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“I already told you everything,” Chloe whined.
“Then tell it to me again. After Lissa’s house.” Seeing that Chloe wanted to get herself worked up again, Elizabeth said, “Deal?” She held out her hand.
After a moment, Chloe grudgingly shook it. “Deal.”
Ravinia wasn’t sure what to make of Rex’s sudden reluctance to find Elizabeth. She was so close, and all of a sudden he was making excuses. Well, okay, maybe she could use a better plan, but they’d stopped at an In-N-Out and ordered burgers and Rex had spent the better part of the time on the phone to someone who wanted him to do some kind of background check on the woman who was marrying his son. Sounded like the guy had a lot of money and didn’t trust the woman’s motives.
Her cell phone rang in the midst of this and Ravinia was so surprised, she dragged the sleeve of her shirt through her teeny tub of catsup trying to pull it from her pocket. It had to be Aunt Catherine. “Hello?”
“Ravinia, it’s Ophelia.”
“Oh, hi. Is something wrong? Where’s Aunt Catherine?”
“She’s here. She wanted me to call you and find out how you’re doing.”
“Why isn’t she talking to me?”
“She’s making dinner with Isadora.”
And she’s a little uncomfortable with the cell phone. Ravinia glanced through the glass doors of the restaurant to the outside where Rex was pacing around, talking on his mobile phone. “I know where Elizabeth is.” She then told her sister how she and Rex had found Ralph Lendel Gaines and had just come from interviewing him. She finished with, “I want to go there now, but Rex is on the phone and I don’t know . . .”
“Rex is the private investigator?” Ophelia asked dubiously.
“Yes. Rex doesn’t want to just barge in on her. Her husband died just a week or so ago.” Hearing her own words ringing in her ears made Ravinia realize Rex was may be right to think things through as Elizabeth might not be in any frame of mind to meet her cousin on the heels of his death.
“Her husband died?”
“In a car accident.” With another woman, apparently.
“Aunt Catherine will be glad to know she’s all right.”
“So far. I haven’t met her yet.”
“Call when you have.”
“Ophelia,” Ravinia said, sensing her sister was about to hang up.
“Yes?” She sounded somewhat impatient.
“When Elizabeth was a little girl, she predicted a footbridge collapse. We’ve heard it a couple times, from several different people. Do you think . . . does it sound like she sees things maybe like Cassandra does?”
After a pause, Ophelia said maddeningly, “Anything’s possible, I suppose.”
“Do you think he knows about her? Declan Jr.? And I know this is going to sound weird, but I’m picking up something, too.”
“What do you mean?” Ophelia asked sharply.
Ravinia thought back to the voice that seemed to be trying to reach her and a shiver slid down her bac
k. “I don’t know. It’s just weird.”
“You’ve got this cell number now, right? After you meet her, call me. I’ll put Aunt Catherine on now.”
“What if it’s late?”
“We don’t care.”
“Okay.” Ravinia talked with her aunt a few minutes, hanging up just as Rex appeared to be finishing his calls and coming back into the restaurant.
