Free A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton Page B

to finally get you over to dinner …”
    “The dinner was great,” I said. “Your mother is quite a cook.”
    “Well, I’m just glad that I could get you and Sylvia in the same room for a while. I know how it is between you two.”
    My heart skipped a beat. “How do you mean?”
    “Alex, I’m sure you’ve noticed. Sylvia has this thing about you.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “I hope you don’t take it personally. She’s always had this thing about certain types of men. I mean, just from the way you look, the type of man that you
seem
to be. A big tough guy. She never really warmed up to you before, and I felt bad about that. But anyway, I think she got to know you a little better tonight. And I think she really likes you now.”
    Sylvia had been nothing but charming all through dinner. It was an incredible performance.
    “Where did she run off to, anyway?” he said. “She’s probably with my mother somewhere, plotting against me. You know how women are, eh?”
    “I’m right here, darling,” she said. We both turned to see her slip into the room behind us. She had a robe on. It was the same robe she had on that first night, the first night I ever touched her. It opened up at her neck and clung to her in a way that made me want to throw my drink at her.
    “Are you coming to bed?” she asked, running her hands around Edwin’s neck.
    “Wow,” Edwin said. “You look fantastic. I’ll be right up.”
    She turned and looked at me. “Good night, Alex. I hope you can make yourself… comfortable.”
    “Don’t worry about me,” I said.
    When she left, Edwin stood up and put out his cigar. “I’ve been neglecting that woman,” he said. “But no longer, Alex. It’s all part of the new Edwin.”
    I just nodded.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in the other guest room?”
    “No, I’m fine right here on the couch,” I said. The two guest rooms were at the end of the house. I wanted to be here in the middle, close to the doors, just in case.
    “Suit yourself,” he said. “I’m off to bed. Wish me luck.” He gave me a wink and a little salute.
    When he was gone, I sat there and finished my brandy, wondering how I had ever gotten there. I’m a private investigator and they’re paying me to sleep on the couch with my gun.
    I thought about the phone call, and about the rose that was left on my doorstep. I sat there for a long time hoping it would all make some kind of sense to me, but it didn’t happen.
    Finally, Mrs. Fulton came into the room and sat in Edwin’s chair. “Can I get you anything, Alex?”
    “No, I’m fine, ma’am.”
    “You know, you and I have something in common,” she said. She crossed her legs and looked into the fire.
    “What would that be, ma’am?”
    “Fear,” she said. “We both know about fear.”
    It took a minute to sink in. This woman had enoughmoney to protect her from anything. What could she know about fear?
    But then I looked into her eyes. I saw the firelight dancing there. And I saw something else. Something I recognized. “Tell me about it,” I said.
    “I don’t share this story with many people, Alex. But I feel like I can tell you, because you know what it feels like. Real fear. The kind of fear that changes you forever.”
    “Yes,” I said. “Yes, I do.”
    “I was kidnapped when I was sixteen years old. That’s one of the dangers of growing up in a very wealthy family, I suppose. They kept me for several days. At one point, they were going to cut off one of my fingers and send it to my father.”
    I didn’t say anything. I looked into the fire with her and listened to her voice.
    “There were three men,” she said. “One of the men, he made sure that the others didn’t hurt me. Even when the leader wanted to cut off my finger, this man wouldn’t let him. They fought over me. He told the leader he’d kill him if he even touched me. Even though he was one of the men who helped kidnap me, I think I