Whispers of Fate: The Mistresses of Fate, Book Two by Deirdre Dore

privacy.”
    “He tell you where he’s been yet?” Ninny folded her arms over her chest as if she’d made her point.
    “Yes,” Circe snarled, “but it’s none of your business.”
    Robert was waiting in the alley behind Aspect when Circe pulled into the parking space. His shoulders were hunched again, as if he was cold, and his hands were curled.
    Circe handed over the keys to the store. “Ninny, go open the store for me. I need to talk to Robert.”
    Ninny took the keys, muttering the whole time, but Circe ignored her, waiting until the old woman had disappeared from sight before stepping closer to Robert and hissing, “Have you found it?”
    “No, I haven’t found shit,” he cursed. “Are you sure that’s where it was?”
    “I’m sure.”
    “Well, it’s not there now.”
    “What about Charlie’s body? Did you see that?”
    He laughed bitterly. “No, animals must have dragged it off if no one’s found it.”
    “Well, the only other person who knew where the money was buried was Gloria Belle. Maybe the old man. Who knows what he saw? It’s been so long.”
    “I’ll keep looking. Can you keep Mark away another week?”
    Circe thought about the impatient look in her husband’s eyes. She wasn’t sure she could keep him distracted in the house much longer, and the girls and Ninny were suspicious, their eyes following her around whenever she was alone with them.
    “Maybe. Text me if you find it.” She handed him a cell phone. “My number is already in there. Just say something like, ‘I have that package you ordered.’”
    He took it with hands that were encrusted with dirt, the palms raw and reddened. “Yeah, sure, Circe. Think you could loan me a few bucks as well?”
    Circe took in his red eyes and pale skin. He was using again. She supposed it was no surprise. People didn’t change, not really.
    “Sure.” She handed him a twenty. “How are you getting back and forth to the property?”
    “Hitching.”
    Circe felt her eyebrows go up. “Someone let you in their car?”
    He smiled mockingly at her. “Some people are still decent.”
    Circe stared at him, wondering briefly if maybe he was working for someone else, but he didn’t blink, or look away, and she let it go.
    “I guess. He wants to hike there, avoid notice.”
    Rob nodded. “Mark never wanted to take cars. I think he liked scaring the shit out of us, making us walk through the woods.”
    “It’s safer that way, no one can catch us on camera, see our cars pull into the road.”
    Robert shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll let you know, but I don’t think we’re going to find it. Not after all this time.”
    He walked away, his gait awkward, as if he’d been hurt.
    Circe watched him go, the small hidden part that was Jane hoping he was right.

11

    TYLER WAS on his way to his uncle’s house with a bag of sausage biscuits from McDonald’s and had just taken a huge bite when his phone rang.
    He cursed and finished chewing before answering it, hoping he wasn’t getting called in for some emergency. He’d spent a good part of the evening worrying about his uncle and poring over Summer’s case, and he was dead tired and not in the mood to deal with the usual idiocy that occurred on Sundays.
    He was both surprised and wary that Raquel was calling him. She was a good cop and they’d known each other since high school, but it wasn’t as if they talked on a regular basis.
    “Raquel? Somethin’ wrong?”
    “Well, you could say that. Tavey thinks she’s found something Summer was wearing the day she disappeared.”
    “Found it where?”
    “One of the dogs found it, actually. Tavey recognized it.”
    “How does she know she was wearing it that day?”
    Raquel sighed. “You know how it is. Tavey is as human as the rest of us. She swears Summer was wearing it, but Chris remembers something different.”
    “It was definitely Summer’s, though?”
    “I believe so, yes.”
    Tyler sighed. “No offense, Raquel, but Summer could