Free Trusting a Stranger by Kimberley Brown Page B

Christmas three years ago,’ he said.
    The screen flickered to life. He looked over his shoulder to check that Hayley was watching.
    The sound started a moment before the picture. It showed an outdoor scene on a sunny day. There was a well-watered lawn, a background of trees, and part of what looked like a stone wall. Ethan felt himself swallowing as a little girl ran onto the screen.
    â€˜Katy?’ Hayley asked.
    Ethan nodded. ‘She’s a lot bigger now.’
    â€˜Is she still that pretty?’
    â€˜I think so.’
    A moment later the camera panned out and the complete exterior of this house came into view. A wide stone wall broken up with a long door. A woman walked into the shot, emerging from one of those long doors with a platter of sandwiches.
    Ethan looked at Hayley. She was frowning. Perhaps she had realised that the film had been shot here but, of course, she wouldn’t know who anyone was.
    â€˜That’s my sister,’ he explained. ‘Pearl.’
    Hayley’s expression cleared. Ethan felt a pang of regret in case he had given her any feelings of jealousy. And then another pang that came from an awareness that Hayley would only feel jealous of another woman if she had feelings about him herself. Could that be the case?
    He was annoyed with himself when he realised how much he hoped this was true. It had been a long time since he had allowed a woman in his life, because the prospect was so full of danger both to him and to any woman who might be concerned. That situation hadn’t changed. Even if Hayley were interested in him, he couldn’t allow that interest to develop. Anyone who got close to him was a likely target for Alvaro Tomasi and his guns.
    Hayley leaned forward, peering more closely at the screen as the camera zoomed in. Pearl stood there now, laughing as the wide lens caught her dark hair and tossed it about her shoulders. She was saying something to the camera but the sound was not quite good enough quality to make out what it was.
    When Pearl began to turn and raised her platter, as though offering her sandwiches to Hayley and Ethan as they sat on the opposite side of the screen, Ethan hit pause. Pearl’s image was frozen in time before them, the image of healthy and smiling young womanhood.
    Without saying any more, Ethan leaned towards the DVD player and, slipping in another disk, pressed play. On the screen before them, Pearl’s happy face was replaced with that of a much older woman. She was tall and thin to the point of being angular, with skin that seemed to bear the signs of having been continuously sunburned for at least thirty years. She looked like she could have been the mother of the young woman they had seen on the previous disk. Maybe even her grandmother.
    Hayley was still leaning forward. There was the beginning of a puzzled frown beneath her brows.
    â€˜Pearl!’ the voice echoed out from the high quality sound system with the same resonance as if it had been spoken in the next room.
    Ethan felt that familiar jolt of surprise many people get when they hear their own voice as it has been recorded. The woman on the screen turned.
    â€˜That’s Pearl?’ Hayley asked. Her voice was sharp with surprise.
    Ethan nodded.
    â€˜What happened to her?’ Hayley clamped her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, that sounded rude.’
    Ethan shook his head. ‘It’s startling,’ he agreed.
    â€˜She obviously isn’t well in the second DVD.’
    â€˜She isn’t,’ Ethan said. ‘You aren’t rude, it’s true. That change was what I wanted to show you.’
    â€˜This has something to do with Alvaro Tomasi?’
    Ethan paused the image again. Now Pearl’s eyes were gazing towards them, wide and dark and mute in her wasted face.
    â€˜Something to do with Alvaro Tomasi and with crack cocaine.’
    Hayley’s mouth dropped open into an expression of horror. Ethan could tell