Darkness at the Edge of Town (Iris Ballard #2)(99)

I felt the drool on the side of my mouth and quickly wiped it away. “Oh. Thanks.”

“They haven’t called yet,” he said.

“They will,” I said, sitting up. “Everything okay at work?”

“Yeah. Life goes on fine without me, if you can believe it,” he said.

“Not even a little,” I said without thinking.

He smiled down at me. I had the strongest urge to run my finger across his lips. To pull him down onto the bed, onto me, but he stepped away. “Come on. Your mom’s here too. Don’t you dare leave me alone with her.”



“Come on. She’s terrified of you now.”

“She was out of order talking to you like that,” he said.

“Well, thank you for sticking up for me. Where were you when I was a kid?” I frowned. “It must be getting old. Being my knight in shining armor. You’ve been nothing but since you hit town. I do seem to make a mess of things when you’re not around to rein me in,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Guess you’ll just have to handcuff me to you for the rest of your life,” he said with a smirk.

“There’s no one I’d rather be shackled to for the rest of my days than you,” I said without thinking. He smiled back at me even though I was visibly taken aback by what I’d said. My mouth kept flopping open and closed, and I couldn’t look at him. “Uh, I’m starving. Don’t want the food to get cold.”

Mom actually appeared to be in a decent mood at dinner. She’d gotten an appointment and prescription from her therapist, who she would be seeing three times a week until the crisis passed. “It’s gonna be about a grand a month,” Khairo said with his head hung.

“No problem. I’ll transfer the money to you tonight,” I said, stuffing my face with chicken Alfredo, Luke’s favorite.

“I can go once a week if—”

“You go as many times as you need to,” I said. “I may just have to write another damn book to pay for it, but…” I shrugged.

“Well, you’ve got plenty of material after the past few days, no?” Luke asked.

“What happened today?” Mom asked.



“Your daughter bested the bad guy. As always,” Luke said.

We took turns telling a sanitized version of the day’s events, leaving out the mortal-danger bit and Paul’s accusations. Mom smiled through the tale. “So it’s over. The man’s gone,” Mom said. “He can’t poison Billy’s mind anymore.”

“He won’t be locked away forever on that alone, but it’s a start,” I said.

“Billy’s really just staying for the baby?” Grandma asked.

“I think so,” I said. “Maybe without her grandfather’s influence he’ll have a better chance of convincing Betsy to leave, at least for a while. God willing that’ll be all it takes. A few days away from the madness.”

I doubted it, but they didn’t need to know that. Betsy knew who the great and powerful Oz truly was and didn’t care that he was just a fraud behind a curtain. Like Helen, he gave her all that a teenage girl could ever desire. No school, friends galore, adventure, power, a handsome guy to love her. I doubted even the Jaws of Life could tear Betsy from her beloved gramps.

“So what are your plans now?” Grandpa asked us both.

“I haven’t really thought about it yet,” I said. “We’ve been sidelined, so I can’t go near the investigation at the moment, and I’m sure Luke has to get back to D.C. He’s already missed a day and a half of work, which for him is like missing a year. One time they had to force him to take a week off, he had so many vacation days saved up over the years. How many do you have saved up now?”

“About four weeks,” he said.

“After the shitstorm of the last two months you should use them. Go on a cruise or something,” I said. “Especially if you’re starting a new job in Madrid.”



“You’re moving to Spain?” Mom asked me for some reason.

“I’m not moving to Spain,” I said with a scoff. “Luke may get a job there.”

“And you’re not going with him?” Mom asked, genuinely confused. “Why not?”

“Because…why would I?”

“I more than likely won’t get the position, especially after today,” Luke said.

I put down my fork. “What do you mean?” I asked.

Grandma cleared her throat. “Faye, why don’t you help me clear the plates so we can move on to dessert? I made apple pie. Come on.”

Mom and Grandma took our plates, leaving my question still in the air. “Luke?” I asked.

Luke sighed. “If Mathias brings his accusations to the press or the FBI, if he presses charges for trespassing, even if I’m exonerated, I’m tainted. I’ve lost any chance of being selected.”

“Luke, I…I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t even think about that.”

He shrugged. “I did.”

“Maybe Mathias will be too chickenshit to do anything,” I offered.

Luke sipped his water. “Maybe.” His cellphone rang in his pocket, and after he checked it, he glanced at me. “Iris?”