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

said, “Because she knew she had no right to a single dime my father made. We settled out of court.”

“Because you didn’t want bad press,” Noah asked, “or because you didn’t want your father’s reputation sullied?”

“Both,” Celeste admitted.

“What were the terms of the settlement?” Josie asked. “Was she still receiving payments from you at the time of her death?”

Celeste waved a hand in the air. “Goodness, no. She was given a cash settlement plus the land. Enough to build a house and live comfortably for many years. I never saw her again. We never spoke. I never went to her house. She never came here.”

Noah said, “You’re telling me in all the years that your sister—”

“Half-sister,” Celeste corrected.

“In all the years that your half-sister was only a few miles down the road, on property that used to be part of Harper’s Peak, you never once saw her?”

“That is correct,” Celeste said. “Neither of us had any desire to see or speak to one another.”

Josie eyed Tom. “What about you, Mr. Booth? Did you ever meet Lorelei Mitchell?”

“No,” he said. “I never had any cause to meet her.” He looked down his nose at Adam. “I only knew about her because when I first came on as managing director, Celeste and I talked about expanding the resort again, and the issue of property boundaries came up.”

Adam withdrew his hand from Celeste’s. “You were going to expand the resort? Again? Without discussing it with me?”

Celeste waved a dismissive hand and made a noise of exasperation in her throat. “We never got anywhere with it. There was no point in discussing it since we weren’t going through with it.” She looked at Josie and then Noah. “Now that you know my life story, can you tell me if there’s a point to all this besides the fact that Lorelei has been murdered? Surely, you don’t think I had anything to do with it.”

“We haven’t ruled anything out,” said Noah. “But the real reason we’re here is because one of Lorelei’s children is still alive, and unless her next of kin takes her in, she’ll go into the foster care system.”

At this point, the very last thing Josie wanted to do was hand Emily Mitchell over to this woman, but she didn’t get to decide. The laws of the Commonwealth dictated what would happen to Emily now that Lorelei was dead. Marcie Riebe would be in charge of placing her, whether it was with Celeste and Adam or someone in the foster care system.

Adam said, “Lorelei had children? Celeste, did you know that?”

Celeste shook her head. “Of course I didn’t know.”

He shot a glare at Tom but Tom only shrugged. “I never even met the woman. I didn’t know either.”

Celeste asked, “What does this have to do with us?”

“As Detective Fraley said, we’re here because you’re her next of kin,” Josie said.

“How many children did she have?” Adam asked.

Celeste shot him a dirty look. “Who cares, Adam?”

Noah said, “Two. Holly was the girl found on your property.”

“Wait, what?” Celeste said, springing up from her seat. “That girl was her—her daughter?”

“Your niece,” said Josie.

Celeste’s mouth clamped shut. Her lips pressed into a thin line. Josie could see her losing control of her emotions. “She was just a… just a kid.”

“Oh my God,” said Adam. His tears flowed freely down his face. “And she was—someone murdered her?”

“Yes,” said Josie. “I’m very sorry.”

Tom said nothing. His face showed no emotion. On the couch, Adam’s shoulders shook. Celeste was still on her feet, staring at them, her eyes filling up even as Josie could clearly see her trying to hold back the emotion. “How old was she?”

“Twelve,” said Noah.

“Oh God,” Celeste said, covering her mouth with one hand.

Adam looked up. “You said there was another one? A girl?”

“Yes,” said Josie. “Emily. She’s eight.”

“Wait. She was the Amber Alert we got last night,” he said. “You found her?”

“Yes,” Noah answered. “She was hiding. She was safe.”

“But we didn’t know that,” Josie said. “So the Amber Alert had to go out.”

“Of course,” said Adam.

“What about their father?” Celeste asked.

“Evidently, he wasn’t in the picture,” said Noah. “There was no father listed on their birth certificates. Emily said she didn’t have a father. We found no evidence in the house to indicate that a male was living there.”

“The poor girl,” Adam said. “She must be traumatized.”

“Yes,” said Noah. “She lost her mother and sister all in one day and now she has to leave her home. She hid in a closet during the murder. She was in there for several hours and ate some spoiled food. She’s been at the hospital with food poisoning, but she’ll need a place to go soon. Child Services is already involved. They prefer that a family member take her until more permanent arrangements can be made.”

“We can’t take her,” Celeste said. “She doesn’t even know us!”

“Celeste,” said Adam.

She looked down at him. “No. I don’t mean that we can’t take her because she’s Lorelei’s child. I only mean that she’ll need some support, someone with her, and we’re working almost around the clock. We can’t leave her here in this house alone, Adam.”

He stood up and looked into his wife’s eyes. “You heard them, it’s only temporary. We can figure something out for a few days. There are plenty of staff to fill in for us. We can even take shifts if you’d like.”

Tom stepped forward, moving closer to Celeste. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

Adam whirled on him. “You stay out of this.”

Celeste touched Adam’s arm. “Stop.”

“No,” said Adam. “I’ve had enough of him. What we’re talking about right now is between the two of us. It has nothing to do with him. This is our decision to make.”

Tom said, “You have to think of the public relations implications.”

Adam stabbed a finger in the air in front of Tom’s face. “Shut up. Not another word. I’m talking to my wife.”

As he turned back to her, Celeste shook her head. “We can’t—”

“She has nowhere