The Woman In the Shadows by Cathryn Grant

Author:Cathryn Grant [Grant, Cathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781943142705
Published: 2022-12-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 29

The following day Diana and I met with Pauline to review her photographs. I told Diana I had a dental appointment and I would meet her at Pauline’s agency. I arrived half an hour early, certain I could figure out a way to run into Hunter, but the receptionist had a different idea.

She informed me that our appointment was at four p.m. and until the clock struck four, I was not allowed to leave the lobby area. I was there to meet Pauline in her office, and it was not okay to wander around any of the three floors occupied by the Herrera Agency. When I asked if that meant I wasn’t allowed to use the restroom, she gave me a spiteful look and asked if I needed to use it. I said I might, and she offered to call an escort for me.

For twenty-six minutes, until Diana walked through the doors, I did nothing but stare at the live tree in the opposite corner and think about how I might successfully lure James to his death.

When Diana interrupted my thoughts, there was a brief moment when I forgot who we were there to meet. She sat beside me, checked her text messages and email, and flicked through the transcripts of her voicemail. While still looking at her phone, she spoke in a low voice, reminding me that she would do the talking and I wasn’t to comment on any of the photos unless she asked me a direct question.

“If Pauline asks you a question, defer to me. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

How could it not be clear? It was a basic statement without any confusing details. We’d done it already with four other clients. She was in charge. I did hope I would remember that fact.

We were escorted to Pauline’s office. I hooked up the laptop and displayed the images to the monitor on the wall facing Pauline’s conference table. We moved the chairs so we were clustered on one side of the round table and began looking through the images. Diana described to Pauline what James had seen in her facial expressions. It was somewhat remarkable, and I wondered how much of it was accurate and how much was his fancy.

According to him, Pauline was mourning her lost youth. Her eyes were sad, and the grief was evident in the set of her mouth. She was feeling stagnant in her ownership of the agency because she missed modeling. She knew she could never go back, but that desire to go back was preventing her from moving forward.

Every fiber of my being was yearning to ask Diana how much of that analysis came from James and what aspects of it had come from her. I was willing to admit, to believe that he’d seen some form of grief in her expression. I was not willing to admit he had the insight to recognize that her desire to go back was preventing her from moving forward. It seemed almost beautiful in its simplicity and its completeness.

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