Page 69 of The Shadows Beyond
Before he could even blink, Carrie filled Cinn’s empty space, eyes narrow, face pinched. “Julien. I can’t help noticing that man over there bears a striking resemblance to the friend of yours that Lucien said he wished to never see again. One Elliot Pérez.”
Julien overtly scanned the room before his gaze landed on Elliot, then he whipped out his best surprised act. “Oh! So he does! What a strange coincidence.”
“And how do you suppose his name got on the guest list?”
“Well, I suppose someone must have written it down on it.”
Taking a step forward, Carrie lowered her volume, hissing, “This is your father’s birthday, Julien. The event he looks forward to more than anything else.”And my yearly torture.“It would be extremely embarrassing for this family if any…sceneswere to happen.”
A bat of his eyelashes. “Wouldn’t it just?”
A warning flash swept across Carrie’s face. Then, her expression morphed. Jerking back as if electrified, her lips parted as she stared at Julien’s neck. Before Julien could react, her hand lurched forward, and for a horrible second he thought she was about to strangle him. Instead, she tugged on Béatrice’s locket chain until she freed the silver oval from under his shirt.
Holding it in her palm, she lifted it higher into the light. “How… how did you get this?”
The odd note of rage in her voice only irritated him further. “That’s none of your business. It’s not like Béatrice would have left it to you!”
Composed Carrie returned like an actor slipping on a mask, and she stepped away from him. “I simply wasn’t aware that it had been returned to you.”
Julien stared at her, mind whirring. Cinn chose that moment to return to him, sending Carrie scuttling off with a fabricated smile.
“What was that all about? Why was she touching your locket?”
“I’m… not sure. She asked me how I obtained it.”
“Did Béatrice leave it to you?”
“Well, no.” Julien grimaced. “Who do you know our age who has a will? It was with her body when they found it. The gendarmerie’s investigation department held her corpse for weeks while her death was investigated, and I asked and asked for it to be returned to me, but they refused. I wasn’t even allowed to see her body…” Julien became momentarily lost in hazy memories as the colours of the bright room swam around him.
The feel of Cinn taking hold of his elbow brought him back to reality. “So howdidyou get the locket?” he asked, but something in his face told Julien he already knew the answer.
“Creative methods.” Julien winked. “A breaking and entering… of sorts.” It had actually involved a bottle of scotch, half seducing a security guard, five rounds of strip poker, and a specially made motetech device to unlock a fortified door, but specifics weren’t needed here.
Cinn rolled his eyes. “I can imagine. So Carrie wanted Béatrice’s locket?”
“Non!They hated each other. But that was certainly strange.”
Reaching out to brush his fingers over the locket, Cinn said, “I’ve just realised we’re going home tomorrow and we haven’t even looked for the magnet item for Béatrice. You know, the whole reason I was dragged along this weekend.”
You were dragged along for many, many reasons, darling.
“Oh, we’re getting that this evening. Very shortly, in fact.”
Cinn’s forehead wrinkled. “What? How? We’re not even at your house.”
“I’m aware.”
Tugging Cinn by his sleeve, Julien led him over to Darcy, who was watching Elliot scoff down macaron after macaron with obvious disdain.
“Follow me to the lobby,” Julien announced. “We’re bailing on this pathetic excuse for a party.”
“We are?” asked Darcy.
“We need to go and collect Béatrice’s magnet item.”
The three of them shared confused glances with each other.
Julien couldn’t help but love every second of it.
