Free Shimmer by Hilary Norman Page A

Leehy was not only wealthy, but he was also, according to Mike Alvarez, a hugely generous supporter of a cerebral palsy charity close to Chief Hernandez’s heart. Both the police chief and the billionaire happening to have a child with that disease in common, along with an apparently great mutual respect.
    There was a further, far more significant reason for the summoning of all detectives.
    Something else had been found in the wreckage.
    Human remains.
    Claudia wanted to go shopping.
    â€˜I need some good old retail therapy with my sister and nephew.’
    They had rested since Sam had gone to work, and now they knew as much and as little as the rest of the local population; namely that the explosion had occurred on a single boat, and so, because these things were known to happen accidentally now and then, it was unsettling, but so long as no one was hurt, life could perfectly easily go on.
    And Grace and Sam did happen to have a glitzy mall practically on their doorstep, and suddenly an hour or two spent browsing through Neiman Marcus and Saks, and window ogling Jimmy Choos and Tiffany jewels seemed just what Claudia needed.
    â€˜We can pop Joshua in his stroller and walk,’ she said.
    â€˜It’ll be much too hot for that by the time we’re ready to come back,’ Grace said.
    The doorbell rang.
    â€˜Expecting anyone?’ Claudia asked.
    Grace shook her head and went to open the door, Woody glued to her heels, his sharp barking resonating in her head.
    â€˜Don’t open it,’ Claudia said.
    Too late.
    â€˜Yes?’ Grace said to the man on the doorstep.
    He was young, mid-twenties, with brown hair, a thin, weak mouth and beady light brown eyes.
    â€˜I don’t believe this,’ Claudia said from the hallway.
    â€˜I’m Jerome Cooper,’ he said to Grace. ‘Your stepbrother.’
    â€˜What the hell do you want?’ Claudia came up close behind her sister.
    Woody stopped barking and growled.
    â€˜I don’t like dogs,’ said Jerome Cooper.
    â€˜I do,’ said Grace.
    â€˜Aren’t you going to invite me in?’ her stepbrother asked.
    Grace didn’t budge. ‘What can I do for you, Jerome?’
    â€˜Shut the door, Grace,’ Claudia said.
    â€˜You don’t want to shut the door on family,’ Jerome said.
    â€˜You’re not family,’ Claudia said, still right behind Grace.
    â€˜Claudia, go and call Sam,’ Grace told her.
    â€˜Just shut the door ,’ Claudia said.
    â€˜Go ahead,’ Jerome Cooper said peaceably. ‘I won’t push my way in.’ When he smiled, his mouth stretched and became even thinner, but the eyes stayed sharp. ‘But I won’t go away either.’
    â€˜Claudia, make that call,’ Grace said. ‘Now.’
    She shut the door.
    Sam had gunned his Saab all the way up Collins, but there was no sign of Cooper by the time he reached the West Island.
    A patrol car could have reached them five times over, but Grace had insisted that she wanted no official police involvement because they were in no danger, Cooper had made no threats, and patrol officers would mean reports, which neither she nor Claudia wanted.
    â€˜He just said he wouldn’t go away,’ Grace said now.
    â€˜But he did go,’ Claudia said.
    â€˜Seems that way,’ Sam agreed.
    He had made several circuits of the small Bay Harbor Island community, but short of checking every garage and back yard and, to be certain, every room of every house in the district, he knew better than to feel wholly confident that the creep really had departed.
    â€˜So what’s going on?’ he asked.
    Grace had told him only half of Claudia’s tale last night when he’d come in late from work; not because she intended keeping this from him, but simply because she’d figured that in the circumstances, hearing what a member of her father’s new family had done, or tried to do, up in Seattle, was