Читать книгу Second To Cry - Carys Jones - Страница 9
ОглавлениеBe My Baby
Carol Cotton smiled pityingly as her niece, Brandy, hauled her single piece of luggage out of the cab.
‘You sure travel light,’ she commented. Brandy looked down at her holdall and smiled brightly.
‘I tried to leave most of my baggage behind.’
‘Good girl,’ Carol winked, wrapping an arm around the young woman and guiding her towards the apartment building where she’d be staying. As they walked, Brandy’s head pivoted wildly around as though her neck were loose, eager to absorb all the new sights and sounds of the big city.
‘Everything here is so…grand!’ Brandy enthused.
‘You get used to it,’ Carol replied jadedly. Reaching in to her purse she pulled out some keys and opened the glass doors of the apartment building which led in to a modern reception area.
‘Wow,’ Brandy breathed in awe.
‘You’ll be staying here in your own apartment,’ Carol explained, handing the keys to Brandy.
‘Are you joking?’ Brandy looked down at the keys in disbelief.
‘I’m no joker,’ Carol deadpanned. Brandy looked at the keys and then back at her aunt, struggling to take everything in. Less than a month ago she was a in a jail cell awaiting sentencing on her life and now she was in Chicago being given her own apartment. Surreal didn’t cover it.
‘You’ll be working for me,’ Carol explained. ‘At my salon, Chez Vous, which will more than cover your rent.’
Brandy was speechless.
‘I’ve done all right for myself,’ Carol continued. ‘Unlike your momma. It’s high time you had some family show you kindness. I dread to think what you went through back in Avalon.’
They entered the elevator and ascended up to the relevant floor. Brandy felt as though she were in some wonderful dream and any minute she’d wake up and be back in her cell staring at the same four grey walls and wondering whether the sun was shining or not.
‘You need to forget all about Avalon and everything that happened there,’ Carol advised as Brandy fumbled to unlock the apartment door.
‘Chicago is a new start for you, Brandy. The world can be anything you want it to be.’
*
‘So what can you tell me about Samuel Fern?’ Aiden asked his colleague, Edmond Copes, after they had exchanged the usual morning pleasantries.
‘What would you like to know?’ Edmond answered; not lifting his eyes away from the computer screen as his fingers furiously pounded the keyboard beneath it.
‘Just some general background,’ Aiden shrugged nonchalantly. ‘I’m a bit surprised I’ve not heard of him before,’ he added.
‘I mean, I’ve lived here a few months now and he is the Sheriff’s brother.’
‘Being brothers doesn’t mean they get along,’ Edmond said, still not making eye contact.
‘I guess,’ Aiden admitted, stretching back in his desk chair.
‘You’ve met Buck Fern, haven’t you?’ Now Edmond lifted his eyes to look directly at Aiden, a cheeky grin on his face.
‘It’s not hard to believe that even his own brother doesn’t like him!’
Edmond made a fair point. Buck Fern, sheriff of the small town of Avalon was hardly what could be described as a warm and pleasant man. If anything, Aiden had found him only to be cold and cruel. Despite the service Aiden had done the town in exposing the truth around the murder of Brandon White, Buck still refused to offer him more than a nod in greeting.
Aiden considered that perhaps what Buck lacked in kindness, his brother Samuel would make up for. Maybe they juxtaposed one another in character?
As if reading his mind Edmond spoke up. ‘Don’t go thinking Samuel will be the sweet to Buck’s sour,’ his Southern drawl prolonging the flavour-inducing words.
‘So they’re not so different?’ Aiden felt a little disappointed. Working previously with Buck had been more than a struggle. He wasn’t sure he had either the energy or patience to enter into a similar situation with another stubborn member of the Fern clan.
‘Not particularly,’ Edmond shook his head, causing his jowls to shudder slightly. ‘Main difference between them is the money.’
‘Money?’ Aiden felt his interest piqued. As a lawyer, he was well accustomed to handling the distribution of estates, the division of great assets. He had learnt over the years that nothing could tear a family apart as quickly or as effectively as vast amounts of wealth.
‘Oh yeah, Samuel Fern could literally swim in the stuff!’
