Their final full day in Morcote saw the Byrne ladies sunning and reading on the veranda, munching on raw veg. No peanut butter, though. Mmm, crunchy, yummy, and oh so satisfying. Europeans just didn’t appreciate the BEST spreadeverinvented. God, Raven wanted some.
If Dublin lacked her brand of choice, Skippy Super Chunk, there was always Amazon.
Yesterday, they’d driven into Lugano to shop at the fancy Via Nassa center. They wanted to get Jo’s thank you gift squared away. After hours of popping in and out of stores, tea and biscuits at the outdoor cafes, and using their phone translators, with and without success, they finally happened into a small jeweler. This had to be it. None of the jewelry looked traditional. Everything in here looked one of a kind.
Translator app at the ready, she told the saleswoman that they were looking for earrings for one of their good friends. They’d at least narrowed it down to earrings three hours ago.
The robotic app voice asked them about color, stones, and something else she couldn’t understand. River grabbed my phone and, thank God, took over.
“She has wavy blonde hair and gray eyes.” River made a motion around her breasts, presumably the length of Jo’s hair.
The saleswoman nodded and motioned for them to follow her. Nan smiled and shrugged, game to see what the lady might have, but clearly flagging from the long day.
And there they were. Like sunlight and angels were lighting up the display case. All three sisters smiled and pointed. That pair. No translation needed for the clerk.
Gray spinel gemstones surrounded with tiny oval cut black onyx. The gems were set in a lower prong platinum mount. They should set flush to Jo’s lobe. The gray spinel gems looked like smoke. They would match her eyes perfectly, and the onyx would sparkle and reflect in her blonde hair. Oh, God, yes, these were it.
The jewelry store shipped the gift directly to Jo’s home in Tulsa with a handwritten thank you note from all of them.
To our sister, Josephine.
Love, Thanks, and many Blessings Upon You,
Raven, River, Rowan
And your adopted gran, Nan
They knew it would be days before she got the package. Nan said to call her the moment they knew she’d received the gift. Her grandma was as excited as they were.
The gift had been the last thing on their Switzerland checklist. They were all packed now and ready to leave in the morning. The flight was scheduled for 9 o’clock. Raven would miss the easy days in Morcote. Especially after the shocking news they’d gotten last week. She admitted to being relieved that they weren’t going back to Oklahoma, especially being pregnant.
Jo called last night to update them on the stalker situation. The analyst proved the pictures were faked, and whoever had done them was highly skilled. James’ detective contact was helping with the investigation. So far, they had found several more cameras. Outside the O’Faolain’s rooms at the hotel in the hallways, the most disturbing was the one they found at Jane’s gym in the women’s dressing area.
The pictures of Raven were taken from the camera outside Triskelion, but the ones in Tulsa, at Wolves, and the one in the back of an Uber where it appeared she was kissing a man, were taken from a regular camera. One with a powerful lens used from a distance. Distant or not, the fact that someone had indeed been following her was frightening.
The detectives were finding out who had access to the places the cameras were found. The list was excruciatingly long. The pictures had been sent from a burner phone to both James and Bran. They were getting closer to tracking where the hidden camera stills were being sent, but again, whoever set this up was very good at covering their tracks.
Raven didn’t even know Jane, but she had been violated worse than anyone. Jo said she refused to see James, so Jo had to meet with Jane and the police while they explained what had happened. The police allowed her to leave town for a while as long as she always let them know where she was.
Jo said it was the very best thing Jane could do. Though she’d tried to convince her brother not to, James was going to follow her whether his ex-girlfriend approved or not— which she absolutely did not. Raven could sympathize.
Nan’s phone rang during her peanut butter fantasies, unusual but not crazy. Her grandma obviously had a life outside her granddaughters. “I wonder if it’s the widower, River.” They both grinned at each other.
Nan sat up, stiff as a board. She and her sisters were instantly on high alert. None of them liked calls that got that type of reaction. It brought back instant memories of Mom and Dad and... that last night with Bran.
Raven almost hyperventilated when Nan responded to the person speaking on the other end.
“Bran O’Faolain. I’m surprised to hear from you.”
Her grandma was all calm, cool, and collected. River whispered to put it on speaker. The first word he uttered was destroying. Raven bent over and covered her mouth. Not sure if she could stay quiet. Her sisters came over and sat next to her in the lounger.
“Don’t give yourself away, Rave. You can bear this. Let’s find out what he wants,” Rowan whispered. She could only nod.
“...tried to reach River and Rowan for weeks.”
Breath whooshing out of her, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing— Not Raven— damn it, why was she surprised?
“Repeat what you said, please. The service skipped out.” A lie, she only wanted him to repeat what he’d already said for their benefit.
