Free Silent Witness by Rebecca Forster Page A

uninviting as the Tundra.

CHAPTER 7

    ''How's Hannah?''
    ''She's okay. She's in school.''
    ''What did she say about me?''
    Josie rested her arm on the back of the chair. They had moved from the bar to a corner table. More coffee for Josie. A first cup for Archer. From the looks of him, he had breakfasted on aspirin and that, it seemed, had been a less than satisfying meal. His face was a bright and shiny pallet of purples and reds, black and teal, the skin stretched tight as the tissue beneath swelled to unnatural proportions. His left eyelid had the look of patent leather, the cut above it had scabbed. All in all, Archer was not a pretty sight so Josie stared out the window until he insisted she pay attention.
    ''Did Hannah say anything about me, Jo?''
    ''Nothing,'' Josie lied easily, reluctant to add more to Archer's misery.
    ''Bullshit,'' Archer responded. He drank his coffee with one hand wrapped around the cup, the handle turned inward. When he drank, he stared over the rim at Burt.
    Josie crossed her arms on the table and tried hard not to show how annoyed she was. Burt's joke had been in poor taste, his speculation completely ridiculous, yet Archer hadn't seen it that way. He had turned his back on Burt, his good friend, and now he was bullying Josie into some loyalty game that smacked of destructive, macho self-pity. It was the last thing she would have expected and she dealt with it the only way she knew how.
    ''Okay,'' Josie said flatly. ''Have it your way. Hannah said I should be careful. She said I should have learned that adults can do bad things to kids. She said there was always a chance you could be like that. Does that make you feel better?''
    ''Out of the mouth's of babes,'' Archer said sarcastically as he hung his head , putting his hand on the back of his neck. ''You took in a damn expert on freaks who hurt kids.''
    ''What would you expect, Archer? You didn't exactly welcome her with open arms when she moved in with me. You can't expect her to come to your defense.''
    ''Hey.'' His hand came down hard on the table and the coffee cups jumped. ''You didn't exactly ask if I wanted to be part of the Brady Bunch. I respected you taking her in, but I didn't think she would change things the way she did. I didn't want anything to change. I didn't think you did either. . .''
    Josie cut him off, tired of the old tune he was singing.
    ''What's happened between us because of Hannah isn't in question, Archer. I just want to point out you shouldn't expect any sympathy from her until you earn it.''
    ''I don't want it,'' Archer snapped. ''I don't want any from you either.''
    Josie stiffened, hearing a whole lot of frustration talking that had nothing to do with his arrest. It was Hannah and had been Hannah since Josie announced the girl was going to live with her. Conceptually, it had been a fine and noble move. Reality was another matter. Archer argued that Hannah had seen more in sixteen years than Josie had seen in forty. She could fend for herself. Josie wondered why should she should have to? Archer countered, pointing out that Josie couldn't make peace with her own mother's desertion by pretending she was Hannah's. He might as well have slapped her with that one. To his credit, he apologized for crossing that line so Josie chalked Archer's basic objections off as selfish and male and assumed he would come around. Now she had to wonder if there was more to his desire to be rid of Hannah than met the eye. Maybe Burt had hit on something. Just maybe Archer had something to hide. Perhaps Hannah, with all her knowledge of sordid human behavior, saw something in Archer Josie didn't. That, Josie decided, was plain idiotic.
    ''Okay, sorry. I'm as edgy as you so let's forget Hannah.'' Josie reached into her bag, got her tape recorder and put it between them on the table. ''What about Tim Wren, Archer? Was there any love loss there or is it just Hannah you object to?''
    ''You don't need that thing.'' Archer's voice was ice.