Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 158191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 791(@200wpm)___ 633(@250wpm)___ 527(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 158191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 791(@200wpm)___ 633(@250wpm)___ 527(@300wpm)
Scarlet’s stomach knotted. She sent up a silent prayer to the universe. Let me be wrong about her intentions. But she knew she wasn’t. Very gently, she put her hand on Joan’s arm as if she could hold her there. “Tell me where your brother is right now, Joan. Where’s Luke?” Luke was older by a year and, as a rule, he generally was hovering close to Joan, daring anyone to get ugly with her. The siblings were close, and it was rare to see one without the other.
“On another trip with Mom. As usual she said I didn’t meet her requirements and couldn’t go. This one was to Argentina. I’ve always wanted to go there, and she knew it. I did everything she asked of me. I studied, got the grades. I didn’t talk to anyone she told me was beneath us even though it sucked, and everyone hates me because they think I’m like she is.”
Scarlet knew she was in a minefield and she had to be very careful as she negotiated her way through it. “Who is at home with you?” Joan’s father wasn’t in the picture and hadn’t been for so long no one ever spoke of him.
Joan shrugged carelessly. “I’m on my own.”
That was Scarlet’s greatest fear. Two teenage boys came in, both punching at each other, but stopped abruptly when they saw her eyes on them. They skidded to a halt, mouths dropping open when they caught sight of the woman who had walked in just as Scarlet was taking Joan to the private table in the corner. She couldn’t blame them. The woman was looking through the books in the reference area on Egyptian pyramids. That, for some reason, sent a warning chill down her spine. It just happened to be the same reference books that Aleksei had been interested in. No one else had looked at those books in the entire time she’d worked there. What were the chances? A coincidence? She wasn’t buying it.
“How long is your mother going to be gone this time, Joan?” Scarlet asked. She kept the boys in her line of vision and tried to keep the newcomer in sight as well while giving Joan the impression that her entire attention was on her. She had to keep her voice pitched low and tuned to Joan’s exact energy path in order to keep the teenager compelled to answer her.
“Another few days.”
Scarlet continued to look at her. Joan sighed. “Another two weeks. She’s always gone, you know that. She never stays with us.”
“Is Alison there?” Alison was the housekeeper. As far as Scarlet knew, Alison was the one generally looking after Luke and Joan.
“Mom fired her.”
“Why in the world would Brenda fire Alison?” That shocked Scarlet, and few things shocked her. Luke and Joan came into the library almost daily, and sometimes Alison came with them. Never Brenda, their mother. For quite a while she had thought Alison was their mother.
“Luke made a mistake. He can’t love anyone as much as he loves Mom. He was angry with her and he told her that she might as well just not come home at all. Sign papers and give us to Alison. We’d tell the judge we wanted to live with her. The moment he said it, we knew it was a mistake. We both love Alison and the way he said it, Mom could tell. She all but attacked Alison. I think if Luke hadn’t interfered, Mom would have really hurt her. She fired her and made Alison leave right then.” There was a sob in her voice. Tears glistened in her eyes, but Joan didn’t shed them. She dashed them away and looked determined. Defiant. Petrified.
Again, Scarlet had a very bad feeling. Joan was afraid and she’d made up her mind that she wasn’t going to be alive when her brother got back from Argentina.
“Joan, you really want to tell me what you’re so afraid of.” Scarlet lowered her voice even more, whispering directly into the girl’s ear. She had worked and worked on this skill. Practiced hours and hours to use exactly the right tone. She didn’t always succeed, but quite a lot of the time, she could be persuasive, and right then, she knew she needed to be. If she wasn’t, if she blew it, she might lose this girl.
Joan went white. She shook her head over and over. Tears trickled down her face. She looked down at her hands and then finally leaned close to Scarlet. “She lets him come when she’s not home. She tells him I’ll be alone. He gives her money so she can pretend we’re rich and she can go on trips.” Her hands trembled and she pressed them both over her lips as if she was telling a secret that should never have been said aloud.