Part 27 (1/2)
I followed the smell of coffee downstairs. Cynthia stood by the bubbling coffee machine with her phone to her ear. The clock on the wall said it was just after 11 A.M.
She hung up the phone. ”You were right,” she said. ”Phyllis left me a message asking if I was all right and saying she was sorry her people were so stupid. She offered to pay for any damages.”
”I thought as much.”
”What about you? Is she going to come after you? I could call her and tell her to leave you alone.”
”Thanks, but it's better if you don't get mixed up in that any more than you already have.”
”G.o.d, I nearly got shot last night. It doesn't seem real.”
”It will when your next car-insurance bill comes.”
She laughed. I was glad to hear it. We stood beside the counter, about three feet from each other. We didn't touch.
”How do you like your coffee?” she asked.
”I'll have it however you're having it. I don't care.”
”Soy sauce and horseradish, coming up.”
This time we both laughed. She set our cups on the table, and we sat. I took a sip. It was very dark and very sweet. I liked it.
”So,” she said to me. ”You never did tell me why you met with Able Katz.”
”Tell me about the seizures,” I said. ”Have you ever had them?”
The remnants of her smile faded away. She stirred her coffee. ”Is it like that?”
”Like what?”
”Am I supposed to give you dirt on my family? On my own brother?”
”I think you misread me.”
”It's just a toy company, for Christ's sake-”
”I don't give a d.a.m.n about the toy company. I don't care about that.”
”You don't care about a multimillion-dollar contract for your boss? Isn't that why you came to town?”
”No, it isn't. And you should know better than that.” She didn't respond. ”There are strange things happening in town, aren't there? People being attacked by mysterious packs of dogs, for instance?”
I let her think about that for a minute. She stared at me, trying to guess how much I knew. ”Why are you asking about Charles's seizures? You think it has something to do with the people who have been mauled?”
”I won't know until I ask.”
”Well, it doesn't,” she said. She took another sip. ”My father had them, and his father, too. Charles has them worse than Pop, but it's a family thing.”
”Do you have them?”
”Not so far,” she said. ”It's always a possibility, though. Charles's episodes didn't start until two years ago. My dad never had them as a kid, either, according to Uncle Cabot. Scary thought, huh?” She didn't look up from her coffee when she said it and she didn't look scared.
”I've been having a lot of scary thoughts lately. What about the dogs?”
”It... I don't know. I wish I did. I'd tell Emmett if I knew who was using those dogs. It's a horrible, horrible way to go. I get s.h.i.+vers just thinking about it.”
I didn't believe her. I wanted her to be on my side in this, and not only because of the help she could give me, and I certainly didn't want to fight with her. ”Are you sure you don't know anything? Maybe there's something about the killings that you would mention if you had a little time to think about it. Something funny about each one.”
”Like what?”
”Like, did these people have enemies in common? Did they die at the same time of day, or at the same sort of place? Anything in common? Anything unusual?”
”Stanley Koch died in the alley behind his bar. Wilma Semple ran off the road up the highway. That was just a car wreck, though, although they said a cougar got to her before the ambulance did. Henry the grocer was mauled on his loading dock along with his night custodian, a man named Johnson, I think.”
”What's the town gossip?”
”When Wilma died, everyone thought it was Harlan. She had just divorced him and taken up with another man. And Stan had just barred him from his place for a month for bad behavior. But Harlan didn't even know Henry. He did all his shopping at the Safeway.”
”Did Wilma own a business in town?”
”No, she didn't.”
”Then who had she taken up with?”
”Luke Dubois.”
”So you know the Dubois brothers are behind this.”
”Lots of people think so. Only a couple will say it out loud. Luke had been after Wilma for years, though. He was pretty torn up when she was killed.”
”You think she found out something that she wasn't supposed to?”
”Like what? That the cops in this town extort protection money? The whole town knows that.”
”I mean, that the Dubois brothers are werewolves.”
She flinched. ”What?” She was honestly surprised. I was relieved to see it.
”Werewolves.”
”Are you joking?”
”Phyllis Henstrick said it was obvious to anyone willing to believe.”
She stared off into s.p.a.ce for a minute or two, holding the cup halfway to her lips. I took a sip, enjoying the warmth in my belly. It felt good to sit here with her like this. I tried to imagine myself sitting here day after day, talking to Cynthia while we shared coffee. I thought it would be a good life.
It was never going to happen. Not while Annalise was around, and not while Charles still had his ”seizures.”
”Is that true?” she asked.