Chapter 9

The deputies began snapping photographs, one of them taking notes. They stepped through the room, broken glass cracking underfoot, talking quietly among themselves. When they moved outside, Lois spoke up.

“What were you doing outside at three in the morning?” Lois managed to sound outraged rather than concerned.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Vanessa explained, hearing the complete lack of emotion in her own voice and realizing she was beyond caring what anyone thought of her. “I went outside to get some air.”

And, of course, both Lois and Steven gazes drifted from each other to Vanessa and back again, hers narrow and his appraising.

“You had difficulty sleeping?” Lois finally asked, her suspicion clear in her snide tone.

“Yes.” Vanessa stared at the older woman, practically daring her to speak her thoughts out loud. Right now she felt as if she was walking on the edge of a narrow precipice. Christopher was dead, and all the bickering or accusations in the world w