CHAPTER 40
SOMEONE HAD SCORCHED the coffee during their absence. The bitter odor hung like a pall over the assembly, a subtle summary on the events of the day. Riley was dog-tired and dangerously close to tears. She couldn’t scrub the image of Rico’s dead face from her mind, or the thunderous sound of the ruined road as it crumbled and fell into the inlet below.
While Nate spoke, she found herself examining shoes, looking for a pair of dark brown loafers. Skillet wore loafers the color of milk chocolate, no socks, but they sported pennies, rather than tassels. Sandy Dawson had on a pair of tasseled loafers, but they were black and both tassels were accounted for. She found it incredible that she could be scrutinizing her neighbors for signs of a killer, yet she couldn’t keep herself from
