Shaded Light: The Case of the Tactless Trophy Wife: A Paul Manziuk and Jacquie Ryan Mystery (The Manziuk and Ryan Mysteries Book 1) (16 page)

“You look wonderful,” Ellen commented smoothly. “There are two places here if you haven’t eaten yet.”

The two moved around the table and Bart made a point of holding Shauna’s chair and making sure she had everything she needed before he sat beside her. Then his eyes traveled around the table, stopping as they reached Jillian, whose icy glare momentarily disconcerted even him. After a moment, his eyes defiantly meeting hers, he laughed.

Until Crystal began to clear plates and bring in salads, there was an uneasy silence, broken only as Bart began to ask how everyone’s day had gone. He was clearly enjoying himself, and, slowly, the dinner party loosened up and people chattered once more, though later few could remember what the talk was about.

When the delicious food had been eaten, and the wine drunk, Jillian announced that she wanted to go dancing. Her voice soft and teasing, she leaned toward Kendall and asked him if he would like to take her since she had chosen his father over him to escort her in to supper.

Kendall blushed and stammered something about how Peter might not like it.

“Oh, Petey doesn’t mind, do you, Petey? He hates dancing just after he eats. Who else will come? Douglass? You’ll come, won’t you? George? Get your wives to come. Nick? I know you love dancing, don’t you, darling? I’ll just get a wrap. Shauna, why don’t you help me?” She glided out of the room, and, after a moment’s hesitation, Shauna followed.

The others began to organize into those who wanted to go dancing and those who didn’t. By the time Jillian returned, Kendall and George had their car keys out and Douglass had persuaded Anne to go with him and George and Ellen.

“Bart and Hildy are coming with us in my car,” Kendall announced to Jillian.

“Fine. Let’s go, then, shall we?”

“Isn’t Shauna coming?” George asked.

“No, she was exhausted. Today was such a big day. Bart, you ought to have known all the excitement wouldn’t be good for her. She’s utterly done in. I gave her a couple of extra-strength Tylenol and an ice pack and sent her to bed.”

“Well, let’s go, then,” Kendall said.

“Aren’t Nick and Lorry coming?” Jillian asked.

“Lorry didn’t want to come, so Nick offered to stay with her.”

“Oh, he did, did he?”

“Yeah. I expect he’ll find the evening pretty dull. She’ll likely want to talk about religion. That’ll serve him right.”

“Yes,” Jillian agreed, “it’s exactly what he deserves.”

A few minutes after the two cars had driven off, Peter, now wearing swim trunks and an open shirt, entered the games room to find Lorry and Nick in the middle of a game of eight-ball. After watching for a few minutes, and commenting in surprise when Lorry won, he said, “Lorry, I wonder if you would mind going upstairs and asking Shauna to join us. She’s in her room.”

Lorry moved to hang up her cue. “I thought she went with the others.”

She left and the two men wandered out to the pool, where Peter slipped into the water. Nick, hands in pockets, sat on a deck chair and stared into space.

Lorry knocked before entering the bedroom, and heard a muffled, “Leave me alone!” in reply. Unsure what to do, Lorry decided to enter. After all, it was her room, too.

Shauna, wearing only her undergarments, was lying on the bed, face down. The new dress was in a heap on the floor.

Lorry picked it up to hang it in the closet and involuntarily dropped it in horror. The front of the dress had been ripped from the neck down to the top of the slit. No one would wear that dress again. “Shauna, what happened?”

“Go away.”

“But, Shauna, your dress—?”

“I hate it! Go away. Leave me alone!”

“I—we wondered if you’d like to join us downstairs. Peter and Nick and me.”

“No!” came the muffled reply.

“Are you all right?”

“Leave me alone!”

“Are you sure, Shauna? If there’s anything I can do to help…”

There were more muffled sobs. In between them, Shauna said, “No. Just go away. Leave me alone. Why can’t everyone just leave me alone! I never wanted to come in the first place! I knew something would go wrong. It always does.”

Instead of leaving, Lorry sat on the edge of Shauna’s bed and put her arm around the girl’s back.

“I’m not leaving you alone, Shauna. Just a few moments ago, you came in looking on top of the world. What’s happened?”

“Go away!”

“No. Shauna, look at me.”

There was another outbreak of tears. “No!”

“I’ll have to go and get Peter.”

“No, don’t!”

“Then sit up and tell me what’s wrong.”

Slowly, the older girl raised herself onto her left elbow and swung up so she was sitting. But she kept her right arm across her face.

“Shauna, look at me. What’s happened?”

“I’m fine. Just leave me alone.”

“I don’t think you are fine.” Lorry gently took Shauna’s arm and pulled it away from her face. Shauna fought, but Lorry had already caught a glimpse of the bruising around her eye. She had seen, also, the scratches on her shoulder. “Shauna, who did this? Was it Bart?”

SIX

Horrified, Shauna cried out, “No!

“Not—surely not Jillian?”

Shauna’s lips trembled as she stared down at her clenched hands.

“Why, Shauna?”

“She didn’t like the way I looked. She said I shouldn’t have done it. She said I looked like a call girl. She was very angry.”

