Free Deadly Offer by Vicki Doudera Page A

He wiped his hands on a checkered towel and glanced at his watch. “Guess my sister isn’t going to make it tonight. Why don’t I get everyone else out of here so that people can get some sleep?”
    Darby nodded. She felt weary, and could only imagine how Carlos and ET must feel. Not to mention Dan and his daughter, Sophie. “I think that’s a good plan. Thanks for your help.”
    “That’s what we do here in the valley,” Tim said. “We help each other out.” Moments later she heard him telling the remaining visitors that it was time to “let these folks get some rest.”
    When Darby reentered the living room, Carlos and ET had retreated upstairs. Only Dan Stewart remained in the room, standing and looking out a window into the darkness, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. Darby gave a quick glance around the room for stray dishes or wine glasses, and spotted the slender figure of Sophie Stewart. She was in the adjoining dining room, leaning against the door frame, and watching her father intently. On her face Darby could see a mixture of tenderness and love. Without warning, Darby’s eyes filled with tears and she backed slowly out of the room.
    ———
    The farmhouse was still and silent under the dark California sky, the temperature lower now than it had been since the spring. Vivian Allen shivered in her thin denim jacket. She had walked a quarter mile in her strappy sandals up the hill to the estate, hoping to speak with Carlos Gomez, but now it looked as though that plan was on hold. She hugged her arms to her chest and swore softly. I should have gone in earlier. But everyone stayed so long, and I didn’t want to see that creep Wainfield …
    She made an exasperated sound and turned to walk back down the hill to her car. Just then a swipe of fur against her ankle made her scream and stumble.
    “What the …” Vivian looked into the amber eyes of a cat as he turned his black and white body to rub once more against her calves. “Damn pest!” She wobbled on her sandals, making sweeping motions with her hands. “Shoo! Shoo! Go home!”
    Jasper glared at her, narrowed his eyes, and leapt silently into the brush.
    ———
    Back at the farmhouse, Darby Farr peered into the inky night. A cry had startled her and she’d gone to the closest window. Was it the shriek of a jay? Or something else? She shook off the unsettled feeling and reached for her smart phone. Time to respond to the list of e-mails she’d ignored all day long.
    She responded to Helen Near’s chatty message and Tina’s engage ment news as best she could, although she felt the need to tell them both about Selena’s untimely death. Replying to the mysterious Kenji Miyazaki was far easier. She simply told the businessman from Genkei Pharmaceuticals that she had no wish to meet with him.
    Several e-mails could be handled by Claudia Jones, and Darby forwarded them with a brief message explaining that she planned to drive home the following day.
    ET and Carlos weren’t the most communicative of siblings, but they’d need to overcome their different styles and manage their sister’s affairs. They’ll have to figure it out , Darby thought.
    Feeling a vague sense of uneasiness, she climbed into the guest room’s double bed. Hours later she fell into a troubled sleep.
    ———
    “Closing time,” announced Toby Bliss, prodding the still slumped figure at the bar. Once again he jabbed a finger into the guy’s shoulder, noting how the white fabric of his tee shirt puckered and then released. “Come on, I’ll get you a cab.”
    Slowly the man, whom Toby had started to think of as “The Incredible Hulk,” raised a shaggy head. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing drool across his cheek. “What’s going on?”
    “You’re in a bar and you had a little too much to drink,” Toby said, thinking this was surely the understatement of the year. “Time to go home.”
    The man turned his head slowly from side