Light in Shadow (14 page)

“A man's got to keep his strength up.”

Before she could move on to the next ridiculous charge, she heard the sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs. The voices of two young males echoed in the outer office.

“Uncle Ethan, is she still here? You didn't take her to your house yet, did you?”

“Mom made us stop at the stupid mall. That's why we're late.”

The door of Ethan's office slammed open. Two boys garbed in jeans, tee shirts, and running shoes charged into the room. Zoe recognized them as the youngsters she had nearly collided with on the stairs on the occasion of her first visit to Truax Investigations.

They halted and stared at her with ill-concealed fascination.

“Oh, wow,” the older one said. “She's still here.”

Ethan surveyed the two invaders. “Allow me to introduce my nephews. Jeff and Theo, meet Ms. Luce.”

“Hi.” Theo said.

“Hello, Ms. Luce,” Jeff said.

“Nice to meet you,” Zoe said politely. She wondered what she had done to warrant so much interest on the part of two small boys.

Jeff turned to Ethan. “Can we go to your place now?”

“Yep.” Ethan glanced at his watch. “Where's your mom?”

“I'm right here,” said a warm voice from the doorway.

Zoe turned her head and saw an attractive woman with short, curly, light brown hair. She was dressed in a pale yellow blouse and chocolate brown trousers.

“I'm Bonnie Truax.” Bonnie smiled. “The mother of these two ghouls. You must be Zoe.”

“Yes.”
I'm going to like her,
Zoe thought. “How do you do?”

She was about to ask Bonnie why she had referred to her sons as ghouls, but before she could frame the question, Ethan got to his feet.

“Come on, folks, let's get going,” he said. “We'll run over to my place, show Zoe the room she's going to redecorate, and then we'll do the pizza thing.”

“Can I ride with you, Uncle Ethan?” Jeff asked.

“Me, too,” Theo said. “I want to be sure to see what happens when Ms. Luce checks out the inside of your house.”

Ethan looked at Zoe and Bonnie. “Why don't we all go in my car and from there to pizza?”

“Cool.” Jeff dashed through the door.

“See you downstairs.” Theo raced after his brother.

“Wait for us in the hall,” Bonnie called after them.

“Okay,” Jeff yelled back over his shoulder.

Both boys pelted down the stairs and disappeared.

Zoe looked at Ethan. “Is there something I need to know about your house?”

“Needs some work.” Ethan stood aside to allow Zoe and Bonnie to go through the door.

“Work is right.” Bonnie made a face. “Didn't Ethan tell you? He bought Nightwinds, that pink blob just outside of town.”

Zoe stopped at the top of the stairs, startled. “That big Spanish Colonial out on the cliffs? Good grief, it's huge. And it was built back in the late 1940s, wasn't it? I'm sure it's got a lot of atmosphere, but I'll bet it is one heck of a money pit.”

“Got a deal on it from my uncle,” Ethan said.

“Victor knew he'd never be able to sell it to anyone else,” Bonnie said. “So he practically gave it to Ethan.”

“What can I say?” Ethan shrugged. “Uncle Vic saw me coming.”

Zoe started down the stairs, following Bonnie.

“Be careful of really good deals when it comes to very old houses,” Zoe said. “The upkeep is usually enormous. But I must admit I'll be interested to view the inside. Why are Jeff and Theo so eager to see my reaction to the place?”

Bonnie glanced back over her shoulder. “Ethan more or less promised them that you would collapse and start twitching at the sight of the interior of Nightwinds.”

Zoe shot Ethan a disgusted glare. “Thanks a lot.”

“He implied that your delicate designer sensibilities would not be able to withstand the shock,” Bonnie added.

“Really?” Zoe smiled coolly at Ethan. “Obviously you know nothing about the fortitude required of a successful interior designer.”

“I didn't a few days ago when I first made that prediction,” Ethan agreed. “But I've got to admit that yesterday was a real eye-opener for me.” He lowered his voice and leaned in close, speaking directly into Zoe's ear. “Learned some interesting things last night, too. Do all you decorator types go in for matching underwear?”

It wasn't his words that made her blush, she thought. It was the low, sexy, cheerfully wicked tone. Mercifully,
Bonnie, who had reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped outside, had not overheard.

There was no sign of Jeff and Theo at the foot of the staircase.

“I told them to wait in the lobby.” Bonnie came back into the hall, looking worried.

Her sudden anxiety was a bit over the top under the circumstances, Zoe thought. The boys could not have gone far and, while Cobalt Street was a little on the shabby side, it was not dangerous.

