Stoneview Estate. Leona Karr

and when it did, she forced herself to turn in that direction. She caught a flicker of movement in a nearby landscape planting of shrubs, trees and rocks.

      As she came closer, two baby-blue eyes stared at her out of the darkness. At the same moment, wailing that could have been an infant’s cry filled her ears again. She froze and then backed up as a rustling in the middle of the planting increased. Her breath caught when a shadowy form took shape.

      Then she laughed in embarrassment. The blue eyes belonged to Nick’s old cat. She hadn’t seen him around the last few times she’d been at Stoneview.

      The Siamese must be about eleven years old now, Robyn thought as he began stroking her legs with his sleek, arched back. She bent down and petted him.

      “What’s the matter, old fellow? What are you doing, wandering around and wailing? Chasing away evil spirits?”

      Even as the words left her mouth, she wished them back.

      The cat had been lying in the same spot where Heather’s body had been found. Was his high-pitched wailing for the mistress that had been slain there?