Key West (28 page)

Tonight Aiden sat with Chris Talon who, although he might not be in love, was certainly moving in that direction, and with a married woman who, if her husband showed up again, would probably go to him regardless of her feelings for Chris. Strike two for Chris. Aiden really didn’t like thinking about where his friend might decide to go from there.

“I sure as hell don’t like it when you stare,” Chris said abruptly. “Makes me think you’re analyzin’ me. You’re the one who still has the problem. I got rid of mine.”

“Bullshit,” Aiden said, and felt angry all the way to the little hairs on his toes. He also felt caught. “You’re sinking fast and we both know it. We’re not even going to discuss what you think you mean about me. If it’ll make you happy I’ll be glad to go there with you. Later.”

Chris downed the dregs of his second whiskey. He’d informed Aiden that the only patrons were locals. Talk of hurricanes had grown louder. Tourists were thin to nonexistent. Even some of the natives were rumored to be getting ready to abandon ship if necessary and go north.

“It’s too damn hot,” Chris said. “Wind’s picking up again, too. We could be in for it.”

“Forget hurricanes,” Aiden said, bracing for whatever might come. “This is some common sense you need to hear and act on.”

“Save it.” Chris got up and went to the bar. Business cards tacked on top of business cards, names on names, stories on stories covered every inch of wooden pillar and beam. Donated bras flapped like freeze-dried bats—memories of old hangovers. Captain Tony’s decor was classic clutter with a dash of cozy sleaze thrown in.

A woman who sat at the bar left her stool and walked to stand between Chris and a man with an iguana on his shoulder. Aiden figured she was the right side of forty, and nice on the eyes—if you liked blond, blue-eyed women with good figures and killer smiles. Aiden had a thing for red hair.

Shoot. Sonnie had, well, fair hair and blue eyes. She was little, but her shape was sweet. Nothing was likely to be sweeter than her smile, though.

He watched the blond with fresh interest, or he watched Chris’s reaction to the blond with fresh interest. She said something to him and he turned, looked down at her.

That man never changed. He remained a straight-backed, obviously powerful, and apparently magnetically
male
male. Aiden had been told by trustworthy sources—female members of the force—that visions of Chris Talon kept a kit of women awake at night. The blonde was mature enough not to drool, but from where Aiden sat, she looked close to doing so. She leaned on Chris’s tanned forearm and raised her face to his as if she were in the presence of perfection.

Smiling slightly, Chris listened to her. He bent toward her and inclined his head to hear her over the singing guitarist’s gravelly roar. When the woman had finished and waited, her lips parted, for whatever Perfection might say, he smiled at her, and Aiden wondered, since Chris had a glass in each hand, if she’d faint and fall on the floor—uncaught.

Chris spoke.

His words brought disappointment to the lady’s expression, but she inclined her head and responded before returning to her stool.

“What did she say?” Aiden asked as Chris sat down. “She’s cute.”

“She wanted to buy me a drink.”

Aiden puffed up his cheeks.

“I thanked her but said I’d already paid for these. Then I told her she’s very lovely, but I’m already involved.”

“Damn,” Aiden said with feeling. He put his elbows on the table and propped his chin in his hands. “Υοu’re the only man I know who has knockout women offering to buy
his
drinks. And you turn ‘em down?”

“Drink.”

“I haven’t forgotten what I want to say to you.”

“Drink.”

Aiden did drink, and he reached to grip one of Chris’s wrists. “Now,” he said when he wasn’t thirsty anymore, “this is the way I see it. Sonnie’s a nice person. You respond to nice people, and this time you’ve convinced yourself that what you feel is something bigger than usual. Yeah, well, that wasn’t supposed to sound that personal.”

Chris grinned and Aiden warmed to his topic. “You’re not in yet, so it’s a breeze to get out, isn’t it?”

“I don’t follow,” Chris said. He sniffed his drink.

“Sure you do. You aren’t really
in
with Sonnie yet, so making sure you don’t get in shouldn’t be a problem. Frankly, I’m worried about her anyway.” He held up a hand to silence Chris. “Hear me out. She’s a sweetie.”

“She is
not
a sweetie, Flynn. Little kids are sweeties. Sonnie isn’t a little kid.”

