Page 15 of A Dark and Stormy Night

“Rainbow?” As always, Cornelia spoke in a monotone.

Rainbow turned back to her. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Now Rainbow blinked in surprise. “You’re welcome.” She sidled back to the counter.

Kateri had watched the whole scene. She offered Rainbow a fist bump. “You won that round.”

“True …” Rainbow grinned. “Now if I could get her to leave a tip.”

“Good luck with that.” Kateri stood. “Gotta get back to the harbor and see if I can whip any sense into Landlubber.”

“If anybody can, you can.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d met him.”

The door opened, and both women turned to face the Oceanview Café's newest customer.

The woman who stood in the doorway was breathtaking. Blond hair, blue eyes, porcelain complexion, and a curvaceous body that quivered like Jell-O on springs.

The guys from the Virtue Falls Canyon science geological study followed close on her heels, and were practically tripping over their tongues.

Kateri turned to Rainbow. “Holy shit. Who is that?”

Rainbow straightened up from the counter and stood, arms straight and stiff at her sides. She stared at the newcomer through bleak and bitter eyes. In a pained tone, she asked, "Don’t you recognize her?"

Kateri shook her head. “Should I?”

“She looks just like her mother. That’s Elizabeth Banner. That’s the girl who watched her father kill her mother with the scissors.”

THE END

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