visiting royalty. We were thrilled to see him arrive and breathed a sigh of relief when he left.” She paused. “I think maybe I was the happiest child on earth. But they moved to Florida a year after Dad married Ruby.”
“Do you see them often now?”
“They passed away before my dad died, within months of each other. I still miss them.” She took a bite of green beans. “These are good. Where did your mom get all this?”
“She’s no cook, but she’s great at finding where good food is sold. So where did your stepsister come in?”
Hallie waved her fork about. “That was later. Dad married Ruby when I was eleven, and she and her daughter moved into the house. We need to start on your treatment first thing tomorrow.”
“All right,” Jamie said. He could tell that she didn’t want to talk about her life after her stepmother’s arrival. “What exactly are you planning to do to me?”
“I have to see your injury first.” The shirt he had on was big and concealing, but it couldn’t hide the muscle underneath. “You look like you know how to pick up a dumbbell.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s from Dad and his brother. When they were young they competed in power-lifting matches.”
“Did you compete?”
“Never had the time,” he said.
“What took up your time?” She saw his face change, as though he was about to tell her something but decided not to.
“Would you like some cheesecake?” He had eaten three helpings of everything.
Hallie looked away to hide her expression. Rich kid, she thought. He didn’t want to tell her that his time was taken up by skiing and other pleasures. So be it, she thought. She wouldn’t push him to tell what he didn’t want to.
She moved her nearly empty plate away and stood up. “I’m worn out and I think I’ll go to my room. Will you be all right?”
“I’m fine. I swear that I can bathe and dress myself.”
There was a bit of tension in his voice, but she ignored it. She was too tired to wonder what was bothering him. She reached for her plate to take it to the sink, but he took it from her.
“I’ll clean up, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“And I’ll look at your leg.” She covered her yawn. “Mmmm. Sorry. See you in the morning.” The house was so new to her that she had to think about where the stairs were. She had to go through the living room and past Jamie’s narrow bed to get to the front stairs.
At the top she looked right and left. Each doorway led to a bedroom. She wished that when she first saw the rooms she had chosen which was to be hers. She stepped left, but it was almost as though she heard two female voices say, “No.”
She went to the right and felt a sense of calm, as though the old house was smiling at her. There was a pretty chorus of voices who whispered, “Hyacinth.” Maybe she should have been frightened, but it was almost as though she was being welcomed. Smiling, she thought how she needed to undress, take a shower, and find her nightclothes in her suitcase. For that matter, she needed to find her luggage.
It was still daylight out, but between the eventful day and overwhelming emotion, she was worn out. The big bed beckoned and she threw back the covers to expose crisp white sheets. The bed was high off the floor and she had to throw her leg up to get on it. She told herself that she was just going to test the mattress. Were the pillows any good?
She put her head down and was instantly asleep.
Jamie finished putting the kitchen back in order and had just sat down in the chair at his desk when his cell buzzed.
“I’ve been trying to get you all day!” his brother said. “Can’t you carry the damned phone with you?”
“I came here to get away,” Jamie said, unperturbed by his brother’s anger.
“From them, but not from me,” Todd said and when Jamie was silent, he backed down. “All right, do whatever you want. What’s she like? Other than too beautiful to be real?”
“It’s not the girl you saw in those photos,” Jamie said. “The blonde is the stepsister. Jared didn’t tell me the details, but she pulled a con and tried to steal the house.”
“That’s illegal,” Todd said, his voice stern.
“Yeah, Detective Chief Inspector, it is. Why don’t you drive down to Boston and find out the truth of it all?”
“I can’t now. I’m dealing with a string of armed robberies and what may turn out to be a homicide case. What I want to know is how you are.”