Page 19 of Death in the Family
“That must have been stressful.”
She lowered her head and worked her fingers through her tangled hair. It was looking a little greasy, her body’s reaction to the ordeal. “You have no idea,” she said.
“Are you and Jasper serious?”
“We haven’t been dating that long. But yeah, I would call it serious.”
“Jasper’s brother, Flynn? He told me Jasper plans to propose.”
Her brown eyes went wide. “What? He said that?”
“He also said you were recently fired from your job. Is that true?”
Her mind was still on the proposal, so she didn’t answer right away. After a few seconds she blinked and remembered where she was. “I wasn’t fired. They were downsizing, and I was happy to leave. They had me working like fifty hours a week for next to no pay. Some days Jas and I wouldn’t see each other at all, even if I stayed over at his place. I’d get home from an event at two a.m. and leave again at six that morning. It sucked.”
“If you married Jasper, an American citizen, you wouldn’t have needed that job.” I nodded at the stately room. “You might not need a job at all.”Welcome to the lap of luxury.Get comfortable. It was the same suggestion I’d made to Flynn about Ned. The odds that the Sinclairs’ gargantuan wealth didn’t play a part in the family’s relationships seemed slim. Just like Flynn, though, Abella dismissed it at once.
“I’m not looking for a free ride. And it’s not like in the movies. It can take a year or more to get a spousal visa. I want to work.” Her chest rose and fell under her pajama top. “I love him,” she said weakly. “I’m not using him.”
But is he using you?Flynn claimed his brother was the love’em, leave ’em type, and that Abella caught him out. I couldn’t picture this woman attacking her boyfriend with so many others sleeping nearby, and there was no chance she could relocate a dead man’s body alone. “Were you fighting last night? Around midnight?”
“What? No way. I was asleep way before that.”
If Flynn lied about hearing an argument, I thought, he was a fool. Voices loud enough to reach him through his closed door would have been heard by everyone else on that floor, too. “Have you ever talked about working for Sinclair Fabrics?” I asked, remembering Flynn’s statement.I’d love to, of course!
“Work with Flynn and Bebe?” Abella looked appalled. “Not a chance in hell.”
Huh. “Ned does it, doesn’t he?”
“Not for much longer. He’s being considered for a Burberry campaign, and a bunch of others, too. As soon as one of those comes through, he’s gone.”
“How does Jasper feel about Ned leaving him in the lurch?”
“He’s totally okay with it. It’s a huge opportunity for Ned, way bigger than what he’s got now. Jas wants that for him—I do, too. We’re friends, all of us. We care about each other.”
“You, Jasper, and Ned.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s weird,” I said, “because Flynn made it sound like you were excited about the idea of working with Jasper.”
She glanced at the closed library door. “I love Jasper,” she repeated. “That doesn’t mean I love his family.”
“But you’ve only just met them. How do you know you won’t get along?”
I could see her withdrawing, questioning the wisdom of sayingmore. I’d hit on something with this line of questioning. The moment I mentioned Flynn’s name Abella started avoiding my gaze. Through her parted lips I spotted a small gap between her front teeth. It made her look like an anxious child.
“Camilla’s great,” Abella said. “I wish I could have met her sooner. Had more time with her, you know?”
I nodded. It was a testament to Camilla’s stamina that she was still spending the summers on a relatively isolated island. At her age, her days with the family were numbered. The question was whether Abella’s were, too.
“What about Bebe and Flynn?”
“I don’t really know them.”
Again I mentioned the age difference between Jasper and Flynn. “How are things with them, relationship-wise?”
“Not all brothers and sisters get along.”
