“She won’t do it. Don’t worry. Dani isn’t an idiot.”
“She better not,” Megan said, crossing her arms and glaring at her oldest, probably because the one she needed to glare at had stormed out of the room.
“Dani has been chatting with him for like forever,” Dorine announced, prancing back into the room with a victorious grin on her face. “They are totally in love and she is finally going to meet him for real,” she added, clasping her hands over her heart and making a show of swooning.
Maybe only spending half her childhood with a sister and the other half alone made Kylie ill prepared for what happened next. She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t bother taking time to analyze it. Dani flew into the room, appearing out of nowhere, and bulldozed Dorine over the coffee table. Denise howled on the couch, jumping toward her mother, and Diane screamed, falling backward and landing on her rear with a thud.
“Dani!” Perry roared, grabbing her backside and yanking her backward through the air.
“You little bitch,” Dani howled, her arms and legs whaling around her while her long brown hair flew like a cloak blinding her face. “How dare you say such a thing.”
“It’s the truth!” Dorine wailed, her legs up in the air hanging over the coffee table while tears streaked down her face.
“Perry!” Megan yelled, reaching for Dani. “Don’t hurt her.”
“Enough!” Perry yelled again, and silenced the room.
Kylie felt like an onlooker, momentarily forgotten in a family dispute that she had no part of. Except that she had instigated the matter.
She clasped her hands behind her back, standing to the side, while her mind now went into analytical mode. Watching quietly, she observed and noted how each of them reacted to an ugly situation. What was said next, though, would possibly prove invaluable.
Dani struggled out of her uncle’s arms but then hugged herself instead of walking into her mother’s arms. “She’s a big fat liar, Mom,” Dani said, a sneer in her tone as she shot Dorine a warning look.
“And you’re an idiot,” Dorine retorted, holding her own.
Dani stood a couple inches taller than her younger sister, but Dorine weighed more. It was the older sibling intimidation that won out, though. Dorine pressed her mouth closed, obviously conceding not to say more.
“I think it’s time you share the details about this boy with me,” Megan demanded, her focus hard on Dani.
“Not a problem.” Dani didn’t move. Her uncle remained an overwhelming presence, towering over her backside, while her mother scowled, her arms crossed while glaring at Dani. She stood as tall as Megan, and her attention didn’t sway while she explained herself. “Dorine eavesdrops on my conversations and fills in the holes to create her own gossip. It’s not my fault she has no life.”
Dorine made a snorting sound but again snapped her mouth closed when Dani seared her with a hateful glare.
“Do you really think with all the mess going on in town right now about some serial killer that I would go meet some guy off-line I didn’t know?”
“I hope to God not,” Megan said softly. She let out a breath and backed away from her daughter. Then as Megan combed Dani’s thick brown hair away from her face with her fingers, her tormented expression would have broken a softer person’s heart. Her fingers trembled when she reached for her daughter’s face. “You’ve got so much of your father’s fiery independent spirit. I look forward to watching it blossom as you get older.”
Dani deflated at her mother’s words and pulled her in for a hug. Perry glanced her way for the first time but then quickly moved to pull Dorine to her feet. He pretty much pushed her into Diane and with a look had the two of them heading out of the room.
“Denise, head upstairs with your sisters,” he instructed, his calm baritone enough to make the twelve-year- old scurry off the couch and dart out of the room, probably grateful to leave the dramatic scene. Then taking Dani by the shoulders, he turned her around to face him. “Swear to me right now you aren’t planning on meeting some boy you’ve only chatted with online.”
“I can’t believe you’d think such a thing,” Dani whispered.
“Then explain why you just attacked your sister, and it better be the truth this time.”
“Perry, let me handle this,” Megan began.
“I’m not walking away from this, Meg,” Perry informed her, crossing his arms over bulging muscle when he let go of Dani. “Talk to her all you want, but after the day I’ve had, the last thing I’m going to do is walk out of this home before I’m very satisfied that the girls I love aren’t anywhere near the monster I’m stalking.”
“I am not talking to that murderer!” Dani yelled. “Don’t you think I would know if I were?”
Kylie almost said no, she wouldn’t know, at the same time Perry did.
“Do you think the other girls who’ve disappeared were idiots?” Perry challenged her, ignoring his sister when she tried turning Dani toward her. “I’ve seen the chats he’s had with those girls. He’s a master at making girls your age believe he’s a boy your age. He thrives off that, becoming your best friend, confiding in you, talking about his parents and homework and complaining about tests and acne. Any of that sound familiar to you?”
Dani didn’t answer but stared at him with wide, moist eyes. She was an intelligent girl. And God willing, the boy she was talking to online was legitimate and there wasn’t anything to worry about.
“Maybe if you promise your mother and uncle you won’t meet anyone until this guy is arrested,” Kylie suggested, and both Megan and Perry looked at her as if they’d forgotten she was in the room.
“Whatever!” Dani said, waving her hand dismissively in the air. “But there isn’t anyone I’m planning on meeting,” she added, sticking to her story as she edged around them and headed to the doorway and the stairs. “This conversation is over,” she announced, and ran from them, bolting up the stairs loud enough that it sounded as if all of them raced upstairs together, instead of just Dani.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Megan said, once again playing hostess when she tried smiling politely at Kylie. Worry created deep lines in her forehead and around her eyes, though, and she looked exhausted. “It really was good meeting you, though. Perry, bring her back soon.”
“She’ll be back,” he said, speaking before Kylie could think of what to say. Then as if to seal his words, he pulled Kylie to him, wrapping his arm around her.
The intimate contact, which he held on to when he walked the two of them to the door, would make it damn impossible to convince Megan they were only friends. Granted, Megan didn’t know anything about Kylie, but what she believed now brought a smile to her face.
“I’ll feel a lot better when you have this guy arrested,” Megan said, following them outside but remaining in her doorway. “And Kylie, stop by anytime. I know tonight wasn’t proof, but my girls love you.”
“Thank you,” Kylie said, although it was hard to turn when Perry kept a firm grip on her.
“You won’t have long to wait,” Perry said, finally stopping and facing his sister when they were halfway down the sidewalk. “I’ll let you know the moment the asshole is behind bars.”
“Good.” Megan shifted her attention between both of them, her fatigue apparent but her expression definitely showing approval when Perry kept his arm around Kylie. “Good night, you two.”
Chapter 20
Perry couldn’t kick his foul mood, so he didn’t say much as they drove in silence. After he had spent the last hour or so talking to teenagers and their parents and listening while the Simolis again addressed the press and warned everyone to keep their daughters under lock and key, it had been all he could do not to toss Dani across the room until he knocked some sense into her head. He would tear through her computer and phone, regardless of what Megan thought, if it came down to it. Dani could be pissed all she wanted, but she would be alive.
“Perry, where are you going?” Kylie pulled him out of his thoughts.
He turned into his driveway. “Home,” he grunted.
“What about me?” She didn’t take off her seat belt when he put the Jeep in park and then cut the engine. “No way, Perry. You’ve got to take me home.”
He wasn’t in the mood to argue. Opening his car door, he stepped out into the muggy night. Another storm was heading their way. “I will soon.”
