Read Purling Road - the Complete Second Season: Episodes 1-10 for Free Online Page B

time.”
    “Unfortunately, this is Arianna’s idea of a good time.”
    They were both panicked. Before, they’d always had the men there with them helping to keep Arianna in check. Caleb knew especially well how to deal with her when things got too out of hand. And neither wanted the night to end in disaster or they’d ruin their chances of getting away alone again.
    “If we were Arianna, where would we go?”
    Claire turned to look back into the ballroom. No—no one joining the band or dancing on tabletops. They raced over to the bar. It was subdued there, no wild women running to and fro.
    Back in the parlor, they discussed splitting up to look for her but decided against it. Being alone was the last thing they wanted.
    “What if he took her up to one of the rooms?”
    “She wouldn’t!” Claire said. “As crazy as Arianna goes, I don’t know that she’s ever gone that far.”
    “So far as you know,” Ava said with her eyebrows raised in question.
    “Let’s check the bathrooms, and if she’s not there, we’ll go look upstairs.”
    A man who looked in his late thirties with stylish blond hair sidled up between them, draping an arm over each of their shoulders.
    “Hello, ladies. How are we this evening?”
    Claire spun around with a ferocious look, and he backed off, hands up.
    She wasn’t in the bathrooms. Ava was beginning to become truly frightened. “What if they went outside?”
    “It’s pitch black out there. We’d never find her.”
    “I heard about a woman who disappeared from a place like this. They found her dead in the woods.”
    “Ava, stop! We can’t think like that. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”
    They climbed the stairs, walking around people and ignoring requests for them to stop and join the party.
    “What do we do, just start opening doors? I’m sure they’re closed for a reason.”
    “I don’t know,” Claire growled.
    The stairs blunted at the top, stretching right and left in wide hallways. They looked each way. To the left, they saw a cluster of people standing near a half table set against the wall.
    “Let’s ask them if they’ve seen her.”
    They slowed as they approached. The group broke out in bursts of laughter, huddled around the small table.
    “Excuse me,” Claire said, tapping one woman on the shoulder. She was rail thin. Claire guessed she was young despite the hard lines that ringed her eyes and mouth. Her short white hair was wild and spiky, a fashion they’d not seen around town or in magazines. She was dripping with cheap jewelry. Her eyes lingered for a long time on Ava. She gave a fake smile and spoke with the faintest of accents.
    “Line starts on the other side, love. And it ain’t free. You ‘ave money?”
    “Money?”
    “As in cash?”
    “What is…”
    The white-haired woman walked away, clearly out of patience with Claire’s ignorance. The table at the center of the commotion could be seen now. Someone was bent over it nearly face down on the table.
    She raised her head. Arianna had a euphoric smile and passed the rolled up paper to the next person in line.
    Claire’s eyes went wide. “Christ. She’s snorting cocaine.”
    Ava rushed around the table and grabbed Arianna’s arm.
    “That’s enough. We’re going home now.”
    Arianna yanked away. “The hell we are! The party’s just getting started!” She wobbled over to Josh, who was waiting for her by the wall. It was clear by his glassy eyes and disconnected look that he’d already had his time at the table.
    “This is not what we agreed to, Arianna.”
    “You agreed to come, and now you’re acting like old ladies! Afraid to have a little fun?”
    Josh draped an arm over her shoulder.
    “She’s married,” Claire said matter-of-factly. “And her husband isn’t exactly small. I suggest you move your arm so we can take her home.”
    His eyes slid lazily from Claire to Arianna. “I don’t see her husband here tonight. Do you want to go home, darlin’?” he