A Cold Day In Hell. Stella Cameron
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something to eat. The music’s good. We might even dance.”
“Dance? You told me you can’t dance.” Going to a club didn’t appeal to her much, but she said, “Yes. Looks like Delia and Sarah Board have a success on their hands with that place.” He was asking her out on a date. They’d had meals together before, in places like Ona’s, but there had never been any planned dates.
Located in the middle of Pointe Judah, the Boardroom had been open just a few months. It revved up when the town revved down and there was nothing else like it around.
Delia owned a cosmetics firm with offices and labs around the country but liked living in Pointe Judah. Her daughter, Sarah, was a chemist at the local lab and the club had been her idea.
Eileen hitched her bag over her shoulder and turned out the lights in the stockroom. “I’ve got extra help coming in tomorrow and I need it. It’s easy enough to get part-time people but I need someone full-time.”
“You’re working too hard,” Angel said. “Why don’t you put the gun in your purse if you’re going to keep on carrying the thing? It could fall out of your pocket.”
She did as he suggested without comment.
“Give me a couple more minutes,” Angel said. “If you don’t want to say anything, at least listen.”
In the darkness, piles of boxes loomed all around and unpacked merchandise was piled high on tables. Much of the stuff on the tables sparkled, even in the gloom. Eileen glanced at the high windows but all she saw was rain speckles heavy enough to make the glass look pebbled in the glow of the icicle lights at the roofline.
“Eileen?”
“Okay. Sorry I got distracted.”
“Something’s wrong—something you’re not telling me.”
When he nailed her like this she felt trapped. “And I told you I’ll talk about it when I can.”
“What’s changed?” he said, ever persistent. “If there’s something to be worried about I need to know what it is or I can’t help.”
“There’s nothing to worry about.” Yet. And there probably wouldn’t be. “Angel, has Sonny done jail time?”
A silence followed and went on so long she wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
“No, he hasn’t,” Angel said, opening the door again. “What made you think he had?”
“Oh, forget I said anything. He’s a lot more mature than Aaron and sometimes I worry there could be things Aaron doesn’t need to know yet, that’s all.”
Angel propped himself in the doorway. Behind him, colored lights blinked on and off on display trees. “How did you make the leap from Sonny being mature to his having done jail time?” Angel asked.
She felt ashamed, and judgmental. “He was sent to you for some reason. You told me he needed extra discipline.”
“I said he needed a man’s hand, a man’s guidance. He doesn’t have a father.”
Like Aaron didn’t have a father. Or hadn’t. And Eileen wanted Chuck out of town again. Now.
“Look,” Angel said. “I don’t want to say this but I’ve got to. You give me the impression you think Sonny’s no good for Aaron. You’ve pegged Sonny as a bad boy.”
“No!” Was she that transparent? “Aaron got in his own trouble. He’s not perfect.” She hadn’t told him how silently belligerent Sonny often was with her.
“But Aaron was just acting out and he did it quietly. You told me that and I believe you. He got muddled up after his father left. Finn told me all about it. He tried to fill in but Aaron got the idea it was his fault his dad ducked out.”
Finn Duhon was Eileen’s brother. His wife, Emma, used to own Poke Around but sold it to Eileen when she came into money from the sale of the Duhon family home. Finn had insisted she take all the proceeds because he didn’t need them. That money had changed Eileen’s life.
“Say something,” Angel said.
She thought she saw movement outside the front windows of the shop. Her heart missed a beat, then another, then pounded rapidly. She was getting too jumpy. “Leave it, I said,” she told him, hearing her voice rise. “I can’t do this now. You’re pulling me apart like you’re suspicious of everything I say. Let me be.”
“Eileen, please—”
“No. I’d better go home on my own. I’m not good company.”
“I’m coming with you.” He reached for her but she tried to evade him. Angel caught her as she backed into a file cabinet. “Hold it,” he said quietly.
She began to shake and she had to stop it. Some things had to be dealt with on her own. “I’m fine,” she told him. “I’m just overworked.”
“You’re not fine,” he said. He pulled her against him. For an instant she resisted, but then she softened and leaned into him. “You’re making too many excuses and you’re trembling. If I’m not scaring you to death, something else is. Now tell me because I won’t quit asking until you do.”
She wanted to close her eyes, breathe him in, hold on tight. How many times had she dreamed about this moment? Now she couldn’t relax and enjoy it.
The phone in his pocket rang and he switched it off.
“That could be Sonny,” she said.
“We’re going back to your place now. I’ll deal with him when I get there. Hold my hand. You’re important to me. Let me be here for you.” He held her hand and led her into the shop.
Nobody had ever told her such things, and he said them without pushing for anything more intimate.
Hammering on the front door made her jump so hard her teeth ground together.
“It’s okay,” Angel said, but he shoved her behind him and opened the door. “Hell, will you look at this!”
Sonny just about fell inside. Drenched, covered with mud and, unmistakably, smeared with blood, he staggered and Angel stopped him from tripping.
“What’s the matter?” Angel said.
Eileen rushed to him. “Where’s Aaron?”
“I gotta get back,” Sonny said, dragging in breaths, not looking at Eileen. “You gotta come with me, Angel.” He looked into Angel’s face, a hard stare as if he was sending a silent message.
“Where’s Aaron?” Eileen felt herself losing it. “Sonny—”
“Hush,” Angel said, but his face wasn’t expressionless now.
“It’s all my fault,” Sonny said. “I shouldn’t have been…I went where I shouldn’t have and talked to the wrong people. They kind of dared me. I got Aaron and me into trouble. It’s bad.” His big, dark eyes stretched wide and she could feel his fear. “Angel, do you think someone—”
“Let’s go,” Angel said.
“Tell me where Aaron is,” Eileen begged.
“Oh, God,” Sonny moaned, hanging his head. “He’s in the swamp. North of town. I know how to get back. Chuzah made sure. I hope he made sure. He sent me in his, er, car.”
“Stop it,” Angel said. “Calm down, both of you. Chuzah is?”
Sonny looked as if he could cry. “Um, a doctor.”
“Oh, thank God,” Eileen said.
“In the swamp?” Angel said. “This doctor just happened by, huh?”
“He lives there.”
“Aaron hurt himself?” Eileen said.