‘Nice.’
‘He lives on a ranch just outside of town. Massive place.’ Edmond pushed himself away from his desk, his previously pressing work momentarily forgotten as there was now a story to be shared and the old man loved nothing more than finding a new audience for his collection of local tales.
‘Has he always lived here?’
‘Heck no. Sam Fern left Avalon years ago, when he was young. Made his money in the oil business. He’d float in to town over the holidays, spoiling his folks with exotic gifts, donating money to local charities. Thought himself a real big shot.’
‘So why did he move back?’
‘Same reason as you,’ Edmond pointed a finger at Aiden, ‘to settle down. He’d worked hard all his life. He met a woman, fell in love, wanted to establish a family. So he came back.’
‘And Buck wasn’t happy about it?’ Aiden guessed.
‘Buck was fuming about it,’ Edmond chuckled. ‘He spends his life working his butt off for this town. And the moment Sam rolls in, he’s completely forgotten and overlooked for his younger brother. So the two have never seen eye to eye.’
‘I can imagine.’
‘But Sam Fern has got a shedload of cash. I can’t disclose a figure but I wrote up a will for him couple of years back and it brought tears to my eyes!’
‘Jeez.’ Aiden mused on the information for a moment. ‘So around town is he pretty powerful, well known?’
‘Not really, he distances himself from local politics. Probably for the best as that’s Buck’s territory.’
‘Yeah, course.’
As they talked, Aiden scribbled down a few key words on his notepad as he tried to establish some background to the case. Edmond’s local knowledge of people always proved invaluable.
‘So what about his wife?’ Aiden asked, since she would be integral to the case.
‘She used to be a Playboy model,’ Edmond raised his eyebrows suggestively but Aiden didn’t bite. He just nodded to himself thoughtfully.
‘I think she was Miss September one year…’ Edmond offered but Aiden just continued with his notes.
‘And they’ve got two children?’
‘Yeah, two small boys. One is about four the other is younger, maybe almost two.’
‘So they’ve been married for a while?’
‘Five years or so.’
‘Why have a custody battle now?’
‘Well,’ Edmond lowered his voice and glanced towards the door, beyond which was sat their loyal secretary, Betty, whose hearing was less than sharp so there was no real need to whisper.
‘Sam Fern has said he has his suspicions about his second son.’
‘Suspicions?’ Aiden had to strain to hear Edmond.
‘Yes. He says he has a feeling he isn’t his. If we can prove as much, it will certainly help with his custody appeal.’
‘So initially this is a paternity case?’ Aiden said, his voice at a normal level which immediately prompted Edmond to signal that they should be speaking more quietly.
‘Initially yes.’
‘What about the divorce proceedings?’ Aiden entered in to the charade of whispering just to appease Edmond. The older man shook his head.
‘Nothing with the divorce yet. He wants to be certain about the paternity of his second son first.’
‘Why is he suspicious?’
Edmond raised his shoulders. ‘No idea really. He mentioned something about there being a striking physical difference between his boys, reckons he can’t see himself in the younger one.’
‘Has his wife’s behaviour contributed to his fears?’
‘Well she’s young and beautiful and he’s old and was never handsome, not even as a young man, so I imagine he’s always fretted about that sort of thing,’ Edmond answered honestly, now forgetting to whisper.
‘He approached you directly about the case?’
‘Yeah, one afternoon on the golf course.’
‘You get much work when you golf?’ Aiden asked, remembering how when he worked back in Chicago either an exclusive gym or golf course was always a great place to scout for new business. He had no idea that Edmond would be as astute to make connections that way and admired the old man for his initiative.
‘Son, I get nearly all my work from when I golf!’ Edmond laughed to himself, pulling back towards his desk, clearly feeling that the conversation was concluded.
Aiden turned his attention to his own computer and the various emails which needed his attention, but his mind remained on the paternity case and something was pressing its way to the front of his thoughts, refusing to subside.
At last he just had to ask, needing to know the answer.
‘Edmond, how come I’m handling the Sam Fern case if he came to you about it directly?’
‘He asked specifically for you to work on it.’
