Enright Family Collection by Mariah Stewart Read Free Book Online Page B

agreed that Corri needed to be surrounded by as much family as possible. August had welcomed him home and been delighted to have Corri move in with them. It had been so long since the house had been filled with young people.
    August leaned on the wide window ledge and looked out toward the bay. Prima lux. First light. She had never missed this favorite moment of each new day. It was hers, and she cherished it and gave thanks for it. One more morning. One more day.
    One more day to be there for Corri, for India. One more day to mourn Ry, to carry the void her beloved nephew hadleft. One more day to anchor the Devlin family, to breathe the salt air and to hear the gulls cry, to watch for the herons, to listen for the call of the geese as they passed overhead, heralding the coming of fall.
    Tempus doth indeed fugit. She sighed.
    Twenty minutes later a red-eyed India came into the kitchen, suitcase and travel bags in hand, and kissed August goodbye before leaving. Watching her from the doorway, August said a little prayer that the trial would go quickly so that India could be back in Devlin’s Light before Corri might begin to wonder if India, like her mother and Ry, had vanished from her life for good.
    “Hey, Indy, welcome back.” Barry Singer, a detective from the city’s vice squad, greeted India as she plowed through the ever-crowded space allotted to the district attorney and his staff in the basement of City Hall.
    “I told you I’d be here for the trial,” she told him.
    “Indy,” Singer said, laying a hand on her shoulder, “we’re all sorry as hell about Ry.”
    “I know, Barry. And I want to thank you guys for the flowers. I appreciated the thought. So did Aunt August.”
    “How’s she taking it?” Singer, himself raised by an elderly grandmother, had been extremely solicitous to August on those few occasions when she had visited India at the office.
    India paused in the doorway of her assigned workplace and reflected. “Aunt August is strong. She is the backbone of the family. Even my dad acknowledged that, that it was August who kept us all together over the years. But she adored Ry, and frankly, I am concerned about her. She is terribly sad. As we all are. And of course, now there’s Corri …”
    “Did Ry appoint you as her guardian?”
    “He didn’t spell it out in a will, if that’s what you mean. But of course, between Aunt August and me, Corri will have all the loving family she could want. And since Ry had formally adopted her, Corri will inherit his share of the family trust. She’ll be well provided for, in any event.”
    “Anything we can do, me and Liz”—he made reference to his wife—“we’re there.”
    “Thanks, Singer.” India acknowledged the kindness with a half smile, then turned the corner of the gray divider used to create cubicles for the assistant district attorneys in the basement of City Hall.
    “So”—India plunked her pocketbook and briefcase on the floor next to her desk in the overcrowded and chaotic cubical and was suddenly all business—“did you get a statement from that kid who was hiding behind the swings when Axel scooped up the Melendez girl?”
    “His mother won’t let him talk to me. And Indy, I don’t know that I blame her. Axel Thomas is a really nasty guy. Between you and me, I don’t know that I’d want to bring my little boy to his attention.”
    “Maybe I could give it a try.” Indy flipped through a pile of messages on her desk. “Do you have their number?”
    “Yeah, I’m sure you can convince her to let her five-year-old come in to open court and make an I.D. on a child molester who may or may not go to jail. You are smooth, Devlin, but if it was my kid, I’d tell you to—”
    “The number, Singer,” India deadpanned, “or I’ll tell everyone that ‘Barry’ is short for ‘Bardolf.’”
    “That’s low, Devlin. Real low.” The short, stocky detective turned pale.
    “That number was …” She batted her eyelashes