Free Dark Debts by Karen Hall Page A

hadn’t . . . seen him in a couple of weeks, so I don’t know what his most recent frame of mind has been . . . had been . . .” He sighed. “Christ.” He stared at his wine glass for a long moment. He finally continued.
    â€œHe certainly didn’t call me and tell me he robbed a liquor store, not that he would have. But . . .” He bit his bottom lip and shook his head.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNothing. It’s just . . .” He looked up, directly into her eyes, as if he’d made some sort of decision. “I wasn’t terribly surprised when I heard that.”
    Randa stared at him, shocked. “You weren’t?”
    â€œCam had been acting very strange. I think he just . . .” He stopped; seemed to change direction. “A couple of months ago, he ditched Nora, out of the clear blue sky.”
    Randa listened, trying not to have any opinion that would show on her face.
    â€œHe didn’t tell her why, and he didn’t even tell anyone else that it had happened. I only found out because I ran into her at the Beverly Center.” He smiled. “Oh, yeah. I make an exception for that, too. But only on weekdays, and never when there are sales.”
    Randa smiled and forced back all the questions she wanted to ask.
    How did she look? Devastated, I hope?
    Nick fished a square of peach out of his glass with his spoon, popped it in his mouth, and went on. “Anyway, I asked Cam about it; he just said he had to be alone. I never could get any more out of him than that, but you know Cam. They come, they go . . .”
    Randa winced a little. Nick caught himself.
    â€œI’m sorry. I didn’t . . .” He seemed genuinely embarrassed. “See, I don’t put you in that category, so I’m not careful.”
    â€œWhat category do you put me in?” Randa asked, genuinely interested.
    â€œI don’t know if I could name it,” he said, speaking slowly, as if stalling for time. “There’s one thing; I don’t know if this will help you. Cam used to say something to me, over the years, every time I’d ask him why the two of you weren’t together, if he was so crazy about you. He’d always say he couldn’t be in a romantic relationship with you, and I’d ask why, and he’d say, ‘I love her too much.’ ”
    Randa felt her brow furrow. “What does that mean?”
    Nick looked at her. He seemed to be playing this conversation like a game of chess.
    â€œHe never would tell me what it meant. Except for one night . . . It was very late, we’d all been over at Roger’s, playing poker. Cam and I went back to his apartment to see how much drunker we could possibly get, I guess. Anyway, it was about three in the morning and we were both several sheets to the wind, and Cam started talking about you. I don’t know why. I think it was right after you guys had started to . . . date.” He smiled. “I’ll be a gentleman.”
    He paused to take a sip from his wine glass and seemed to weigh the decision to tell her these things one more time. He looked back at Randa. “Cam told me he truly believed there was some kind of a curse on his family. Not like spells and witches and all that, but some real thing that was like this black cloud of bad luck. And he was convinced that if he got very involved with you, it would infect you and ruin your life.”
    Randa stared at him. “That’s crazy.”
    Nick nodded. “I know. I never said this was going to make sense. I just said I’d tell you.
    â€œAnyway,” he continued, before Randa could figure out what to say, “that’s just a digression. Although it may have been the beginning, and I just didn’t see it.”
    â€œThe beginning of what?”
    â€œLike I said, Cam had gotten really weird. Even for