“The twins, Jillian and Jake Junior, are at school right now. They’re nearly four and are so wonderfully bright. I’ve been blessed.”

“School? That young?”

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“Well, it’s never too early to get them started. They attend a prekindergarten three days a week. Do you have any children, Lieutenant?”

The sudden shift threw Taylor for a loop. How was she supposed to answer that? Let’s see, two days ago I was told I was pregnant, yesterday I found out I wasn’t. I didn’t tell my lover, so I have to have a long conversation with him after he finishes chasing a serial killer through the Southeast. She nearly laughed aloud before recovering and answering as truthfully as she could. “I don’t yet, but my best friend is having twins. They just found out. Do you remember Sam Owens? It’s Sam Loughley now, she was in my class.” Good job, Taylor, she congratulated herself. Deflection is the name of the game.

“I do remember Samantha. She’s the medical examiner now. That must be interesting. Well, that’s wonderful. Children are such a joy. Jake and I were so thrilled when we found out… Oh, Lieutenant, I shouldn’t be taking up your time with this. It won’t help get my sister back.”

Gabrielle interrupted, bearing their drinks on a silver tray with tall crystal glasses filled with ice. “Grazie con tanto, Gabrielle. Lascili prego sulla tabella.” The girl set the drinks on a marble-topped table and left the room. Quinn went to the tray, grabbed the soda can and ignored the glasses. Taylor raised an eyebrow and followed suit. The move seemed a bit informal from a very formal woman. Maybe Quinn Buckley wasn’t quite as high-strung as she first appeared. They went to the chairs in front of the fireplace, a conversation grouping that put them in face-to-face contact. Taylor sat and pulled out her notebook. 210

J.T. Ellison

“Okay, Mrs. Buckley, can you tell me what Whitney was so upset about?”

“It would be easier to let you hear it for yourself.”

She reached behind her and hit a button. Taylor realized the answering machine sat on the desk behind them. Aha. That’s why we’re meeting in Quinn’s sanctuary.

“You said my answering machine earlier, Mrs. Buckley. You have more than one?”

“Oh, we’ve got a voice mail system for the family. This is for my private line.” There was no other explanation. The machine whirred for a moment, then clicked into play mode. A voice filled the room.

“Quinn? Quinn, are you there? Dammit, pick up the phone. I have to talk to you. I’m coming over, this just can’t wait. If you get this message, wait for me at the house. And Quinn? For God’s sake, be careful.”

The voice was filled with hysteria, and Taylor felt a shudder go down her spine.

“Were all the messages like this, Mrs. Buckley?”

she asked.

“Yes, for the most part. She never said what was so damn important that she’d wreck her car in her rush to get here. It would have been easier if she’d let me know what the problem was. And what I’m supposed to be careful about. Lord, that woman doesn’t usually overreact like this.”

She fiddled with the gold braid attached to an upholstered throw pillow.

“I was hoping you could look into things for me, Lieutenant. Perhaps examine some of the stories she was working on, see if something came up in one of All the Pretty Girls

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them that could affect my family or me in some manner.” She cleared her throat. “Perhaps Whitney came across something that may be…embarrassing?

Other than that, I just don’t know what to tell you.”

Taylor was silent for a moment. “Mrs. Buckley…”

“Call me Quinn. We’re of an age, after all. Mrs. Buckley always makes me think of Jake’s mother.”

Taylor nodded. “Quinn, you mentioned your husband travels quite a bit. May I ask what he does?”

“My, you really are out of the loop, aren’t you, Lieutenant?”

“Taylor, please. Out of the loop?”

“Well, your father, Win? He’s friends with Jake.”

Ah, Win Jackson. That was something she didn’t feel like dealing with right now. “My father and I aren’t close. So tell me, what does Jake do?”

“He’s the senior vice president of Health Partners. Your father is on the board of directors for the company.”

“Oh,” Taylor said in a small voice. Like that was supposed to mean something to her. Quinn must have caught her confused look, because she continued to explain.

“Health Partners is the leading small community–based hospital company in the country. Jake has to travel to all of their sites constantly to make sure everything is going well. They have holdings all over the Southeast and a few in the Northeast as well. They’re growing bigger and Jake’s job is to make sure they grow in the appropriate places.” Quinn sounded bored, like she was reading a description off the back of an annual report. Even her eyes had taken on a bit of a glaze. Taylor surmised that 212

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Quinn wasn’t very interested in her husband’s job, despite the obvious trappings and advantages the job gave. They certainly weren’t lacking for money.

“Okay, that’s good. I tell you what. I’m sure you want to go through your sister’s things. I’ll accompany you over there and have a look around. Does that sound good?”

“That would be fine. When would be convenient for you?”

Taylor noticed that the moment Quinn had started speaking of her husband all the warmth and sparkle had gone out of her voice. And now talking about her sister was bringing it all home.

“Anytime is fine with me. Would you like to go now?”

“I’d prefer tomorrow morning. I have some arrangements to see to, and I haven’t been able to reach our younger brother, Reese. He is in Guatemala doing a mission trip with several other doctors from Vanderbilt. He’s the youngest resident to ever go on one of their trips. They spend two weeks doing surgeries on cleft palates, joints, all the procedures these poor people have absolutely no access to. Reese will be doing some pre-op and post-op counseling. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. He’s not due back for another week. I’ll try to get word to him, but he told me before he left that there wasn’t a solid line of communication. He’ll want to have a hand in everything.”

Taylor handed her one of her cards and said,

“Anytime tomorrow morning is fine with me. Just give me a call and I’ll meet you there.”

With that they wrapped things up with a few niceties and Taylor made a hasty retreat. Something was very All the Pretty Girls

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sad about Quinn Buckley, and it wasn’t only that her twin sister had just died.

Back in her car, she decided she might have time to head over to Betsy Garrison’s house. She dialed the number, and Brian Post answered.

“Hey, Post, can I come on over? I wanted to check on Betsy, see how she’s doing. Maybe talk about the case for a moment.”

“You know what, Taylor, it might be best if we gave it a day. She’s starting to come off all the drugs and really grasp what happened and she’s pretty pissed off. Having the story out on the air isn’t helping matters. I don’t want her to have to go through it with other people around, you know what I mean?”

“Of course. That’s no problem. Have her call me when she’s ready to talk. Meantime, do you want to be brought up-to-date?”

“I already spoke with Lincoln and Marcus. They brought me up to speed. I guess we have to start looking at one of our own, huh?”

“Well, there are lots of police uniforms in the midstate. Maybe it’s one of theirs.”

“That would be great,” he said a bit sarcastically.

“Tell you what, I’ll give your boys a shout in the morning and we can decide where to go from there.”

“Sounds good. Give Betsy my best. Sounds like she’s lucky to have you around.”