“Are you all right? I mean, are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No, I’m okay. I’m just so—so embarrassed. I feel like a complete fool.”

“Well, I don’t know much about call girls, but I don’t think you looked like one. I thought you looked terrific. And your sister has no right to hit you, Shauna. You mustn’t let her get away with it.”

“She’s always had a temper. Ever since she was little. She doesn’t realize what she’s doing. She didn’t really mean to hurt me. And I’m okay. Besides, it was my fault for listening to Bart and going behind her back.”

“Why don’t we see if we can find something to put on those scratches. And maybe we can put some makeup on the bruises. Peter and Nick are downstairs. You should come down with us.”

“Is everyone else gone?”

“Yes.”

“All the others? Bart, too?”

“Everyone went except the three of us. We were just going to sit by the pool. It’s hot, though. I thought I’d put shorts on before going back down.”

“That’s a good idea.” Shauna got up. “My glasses got broken when she hit me, but I have prescription sunglasses I can wear. But you mustn’t say anything. Jillian never meant to hurt me. Promise you won’t tell anyone? Just say my glasses got broken.”

Twenty minutes later, Lorry and Shauna, both now in shorts, joined Nick. Shauna’s face, partially hidden by dark glasses, looked puffy and red despite the makeup. But Nick didn’t comment on it.

“Working in a library, you must read a lot of books,” Lorry said. “What kind do you prefer?”

On safe ground, Shauna became quite voluble.

From books, they drifted to television, movies, the upcoming election, and recycling, with Nick throwing in a comment every so often.

After a while Peter joined them. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anybody who’s gone to a Bible college, except perhaps a few ministers I met at my weddings. Why would a bright, attractive young woman want to waste her time learning about something as out of date and stuffy as the Bible?”

“I guess,” Lorry began, “because I don’t find it out of date or stuffy. Even though it was written long ago, it’s ageless. And because God himself speaks through it, it’s always relevant. I learn something new every time I read it.”

“You mean the ten commandments and that sort of thing?” Peter leaned forward. “Do good to others and all?”

“Yes,” Lorry said, “but not only those. There are lots of stories about people who faced challenges just like I do. And there are other principles to live by. And of course, the whole story about Jesus is there.”

“So do you try to obey all the commandments and rules?”

Lorry smiled. “I try, but I don’t always succeed. I don’t think anyone can obey them all.”

Peter laughed and settled back in his chair. “You see? What’s the use of wasting time on something you’ve just admitted is impossible to follow?”

“But that’s why there are two parts to the Bible,” Lorry replied. “The first part is about how God created people so he could have relationships with them, but how people often mess up. But the second part is the story of God’s Son, Jesus, who was sinless, and who died for us. Jesus taught us that we can’t earn God’s love by obeying rules because he already loves us more than we can ever understand.”

“That sounds awfully grim coming from a pretty young girl. You should be thinking about boyfriends and having fun! Not stuff like that. How old are you? Twenty-two at the most?” Lorry nodded and Peter shook his head.

But Lorry countered, “Ever known someone who died when he was twenty-two? Or fifteen? Or talked to an older person who’s wasted his life on things that really didn’t matter? I don’t have to worry about the future, or try to grab happiness from pleasures that only last a short time. Because of my relationship with God, I’m content with who I am and what I have. How many people do you know who are content?”

Peter chuckled, “Little lady, if I were content as I am, I’d be a pretty poor lawyer. You have to keep striving to get better, or you might just as well give up.”

Lorry smiled, but didn’t argue with him.

Peter took that as permission to go into a detailed explanation of his success and plans. Lorry continued to listen and answer his questions. A little apart, Shauna sat listening intently.

Nick quietly got up and walked away. When he reached the tennis court, he stopped. Spotting a racquet someone had left out, he picked it up, clenched his jaw, and tried to snap the racquet in two. When the aluminum failed to yield, he flung it as far as he could and strode off toward the gate at the back of the yard.

At the same time, in the powder room of the Wily Fox, a night club with middle-of-the-road music and a passable bar, Anne had been giving Ellen a sample of her dislike for Jillian. “I don’t know why he can’t see through her, but I’ll save him from her. I’ll stop her somehow, no matter what I have to do!”

“Anne, you’ve been drinking too much tonight. Just think,” Ellen said in exasperation, “even if she is tired of Peter, she’d hardly try to get his business partner. Especially a married man with two kids. No one would be that crazy.”

Hildy came out of a cubicle and the two women stopped talking. They had believed they were alone. Hildy began to wash her hands. “For your information,” she said slowly and thoughtfully, “Jillian is neither crazy nor stupid.” Hildy dried her hands on a paper towel before she went on. “She is cruel and malicious. She enjoys hurting people.” Hildy walked out of the room.

Anne and Ellen stared at one another.

After coming to the nightclub with Kendall, Jillian had left him to entertain Hildy while she spent most of the evening dancing with Bart.

“You dance extremely well,” Bart told her after a while.

“Thank you, kind sir,” Jillian said. “You don’t do such a bad job yourself.”