“Take it easy, Bonnie,” Ethan said quietly. “Jeff and Theo are fine. I have a hunch they're in the bookshop.”

Zoe heard the calm, steadying note in his voice. He was accustomed to reassuring her, she thought.

At that moment Jeff's voice drifted out of a partially opened door.
“Who wants to buy old books like this?”

There was a dark rumble by way of a response.

“Do you have any games on this computer?”
Theo asked.

The bear in the bookshop rumbled again.

Bonnie relaxed visibly. “Sounds like they've found someone else to pester.” She went toward the door. “I'd better rescue the poor man.”

“Got a hunch Singleton can take care of himself,” Ethan said.

But Bonnie had already vanished through the opening.

Zoe followed and reached the door just in time to hear Jeff make introductions in an excited voice.

“Mom, this is Singleton Cobb. He owns all these old books.”

“He said Uncle Ethan bought one,” Theo offered. “And he's got some neat games on his computer.”

Zoe peered through the gloom. Her first thought was that Singleton Cobb looked like an aging biker. But there was a quiet good humor in his eyes that did not fit that image.

“I'm Bonnie Truax and these two belong to me. I'm sorry for the intrusion,” Bonnie apologized.

“Not a problem,” Singleton said. “Always glad to have a
little foot traffic through the place.” He looked at Zoe. “You're the client, aren't you? The one whose name didn't get into the papers.”

“This is Zoe Luce,” Ethan said. “Zoe, Singleton Cobb.”

Singleton grinned. “You're the client.”

“I'm the client, all right.” Zoe made a face. “And I've got the bill for services rendered by Truax Investigations to prove it. Do you have any idea how much it costs to bribe people these days?”

“Clients.” Ethan shook his head. “They always complain when it comes time to settle the account.” He signaled to Jeff and Theo. “Let's go, boys. We've got things to do, and I'm getting hungry.”

“We gotta leave now,” Jeff said to Singleton. “But we can come back some other time.”

“Sounds good to me,” Singleton said easily.

“Would you show me some of your computer games next time?” Theo asked. “I could bring you some of Mom's cookies.”

Singleton glanced at Bonnie. “It's a deal.”

Outside on the street, they all piled into Ethan's SUV. There was still enough late afternoon light left for Zoe to see that Bonnie's cheeks were slightly flushed.

Jeff and Theo chattered about their new acquaintance and speculated on whether or not he owned a motorcycle. Bonnie was quiet for a long time.

“An interesting man,” she said eventually. “Not quite what you'd expect.”

Nightwinds stood silhouetted
in all its flamboyant pink glory against a scorching sunset. Ethan had a few second thoughts as he halted the SUV in the drive. Maybe this wasn't going to prove to be one of his more brilliant schemes, after all.

The original concept had been simple and straightforward. Encouraging Zoe to pay her bill by redecorating a room in his house had struck him as a particularly crafty maneuver that would allow him to continue some kind of relationship. But what if she concluded that he had incredibly bad taste?

“Let us go inside first,” Jeff said with an improbably innocent air. “We can turn on the lights for you.”

“Yeah,” Theo said. “We know where the light switches are.”

“Go for it.” Ethan tossed the keys to Theo.

Zoe watched the boys race forward to open the grand door.

“I'm being set up, aren't I?” she said.

“They're going to be awfully disappointed if you don't fall down and twitch,” Bonnie said.

“I suppose I could twitch a little bit,” Zoe said.

Jeff and Theo got the front door open. Both boys disappeared into the foyer. Lights came on inside.

Ethan watched Zoe approach the threshold. It seemed to him that she hesitated for a split second as though bracing herself. Maybe she had decided to put on an act for Jeff and Theo. Or maybe he was imagining things.

Then he remembered how she had paused briefly before walking into his office the first time. Maybe it was just the way she was about entering a room. Probably a decorator thing.

She disappeared into the glowing pink interior.

He walked into the hall behind her and saw her turn in a slow circle, surveying every ornate, gilded,
pink
detail.

“This is amazing.” She sounded awed.

Bonnie laughed. “Pretty incredible, isn't it?”

“Incredible is right.” Zoe moved slowly toward the living room. “I can just imagine an elegant late-1940s party here. All those fabulous clothes and the old cars parked in the drive. What a scene it must have been.”

Jeff watched her closely. “Are you going to collapse, Ms. Luce?”

“I don't think so,” Zoe said apologetically.

Theo looked disappointed. “You're sure?”