‘He did?’ Aiden was surprised, shocked even. His previous case had been high profile but he didn’t expect clients to be seeking him out by name, not yet.
‘Sure did. I imagine he heard about how well you got on with Buck which warmed him to you!’ Edmond chuckled to himself once more, his body jiggling within his chair.
*
With his mind still very much on the Sam Fern case, Aiden decided to delay responding to his emails and instead run a quick Internet search on the local millionaire.
Sure enough, there were loads of stories about him. He seemed to be somewhat of a local celebrity.
Most articles were focused around a charitable donation he had given. He had funded a new MRI machine at the local hospital, along with a new ward for the children’s services. He’d given various donations to the local church and also the hospice at the next town over. He certainly appeared to be extremely generous.
Aiden found one article which contained a photograph of Sam Fern at the opening of the hospital ward where his wife was stood proudly beside him.
Had Aiden not known the connection between Sam and Buck Fern, he would still have made the assumption as soon as he saw him, as the millionaire looked almost identical to Avalon’s sheriff, aside from the fact that he was perhaps a bit taller in stature and had more hair, which may or may not have been his own. The heritage of said hair would be left to conjecture.
In the photograph Sam Fern was smiling broadly, but on such a flint-hard face the smile lacked warmth. His wife, however, was radiant beside him. With white-blonde hair and a ruby-red smile, she stole the picture from him, instantly drawing all eyes upon her.
It was easy to see why Mrs Samuel Fern had been in Playboy. She had the voluptuous figure and the flirtatious smile of a modern-day Marilyn Monroe. Her hands, adorned with fake nails, were wrapped around her husband as he was poised to cut an opening ribbon. She looked happy, they both did.
Aiden read the by-line to the picture;
Samuel Fern and his wife Deena, pictured outside the opening of the newly opened Fern’s Children Ward.
So her name was Deena. Good to know. Aiden added her name to his list of notes. He considered Googling her but hesitated, not sure he wanted a list of Playboy websites appearing in his Internet history at work. He would just take Edmond’s word for it for the time being that she had been Miss September at some point.
A sudden thought entered Aiden’s head and made him uneasy. No, it wasn’t a thought. It was a face. And it belonged to Brandy White. The woman whose life he had saved when he had uncovered the true killer of her husband.
Something stabbed at his heart. A pang of longing and for perhaps the hundredth time since she left he found himself wondering what Brandy was doing at that exact moment. Was she enjoying Chicago or did she miss the tranquillity of Avalon? He could picture her, working in the beauty parlour, smiling warmly at customers as they came in. They must love her, with her Southern charm and natural warmth.
Aiden found himself envying those customers because they got to see her and bask in her light. He was just left with memories and regrets and…
No. Aiden refused to wallow in his thoughts about Brandy. He needed to focus on the present. On his family. And on the case which he was currently working on. Brandy White was an old client, nothing more.
‘Which year did you say Mrs Fern was in Playboy?’ he asked Edmond, who upon hearing the question immediately lifted his ample frame up out of his chair and almost bounced over to where Aiden was sitting.
‘Ooh, I can’t remember for sure,’ Edmond said. ‘2002, 2003 maybe. We should do a search.’
He prompted Aiden as he stood over him and who was Aiden to ignore his boss? Besides, he would welcome the distraction and it would please the old man to look at some racy pictures all in the name of work.
‘Wait!’ Edmond said suddenly as Aiden was about to hit search on Deena, Miss September Playboy.
‘We should send Betty out on some errand. Don’t want the poor girl walking in here and seeing something too saucy for her mature sensibilities to handle.’
‘Okay,’ Aiden agreed though he doubted Betty either looked at or cared what was displayed on their computer screens. She was more concerned about the contents of their coffee cups.
‘I’ll send her out for some doughnuts,’ Edmond declared proudly.
‘Good idea.’
‘Just don’t mention this to Mrs Copes.’
Aiden raised his eyebrows.
‘The doughnuts, I mean. She’s still got me on this diet.’
‘Right, gotcha.’ Aiden nodded, knowing that if he had a dime for every forbidden doughnut he’d had to conceal from Edmond’s wife he would be as rich as Samuel Fern.
