Scarlet Nights (Edilean 3)

Luke had no idea what his wife was talking about, but he saw that Mike looked like he was about to explode.

“Mike,” Joce said, “don’t worry about it. No one will tell your secret. We want to help you.”

Mike was glaring at Sara, but she was smiling back.

“What’s going on?” Luke asked.

“Mike’s here on a case,” Joce said. “He’s after some criminal, a woman.”

“Yeah?” Luke asked.

“I think we should go,” Mike said as he looked at Sara. His teeth were clenched.

“No,” Sara said. “I don’t want to be alone with you right now.” She wasn’t the least bit afraid of Mike, but she didn’t want to hear his lecture—even though she knew she deserved it. But then, he didn’t know Joce and Luke as she did.

“Whatever’s going on, you can tell us about it,” Luke said. “I can assure you that whatever is said to us will be kept in confidence.”

“That’s not what I’ve seen of the gossip in this town.” Mike was still looking at Sara—who was eating and didn’t seem in the least perturbed by his glare.

“Mike,” Joce said softly, “I know how you feel. I’m new to this town too, and I’m still not used to it, but they can keep secrets. When I first came here, everyone in town conspired to keep me from knowing something about the man I was falling in love with, and—”

“Were you?” Luke asked. “I didn’t know that. I thought you and Ramsey—”

“You and Ramsey were a couple?” Mike asked. “But Tess wanted him from the first. She told me—”

“Mitzi!” Sara interrupted loudly. “Remember her? Criminal extraordinaire?”

Mike looked down at his plate. He wasn’t used to sharing his life with anyone but Tess, and even she didn’t know half of what he did.

“Is that the woman’s name?” Joce asked.

Everyone sat in silence as they waited for Mike to speak. They could see he was in a dilemma, but there was no way he could remove what they’d already been told. He decided that bringing the Vandlos to justice was more important than his own dislike of revealing things about himself.

“Tarot cards,” he said at last.

“What about them?” Sara asked.

Mike took a bite. “You asked how she was found and the answer is ‘tarot cards.’”

Everyone sat there staring at him, but Mike didn’t seem inclined to say more.

“See what I have to put up with?” Sara said as she waved her fork about. “He does this all the time. He’ll tell some intriguing little sentence, then not say a word more.”

“I know how you feel,” Joce said. “You mentioned a tunnel, but I’ve never been told about a tunnel under my house.” She gave Luke a look that said he had some explaining to do.

“Mike,” Luke said, “you wanta help me out here before I get put in the dog house for the next year?”

Mike had to take a few deep breaths before he could speak. “Everybody has weaknesses.”

“Even you?” Sara asked, blinking innocently.

“Mine seems to be a pretty young woman who runs around surrounded by a gaggle of geese.”

As Sara looked down at her food, her face turned a lovely shade of pink. She didn’t see the way Joce and Luke looked at each other with hope in their eyes.

Quickly, Mike told them the same story he’d given Sara, again being careful to leave out the part about Sara’s fiancé being Mitzi Vandlo’s son.

“So we come back to my first question,” Joce said. “Why do you think she’s here? Other than that she wanted her fortune told, that is. And by the way, no one in Edilean reads tarot cards. At least not for money. We’d know if they did.”