Blood Bond Read Free Page B

lining up campaign funding. Though we’re all sworn to secrecy.”
    These last words were laced with a sneer. Marva evidently didn’t care for her sister’s husband.
    â€œWhen Gail came in with the news, what happened next? Did she call the police right away?”
    Marva shook her head. Her fingers went to her necklace, a silver pendant slippery between her fingers—a curved form that might have been a leaf. “She asked me to. She came into the dining room and told me she thought Tom was dead—I mean she whispered, so no one else would hear—she said call nine-one-one and tell them. And after I got up she told the others there had been an accident and they all went outside.”
    â€œEveryone?”
    Marva nodded, then brushed her hand across her forehead, pushing the wayward curls aside only to have them spring back immediately. “Bryce was kind of holding on to Elena’s arm—I don’t think they should have let her go. She started screaming. I could hear it from in here. Gail said Bryce had to hold her back. Because, because of the clues, you know . . . he thought of that.”
    â€œYou mean because of the evidence. Bryce was concerned that she might disrupt evidence?”
    â€œYes, that’s right.”
    Joe nodded. He wondered if he should offer Marva comfort, and was surprised at the impulse. Ordinarily detachment was not a problem for him. “He did the right thing. The less the scene is disturbed, the better.”
    Marva didn’t seem to be listening. “I don’t think Sheree and Harold should have gone outside, either, really. Who needs to see that? And we’re all practically strangers to each other. I mean, except for Gail and Bryce.”
    â€œDoes your sister often do that—have people to dinner who aren’t intimates . . .”
    â€œAnd then add me.” Marva took a drink of her water and set the glass down carefully. She licked her lips as though they were parched, as though no amount of water would help. “I shouldn’t complain; at least they invite me. I could be home with Netflix.”
    Joe was surprised. Marva struck him as the sort of woman who’d have no shortage of invitations, although it wouldn’t be the first time he’d found that his tastes ran outside the mainstream. Marva was certainly attractive, but it was a quiet intensity, a directness in her gaze, that made her exceptional. Granted, the circumstances were unusual, so it was hard to get a fix on what she was really like, but he still had trouble seeing her in the role of a lonely-heart.
    â€œAnd so when the others went outside, were you alone in the house?”
    â€œYes. I was on with nine-one-one, and then I just, I started clearing. I mean I suppose that sounds heartless, but I needed something to do. With my hands. It helps with the anxiety.”
    Even now, he could see her slim fingers moving, pressing the fabric of her pants into pleats.
    â€œBefore it happened. You didn’t hear anything, see anything—”
    Marva was shaking her head before he got the question out. “No one did. Tom said he was going out for a smoke. I could tell Elena didn’t like that.”
    â€œShe said something?”
    â€œNo, she just—you know how husbands and wives are. She, like, looked at him, not exactly angry but—” Marva paused, made a gesture with her hands, squeezing the air. “Tight, I guess I would say. He turned the other way, so he could pretend he didn’t see it.” After a moment she added, softly, “My ex used to do that.”
    Something, Joe thought, to remember for later. Though why, he wasn’t sure; Marva was telling the truth when she said she didn’t know anything. He’d bet on it. If Bertrise’s gift as a cop was excavation, getting to the bottom of things, his own was these little blips of certainty. Not psychic, nothing like that; he was