*
Isla walked past the kitchen window but stopped abruptly when something caught her eye. At the end of the drive the arm of the mailbox had been lifted to signal the arrival of a new letter, which was strange since the mailman had already been and delivered the usual bundle of unwelcome bills. Frowning, Isla wandered down the driveway and opened the rusted front door of the mailbox and, sure enough, there was a single white envelope neatly placed inside. Reaching in, Isla picked it up and, turning it over in her hands, she was surprised to see that the front was blank, it wasn’t addressed to anyone specific.
Assuming it was junk mail, Isla was about to rip it in half when she instead tore the envelope open and removed the note from within. As she read it, she felt the air around her cool a few degrees and goose bumps broke out along her bare arms.
Within the envelope was a single piece of crisp white paper which when unfolded contained one single word. But instead of being written, the letters had been crudely cut from other sources and glued to the paper. Isla shivered as she read the word:
Leave.
It was a simple, succinct directive. Isla glanced around but the street was clear. Looking at the note in her hand she felt with the cold, distinct sense of dread that it was most definitely intended for her.
Isla refused to read the note again. With a shudder she promptly tore the piece of paper in half and shoved it into the garbage can before walking back in to the house.
*
Aiden still savoured his short commute home from work. The small town was the backdrop to his journey as he drove through the now-familiar streets. Traffic was always sparse, even at what would be considered peak times. He remembered all too well the complete gridlock which he encountered within the city on a daily basis and he didn’t miss it. There was something satisfying about being able to travel unhindered. It left him feeling less stressed when he walked through the door and greeted his family at the end of the day. There was no built-up tension souring his mood; he was a free man.
‘I’m home,’ Aiden called as he pushed open the door to his modest home with his free hand, his other clutching his briefcase.
The small house he had acquired for the move to Avalon was still in need of a complete overhaul. His wife, Isla, was supposed to be arranging things for the renovation but so far nothing had been done which did annoy Aiden, but he chose to not let any negative feelings taint his good mood.
‘I said, I’m home,’ he repeated his initial greeting when he was met with only silence. Stepping in to the kitchen he noticed how oddly quiet the house was. Tea was not simmering on the stove as it usually would have been, well in the early days at least. Recently Isla had taken a more relaxed approach to her traditional housewife duties.
‘Isla, hon?’ he called through the house, raising his voice so that he could be heard throughout the small structure.
‘We’re in the garden,’ came a faint reply, carried on the early evening breeze.
Aiden placed down his briefcase and loosened his tie before strolling through the house, out through the back patio doors and to the welcoming sight of his young daughter, Meegan, giggling merrily as she was pushed in a small swing.
‘Sorry, I know I’m running late,’ Isla immediately apologized from her position behind the swing. In between pushes she nudged a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, and with the dropping sun glowing behind her she looked stunning. Aiden was almost taken aback at just how beautiful his wife was.
‘Even after all these months I struggle to get used to you coming home at a reasonable hour,’ she explained, still pushing Meegan in the swing even though the little girl now had other ideas.
‘Daddy, Daddy!’ she cried joyfully when she saw Aiden come in to the garden, extending her miniature arms out towards him.
‘Hi, Princess!’ Aiden came and scooped her up out of her swing seat and lifted her into his arms, spinning her around as he did so, which made her sequel with delight.
‘Daddy!’ Meegan clapped her hands happily before planting a wet kiss on Aiden’s nose.
‘I missed you today,’ he confided in his daughter who looked up at him with big, open, innocent eyes.
‘I watched Princess and the Frog,’ Meegan whispered in response, almost shamefully as though she had been too busy having fun to miss her father.
‘Did you enjoy it?’ Aiden already knew the answer; she would have loved it, as she had done the dozen or so other times she had watched it. It was currently her favourite movie.
‘I wish she’d stop watching it,’ Isla sighed, heading towards the house. She was wearing short denim hot pants which showed off her long, lean legs.
‘Why?’ Aiden asked, surprised by his wife’s lack of enthusiasm for the movie.
