Dancing in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

get this. The people
live in tents.”
    Diane looked up. “As in canvas?”
    “Yep. There are a hundred and fourteen of them. There’s a waiting
list of a decade or more to get one, and rental rights can be passed
down from generation to generation.”
    “Does Leslie live in a tent?” Diane asked, biting the end of her pen.
    “No. A house. She’s a year-round resident. The tent people are only
there in the summertime.”
    Diane finished reading the Associated Press account. An unnamed
police source had told the AP reporter the investigation uncovered that
Leslie had been treated off and on for anorexia, “cutting,” and other
impulsive behavior. The source said the police were convinced that
she’d faked her own abduction as a cry for help.
    “Poor kid, huh?” Matthew remarked as she lay down the paper.
    “Poor parents, too.” Diane shrugged her shoulders and exaggerated a
shiver. “Anorexia and cutting. Two of a parent’s worst nightmares.”
    “Yeah,” Matthew agreed. “But horrible or not, it’s perfect for Hourglass
.”

CHAPTER 6
     
    As soon as Matthew left her office, Diane picked up the telephone
and dialed her home number.
    Her sister picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?” Emily sounded out
of breath.
    “Hey. It’s me. What are you doing?”
    “My abs.”
    “Good girl.” Diane had the mental image of her sister standing
barefoot in her shorts and cropped T-shirt as she talked on the kitchen
phone. Her short brown hair would be tousled. The ever-present water
bottle would be in her hand.
    “What’s up?”
    “I’ve got bad news, Em.”
    “And that would be… ?
    “We’re not going on our trip. I have to work.”
    “You have got to be kidding.
The kids are going to freak.”
    “I wish I were, Em.” Diane recounted her conversation with Joel
Malcolm and his suggestion that Michelle and Anthony come with her to
Ocean Grove while she worked on her Hourglass story. “But it really wasn’t a suggestion, Em. It was more like
an order.”
    “God, Diane, the kids are going to be so disappointed.”
    “Tell me something I don’t know. I’m dreading telling them.”
    “Want me to do it?” Emily offered.
    “I was hoping you might suggest that.”
    “All right. I’ll tell them when they get up.”
    Diane glanced at her watch. It was after eleven o’clock. She envied
her children’s ability to sleep so soundly for so long. It would be
such a relief not to wake up in the middle of the night and stare at
the darkness in her bedroom, to have hours of deep sleep with no
tossing and turning. Perhaps nature had planned it that way, knowing
that, since the waking hours of adolescence and the teenage years could
be so difficult, it would be necessary for kids to have long rests to
regroup. Too bad adults hadn’t gotten the same pass.
    “Thanks, Em. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
    “I’ve got a vague idea.”
    Diane could sense a knowing smile on her sister’s face. Emily had
been born an old soul, their mother used to say. Even as a little
child, Emily had seemed older than her years. Diane thought there was
something fey about the baby sister seventeen years her junior. From
the time she began to talk, Emily could figure out people and
situations in an uncanny manner. Maybe it was because, as a child, she
spent so much time in an adult world.
    The sisters talked for another few minutes about what needed to be
done. The call to the travel agent to cancel the flight and tour
reservations, decisions about what needed to be packed for the new
vacation venue. As she hung up, Diane took solace in the thought that
Emily would be with her in Ocean Grove. She would be able to work with
at least some level of comfort, knowing that her children were not
being neglected. Truth be told, she knew Michelle and Anthony had more
fun with their aunt than they did with their mother these days.

CHAPTER 7
     
    In Nagle’s Apothecary Cafe, Shawn Ostrander sat on a swivel chair at
the