“Pretty sure,” she said.

Ethan chuckled. “So much for this evening's entertainment.”

“Maybe she'll start to twitch when she sees some of the other rooms,” Theo said, still hopeful.

Bonnie looked at Zoe. “Ignore them.”

“Come on into the living room,” Jeff said eagerly. “There's a picture of Mrs. Foote over the fireplace.”

Obediently they trooped into the living room. Bonnie fell into step beside Zoe.

“The story is that the tycoon who built this place, Abner Bennett Foote, was absolutely devoted to Camelia. She
was about thirty-five years younger than he was. He showered her with jewelry and furs. After her death he never remarried.”

They all came to a halt in front of the portrait. Zoe studied the glamorous woman in the beaded, pink satin evening gown for a long time.

“She was very beautiful,” she said finally.

“Yes, she was,” Bonnie agreed.

Personally, Ethan thought Camelia looked like trouble. He had a hunch she was the kind of woman who had used her beauty to manipulate others, especially men. But what did he know? A guy who had been married and divorced as often as he had was probably not a good judge.

“Of course,” Zoe said, “It doesn't hurt that she's literally dripping in diamonds.”

“True,” Bonnie agreed. “Good jewelry always adds a certain something.”

“Who cares about her jewels,” Theo said. “Let's go see the movie theater.”

“Yeah, that's the best place in the whole house,” Jeff said. “It's got a big-screen TV and a popcorn machine.”

The boys dashed off down an arcaded hall. Zoe and Bonnie dutifully followed. Ethan hung back, trying to gauge Zoe's reaction.

So far, so good,
he thought. At least she did not seem disdainful. If anything, she looked intrigued. Perhaps she viewed his new home as a decorating challenge.

When they reached the theater, Jeff and Theo tugged on the heavy, curving brass handles of the twin doors.

Zoe examined the elaborate entrance with its orchid-pink panels and gilt trim. “Breathtaking. I don't even want to think about what it would cost to reproduce that workmanship today.”

“I told Ethan he couldn't possibly afford to restore this place,” Bonnie said. “Just keeping it from further deterioration will be difficult enough.”

“Look, there's a curtain to keep out the light if the door is opened while the move is playing.” Jeff hurried into the
theater. “And it connects to this curtain over here. If you go through that opening, you're inside the little snack bar.”

“Foote probably had it installed to serve the guests drinks and hors d'oeuvres while they watched the film,” Ethan explained. He halted beside Zoe, who had made no move to enter the interior of the theater. “There's a carved pink marble counter. The bartender could come and go through his section of the curtain without letting any light into the seating area.”

“I see,” Zoe said. “Fascinating.”

Her enthusiasm had definitely dimmed, Ethan noticed. Her smile was polite but no longer warm. There was a marked tension in her shoulders. She was no longer having fun.

Jeff held aside one of the velvet curtains to reveal the rows of gilded seats.

“There's another curtain over the old movie screen,” he explained to Zoe. “Uncle Victor put the big TV in front of it, see?”

“Yes, I see it.” She looked into the theater, but she did not enter it. “Pretty cool.”

“ 'Specially when we make popcorn,” Theo told her.

“I'm impressed,” Zoe said.

Ethan checked his watch. “Let's go take a look at the bedroom you're going to redo for me, Zoe.”

Jeff barreled back out of the theater. “This way, Ms. Luce.”

Zoe turned away from the theater doorway with what looked suspiciously like relief.

Not exactly twitching,
Ethan concluded,
but almost.

At the door of his pink-and-gilt bedroom, Zoe halted a second time. But then she walked casually into the space and surveyed with unmistakable amusement the huge gilded-swan bed, the lush rose-pink walls, and the orchid-print carpeting.

When she turned, Ethan was relieved to see the genuine laughter in her eyes.

“Oh, my,” she chuckled. “It takes a very secure man to sleep in a room like this.”

Ethan lounged in the doorway. “It's got the best view of the canyon.”

“Between you and me, Zoe, I think it looks like the boudoir of a very high-priced courtesan,” Bonnie remarked.

“What's a courtesan, Mom?” Jeff asked.

“Time for pizza,” Ethan announced.

 

Could have been worse,
Zoe thought. She had been dreading the bedroom, but it was the theater that had taken her by surprise. Fortunately, whatever had happened in that space had occurred a long time ago. The violence and passion locked into the walls was subdued and muted now. She could have handled it if necessary, but she was glad that it was not the room Ethan wanted her to redesign.

