Deception by Christiane Heggan

you and the rest of the family like criminals. He’s quite aware that you’re grieving. Second, he’s hardly a stranger. He was part of our family for an entire year.”
    Her duck terrine forgotten, Amanda’s expression went from angry to startled. “Well, haven’t you made a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turnaround. I thought you hated the man’s guts.”
    Jill held back a smile. The phrase, which sounded out of place coming from her mother, was one she had used herself many times following her separation from Dan. Looking back, she wasn’t sure if she had said it to convince her parents she hated him or to convince herself. “Hate is a worthless emotion,” she stated with a shrug.
    “Dear God, don’t tell me you’re falling in love with him again. Oh, Jill, that wouldn’t be wise at all. You two are worlds apart. You’ve always been. And he’s hurt you so much.”
    “I hurt him, too, Mom.”
    Looking totally dismayed, Amanda leaned back against her chair. “You have fallen in love with him again!”
    “No,” Jill said in a fierce whisper. “I have not. If you want to know the truth, I wish Ashley had minded her own business and not called him. But she did call him, and, by God, I’m going to make the most of it. And after he’s finished with this investigation, we’ll both go our separate ways and I’ll probably never see him again.”
    “If you had to bring in an investigator, why did it have to be him?”
    “Because he’s good at what he does.” Jill paused. “And because I trust him.”
    Amanda let out a small, resigned sigh. “Since it’s obvious I can’t change your mind, I guess I might as well agree to talk to him. What exactly does he want to know?”
    “He wants to reconstruct Daddy’s last forty-eight hours. if that’s not enough, he’ll have to go back further.”
    Her mouth still set in a tight, disapproving line, Amanda nodded. “All right, then. Tell him to come to the town house tomorrow morning at about ten. The sooner we do this the sooner you’ll realize how wrong you are.”
    “Thanks, Mom. I knew you’d come through for me.” Withdrawing her hand, Jill took a bite of her own terrine. “Now eat your lunch.” Her eyes filled with mischief “I don’t mind taking you out to one of the most expensive restaurants in town, but you have to eat the food.”
    Amanda’s lips quivered slightly as if she was trying not to smile. “That’s what I used to tell you.”
    “I know. Isn’t it fun reversing roles once in a while?” Amanda picked up her fork. “Just don’t get used to it. I’m still your mother.”
    Jill smiled. “Yes, Mom.”
    Although Amanda Bennett had agreed to see Dan and answer his questions, her demeanor on Sunday morning was exactly as Dan had predicted-polite, cool and cautiously distant.
    Unlike Simon, she had been against Jill marrying Dan from the start-not because of the young couple’s social differences, but because she didn’t think her impetuous daughter had the temperament to become a policeman’s wife. And in that respect, she had been right.
    Fortunately, Dan’s visit to the Bennetts’ town house hadn’t been a total waste of time. Oddly enough, it wasn’t what Amanda had told him that he’d found intriguing, but what she had not told him.
    As he drove back to Brooklyn, the nagging feeling that she had been hiding something kept coming back, yet her account of Simon’s last forty-eight hours was perfectly believable. On Saturday, he had gone to the office for a few hours, then had come home for an early dinner. Later he had retreated to his study, as he often did at night.
    On Sunday, they and another couple had gone to the Plaza Hotel for brunch. Afterward, Amanda had gone home to write her Christmas cards and Simon had driven to Livingston Manor, by himself. It was no secret that Amanda didn’t share her husband’s passion for the outdoors, especially in the winter.
    So what could she have possibly not told Dan?
    The