No Comfort for the Lost Read Free Page A

I find him?”
    The pencil hovered over Nicholas Greaves’ notebook. Celia felt a chill, one that no amount of gripping her coffee cup would warm. “His full name is Tom Davies.” She paused. “He is my brother-in-law.”
    • • •
    N ick set down his pencil. “You could’ve told me earlier that Li Sha had been living with a member of your family, Mrs. Davies.”
    Her eyes had taken on a definite coolness. “He is a member of my husband’s family.”
    Not her family, but her husband’s. A distinction that suggested just how well she and Tom Davies got along.
    “You’ve got to admit it looks suspicious that you’ve been keeping his name from me.” He peered at her. Off to their left, the man who owned the coffeehouse was inching close again. “Care to come up with a different answer to who you think might have killed Li Sha?”
    Mrs. Davies’ cup clinked against the saucer as she set it down. “Just because we are not fast friends does not make Tom a killer. He cared for Li Sha. That much I know about him. He wouldn’t hurt her or their child.”
    “So he wasn’t the abusive customer who injured her last summer? Or the man who caused those recent bruises on her face?”
    “In the few months they have been together, I have never known him to hit Li Sha.”
    “Somebody did,” Nick said, “and not all that long ago.”
    Her gaze flickered; apparently she hadn’t pondered who’d given the girl the bruises before now. Willful ignorance, maybe.
    “I’ll have to question him,” Nick added.
    “Please don’t interview Tom without me there,” she said. “I owe it to my husband to support his brother as best I can. And I expect Tom will be devastated to hear Li Sha has died. He intended to marry her.”
    “Men may use these women, Mrs. Davies. They may even believe that they’re in love with them. But they never marry them.”
    “That is not always true.”
    She had to be thinking of her uncle and the Chinese woman who’d given him a daughter. So they’d married, then. Would’ve had to, in order for the girl to have inherited the house. But a personal example hardly meant that vague promises by her brother-in-law could be trusted.
    “Nonetheless,” Nick said, “love can easily turn to jealousy, and jealousy is a powerful—and sometimes violent—emotion.”
    “What or whom would Tom possibly be jealous of?”
    “Perhaps she’d found another man or had threatened to take the baby away. Whatever the reason, I’ll find that out, too.” Standing, he retrieved coins from a vest pocket and dropped them onto the table. “That ought to cover my part of the bill.” He hadn’t even touched his coffee.
    “Are you going to Tom’s right now?”
    “I have an investigation to conduct, Mrs. Davies,” he said, restoring the notebook to his pocket.
    She scrambled to her feet. “You are not going to be rid of me so easily, Mr. Greaves. I intend to be with you when you talk to my brother-in-law, because I will not let you coerce him into some sort of confused confession.”
    He clenched his jaw. She was too stubborn for her own good. “I’m not giving in this time.”
    “You cannot stop me from following you. I have made Tom a suspect, and I feel answerable to what might happen as a result.”
    “And I’ll have Taylor arrest you for interfering with an investigation.”
    “Be practical. Tom will more readily speak to me than to you, as will anyone else who knew Li Sha. Especially if you are considering questioning any of her Chinese acquaintances. I truly did mean what I said about wanting to see justice served, proper justice, and for that to occur I’m convinced you need my help.”
    He stared at her long and hard. She didn’t budge.
    “Have I told you yet that you remind me of my little sister?” he said.
    “I am trying to imagine you with a younger sister, Mr. Greaves. You must be very protective of her.”
    “I was,” he answered, all the pain of Meg’s death as fresh as if he’d