Part 35 (2/2)
”J'ai presque etc a I'Enfer!”
Wiping crushed grape off his chin, Dean stepped forward. His French wasn't up to an exact translation, but the infuriated shriek suggested a limited number of possibilities. ”I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. It was...”
”It was an accident!” With a well-placed hip, Claire moved Dean out of her way. ”Granted, he said the words, but he didn't mean them as an instruction. He should be able to say what he wants with no effect.”
Austin snorted and whacked the salt shaker under the dining room table. ”That thing's been down there for over a century and the power seepage has permeated this whole building. I'm only surprised that he never told old Augustus where to go.”
”I couldn't say that to my boss,” Dean protested.
”Not without a union,” the cat agreed.
Jacques surged through the table to stand face-to-face with Claire. ”I don't care what he should have been able to do! All I know is that he tried to throw me into h.e.l.l!”
”And then he pulled you out again.”
”You think that makes up for him putting me there?”
”Would you listen to me, Jacques!” Had she been able to get hold of him, she'd have shaken him until his teeth rattled. ”He didn't know it would happen. He didn't even know what was in the furnace room.”
”He did not know!” Jacques stepped back in disbelief, half in and half out of the table. ”You did not tell him?” All at once, he frowned. ”Come to think on it, you did not tell me!”
”You've been in the same building with it for seventy-two years!” Claire met indignation with equal indignation. ”Knowing it's there won't change anything.”
His eyes darkened. ”You are wrong, Claire. It changes what I know.”
She couldn't argue with that, even if she'd wanted to. ”Okay. Fine. I should've told you. I should've told you both. But I didn't. I'm sorry.” And that, she decided was the last time she was apologizing for it. ”You both know now. I'm going to have another shower even though it won't do any good because the touch I can feel is inside my head, and then I'm going to get some breakfast because I'm starving. All right?” Her chin rose. ”Is there anything else you'd like me to tell you?”
The two men, now side by side, exchanged interrogative glances.
”Won,” Jacques said after a moment. ”I cannot think of anything.”
”No more secrets,” Dean added.
”G.o.d forbid I should have secrets.” Her ears were burning and she didn't want to think about a probable cause. ”My cat can't keep his mouth shut, and suddenly my life is an open book.”
”Hey!” Austin stuck his head out from under the table. ”You let the ghost out of the attic all on your own, and I said you should tell them about the furnace room.”
”You did not.”
He thought about that for a moment. ”Well, I never told you not to.”
Claire swept a scathing glance over the three of them, suggested they watch their language, and stomped out of the dining room. It would've been a more effective exit had she not been in socks and had her heels. .h.i.tting the floor not set up a painful reverberation in her head, but she made the most of it.
”There will be secrets,” Jacques observed, as the door to her suite slammed shut. ”Women must have secrets.”
”Why?” Dean asked, going into the kitchen.
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