Read Cat Fear No Evil for Free Online

I’ll go sit with her in a minute.”
    â€œAnd would you believe Marlin Dorriss is here? That he’s seriously eyeing three pieces of your work? That would be a conquest, to be included in the Dorriss collection. He’s been looking at the gulls in flight.”
    She nodded, grinning at him. Early in the evening Dorriss had spent some time looking at the drawings of seagulls winging over the Molena Point rooftops. They were not romantic renderings, but stark, the dark markings of the gulls repeated in the harshly angled shadows of the rooftops.
    â€œThat would be very nice,” she said softly, “to hang beside work by Elmer Bischoff and Diebenkorn.” She looked up at Max. “I still find it hard not to warm to Dorriss, to his quiet, sincere manner. Find it hard not to like him, despite his unwelcome affair with Dillon’s mother.”
    Dillon was Charlie and Max’s special friend; Maxhad taught her to ride, helping to build confidence and independence in the young teenager who, they had sometimes thought, might be a bit too sheltered.
    She was not sheltered now. The sudden breakdown of her family had turned Dillon shockingly bad mannered and rude. Charlie hurt for her, but she grew angry at Dillon, too. An ugly turn in life didn’t give you license to chuck all civility and let rage rule—even when it was your mother who had betrayed you.
    But Charlie hadn’t had a very good relationship with her own mother, so maybe she was missing something here. Certainly she hadn’t had anything like Dillon’s fourteen years of warmth and security. Maybe that made the present situation far worse. Until her mother went suddenly astray, Dillon never had to cope with a problem parent.
    Surely Helen’s transgression with handsome Marlin Dorriss was understandable—plenty of women were after him. A well-built six-foot-four, he was a man whom women on the street turned to look at, a well-tanned, athletic-looking bachelor with compelling brown eyes, always quietly but expensively dressed, his voice and manner subdued, totally attentive to whomever he was speaking with. Busboy or beautiful model, Dorriss seemed to find each person of deep interest. He had an air of kindness about him as if he truly valued every human soul.
    â€œHard not to like the man,” Max said, giving Charlie a wry grin and putting his arm around her. Warm in each other’s company, they stood quietly watching the crowd. “Kate Osborne just came in,” he said. “There by the door talking with Dallas. She’ll be pleased that you’re wearing her hairclip.”
    Charlie touched the heavy gold barrette that tied back her red hair. Set with emeralds and carved with the heads of two cats, it was a handsome and unusual piece, part of a collection of jewelry that Kate’s unknown parents, or perhaps her mysterious grandfather, had left to her. She had stopped by the ranch that afternoon for a few moments to drop off the barrette; they had stood by the pasture fence petting the two Harper dogs and talking. Charlie hadn’t wanted to accept the gift. “I can’t take this, Kate, it has to be worth a fortune. It’s very beautiful.”
    â€œIt’s not worth a fortune, it’s only faux emeralds. I had the whole lot appraised the week after that attorney gave them to me. So strange…but I’ll tell you about it when we have more time.” Turning, her short blond bob catching the sunlight, she removed the plastic clip from Charlie’s hair and fastened on the gold-and-emerald confection.
    â€œOh yes,” Kate said, stepping back. “It’s beautiful on you, it will be smashing with that gold lamé.”
    â€œBut…”
    â€œCharlie, I’ll never wear this, I’ll never have long hair, long hair makes me crazy. Jewelry is meant to be used, to be worn.” Taking her compact from her purse, she held up the mirror so Charlie could