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“Hard to believe, I know, but there you have it,” Susanna agreed automatically, confirming her position on the right side of a line that had been drawn in the sand years ago. “They did tour the property together this morning, though. I overheard her assistant telling one of the other managers.”
“Really?” Karan’s interested tone reassured Susanna that all was forgiven. “A tour of the property? Wonder what they were looking for. Probably where she stashed the body.”
“Karan.” Susanna winced. “That’s awful.”
Laughter chimed over the line like silver against crystal. “Perhaps, but this is Frankie we’re talking about.”
As if that explained everything. Honestly, some days Susanna wished with all her heart she’d have listened to Skip when he’d wanted to accept the job promotion that would have taken them to Napa Valley. Then, of course, they’d have been clear across the country when he’d gotten sick, with no family or friends as a support system, alone….
“I have no clue what they were looking for,” Susanna said. “The missing wallet that started this whole fiasco turned up a week ago. That much I know for sure. But Becca told you Chuck was off the case. I find that curious.”
“Isn’t it, though? Doesn’t Jack let his minions do the grunt work nowadays?”
“Like I would know. I don’t see Jack that much anymore.” Not since Skip.
“From what I hear, no one sees him much anymore. Makes you wonder what he does with his free time, doesn’t it?”
Susanna sighed. “Not really.”
“Jack’s working this case for a reason. I know it. Unless he’s itching to get his hands dirty again.”
There was no missing the sarcasm. Karan might not admit it aloud, but she still hadn’t forgiven Jack for veering from the path she’d had mapped out for their future. And from the day she’d set her sights on Jack in the tenth grade, Karan had been mapping. She’d intended to become the wife of a high-power attorney from a Bluestone royal family that had deep ties in Manhattan society. That life would have fit her to a T.
Obviously not Jack, though. He’d surprised them all by rolling up his sleeves and diving into law enforcement. Conversely, no one had been surprised at all when Karan dumped him for the first wealthy medical student she could get her perfectly manicured nails into.
Susanna was about to tell Karan she’d keep her informed when the sounds of young laughter and loud music distracted her.
There was an activity lobby on this floor, but the music wasn’t anything she’d expected to hear for line or ballroom dancing. More like something she’d have told Brooke to turn down. Better yet, turn off. What sort of dance class happened on Thursdays? She tried to remember. The activity calendar was so busy she didn’t know how Rachel kept up.
“Hang on a sec,” she whispered to Karan, pushing the door open to get a peek of what was going on inside.
Windows spanned an entire wall, and bright afternoon sun streamed over the wide expanse of carpeted lobby where nearly four rows of residents stood in lines. It was a nice turnout, over twenty people in all, male and female, all casually dressed. Susanna expected to find Roberto, the lodge’s physical therapist and dance aficionado leading the group in the slow motion steps of some dance. Instead, a young girl stood at the front of the group, a lanky young girl wearing tight jeans, layered shirts and a nose ring.
Frankie’s daughter.
Gabrielle was a pretty girl, close in age to Brooke. But that was where the similarities ended. Everything about Gabrielle screamed “Attitude!” From the artfully arranged chunky silver jewelry to the Converse All Star sneakers that looked as though they were the ones her mother had worn twenty years ago. For all Susanna knew they were.
The music stopped abruptly, and Susanna pulled her eye away from the crack in the door, not wanting to be caught.
“Let’s try it again,” Gabrielle said. “Think superhero. Y’know a dude in tights who can leap tall buildings.”
Susanna risked another peek to see Gabrielle demonstrating a dance move vaguely reminiscent of a horizontal swan dive.
Mrs. Gunderson made a valiant attempt, a slow-motion stretch of arms with gracefully pointed fingertips.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Gabrielle said with a straight face. “You’ve got it.”
Paquita Escabar, Auntie Pippa as she liked to be called, didn’t fare so well. She was a tiny woman, who was a lot older than most people knew, and she would have landed on her face had Mr. Patrick not gallantly steadied her.
Exactly why a licensed physical therapist should be teaching this class.
Susanna opened her mouth to tell Karan she’d call back as Mrs. McIlhenny stopped her attempts at the dance moves and waved her in. “Susanna. Come in. The girls are teaching us the Soulja Boy.”
The girls? Susanna stepped inside the lobby, and sure enough another girl was working the boom box and demonstrating the same dance move…Brooke.
“Got to run,” Susanna said and snapped the phone shut.
“Hi, everyone.” Shoving the phone in her pocket, she made her entrance. “So what’s going on?”
A chorus of replies came from the group, but they barely registered as Susanna glanced at the girls. Gabrielle cocked a hip against the windowsill, folded her arms over her chest and bristled with attitude. Brooke, on the other hand, looked as if she wished the floor would open wide and swallow her whole.
“What do you think of our featured instructors?” Roberto strode in from the direction of the elevators.
“Interesting.” Susanna forced a smile.
“They’re wonderful,” Auntie Pippa said. “Thank you so much, young ladies.”
“They promised to come back next week,” Mrs. McIlhenny added, glancing at Roberto for approval.
Like the girls would have had a chance to say no with this group. Roberto graciously smiled. “The Soulja Boy, hmm?”
“I don’t polka,” Gabrielle issued deadpan.
“We’ve had it with Lawrence Welk,” Mr. Shaw said. “You need to keep it lively or we’ll all drop dead right here.”
Roberto spread his hands in good-natured entreaty. “No arguing with that. How about you, Brooke? Are you in for another session next week?”
Brooke glanced at her mother uncertainly, but Susanna left her to make her own bed. “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
Smart kid.
Undeterred, Gabrielle instructed the group, “You keep on practicing that superhero move, okay? You’ll get it and we’ll put it all together.”
“That we can do,” Roberto agreed. “We’ll work on it.”
“Well, have fun, everyone.” Susanna circled the group and attached herself to her daughter for an escort downstairs.
Brooke headed for the elevator behind Gabrielle, but Susanna steered her to the exit door instead.
“The stairs?” Brooke winced. She’d be a captive audience in privacy.
Susanna just opened the door and, once inside, demanded, “You’re supposed to come to my office after school. What was this all about?”
All the previous uncertainty vanished. “Nothing. I just saw Gabrielle going upstairs.”
“So you followed her?”
That one question effectively ended the conversation. Her daughter shut down in the blink of an eye, expression going blank, gaze hardening, and