Obsidian Butterfly - Laurell K. Hamilton [15]
“Maybe I just want to know what name to put on the tombstone,” I said.
He laughed. “Confidence is a fine trait. Overconfidence isn’t.” The laughter faded and left his face around the glasses cool and unreadable. I didn’t have to see his eyes to know they were cold and distant as winter skies.
I pushed away from the car, hands empty at my sides. “Look, Edward, Ted, whatever the hell you call yourself, I don’t like being invited here to play monster bait, and find you dating the new age mom of the year. It’s thrown me, and I don’t like that either. We have a truce until the case is solved, then what?”
“Then we’ll see,” he said.
“You couldn’t just agree to stop being engaged to Donna?”
“No.” His voice was small, careful.
“Why not?” I asked.
“I’d need to give her a good enough reason to break her heart and the kids’. Remember, I’ve been spending a lot of time with the kids. How would it look to just vanish on them?”
“I think her son wouldn’t mind. Peter, wasn’t it? I think he’d love it if Ted would vanish.”
Edward turned his head to one side. “Yeah, Peter would love it, but what about Becca? I’ve been in her life for over two years and she’s only six. Donna trusts me to pick her up after school. I drive her once a week to dance lessons so Donna doesn’t have to close the shop early.” His voice and face never changed as he spoke, as if it was just facts and meant nothing.
Anger tightened my shoulders and traveled down my arms. I put my hands in fists just to have something to do with my body. “You bastard.”
“Maybe,” he said, “but be careful what you ask me to do, Anita. Just walking out could do more damage than the truth.”
I stared at him, trying to see behind that blank face. “Have you thought about telling Donna the truth?”
“No.”
“Damn you.”
“Do you really think she could handle the truth, the entire truth about me?” he asked.
I thought about that for nearly a full minute while we stood in the heat-soaked parking lot. Finally, I said, “No.” I didn’t like saying it, but truth was truth.
“You’re sure she couldn’t play wife to an assassin? I mean you’ve only met her for half an hour. How can you be so sure?”
“Now you’re teasing me,” I said.
His lips twitched almost a smile. “I think you are exactly right. I don’t think Donna could handle the truth.”
I shook my head, hard enough that my hair lashed my face. I literally threw my hands in the air. “Fuck it, for now. I didn’t get on a plane at a moment’s notice to stand in the heat and discuss your love life. Don’t we have a crime to solve or something?”
“We could discuss your love life,” he said. “Werewolf or vampire, which are you fucking now?” There was something close to bitterness in his voice. It wasn’t jealousy, but utter disapproval. You killed the monsters. You did not date them. It was one of Edward’s rules, and used to be one of mine. Just another example of my moral downfall.
“Neither, actually, and that is all I’m going to say on the subject.”
He lowered his sunglasses enough so I could see his pale blue eyes. “You dumped them both?” He actually sounded interested.
I shook my head. “If I feel like sharing, I’ll let you know. Now tell me what the hell you’ve dragged me into besides your sordid love life. Tell me about the murders, Edward. Tell me why I’m really here.”
He slipped the glasses back over his eyes and gave a small nod. “Okay.” He opened the driver’s side door and left me to let myself into the passenger side. He’d held Donna’s door for her, but that wasn’t the kind of relationship Edward and I had. If we might have to start shooting each other, I’d get my own doors.
4
THE CAR BELONGED to Ted, even though Edward was driving it. It was a square and big something between a Jeep, a truck, and an ugly car. It was covered in red clay mud as if he’d been driving through ditches. The windshield