‘Princess films just set girls up to have unrealistic expectations of life.’
‘Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine today?’ he joked.
‘I’m serious, Aid. I don’t want Meegan to grow up to be one of those girls who wastes their lives waiting for Prince Charming to show up.’
‘So you want her to be like you and just settle for the first hot guy who comes along?’ Aiden teased.
‘I didn’t mean that,’ Isla glanced at him sheepishly. ‘I’m just having a bad day,’ she admitted sadly.
They were now in the kitchen and Aiden settled at the table, placing Meegan within her high chair while Isla began boiling some pasta in a pan.
‘Can I help?’ he offered.
‘No, I’ve got it.’
‘So why the bad day?’ Aiden asked as he briefly went over to the fridge, retrieving not his usual sole beer, but also one for his wife. He handed it to her and she gratefully accepted it.
Isla considered mentioning the note but considered against it. It was probably nothing anyway.
‘I took Meegan to that toddlers’ group over at the church.’
‘Oh yeah, you mentioned you were going to try going there.’
‘But it was a complete joke,’ Isla said, shaking her head before taking a sip of beer.
‘Joke,’ Meegan echoed without any comprehension.
‘How so?’
‘Basically, everyone there still treats me as a pariah. After everything you’ve done for this God-awful town and still they cross the street to avoid me. It’s ridiculous.’
‘They just need time.’
‘Aid, I’ve given them time. And you’ve given them a crooked priest but still they want more! So I took Meegs to the stupid toddler group and everyone just ignored me. If she went over to play with their kids they picked their kids up and moved them. I swear to God, I almost slapped one of the stupid bitches!’
‘Language,’ Aiden berated his wife, but only lightly as he could see that she was pretty fired up about the situation.
‘I’m just sick of feeling like an outsider!’ Isla lamented, the text of the note still burning in her mind. She drank some more beer to calm herself.
‘I’m sorry it’s being so tough on you.’ And Aiden was sorry. The horrid feeling of guilt crept up his spine and pinched at the back of his neck. It was his fault they were here, his fault that Isla was so miserable.
‘Daddy, look!’ Meegan called for her father and then began to proudly blow bubbles. Aiden looked at her fondly, and then up at Isla who was now smiling at her daughter.
‘I guess she’s why I do it,’ Isla admitted. ‘It’s just so hard sometimes.’
‘I know.’ Aiden himself was still treated like an outcast who could potentially be harbouring the plague and he knew it wasn’t a nice feeling. For a town which outwardly seemed so loving and community based, the people could be very standoffish.
‘Anyway, how was your day?’ Isla changed the topic and continued to prepare dinner. She handed Meegan a bowl of baby food which the little girl promptly dunked both hands into.
‘Meegan!’
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got it,’ Aiden offered, already wetting a flannel to clean Meegan up. ‘My day was good,’ he spoke as he mopped the contents of the bowel off Meegan’s little hands. ‘I started working on my next case.’
‘Oh?’
‘You’ll never guess who it’s for.’
‘Who?’ Isla asked, intrigued.
‘Buck Fern’s brother.’
‘You’re joking!’ Aiden’s wife scoffed as she stirred the pasta. ‘Is he as much of an ass as Buck is?’
‘I’ve not met him yet but by all accounts, yes, he is.’
‘Sounds like you’re in for a good time at work then.’
‘Yeah,’ Aiden sighed, picking up his beer now that Meegan was clean and finally eating her dinner rather than trying to wear it.
‘What’s the case?’
‘Paternity suit, I think.’
‘Ooh,’ Isla’s eyes lit up at the prospect of a scandal. ‘Those are always interesting.’
‘I guess.’
‘What’s the wife like? I’m guessing he’s married?’
‘Yeah he is. I’ve not met her yet either. Apparently she was Miss September one year for Playboy.’
This last piece of information got Isla’s full attention. She turned away from dinner to face Aiden, a wooden spoon held within her hands forcefully, like a weapon.
‘She’s a Playmate?’ there was something accusing in her tone and Aiden instantly wished he’d not revealed that particular piece of information to his wife.
