Free Deadly Little Sins by Kara Taylor Page B

in their asses like untrained poodles.”
    “Um, well…” I try not to fixate on the fact that she still hasn’t blinked.
    “Are you a poodle?” Caroline says. A nervous laugh escapes my lips, but when her stony expression doesn’t change, I realize she was serious.
    “No,” I say. “I’m not here to ask you for money. I had a question about another graduate who’s joining the liaison. I believe you and she were friends.”
    Caroline’s lips form a line in a way that makes me think this chick wasn’t exactly rolling in friends in high school. Not exactly a shocker, if so.
    “Oh really,” she says. “And who is that?”
    “Natalie Barnes,” I say. “What can you tell me about her?”
    Caroline leans across the coffee table separating us, as if she’s about to tell me a secret. “You have thirty seconds to get out of my house before I call the police.”
    I grip the armrests of my chair. “So you did know Natalie?”
    Caroline gets up. I leap out of the chair as she advances on me. “Natalie Barnes is a lying, conniving little psychopath, and I haven’t seen her in over ten years.”
    “I’m not trying to cause trouble,” I say, backing up. The backs of my heels meet the wall. “Natalie is missing, and I just want to find her.”
    “So you came to me ? Is this a sick joke?” Caroline’s eyes flash. “I didn’t touch Natalie. Get. Out. Of my house.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s why I came—”
    “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
    The dog resumes barking its head off. I bolt for the door as a pug with a horrendous overbite barrels down the stairs, followed by a tall brunette yelling after it.
    “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me,” the brunette says as my feet hit the porch steps.
    I whip my head around. You’ve got to be freaking kidding me is right.
    The brunette is Alexis Westbrook.

CHAPTER
    TWELVE
    “What are you doing here?” I demand.
    Alex’s nostrils flare. “In what possible scenario could you possibly be the one with the right to ask that question? I live here.”
    “What—why?”
    “How did you find me here?” she demands. “No one was supposed to find me here.”
    “Are you … related to Caroline ?”
    “No,” Alexis snarls. “Her mother is my stepmother’s sister. Amanda Cormier-Frey.”
    Crap. I should have known that if something sketchy was going on at Wheatley, that the Westbrook family would be involved somehow. I glance around the Cormiers’ expansive property, looking for an escape route. Alexis mistakes it for admiration.
    “Mary Ellen brought us here to avoid the reporters back home,” she says. “She calls it rustic .”
    Poor Alexis, having to downgrade from a multimillion dollar brownstone to a house worth a humble seven figures.
    “You’re uncharacteristically quiet,” Alexis snaps. “Why are you here?”
    “It doesn’t matter. I was leaving.”
    “Oh, no you’re not.” She steps in front of me.
    “I am. Now get out of my way before your cousin calls the cops on me.”
    “ Step cousin,” Alexis says. “And I’m not done talking to you. Is this about what happened with my father?”
    I freeze. “No. But I’d go back and stop your dad from going to Shepherd’s house if I could.”
    Alexis’s eyes flash. “I’m glad Shepherd is dead.”
    “So then we don’t have a lot left to talk about.” I try to get around her, but she blocks my path.
    “What are you mixed up in now?” she asks. “If Caroline is involved, I know it can’t be good.”
    I glance at the house. For once, I actually agree with her—Caroline actually makes Alexis look normal.
    “It’s nothing,” I say.
    “You can’t BS me,” Alexis says. “I’m not one of those half-baked guys you lead around. I know you’re onto something.”
    “You don’t know anything.” I force my way past her.
    For Natalie’s sake, I hope that Caroline has absolutely nothing to do with her disappearance. Because I know too well what happens when