“Yeah, well. Right. Sonnie’s easy to like—a lot. But she’s got trouble, and I’m not sure how much of it is outside her mind. And she’s married.” He raised his voice to override Chris’s protests. “And that’s the truth, schmuck. She isn’t available. Maybe that’s what appeals to you—she’s already attached, so you can play with the idea of loving her without ever having to do anything permanent about it.”

“Aiden.”

“Or you could really be in love with her. Hell, how should I know? But if you are and her husband comes back, what d’you think that’d feel like? She’s the kind who’ll think loyalty means she has to go back to him—even if she’s in love with you, too, and she doesn’t love Giacano anymore. Look at it this way: you’ve got to be strong for both of you. Break it off. I don’t mean you shouldn’t be kind to her—you would be anyway—just quit sleeping with her.”

“Goddamn it, Flynn. You’re running off at the mouth.”

“So you are sleeping with her.” Suspicion One confirmed.

“I’m sitting at this table, on a rotten Conch Republic night, wide awake. Sonnie’s asleep at my brother’s place.”

“Don’t be facetious. What’s Conch Republic?”

“A Conch is someone who was born here. Conch Republic is what some of them would like this island to be. Don’t say another word about Sonnie.”

This was more dangerous than Aiden had expected it to be. Even more dangerous. “Have you slept with her?”

One by one, Chris pried Aiden’s fingers from his wrist. He placed Aiden’s hand on the table and brought a fist down on top.

There was more than one hard man present. Aiden winced, but didn’t make a sound.

“None of your damn business,” Chris said, “but no, I haven’t—not in the way you mean.”

Aiden stopped himself from asking what other way there could be. “That’s something. Don’t. You’d both hate yourselves in the morning. She’s doing a great job of holding herself together most of the time, but I’m not so sure she doesn’t have some kind of mental problem.” He braced himself for onslaught. It didn’t come. “You’re worried about that, too, aren’t you?”

Evidently the smell of Chris’s whiskey grew ever more irresistible to him.

“I’m not saying she wasn’t in a terrible accident or that she hasn’t lost just about everything that really mattered to her. Husband, a chunk of memory, and a baby she wanted. But the world already knows all that. They also know how and why it happened. So what’s the mystery? Why all the talk about there being something deep and dark and evil that she’s got to find out? Edward Miller got knocked off at her house. Probably. For all we know, whoever did him made a mistake. They could have meant to off him at Ena’s place but got the address wrong.
Any
way you look at it, what could he have to do with Sonnie? Which brings us back to a big, fat nothing. Be a friend to her if you think you’ve got to, but don’t let her suck you into believing her story, and don’t
—don’t
do anything that’s likely to make you feel responsible for her. You’ve got to be able to walk away, man.”

“Finished?”

Aiden sat back in his chair and propped his ankles on the corner of the table. “Yeah.”

“My mother was right about you. You’re an opinionated bastard.”

“Your mother never met me. And my father is married to my mother.”

Chris leaned across the table. “I’ve only got your word about your folks. And if my mother had met you, she wouldn’t have liked you. But I’m patient. I’ve heard you out and now you’re going to hear me out.”

Aiden sank his chin on his chest, but kept an eye on Chris. “You don’t know everything that I know. You don’t know everything she’s told me.”

“Any witnesses to what she’s told you?”

“You can believe what you want to believe. You weren’t there when I went to her house after she called me. She was almost unconscious with fear. You didn’t have to listen to a description of what she’d seen.”

“According to her.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You didn’t see the box of calla lilies some sicko sent her—with a card that talked about her baby’s casket. Sonnie detests calla lilies—she’s always found them funereal, and the person who sent those lilies knew it.”

“Those would be the lilies paid for in cash by someone no one at the florist’s remembers. And Sonnie knows she doesn’t like those lilies.”

“She didn’t send the lilies to herself.”

“Prove it.”

“Goddamn it, Flynn. I’m going to rip your throat out. When she was in the hospital after the so-called accident—”

“lt
was
an accident. I’ve seen the records.”

“I’ve seen them, too,” Chris said. “Since when did you believe everything you read in a police report? The whole thing could have been staged. And the local boys believed what they were supposed to believe.”

