Blake sighed.
“Way to go, Uncle Jack,” he said, then left the room, as well.
Justin shoved the last bite of his cake into his mouth and got up, chewing it as he left.
Jack was ticked off that he’d just been told off by the youngest member of the family, but he couldn’t argue the point. There was even a part of him that admired the boy for standing up to him. No one else ever did.
He glanced at Nita and Fiona.
Nita set her fork aside and stared back.
“Are you going to eat your cake?” she asked.
Jack rolled his eyes, slid the dessert plate down the table like a hockey puck on ice and stomped out of the room.
Nita leaned over and caught the dish before it went off the side of the table.
Fiona grinned at her sister.
“Are you really going to eat a second piece of cake?”
“No,” Nita said. “I just wanted to piss him off. He shouldn’t have hit Justin.”
“Oh Lord, Nita, someone had to. I’ve never seen Justin act like that in my life.”
Nita shrugged, took her fork and raked it across the icing for one last bite.
“I love cream cheese frosting,” she said. “I’m going to my room to watch some TV for a while. I’m keeping my own company tonight.”
“Where’s Andrew?”
Nita shrugged.
“I don’t know, but when he called this evening, I told him I wasn’t up for company.”
Fiona arched a brow. “You don’t care what he’s doing without you?”
Nita snorted softly. “No, why would I?”
“You trust him that much?” Fiona asked.
Nita laughed.
“I don’t trust him at all, but that doesn’t have anything to do with our relationship. He has a hard dick and endurance. That’s all the job requires.”
Fiona blinked. “You never used to be so crude.”
Nita laughed again.
“Oh, Fee...I was always crude. I just don’t care enough to hide it anymore.”
She started to leave the table, then stopped, went back for the cake and her fork, and took them with her.
Now Fiona was alone.
She looked about the beautifully appointed dining room, at the elegant table with dirty plates and cups scattered up and down the length of it, and realized the scene before her was a shocking analogy for the family: a beautiful setting with a scattered assortment of very expensive, very dirty plates and cups. Cook would wash all of this clean, but who was going to clean their souls?
Eight
Charles had a raincoat over his dinner clothes and was heading out the door when his dad caught him in the hall.
“Where are you going?” Blake asked.
“Like I said, out with friends,” Charles said.
Blake frowned.
“Be careful. There could be flooding on the roads.”
“Yes, I will, and I’ll be home late.” Then he paused. “Can’t you do something with Uncle Jack? He’s getting on everyone’s nerves.”
Blake shrugged. “He’s trying to protect the family.”
Charles stood a moment, eyeing the serious expression on his father’s face. “Are you worried?” he asked.
Blake frowned. “Hell, yes. This has the look of a nightmare for all of us.”
“What happens if there’s no one to pin it on?” Charles asked.
“What do you mean?” Blake asked.
“Well, if everyone has an alibi that can be confirmed, then what happens?”
“Hell if I know,” Blake said. “But I can guarantee someone in this family will go down regardless.”
Now it was Charles who was confused.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“You don’t know your Aunt Leigh, but the rest of us do. She’s a Wayne first, and she’s the only one of us who ever defied our father. And she succeeded beyond any of our expectations, then went on to live a happily married life to spite him. She has five sons who, I suspect, would walk through fire for her, because that’s the kind of loyalty she inspires. If the police can’t determine what happened, she’ll take us all down.”
Charles was startled. He’d never heard his father talk like this before. He almost sounded uncertain, which was not how the Wayne family conducted business.
“Maybe it won’t come to that,” Charles muttered, and left the mansion, glad he’d had the foresight to park beneath the portico, because the thunderstorm was blowing the rain sideways.
He got into his car and headed up the driveway with his windshield wipers on high. By the time he got out to the street he’d already forgotten the family drama and was thinking about his night’s entertainment.
*
Andrew was glad he wasn’t going to have to put up with Nita tonight. She was fun and generous, but sometimes she was also too damn demanding. He knew why she liked him. It was the same reason everyone liked him. Because he was really good at what he did.