‘She was. Years ago.’ Aiden tried to sound dismissive, didn’t want to dwell on the topic for too long. He’d forgotten that during college, Isla had applied to be a Playmate, seeing it as a fun way to make a load of extra cash. She hadn’t been accepted and it had remained a sore point for her ever since.
‘She must look cheap as that’s what they go for there.’ Isla said bitterly, watching Aiden intently, her eyes narrowed.
‘Exactly!’ Aiden agreed. ‘Can we eat yet?’
*
‘You used to hate paternity cases,’ Isla said suddenly as they lay in bed that night, bringing Aiden back from the brink of sleep. It was only just past ten but his body was now conditioned to early nights and early mornings and so it felt much later to him.
‘Huh?’ he asked sleepily.
‘Back in Chicago, you used to hate paternity cases. You said they made you feel uneasy because you worried about the kids involved. Which I thought was noble of you.’ From the tone of Isla’s voice it was clear that she’d been lying in bed thinking, rather than trying to sleep.
‘I did hate them, still do. They’re messy,’ Aiden admitted.
‘How old is the child?’
‘Two.’
‘That sucks.’
‘Can I go back to sleep now?’ Aiden asked, his eyes feeling heavy.
‘I didn’t even know we had an ex-playmate living here,’ Isla mused half to herself, half to her tired husband.
‘Maybe you two could be friends,’ Aiden muttered dreamily.
‘What?’ Isla screeched, instantly outraged.
Sighing, Aiden pulled himself up so that he was sitting and looked at his wife. His body groaned from being pulled from the sweet release of sleep so abruptly.
‘She’s an ex-playmate. I imagine she is glamorous. I know they used to live in the city so you two would have a lot in common, that’s all.’ He planted a kiss on Isla’s forehead to further placate her.
‘She might know decent places locally to get hair and nails done,’ he added, knowing that Isla was constantly aggrieved by the lack of professional beauticians close by. Or at least ones she deemed competent.
‘Hmm,’ Isla mulled on the thought. She had to admit it wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever heard.
‘I need to get to sleep,’ Aiden pleaded.
‘Okay, fine.’
They both lay back down and settled themselves in the darkness. Isla’s mind continued to flutter ideas around her head, preventing her from sleeping, but Aiden immediately dropped off and a lazy smile pulled across his lips.
He was dreaming, as he often did, of Brandy. She was on the beach, by the edge of the sea, playfully dipping her toes into the water. Each time she did, she would squeal girlishly at the cold. Aiden was watching her from afar.
The wind caught her blonde hair and whipped it around her head. She looked messy and carefree and devastatingly beautiful. Turning, she looked over to Aiden, a sweet smile on her face, and she beckoned him to join her in the water.
‘Come on in!’ her voice still held its soft, Southern lilt. She bit her lip playfully as she watched him which set his pulse racing.
Aiden moved to oblige, his eyes taking in the curves of her petite body in the green bikini she was wearing which glistened with an ethereal glow, as though she were a mermaid.
As he walked towards her, he was enticed by her gaze, by the sound of her soft laughter. He didn’t want to just play in the ocean with her. He wanted to kiss her, to hold her, to run his hands down her almost bare body. He wanted…
Aiden woke up suddenly, his breath catching in his throat. As his senses slowly returned, he realized that he was in a full state of arousal and beside him Isla was now fast asleep. He considered waking her and then sighed to himself. He was definitely too tired for that. Shaking off the residues of the dream, Aiden headed for the bathroom, wishing that he had not woken from such a pleasant fantasy.
*
The following morning the sun was shining brightly, basking Avalon in a sumptuous golden glow. It was hard to feel anything other than happy when the weather was so nice and the air so fresh. But Isla was not happy.
‘Another day with just a two year old for company,’ she moaned as Aiden drank his morning coffee.
‘You just need to make some friends around here, that’s all.’
‘I’ve tried and no one here wants to be my friend. No one here gets me.’
‘I’m sorry, hon, I’m sure you’ll meet someone on your wavelength soon enough.’ Aiden wasn’t paying that much attention to his wife as his mind was already at the office, thinking about the working day which lay ahead of him.
