Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [91]
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I just figured that you and Adam . . . I mean, it’s plain to see that you and he are more than . . . what I mean is, that your relationship is moving toward something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she hastened to add, “and not that it’s any of my business—”
“But . . .” Kendra waited for her to continue.
“Well, I figured if you were anything like Adam, when it comes to food, I’d starve to death by the time he gets back here. So I just stocked up on a few staples.”
“Like what?”
“Salsa, tortilla chips,” Miranda said, then added, “But I picked up some strawberries, popcorn, and some of those little carrots, too.”
“The little tiny snack carrots?”
Miranda nodded.
“Did you happen to pick up any dip?”
“Ranch, of course,” Miranda said, a laugh in her voice. “What good are carrots without Ranch dip?”
“What else is in those bags?” Kendra looked over her shoulder into the backseat, where the plastic bags had morphed into shapeless white heaps on the floor.
“Cookies . . .” Miranda looked sheepish as if she’d been caught with her hand in the jar.
“What kind?”
“Pepperidge Farm. Chantilly.”
“The kind with the raspberry filling and the powdered sugar?” Kendra’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, wait! Of course!” Miranda grinned. “You were the fries. The rare burger and the onion rings! I’d forgotten—I just figured that since Adam was such a stick about what he eats, that any woman he was interested in would be the same way. I’m so sorry for having misjudged you. Damn. I should have gotten that extra pint of Ben and Jerry’s after all.”
“There’s always tomorrow.” Kendra was poking in the bags. “Oh, my God! Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Yes! And a bag of Hershey’s kisses!”
Miranda’s outlook brightened. The next few days might not be so bad after all.
“You do have good deadbolt locks, don’t you?” Miranda had just finished a very businesslike inspection of Smith House.
“Yes. I had them installed when I moved back here last fall. There are latches on all the windows as well.”
“No security system, though,” Miranda noted.
“We never needed one here. Frankly, no one around here even locked their doors up until a few years ago. I still know people in Smith’s Forge who go to sleep at night without locking up.”
“Dangerous business these days, but we’re locked up tight as a drum here, so we should be fine.” Miranda leaned against the kitchen counter. “Do you want to talk about it? I mean, everything that’s going on?”
“You mean all these women who have died? You mean the bastard who’s been killing them? And the possibility that the man who was convicted of murdering my brother and cousin may not have committed the crime after all? Not to mention the fact that the killer may now be watching me?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe Webster is innocent. He’s the most despicable, evil person I’ve ever met.”
“I know his history. He’s despicable, yes, indeed he is. Evil? Probably that, too.” Miranda nodded. “But that does not necessarily mean that he killed your brother. He may have done a lot of other terrible things, but killing your brother and your cousin may not be among his crimes.”
“I can’t stand to think that all these years, the person responsible for Ian’s death has been out there, and we didn’t know.” Her voice quivered. “That my mother didn’t know. That maybe he’s been watching me for a long time and I didn’t know.”
Kendra shook her head.
“Actually, no, on second thought, I don’t want to think about him or why he’s trying to get me to notice him. Would it be crass and insensitive of me to say that, just for tonight, I’d like to not talk about him?”
“No, not at all. We’ve both been totally immersed in this for the past few weeks. Me, I don’t mind at all. It’s my job. But it isn’t yours, not this part of it, anyway. I think a night away from thinking about it isn’t a bad idea at all.” Miranda had watched the tension build in Kendra’s face, knew the woman needed a break. “So I say it’s time to break out the pizza and whip up a few milk