The dinner of pizza and salad was no doubt a routine outing for Jeff, Theo, Ethan, and Bonnie, but it had been a special treat for her. She had actually felt normal for a time, as if she was living a real life again.

When the meal was finished, they all walked outside into the balmy night. Fountain Square was festively lit. People strolled among the colorful fountains, coming and going from the other restaurants.

Jeff and Theo wanted to check out a video arcade. Ethan good-naturedly agreed.

Bonnie and Zoe sat on a bench and watched the three males weave a path among the splashing fountains.

Jeff and Theo bounced around Ethan, circling and darting here and there but always returning to his side. They reminded Zoe of a couple of small, eager wolf pups hanging out with the indulgent leader of the pack.

“This may not be any of my business,” Bonnie said after a while, “but I have to tell you that I'm delighted that Ethan asked you to join us tonight.”

“Are you kidding? I can't remember when I've had such
a good time,” Zoe said with absolute honesty. “This evening was a real break for me.”

Bonnie laughed. “I'll take that with a grain of salt. I can't imagine that eating pizza in a noisy restaurant with a couple of chatty little boys qualifies as a good time for anyone with any serious alternatives.”

“Jeff and Theo are terrific.”

“Thanks. Sorry about the accident with the pizza sauce. Are you sure you won't let me pay the dry cleaning bill?”

“Don't be ridiculous. That pizza was delicious. Well worth the cost of sending the skirt to the dry cleaners.”

Zoe watched the two boys drag Ethan into the video arcade. A wistful feeling slipped through her. In her other life she had known what it was to be part of a family, at least until her freshman year in college when she had lost her parents in a car crash.

After the tragedy, the knowledge that she was utterly alone in the world had been devastating. She had fought the twin demons of depression and anxiety and sought refuge in her studies.

She had emerged from college with a master's degree in fine arts and something else, a kind of sixth sense that she would just as soon have done without.

She had always known that she frequently felt strong emotions in certain houses and rooms. But for the most part, the sensations were very weak and not particularly disturbing. She had accepted them as normal, and perhaps at a low level they were. After all, a lot of people talked about experiencing a sense of déjà vu or some other unsettling feeling when they first entered a certain house or room.

But during those lonely years in college when she had gone inside herself for long periods of time, her reactions to various interiors grew noticeably more acute. Her single trip to Europe, a gift to herself to celebrate her first full year of gainful employment at a museum, had turned into a nightmare. After touring three ancient castles with blood-drenched histories in two days, she had felt so grim and
chilled that she thought she had come down with an exotic disease. The following morning she had booked a flight home, borrowing heavily on her credit card to pay the full fare in coach.

She had finally been forced to conclude that, whatever it was she experienced when she walked into a room where violence or some other dark, intense emotion had soaked into the walls, the sensation could no longer be classified as normal.

By the time she met Preston, she had become very adept at concealing her special sense. She had also taught herself a few simple precautions. She always paused before entering a room to make certain she would not be overwhelmed with unwelcome sensations. And, until she met Arcadia, she never, ever told anyone the full truth about her sensitivity, not even Preston.

Preston Cleland had been a kind, caring man who would have tried hard to understand and accept her for what she was: a freak. But his nature had been gentle and scholarly, and she had known, deep down, that it would not have been right to burden him with the knowledge that he had married a woman who sensed things in the walls. She realized that while he would have continued to love her with all his heart, he never would have been able to look at her in the same way again. She had not been able to deal with the thought of seeing pity and concern and anxiety in his eyes.

Preston had had enough problems dealing with his ruthless cousin and the other members of his greedy, avaricious family.

“You know,” Bonnie said, lowering her voice to a confidential tone, “this is the first time Ethan has invited a woman out for an evening with the boys and me since his last wife left him.”

“Mmm.” Zoe kept her response as noncommittal as humanly possible.

Bonnie frowned. “Ethan did tell you that he was divorced, didn't he?”

Zoe cleared her throat. “I believe he mentioned that he'd been married and divorced several times.”

“Several is a gross overstatement.”

“I think he specified that there had been three marriages and three divorces,” Zoe said carefully.

“
Three
doesn't qualify as several.”

Zoe nodded politely and said nothing.

Bonnie threw up her hands. “Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. In your shoes, I would come to the same conclusion. On the surface of it, three trips to the altar and the divorce courts does seem to indicate a certain inability to commit. But Ethan is different.”

“Bonnie, it's all right. Please don't feel you have to defend him. Ethan and I don't have what you'd call a serious relationship. We hardly know each other. I'm just another client.”