Read Online Lasting Fury (Hexing House Book 2) by Jen Rasmussen - Free Book Online Page B

some of them were acting awfully strange.” She finally looked at her husband, and it was a sharp look. “And don’t you dare try to deny it now, because you said so at the time.”
    Marshal just shrugged and kept drinking his coffee.
    Laurel turned back to Thea. “Boyd was an easy-going guy. But he’d started to get this temper lately. He kept yelling at the kids. I mean really yelling. Scary yelling. Not even his own kids! And his next-door neighbor, Wanda, she was really close friends with Cindy. But I swear to you she was hitting on Boyd. Like, obviously hitting on him. To the point it was embarrassing. And Cindy…” Laurel shrugged. “She just couldn’t be bothered with any of it, to tell you the truth. I wondered if she was on something.”
    “And none of this was normal behavior for any of them?” asked Thea.
    Wrath. Lust. Apathy.
    “No,” said Laurel. “They were all acting completely out of character.”
    They were all manifesting sins.
    “What about the kids?” Thea asked. “Were any of them acting strangely?”
    “I didn’t know most of them well enough to say, but Talbott and Charlotte, his sister, you know, our niece—” Laurel stopped, took a sip of coffee, cleared her throat. “Charlotte was just six years old.”
    “I’m sorry for your loss,” Thea said, then waited what she hoped was a respectful amount of time before repeating the question. “Was Charlotte acting strangely, too?”
    “Charlotte was—” Before she could get any further, Laurel covered her face with her hands, and abruptly left the room.
    “She loved Charlotte,” Marshal said quietly. “She loved them all, of course, but Charlotte was like the daughter we couldn’t have. She insists on talking to you people, but it’s a mistake. Every time. I have to stop letting her.”
    “What does she think happened?” Thea asked.
    “You want to know what she really thinks?” Marshal shook his head and sighed. “She thinks it’s some kind of government or corporate conspiracy. Like someone accidentally let loose some toxic waste or something, something that messed with all of their brains. And now whoever’s responsible is trying to cover it up.”
    Smart lady.
    “And what about you?” asked Thea. “What do you think?”
    Marshal stood up. “I’m just trying to get my wife through this.” When Thea didn’t get up right away he added, “And as you might recall, we agreed to end this interview if Laurel got too upset to continue.”
    Dammit . She hadn’t gotten any hints about Talbott, or had a chance to work the conversation around to something that might have been his. “Of course. But before I go, would you have any… family photos? Of the Lexingtons?”
    Marshal frowned at that. “Why don’t you give me your card, and I might be able to email you something?”
    Because I can’t touch a digital picture. Or bleed on one.
    “Or anything of Talbott’s that I could borrow for a minute, just to take a picture of it? Like, did he leave any stuffed animals or toys or anything here?”
    Marshal stared at her. “What?”
    Shit. Don’t be so clumsy.
    “I’m not trying to be exploitative,” Thea added quickly. “But more people will read my article if it’s got that personal connection. And the more people who read it, the bigger the outcry, and the more likely we are to get answers for your wife.”
    But Marshal was looking at her with suspicion now, if not outright hostility. “I don’t think it’s my wife you want answers for. You want to put a picture of one of his toys with your story? What kind of tabloid do you work for?”
    Thea’s frustration started to rise. Her heart sped up.
    Not now, Thea. This would be a very bad time to lose control.
    “You’re right. It was probably a bad idea.” Thea pasted on a fake smile. Her smile, at least, had never failed her. Especially not with men.
    But Marshal’s face didn’t soften. He just looked tired. Thea did a quick scan of his virtues and sins,