All Night Long

stared at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    Alexa closed her elegantly manicured fingers over his sleeve. “Ryland?”
    “It’s all right, dear.” He pulled himself together. “Years ago there was a terrible tragedy here in Dunsley.
    A murder-suicide. Irene’s parents both died.” He raised his voice slightly and spoke directly toward the recorder. “Poor Irene, here, found the bodies. Everyone said she was badly traumatized by th xperience and would probably never be quite right again. Don’t worry, there is no connection t amela’s death.”
    Alexa looked at Irene. “You have my deepest sympathies, Miss Stenson.”

    “Thank you.” Irene did not take her gaze off Ryland. “Sir, don’t you agree that there is at least a remote possibility that Pamela’s death is connected to what happened all those years ago?”
    “No,” Ryland said in a thoroughly crushing tone of voice.
    Hoyt Egan jerked. He stared at Irene in mounting horror. “What you’re implying is impossible, Miss Stenson, absolutely impossible. And if your paper prints any innuendos of that sort, the senator will consult his lawyers.”
    Ryland gave Irene a hard stare. “You said yourself that you had no contact with Pamela after leaving Dunsley. That means you don’t know how unstable she was.
    Sam says there was nothing at the scene to indicate anything other than an overdose.
    For the sake of everyone involved, but most of all out of respect for my daughter’s memory, I ask that you leave this alone.”
    Alexa bestowed a kindly smile on Irene. “Rest assured, Miss Stenson, when Ryland returns to Washington he intends to introduce a bill to increase funding for mental health research.”
    “That certainly makes me feel a lot better,” Irene said.
    Luke saw her knuckles whiten and knew that she was digging her nails into the leather strap of her purse.
    “The senator is a busy man,” Hoyt announced. “We can’t delay our departure another minute.”
    He stepped directly in front of Ryland and Alexa and led the way purposefully toward the door.
    Ryland paused at the entrance to look back at Irene. “I hope you will remember that you are first and foremost a friend of the family, Miss Stenson.”
    “I will never forget that Pamela was once my best friend,” Irene said.
    Uncertainty darkened Ryland’s expression. Luke could tell that he was not sure how to take that statement. But Hoyt Egan was on the move again, shepherding his boss through the doorway.
    “I’ve never even heard of the
Glaston Cove Beacon
,” Hoyt said to Ryland. “Which means that it is very small-time. Don’t worry, it won’t be a problem, sir.”
    The trio went down the steps and got into the limo.

    Luke looked at Irene. “Congratulations, I think you just rattled the cage of a U.S.
    senator.”
    “For all the good it will do.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat.
    “There isn’t going to b n investigation, is there, Sam?”
    Sam stirred slightly, as though surprised to learn that anyone had even remembered he was in the room.
    “Unless you’ve got something solid beyond that e-mail note from Pamela asking you to meet her here,
    I have no reason to push for an investigation,” he said quietly.
    She smiled coldly. “And every reason not to go there, right?”
    Sam’s mouth tightened. “You think I’m backing off because I don’t want to take on Ryland Webb, don’t you?”
    Irene winced. “I shouldn’t have implied that. But there’s no getting around the fact that Webb is a powerful man.”
    “Webb may be powerful, but he’s still a father whose daughter just took her own life, either deliberately or by accident. Your dad once told me that families usually try to keep suicide very quiet. I’ve dealt wit couple in the past few years, and I can tell you that he was right. It’s amazing the lengths folks will g o in order to hush up that kind of thing.”
    Irene sighed. “I know.”
    “Far as I’m concerned,” Sam said, “unless there’s a good reason for thinking otherwise, a family i ntitled to keep its secrets.”
    He looked to Luke, obviously seeking some backup.
    Luke shrugged. “Depends on the secrets, I guess. But one thing’s for sure, every family’s got em.”

Seven
    Forty minutes later, Sam escorted them out the door of the municipal building. Irene was still fuming, but a renewed sense of resolve was setting in. She reminded herself that she had known from the outset that the odds