Page 70 of In Plain Sight

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rayne rolled her eyes. “Talk about blood out of a stone. Okay, let’s cut the bullshit. Who is he? Or she? And don’t give me thatI don’t know what you’re talking aboutline again, because I didn’t swallow it the first time.” She grinned. “Cheryl’s in lo-ove,” she said in a singsong voice.

“Will you hush?” Cheryl glanced at the coffee shop’s occupants, but no one was paying them any mind. “And who says I’m in love?”

“Your face. Your voice. The way you floated in here on a cloud of happiness.”

Cheryl picked up her cup and took a drink, her face glowing.

“Just tell me one thing. Is it serious?”

For a moment, it looked as if Cheryl was going to deny everything again, but then a sigh rolled out of her. “I don’t know. It’s early days, all right?”

A pang sliced into Rayne’s heart, but she was a big enough person that she could forget all she’d hoped for and be happy for Cheryl. It was difficult to be anythingbuthappy when faced with the joy that radiated from her.

“You still haven’t told me their name,” she said with a smile.

Cheryl’s eyes were sparkling again. “No, I haven’t, have I?”

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

“AND THATwas all I ever got out of her,” Rayne concluded.

“So you have no idea who she might have been seeing? And whether they were male or female?” Gary paused in his note writing.

Rayne shook her head. “I’d always thought Cheryl was crap at keeping secrets, but that was one she kept until the last time I saw her. And while she never came right out and said it, she was in love.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Dan asked.

Rayne frowned. “That would have been my birthday, August twenty-sixth, 1992. We met for dinner at a sushi restaurant. I’d organized a party for the weekend, the twenty-ninth, just a few friends, and I invited Cheryl. But she said she couldn’t make it.” She sighed. “She was polite about it, but I wasn’t stupid. It was obvious she was going to meet whoever it was she was seeing.”

“The last person to see her—that we know about—was her father,” Dan remarked. “And that was the morning of August twenty-eighth.”

Rayne stared at him. “You don’t think…. But she was so happy. She wouldn’t have been so relaxed and radiant if whoever she was dating was dangerous. She wasn’t stupid. The episode with that Reynolds guy had taught her to be careful.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Gary closed his notepad.

Rayne shook her head. “Just promise me you’ll find the person responsible, okay?”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Dan said with a smile.

They’d learned something new at least.

Dan showed Rayne out of the building, and he and Gary returned to their office. Gary sat at his desk, reading the notes he’d taken. Dan came in and closed the door.

“Rayne did get one thing wrong,” he observed.

“And what was that?”

“Cheryl wasn’t as bad at keeping secrets as Rayne supposed. Her dad had no clue about her copies, for one thing.” He stroked his chin. “That stuff we got from Cheryl’s studio… I haven’t finished going through it all. Maybe there’s something there.” His gaze met Gary’s. “There’d better be. We need all the help we can get.”

“We’re further along than you realize.” Dan arched his eyebrows, and Gary counted off on his fingers. “We’re not done with Aiden Reynolds. Or Paul DiFanetti. Or Ian Gordon, if it comes to that. And we won’t let one of them off the hook until we know for certain they had nothing to do with her death.”

The more he learned about Cheryl, the more determined he became to catch the person who had snuffed out what promised to be an awesome life.

DAN HARDLYnoticed as Gary removed the dishes from the dining table. He was leafing through one of Cheryl’s books, unable to account for the way it made him feel. The illustrations were erotic, but more often than not, he focused on the male, noting the way the artist had drawn his clenched buttocks, the strong line of his muscular thighs, the arch of his back.

“Found something interesting?” Gary stood by the table, a book in his hand.

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