Mona Lisa Eyes (Danny Logan Mystery #4) Read Free Page A

Jacob. I can only imagine he hoped that by moving the girls to Seattle, perhaps the responsibility of being on their own in a distant location would encourage them to—” she searched for the right word, “—frankly, to grow up, to live their lives in what you might call a more dignified fashion compared to the manner in which they’d been behaving in London.”
    “Either that,” Oliver said softly, “or he hoped that their being half a world removed from the London paparazzi would somehow take them out of the limelight .”
    Cecilia glanced at him, and then she continued. “Perhaps. In any case, Jacob sent them to us.” She paused, then added, “God help us.”
    “And did it work?” I asked . “Did they ‘grow up,’ as you put it?”
    “To my surprise, I’d have to say yes as regards Sophie . Less so with Nicki, although I feel compelled to admit that she has managed to mostly stay out of the newspapers here.” She paused, then added, “And out of jail .”
    “You said Sophie’d grown up since she’d been here?” I said.
    Cecilia nodded. “I can’t vouch for her behavior after hours—we weren’t privy to that , and I can only imagine what happened then. But she did seem to be taking her time at work seriously . She had seemed to mature some.”
    “That rather undersells it , dear,” Oliver said, smiling. He turned to us. “I worked with Sophie on a daily basis, and I can say without reserve that she seemed to have a knack for relating to our donors. Sophie was quite effective.”
    “Sorry,” I said, “I wasn’t clear about that—I wasn’t sure Sophie actually worked at your foundation.”
    “Yes, she did ,” Oliver said. “Jacob appointed her to the board, but her everyday assignment was donor relations.”
    “And what is it that the Beatrice Thoms Memorial Foundation actually does?” Toni asked as she took notes.
    “Our Foundation is a relief organization,” Cecilia said. “My brother formed it and named it after our mother, Beatrice Thoms. The primary mission is to help the desperate peoples in the countries of eastern Africa—Somalia, Kenya , and Ethiopia in particular.”
    “You said donor relations,” Toni said to Oliver. “What does that entail?”
    Oliver nodded. “Fund-raising , donor communications and interactions—that sort of thing. He paused , then added, “Of course, our initial reason for moving the fund’s headquarters to Seattle from London back in 2006 was that we’d noticed a certain degree of resonance with the technology crowd here. They tended to be relatively young and quite wealthy, with well-developed social consciences. They responded to our message with vigor. Sophie was able to tap into this—frankly, even better than I’d been able to. Her, her—” he struggled for the word.
    “Vibrancy ,” Cecilia said.
    “Exactly. She was a natural. Her vibrancy, her passion, her youth enabled her to quickly connect with our donor base. They liked her—loved her, actually.” He smiled . “Frankly, I think they treated her like a rock star .” Oliver had been getting enthusiastic, but suddenly he sobered, remembering why he was visiting us.
    We paused for a moment , catching up with our note taking. When we were done , Toni said, “Why don’t you fill us in a little about Nicki while you’re here.”
    Cecilia looked at her watch. “Alright, then. We still have a few minutes .” She looked up at us. She shook her head. “Nicki . Where should I start?”
    “Does Nicki work at the Foundation as well?” I asked.
    “Humph,” Cecilia said, chuckling. “Technically, yes . She sits on the board and draws a decent salary —same as Sophie did.” She paused, and then she added , “But unlike Sophie, she’s rarely attended board meetings, and she seldom comes to the office.”
    “So it’s fair to say that she treats her role differently than Sophie did?” I said.
    “That’s one way of putting it . Another way, perhaps more to the point,