main house to have a chat with Mrs. Wells and Ms. Barrington.”
Chapter Six
Tuesday, September 26, 12:45 p.m.
Adrianna had pulled out all the leather-bound household ledgers from the Chippendale desk in the study and piled them on top. Knowing the furniture was going to Mazur, she’d been careful to go through every drawer in every stick of furniture in the house to make sure all Frances’s papers had been collected. The desk was her last to empty out. She dumped the papers and ledgers in a plastic bin. Later she’d go through them.
Adrianna picked up a ledger and thumbed through the pages. After Craig’s accident and her miscarriage she had had to go through Craig’s papers in search of insurance and financial documents. Nearly every sheet had been marked with his thick dark handwriting or the lingering scent of his aftershave. The process had been more emotionally draining than she could ever have imagined. In those days, she’d thought of Gage a lot and so many times had been tempted to call him. Several times she’d even picked up the phone and dialed half his number before she’d slammed the receiver down.
A heavy weight settled on her chest and for a moment she had to remind herself to breathe. Hang tough. One foot in front of the other. I can do this.
The sound of heels clicking down the center hallway had her hustling the last of the papers in the bin in case Dr. Heckman had come to pester her again. She secured the lid on the top.
“Adrianna! Where are you?”
Kendall Shaw Warwick’s voice had Adrianna rising. Kendall. Her sister. Sister. God, that still sounded weird. Could this day get any more complicated?
“Kendall, I’m in here.”
Kendall appeared in the doorway, all long legs, sharp cheekbones with a slender frame so much like Adrianna’s. Kendall wore rust-colored suede pants, a cream silk blouse, high heels, and her long dark hair loose around her shoulders.
For years Adrianna had been told that she looked like that reporter on Channel 10. Even Gage had mentioned it when they’d dated. But she’d brushed off the comments. Everyone had a lookalike. The farthest thought from her mind was that they were sisters, both adopted out in closed proceedings as young children to separate families.
“Good, I found you!” Kendall grinned.
Adrianna crossed the room and Kendall wrapped her in a warm embrace. Adrianna felt stiff, tried to wrestle the awkwardness from her body and when she couldn’t, smiled to compensate.
The two women had forged a shaky relationship since they’d discovered they were full-blooded sisters nine months ago. It had gone well enough initially, but after a few months Adrianna had backed away. Kendall was doing her best to be a good older sister, but Adrianna was on sensory overload. With all that she’d had going on in her life, she didn’t have the energy to invest in a new family, especially when all the old ones had ended up so broken.
Adrianna managed a bigger smile for Kendall. “What brings you out here?”
“The last time we had lunch you said the cemetery was being moved on the twenty-sixth.”
“That was a month ago. I’m surprised you remembered.”
“Once a reporter, always a reporter.” Six months ago, Kendall had left Channel 10’s top anchor spot and opened her own public relations firm. In those few short months she’d landed several key accounts and was on her way to running a successful business. The move had shocked many, who’d expected the anchor to take a national job, but Kendall didn’t want to move and privately admitted to Adrianna that she no longer had the stomach to cover death after nearly dying at the hands of two serial killers.
“Remembering facts is my stock in trade,” Kendall said. “Was that a forensics van I saw through the trees?”
Adrianna almost laughed. “Your husband didn’t tell you about this?”
“Jacob and I share many things. But he never discusses active investigations. I always ask, because
Chapter Six
Tuesday, September 26, 12:45 p.m.
Adrianna had pulled out all the leather-bound household ledgers from the Chippendale desk in the study and piled them on top. Knowing the furniture was going to Mazur, she’d been careful to go through every drawer in every stick of furniture in the house to make sure all Frances’s papers had been collected. The desk was her last to empty out. She dumped the papers and ledgers in a plastic bin. Later she’d go through them.
Adrianna picked up a ledger and thumbed through the pages. After Craig’s accident and her miscarriage she had had to go through Craig’s papers in search of insurance and financial documents. Nearly every sheet had been marked with his thick dark handwriting or the lingering scent of his aftershave. The process had been more emotionally draining than she could ever have imagined. In those days, she’d thought of Gage a lot and so many times had been tempted to call him. Several times she’d even picked up the phone and dialed half his number before she’d slammed the receiver down.
A heavy weight settled on her chest and for a moment she had to remind herself to breathe. Hang tough. One foot in front of the other. I can do this.
The sound of heels clicking down the center hallway had her hustling the last of the papers in the bin in case Dr. Heckman had come to pester her again. She secured the lid on the top.
“Adrianna! Where are you?”
Kendall Shaw Warwick’s voice had Adrianna rising. Kendall. Her sister. Sister. God, that still sounded weird. Could this day get any more complicated?
“Kendall, I’m in here.”
Kendall appeared in the doorway, all long legs, sharp cheekbones with a slender frame so much like Adrianna’s. Kendall wore rust-colored suede pants, a cream silk blouse, high heels, and her long dark hair loose around her shoulders.
For years Adrianna had been told that she looked like that reporter on Channel 10. Even Gage had mentioned it when they’d dated. But she’d brushed off the comments. Everyone had a lookalike. The farthest thought from her mind was that they were sisters, both adopted out in closed proceedings as young children to separate families.
“Good, I found you!” Kendall grinned.
Adrianna crossed the room and Kendall wrapped her in a warm embrace. Adrianna felt stiff, tried to wrestle the awkwardness from her body and when she couldn’t, smiled to compensate.
The two women had forged a shaky relationship since they’d discovered they were full-blooded sisters nine months ago. It had gone well enough initially, but after a few months Adrianna had backed away. Kendall was doing her best to be a good older sister, but Adrianna was on sensory overload. With all that she’d had going on in her life, she didn’t have the energy to invest in a new family, especially when all the old ones had ended up so broken.
Adrianna managed a bigger smile for Kendall. “What brings you out here?”
“The last time we had lunch you said the cemetery was being moved on the twenty-sixth.”
“That was a month ago. I’m surprised you remembered.”
“Once a reporter, always a reporter.” Six months ago, Kendall had left Channel 10’s top anchor spot and opened her own public relations firm. In those few short months she’d landed several key accounts and was on her way to running a successful business. The move had shocked many, who’d expected the anchor to take a national job, but Kendall didn’t want to move and privately admitted to Adrianna that she no longer had the stomach to cover death after nearly dying at the hands of two serial killers.
“Remembering facts is my stock in trade,” Kendall said. “Was that a forensics van I saw through the trees?”
Adrianna almost laughed. “Your husband didn’t tell you about this?”
“Jacob and I share many things. But he never discusses active investigations. I always ask, because
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