Page 73 of Little Hidden Fears

“I was going to call you this evening to fill you in, but also, I have a question for you,” I said. “Did Noelle ever mention a woman who came to the center named Dawn Salisbury?”

“The woman who went missing? Yeah, she told me about her. Why do you ask?”

“Noelle hired a private investigator to find Dawn, but he couldn’t. It just seems strange to me that Noelle tempered her relationships with most of the women, but then Dawn came along, and Noelle hired someone to search for her.”

“Yeah, when you put it that way, I guess it is strange.”

“Noelle thought she’d seen the woman somewhere before, but she wasn’t sure where.”

“I know where.”

“What do you mean?”

“She saw her before in the parking lot at the tennis club, talking to someone. No, wait ...arguingwith someone.”

“Arguing with whom?”

“Umm, I don’t know. She didn’t give me a name.”

“I find it suspicious that the same woman who came to the center and then went missing just so happens to have been in an argument with someone at the same place Noelle taught tennis lessons.”

“I’m guessing you’re thinking it’s not a coincidence.”

It wasn’t one.

Of that, I was certain.

CHAPTER 28

I locked the office door and walked to my car, thinking about the comment I’d made to Simone and Hunter about Alexander Beaumont being the kind of person who would go to great lengths to protect his family. It made me wonder ... maybe stealing from the tennis club wasn’t the only dirty deed in Owen’s life. Maybe he had a habit of abusing women—a habit that had been covered up and cleaned up whenever it reared its ugly head.

Was murder part of the clean-up process?

Would Alexander go that far to help his nephew?

Or was I going about it all wrong, perhaps blaming the wrong Beaumont?

While Alexander was getting up there in age, he was fit, which wasn’t to say he’d take it upon himself to deal with Noelle. The notion seemed far-fetched. If he had murdered her, he would have had to find a way to get into Noelle’s house during the party without being seen. Then he’d have to get upstairs, again without being seen. Once there, he would have had to wait for the opportune time to strike. Then leave—without being seen.

I couldn’t envision it at all.

The more likely story—ifNoelle’s murder was Alexander’s doing—was that he had a ‘fixer,’ someone who swept in and took care of ... well, any problem that needed to go away. It was plausible, and in certain elite circles, it was the way things had always been done.

As I allowed the notion to marinate in my mind, I decided to pay another visit to Alexander tomorrow. Tonight, I wanted nothing more than to snuggle up with Luka and relax. Thethought of it brought a smile to my face, as did the thought of Giovanni returning home tomorrow.

I unlocked the car door and opened it, tossing my handbag onto the passenger seat. I was about to step inside when I felt something on the back of my neck.

Someone’s breath—hot and steamy—and I knew I wasn’t alone.

I’d been so caught up in my murder theories, I hadn’t paid enough attention to my surroundings, a big, big mistake on my part.

As I lunged for the gun inside my handbag, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head, strong and numbing. Blood, wet and sticky, trickled down the side of my cheek, and I jerked back, preparing to headbutt my attacker. No sooner had I done it, my head began spinning, and then, everything went black.

CHAPTER 29

“I tell you what—this is the exact reason I have never been able to accept Georgiana’s line of work. Just look at what happened tonight, would you? She could have been killed, for heaven’s sake, and for what? It doesn’t make much sense to solve a person’s murder if you get yourself murdered in the process. As soon as Georgiana wakes up, I’ll tell her as much. It’s time she stopped this nonsense.”

My eyes flashed open, coming to rest on the woman who’d been airing her unsolicited opinions—my mother. She was standing with her back to me, hands on her hips. In front of her was Giovanni, who looked like he was at a loss for words, which, for him, was uncommon.

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