a sound of exasperation. “Celeste, that’s enough.”

She shot him a glare but kept silent.

He said, “Lorelei Mitchell is—was—Celeste’s half-sister, but she’s right. They didn’t have a relationship.”

Tom said, “Adam, let me see that.”

Adam ignored him.

“Did you?” Josie asked Adam. “Have a relationship with Lorelei?”

Adam shook his head. “I never met her.” He pointed to the date on the document, which was a property deed. “This was all arranged the year before we married. My wife is correct in one sense: she and Lorelei did not have a relationship of any kind, even though they were technically half-sisters.”

“All these years she lived just down the road,” Josie said, “you never had any contact with her at all?”

Tom said, “No one on this resort had contact with her.”

Finally, Adam looked at him. “What did you say?”

When Tom didn’t answer, Adam looked at Celeste. “You told him?”

Tom took a step toward Adam, his face impassive. “Of course she did. I am the managing director of this resort. I need to know about anything that could negatively impact the business.”

“This has nothing to do with the business,” Adam growled, poking Tom’s chest hard, sending him stumbling back a step. “My wife’s personal life is none of your concern.”

Tom held his ground. “This has everything to do with the business,” he said, brushing his jacket where Adam had pushed him. “What will happen when the press finds out that Celeste Harper had a secret half-sister who was murdered? If the police found this out just by searching public records, the press will be right behind. The resort doesn’t need this type of scandal, Adam.”

“There is no scandal,” Adam spat.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Tom said. “You stick to cooking.”

Adam lunged for Tom, a fist flying. The property deed sailed through the air, fluttering to the floor. Noah launched himself between the two men. Adam’s blow glanced off Noah’s shoulder. Tom staggered backward, nearly falling. His hand shot out and grasped the arm of one of the couches, regaining his balance. His face went white with shock. “How dare you?” he spluttered.

“Me?” Adam said, still straining to reach Tom, chest to chest with Noah. Over Noah’s shoulder, he pointed an accusing finger at Tom’s face. “You have some nerve. Did you hear what they said? A woman is dead. All you care about is public relations. How dare you?”

Every head turned when Celeste spoke, her voice high and reedy. “Lorelei Mitchell is—was—a horrible person.”

“Celeste,” admonished Adam, brushing himself off as Noah released him.

He stepped toward her and reached out to touch her shoulder, but she slapped his hand away. “No, I won’t lie and pretend that she was some wonderful person just because she’s dead. I’ve had to lie my entire life because of her. I’m finished.”

“No one is asking you to lie, Celeste,” Tom said.

Josie expected Adam to lash out at the younger man once more, but he kept his attention on Celeste. “I love you dearly, Celeste, you know that,