Drop Dead Gorgeous by Heather Graham Page A

damned dangerous, lethal actually, and that criminals should realize that there were dangerous consequences to crime.
    “Mom, a friend of yours was killed?” Brendan asked, looking a little pale.
    “Someone I went to school with, someone I hadn’t seen in years,” Lori said.
    Brendan looked at his grandfather. “What was she to Sean Black?” he demanded.
    Lori gritted her teeth together, wary of the answer.
    “I’m really sorry, Brendan,” her father said. “I shouldn’t have spoken so freely with you here … ” He paused, looking at Lori.
    “We lost another friend when we were in school,” Lori said, staring back at her parents. “The girl that Sean was dating at the time. She … drowned.”
    “I guess the cops wanted somebody to be responsible,” her mother said. “They tried to accuse Sean of the crime. They let him go. Unfortunately, this second girl was one of her best friends at the time.”
    “Wow,” Brendan said. “Poor Sean.”
    Lori frowned, watching her mother. She’d always been down on Sean Black. Now, amazingly, it almost sounded as if she was defending him. Lori just wanted the matter put to rest for the moment.
    “Things like this are always scary, and they warn us to be very careful,” she said, rising. “Dad, more coffee? Gramps?”
    “Sure. Hey, young lady, how are the designs going?”
    “Great. Want to see some sketches?”
    “Of course.”
    “Yes, yes, o f course!” her mother said hap pily.
    Lori had to drag her portfolio out of the pile of stuff still stacked upstairs, but she was glad to do so, and pleased when her family showed more than filial duty in their responses to her work. After, when she was putting things away, she found that her mother had followed her up to her room,
    “It really is a cute place,” Gloria told her, smiling awkwardly as Lori looked at her.
    “Thanks, I like it.”
    “And we’re close.”
    “Yep.”
    “Think you’re going to like being close to us?”
    “Well, of… of course.”
    Her mother was an attractive woman, slim, petite, much smaller than Lori herself. She wore her hair stylishly short, and her makeup was always perfect. At fifty-six she remained energetic, had gone for a laser peel once, and exercised with discipline. “Sweetheart, I’m happy you’re home. I’m going to try not to be a pest… but it’s hard to be a parent and not a pest. I’m going to respect your opinions, and I’m going to try really hard to respect your privacy. Of course,” she hesitated, vexed, biting her lower lip. “Of course, with such a horrible murderer out there, it isn’t going to be easy. And now with Sean back… ”
    “Mom, I’m sorry that you never liked Sean. But he’s not a murderer.”
    Her mother looked startled. Then she smiled suddenly. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant at all. I was wrong about Sean. Dead wrong. Oh, God, what a choice of words.”
    Lori hesitated, hands on her hips.
    “Mom, what are you saying?”
    Her mother shrugged. “Oh, dear, it’s so hard these days… I mean, people just so seldom stay together, and young people just don’t see the things that will matter later in life. When you’re very young and in love, you don’t worry about things like money, career, religion—love itself is so overwhelming. But then, being broke can be downright ugly, and living in poverty can be demeaning and humiliating and miserable and … I admit, I was just so afraid of that boy’s family because I had friends who fell in love and had babies with no-good men and went on welfare and wound up hating their beer-guzzling husbands. One was even a wife beater. And Shelly—that was my friend’s name—couldn’t leave the louse. She always had a black eye, he was abusive to their kids… but she got into this trap and couldn’t leave him. I always knew that Brad would make a good living, and so I guess I wanted you to be with him, and I was horrible about Sean. Well, I was wrong about him. It’s not where