‘Aid, I’m lonely.’
Aiden sighed and placed his mug of hot stimulant down and gave his wife a steady, long look. He was as tired as she was lonely of being caught in the same argument. She didn’t like Avalon, he did. She had come because of him, had sacrificed the life she knew. But in his mind it was done now and she needed to at least try and make the best of it. From where he was standing, Isla seemed reluctant to even try, preferring instead to dig in her heels and just lament about how miserable she was.
‘Just give it time,’ he told her sternly, hoping the tone of his voice would encourage her to drop the topic for at least one morning.
‘I’ve given it time!’ she exclaimed angrily, not sensing his annoyance.
‘A couple of months is nothing. It can years to settle somewhere new. Be patient.’
‘Patient! Aid, I’m wasting away here!’ Isla bunched her hands into fists as she spoke and began to pace around the kitchen.
Aiden gestured towards their daughter who was happily eating her breakfast, oblivious to their heated exchange.
‘She is the sole reason we are here,’ he said. ‘Her wellbeing matters more than our own. That’s what happens when you become a parent. So next time you feel lonely, or isolated, or frustrated because you can’t get your nails done how you like them, think of our little girl and how much she is benefitting from being around you, from living somewhere without copious amounts of air pollution.’
‘Are you calling me a bad mother?’ Isla’s hands instantly moved to her hips as she delivered the accusation, glaring at her husband.
‘Jeez, no,’ Aiden sighed, regretting having tried to even make the point about Meegan’s welfare.
‘Because it sounds like you’re calling me a bad mother!’ Isla declared again, becoming confrontational.
‘Isla, no. You’re not a bad mother; I’m just suggesting you need to get some perspective on the situation.’
He rose up and went over to his wife and, placing his hands on her shoulders, bent down and softly kissed her cheek. Her body was stiff beneath his touch but loosened slightly when he kissed her.
He needed the argument to be over, for Isla to be in a decent mood when he left so that he wouldn’t come home to further animosity.
‘Meegan loves it here and you will too,’ he whispered soothingly and Isla managed to smile slightly.
‘So you don’t think I’m a bad mother?’
‘Of course not. You can just be a little self-involved,’ he added the last part lightly, as a tease, so she wouldn’t get wound up again.
‘Whatever, get out of here. Go earn the money to put bread on this table!’ Isla’s bad mood had passed and she was now appearing almost cheerful. She always looked so much prettier when she smiled. Aiden wished her temperament would allow her to do it more often.
‘See you later! Bye, princess.’ He kissed both his wife and daughter on their foreheads before stepping out the door and into the sunshine to commence a new working day.
*
Aiden drove through Avalon with his windows down and his radio on. The station he was tuned in to was playing a country song about loving someone who was with someone else. Though the lyrics were pained, the melody was upbeat and Aiden happily tapped along on his steering wheel.
He was in a good, possibly great, mood until he saw the flash of blue lights in his rear-view mirror, which was shortly after joined by the scream of a police siren which drowned out the radio completely.
Checking his mirrors, Aiden signalled and pulled over, unsure what exactly he had done to deserve being stopped. His music wasn’t loud, he had been well within the speed limit, there hadn’t been a stop sign he had overlooked.
He was still pondering on why he had been pulled over when he saw a familiar figure emerge from the police squad car which had parked up a few feet behind him. Buck Fern stepped out into the sunshine. A large Stetson shielded his eyes from the sun but he still squinted as he strode over towards Aiden.
Buck took his time walking over, taking arrogant, deliberate steps, as though he were taking some special joy in forcing Aiden to take time out of his day for him. Eventually he reached Aiden’s car and leant down to look in through the open window.
‘Morning, Mr Connelly,’ he drawled the words out almost as slowly as he moved.
‘Good morning, Sheriff, is everything all right?’
‘You’ve got a tail light out.’ Buck glanced to the back of the car.
Of course he had. Aiden inwardly groaned at not having noticed it sooner and thus preventing this awkward encounter.
‘I have? I must not have noticed. I’ll get that sorted out later today.’ Aiden answered politely.