“See those little green men, Chris, the ones diving into your booze?” He looked into Chris’s glittering eyes and decided he could possibly back off an inch or so. “lt could have happened that way, but it didn’t. You know it and I know it. Don’t you at least have some doubts about Sonnie’s stability? You told me yourself that the guy who came down with her sister’s a shrink. The sister seems real worried about her, and she’s known Sonnie a little bit longer than you have.”

“Is it my turn?” Chris asked.

Aiden breathed in deep, coughed on smoke, and said, “Uhhuh.”

“Good. You’re a logical guy. Every word you’ve said could be exactly the way it is. And I can’t be one hundred percent certain Sonnie isn’t having some emotional problems. She
is
. I
 
just don’t know if they’re making her irrationally afraid. However, in my gut I believe something really weird went down with her, and until I prove I’m wrong, I’m going to keep on trying to prove I’m right—that she’s right.

“I’d bet my Harley that she didn’t buy herself lilies and have them delivered, that she heard noises in her house because there
were
noises in her house, and that Edward Miller’s body was supposed to be found exactly where it was found. I don’t have any way to be certain about her sister’s motives, either for being here when Sonnie doesn’t want her, or for bringing the shrink, but two more unlikely half-sisters I never met.”

“Do I get the Harley if you’re wrong?”

“If you felt what I feel for Sonnie Giacano, you’d can the jokes.”

“What do you feel for her?”

Chris got up from the table. “She’s the best thing that ever came my way. It’s just possible she’s made me think there’s something worth making a life for. Tomorrow she gets to go back to that house. I’m going back with her. Uh-huh, I’m going to live there with her. Before you ask, we’ll be sleeping in separate bedrooms. But as long as she wants me, she’s got me. I’ve got a tough piece of investigation ahead of me, but I used to be pretty good at that.”

“You still are,” Aiden muttered.

“If there’s something to find, I’ll find it. With Sonnie’s help. And in case you’ve wondered, she does have guts. For someone who was looking into the grave only months ago, she’s amazing.”

Under his breath, Aiden said, “Infatuation.”

“I’ll ignore that. I’m staying with Sonnie because I want to and because I believe in her. If it turns out that things happened the way they’re recorded, and she’s suffering from some sort of post-traumatic disorder, I’ll still stay with her. I’ll stay until she tells me to go.”

The fight went out of Aiden. “I
was
afraid you’d say something like that. Are you ever going to think you’ve atoned for past sins—so-called sins? None of that
was
your fault, you—”

“Νο, no, no,” Chris said. “That’s off-limits. Permanently. You’re a good friend, Flynn, and I’m grateful to have counted you as one of mine. Maybe my only friend outside of Roy and Bo. I could have used your connections, but I respect your opinions. You have to do what you think’s right.”

Chris straightened and said, “Thanks for coming down. I know it was a long drive.”

“I didn’t say I was going anywhere.”

“You said you’ve already made up your mind about Sonnie. You can’t believe her innocent until proven guilty. You’ve already tried her and found her guilty of insanity.” He emptied his whiskey into Aiden’s beer. “An extra one for the road. Give my regards to Harlem.”

Twenty

“I’m not going in there,” Roy told Bo.

“She’s gonna wake up. I’m telling you, she’ll wake up and walk right out that door. It’s after ten. I can’t believe she’s slept this long.”

Roy looked at the door to the outside stairs.

“Why look at the door? Is looking at the door gonna stop her from using it?” Bo got up from his favorite wicker rocking chair, hissed at the creak it made, and tiptoed to peer down the hall toward the bedrooms. He closed his eyes and aimed one ear in the direction where Sonnie had better still be asleep.

“If she wants to get up and go somewhere, we can’t stop her,” Roy said.

“Take her shoes away.”

He had to smile. “Νο, I’m not going to take her shoes away. I’m not going into her bedroom, period. I think I’ll go downstairs and see how Pep’s doing.”

“You’re not leaving,” Bo said, hurrying back into the living room. “I promised Chris we wouldn’t let Sonnie go anywhere without him.”

Roy made sure he wiped off his grin. “So you said. And Ι know you take your promises seriously. You might want to hold back on promising Chris anything in the future, though. Sometimes he asks too much.”

“He’s your brother,” Bo said. “What I do for your brother is never too much.”