THE DESOLATE HEART DINNER PARTY

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Part One

Granny Hodge sat apart from the rest of us.

This came as no surprise, knowing Granny as I do: Ancient, reclusive, suspicious. For her to join a dinner party, even as a silent observer, was something of an accomplishment. In truth, I am a little afraid of Granny. Wise and elderly she may be, but she is also deceitful. She guards her truth within her gnarled body and she masks her thoughts through rheumy eyes that see everything. She serves a dark master with grim success. Granny kept her watchful gaze on Hester Kyle.

Hester needed watching. Not because of her beauty, but because of her deviousness. Hester bore the luscious ripe beauty of a young Sophia Loren, and harbored an ugly self-serving heart. Given her background, the acts borne in Hester’s dark soul failed to surprise me.

I turned my attention from Hester’s shifty, greedy gaze of her surroundings to Granny. The old woman fingered the birthmark on the back of her hand and met my eyes. I knew she read my thoughts, and a cold hand wrapped around my heart.