‘There’s a good garage up near the turn pike,’ Buck offered, shifting his weight so that he was leaning against the car, clearly in no hurry to conclude their conversation.
‘Okay, thanks, I’ll check them out.’
‘Offer good prices too. Not that you lawyer types need worry about money.’ There it was. Aiden knew the old man would struggle to last five minutes without insulting him somehow.
Buck leant away briefly to spit on the ground and his breath suggested he’d been chewing tobacco.
Aiden wanted to leave, to drive off and get away from Buck Fern and his bitterness but he felt that the old man wasn’t done with him yet. That the out tail light was merely a front for something else he wanted to discuss.
‘I hear you’re working on my brother’s case,’ Buck said lightly, as though it were common knowledge around town.
Aiden had to give the sheriff credit; he’d certainly wasted little time getting to the point.
‘How do you know about that?’ He’d only just started work on the case so he was surprised word could have got round so quickly.
‘Nothing goes on in this town that I don’t know about,’ Buck replied arrogantly.
Aiden wanted to point out that, actually, an awful lot occurred in Avalon that Buck didn’t know about. Like horrific domestic abuse or priests who were driven to murder but then tried to let someone else go down for their crime. But he managed to bite his tongue and say nothing. Let the old man have his delusions of power and knowledge.
‘Besides,’ Buck added, ‘he’s my brother. We do talk, you know.’
‘So are you two close?’
The question bristled Buck, who physically stood more alert, as though alarmed at the suggestion that he and his brother were close.
‘We’re blood,’ he explained vaguely after a brief pause. It didn’t really answer Aiden’s question but he decided it was best not to pursue it further.
‘You need to take care of him,’ Buck told Aiden, his voice firm. ‘That woman has never been no good for him. He was blinded by her beauty. Some men are fallible like that,’ he gave Aiden a long look as though he were implying something more.
He knew what the old sheriff meant. He was referring, of course, to Brandy but Aiden refused to let it get to him, knew it was best to rise above the pettiness even though Buck was doing his best to illicit a response from him.
‘Even a man of God can be weakened by a beautiful woman,’ Buck continued. ‘And my brother is no exception. She’s ruined him.’
‘Ruined him how?’ Aiden asked, sure that Samuel Fern would have had nothing but gratitude for the Playmate who agreed to share his bed.
‘He spent so much money on her.’ Buck shook his head in disapproval. ‘She’s just a whore.’
Normally Aiden might be surprised by such a venomous description of someone’s sister-in-law, but from Buck Fern such hostility was to be expected.
‘How come you’re handling the case and not Copes?’
Clearly Buck’s brother had left out the part about how he had specifically asked for Aiden to work on the case.
‘He’s too busy to take on such a big case right now,’ Aiden lied, assuming it was best not to let Buck know about Samuel’s preference of lawyer.
‘I’d be happier if it were Copes working on it,’ Buck said bluntly, not caring at all for Aiden’s feelings.
‘I’m sure you would be,’ Aiden agreed, feeling the exact same way.
‘I trust him.’
‘And you don’t trust me. Great, I get it,’ Aiden was running out of patience. ‘If we are all done here, Sheriff, I really need to get on my way.’
‘Fine, fine.’ Buck backed away from the car. ‘Make sure you get that tail light fixed.’ Even though it wasn’t, it sounded like a threat.
‘Yes, I will do.’
Aiden watched Buck return to his squad car. His movements were still slow, as though he had nothing but time on his hands. It shocked Aiden how someone could have a role as important as sheriff and have no urgency to them. Perhaps it could be attributed to the small town mentality or maybe it was unique to Buck Fern.
When the squad car had left, no doubt to harass another unsuspecting citizen, Aiden started his own vehicle up again and continued on his way to work.
But something bothered him as he drove. It just didn’t make sense for Buck to have heard straight from his brother about the case, especially as Edmond had made a point about their poor relationship.
Aiden was certain that Buck had heard the news from another source, though who exactly he wasn’t sure. A cold feeling ran down his back, making his body icy despite the pleasant morning sun. It was hard to know who to trust in Avalon and, just when Aiden hoped he’d found his footing there, he still felt like an outsider.
