Murder in the Mansion by Lili Evans Page A

more calls to
make.”
    Troy
stood in the middle of the room staring at his wife as the dial tone sounded in
his ear. He felt like an asshole. He wasn't the only one who had left home
after Dani's death and he certainly hadn't thought about Nadia when he did it.
    She
feels you abandoned her.
    It
was amazing how one situation could be perceived so differently by two people.
He had left to get away from his parents. To stop fighting and competing with
his brother and sisters. Nadia had never been a factor. Nadia had never really
been the problem.
    The
bastard's dead and he never knew I made it.
    That
was the bitch of it, Troy decided. All of this time he'd wanted to show his
father he didn't need him. More than anything he had wanted his Dad to know
that he didn't need his influence or money to help him along. And it was too
late now. Now he'd never know.
    “They're
both gone?” Phoebe asked.
    “Tonight,”
Troy told her. He went to the chair opposite her. “Now he'll never know I made
it without him.”
    “Of
course he knew,” Phoebe's hazel eyes were bright and clear.
    “Don't
lie to make me feel better,” Troy rubbed his face. He was tired but he knew he
couldn't sleep now.
    “I'm
not,” Phoebe smoothed her hair back. It was short, a little brown cap of hair
that often made her look younger than she was. It was having that effect on
Troy as he studied her. “You never called him and asked him for help. You never
begged to be taken back. Just because he didn't know the details doesn't mean
he didn't know that you didn't need him.”
    Troy
considered for a moment and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I'm going
to call and see about a flight.”
    “I'll
let Daddy know what happened.”
    “You
know, if your family hadn't taken me on board, I wouldn't be this successful,”
Troy told her. “I owe this to you.”
    “You
wouldn't be this successful in hotels ,” Phoebe replied. “But I'm
convinced you would have been in something else.”
    “What
makes you so sure?” Troy asked her.
    “I
just know these things,” Phoebe rose from her chair. “You chose me and the
opportunities I brought to the table. If you hadn't picked me you would have
picked someone else. Your life would be different.”
    “Worse?”
Troy pressed her.
    “Just
different,” Phoebe repeated. “Better or worse doesn't matter. You'll never
know. But give credit where credit is due. Daddy didn't promote you just
because of me. If you didn't have potential he wouldn't have bothered.”
    “I
love you, Phoebe.”
    She
shot him a look over her shoulder as she left the room. “I know,” she said.
     
     
    ****
     
     
    There
was a headache throbbing at the base of her skull. More annoyed by it than in
pain, Rachael jabbed her thumb over the spot, pushed and rubbed to relieve some
of the pressure. It had been a long day, and, as she had predicted, she hadn't
been able to leave at the end of her shift.
    She
rummaged in her purse for some aspirin. She would get these and some water into
her system first, use the bathroom, and then do another walk through before
seeing if she could go home. It was almost midnight and although she was tired,
hungry, and had had to pee for hours, Rachael didn't want to leave.
    She
didn't want to go home.
    First
things first, she decided downing the aspirin. She chugged a bottle of water as
she stood upright in the break room. It never ceased to amaze her how unhealthy
it was to be a doctor: there wasn't time to eat regular meals. Coffee filled
those voids instead. There wasn't enough time to take bathroom breaks, either.
Dehydrated, malnourished, hyped-up on caffeine and hospital food that couldn't
really be called nutritious, she made her way through each patient, each day,
overworked, pushing herself on too little sleep, and loving the adrenaline of
it. Living for the adrenaline of it. Her life outside of the hospital, the one
waiting at home for her, she didn't want to face.
    That
realization bothered her.