"Matilda Aponi." There was a catch in his voice that told her the mere mention of the name pained him.
"And what was she to you?"
He took the watch from her and closed it. "Does it matter?"
Obviously the woman had mattered a lot to him. "You loved her."
"More than my life."
Those heartfelt words actually made her ache. She'd never seen so much love in a man's eyes for any woman. It was so intense and unexpected that a part of her was actually jealous of it. She'd give anything to have a man love her so much. "Are we related to her?"
He started to turn away, but Abigail wouldn't let him. She reached out and touched his arm as a creepy suspicion filled her. Please let me be wrong.
"Am I related to you?"
"Oh God no," he said, his eyes widening in horror. "I'd have never let you kiss me like you did if you were."
That was a relief. "She married someone else, then?"
He inclined his head to her. "It wasn't meant to be between us."
Abigail didn't miss the way he stroked the watch as if it were a part of Matilda, or the agonized grief in his eyes as he talked about her.
"She was too good for me anyway. I'm just glad she found someone who made her happy." He slid the watch back into his pocket, then changed the subject. "Andy has some food for you. I'll go ring him to bring it."
Abigail didn't try to stop him from leaving this time as she digested everything.
Could a man capable of that much love for someone else be the monster she thought he was?
While she had no doubt he was more than capable of killing her father, she seriously doubted he would have slaughtered her mother. Not with the feelings he'd had for Matilda. It didn't seem to fit.
Could it have been a shape-shifter? There were plenty who could have worn his skin.
But who and, most important, why? What would anyone have to gain by framing him and not turning him over to the authorities? And why kill her parents?
Her head ached from trying to decipher it.
I have to find out the truth and make whoever killed them pay. She owed her parents that much.
She turned back toward the bed to get her shoes, when a disgusted sound made her pause.
"What do you mean I can't go?" It was a voice she was unfamiliar with that sounded like someone standing not too far from her room.
"I thought we'd settled this, mite," Jess said sternly.
"Ah hell no, we didn't. You let me go up to Alaska with you, and I was a lot younger then."
"And there were other Squires there to watch your back. Not to mention, I was dumb enough not to know how much danger was there. This time I know, and you're not going."
"I hate you, you decrepit bastard."
Sundown scoffed. "I hear you. Now take that to Abigail and mind your manners, pup."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." A few seconds later, he knocked on her door.
"Come in." She couldn't wait to see Sundown's Squire.
Andy walked in with a tray that carried a bottled Coke, water, and a plate filled with chicken, roasted potatoes, and green beans. He paused to eye her suspiciously. Dressed in jeans and a red T-shirt, he appeared to be around her age and extremely cute. Except for the slight curl to his lip, as if it made him ill to be in her presence.
"You must be Andy."
"Yeah, and if you hurt Jess, so help me, I will hunt you down to the farthest corner of hell and make you wish to God you'd never breathed air. You hear me?"
Well, that was most unexpected. "You greet everyone this way?"
"No. I'm usually very nice. But you ... you have no idea how much effort it's taking for me not to kill you where you stand."
She returned his sneer with one of her own. "Bring it, punk."
"Don't tempt me." He moved to set the tray at the foot of the bed. Closer to him now, she realized he was almost as tall as Sundown. Though without the massive muscles and aura of I-can-kick-the-crap-out-of-you, it wasn't quite so apparent at first glance. Unlike Sundown, he didn't dominate the room or her senses.
Andy started for the door.
"Why are you so protective of him, anyway? I thought Squires hated their Dark-Hunters."
He paused to give her a look that asked are-you-effing-nuts? "Our Dark-Hunters are our family. There's nothing we wouldn't do for them. Even die for them if we had to."
"That's not what I've heard."
He scowled at her. "From who? Daimons? Apollites? If the DH are so bad, explain to me why some of the above have been known to work and live with Dark-Hunters themselves."
She rolled her eyes. "Now I know you're lying to me. There's no way an Apollite would ever work for a Dark-Hunter."
Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave her a droll stare. "Babe, I know two of them who married one." He jerked his chin toward the door. "Ishtar Casino, here in Vegas, has a whole staff of Apollites who work for Sin Nana ... who up until about four years ago was a Dark-Hunter, and he was doing his duties while they worked for him. Hell, half of them helped him, and when he was attacked, they and even a Daimon fought to protect him."
Abigail would argue, but she knew Apollites who'd worked there, and she knew Sin owned it. "How do I know Sin was ever a Dark-Hunter?"
"Why would I lie?"
"It could be pathological."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm not going to argue with you. Don't like you enough to bother. But like I said, you hurt one hair on his head, and you will regret it. Jess is my family, and he's been through enough damage in his life. And in spite of all the shit people have done to him, including his best friend shooting him in the back and in his head on the day of his wedding at the feet of his fiancee, there's not a more decent human being ever born." He turned and was out the door before she had a chance to say anything else.
Stunned, she stood there as that last bit hit her like a fist.
Shot in the back on his wedding day? An image of Matilda and her mother went through her mind. For a full minute, she couldn't breathe. She could see it all in her head so clearly.