Read Online A Dangerous Talent (An Alix London Mystery) by Aaron Elkins, Charlotte Elkins - Free Book Online Page B

flaming, steaming, hissing ruin. “As a frigging doornail,” he said wonderingly.

    Cognac in the middle of the afternoon was hardly an everyday event, but then neither was coming that close to being as dead as a frigging doornail. It was with deep pleasure that Alix took her second long swallow and felt the welcome heat of it slide soothingly down to her stomach.
    “Nice to be alive,” she said.
    Chris, indulging in a gin and tonic, nodded approvingly. “See, I told you a drink would do you good. It’s not doing me any harm either.” She shook her head, lowering her voice another notch. “What a day, and it’s not over yet.”
    Alix smiled, taking another sip. “Well, I’ve had enough excitement to last me for the rest of the day, thank you very much, so I hope we have a nice, extremely boring evening.”
    The hullabaloo after the explosion had been tumultuous but reassuring. Sirens, firemen, efficient, concerned staff response—even someone noticing her shivering and bringing a beautiful, warm serape that she was able to wrap three times around her shoulders—all helped to calm her nerves and bring her heartbeat back to normal. Add to that Chris’s near-motherly solicitousness, and Alix willingly gave way to the luxury of being cosseted. After so many year of aloneness—largely self-inflicted, of course—it felt surprisingly good to let herself be taken care of.
    She had been reassigned to a room in the main building (“There will be no charge for your stay, of course, madam”), her bag had been carried up to it, their drinks had been provided gratis, and Chris had let her talk herself out about it all. Now they sat in amiable silence in the Hacienda’s otherwise empty Cottonwood Bar, sprawled in comfortable armchairs next to the fireplace—a real snapping, crackling, log-burning one, not propane, thank God—sipping their drinks and luxuriating in the pleasure of the world righting itself.
    “Alix…” Chris said; it was the first time Alix had heard anything like hesitation or uncertainty in her voice. “…I owe you an apology. I was rotten company on the way over here today, and I wouldn’t want you to think it had anything to do with you.”
    “I didn’t think that, Chris.”
    “It’s just that…” She was rotating her glass between her fingers and staring down at it. “It was just…oh, damn it, just that…”
    Alix hesitated as well. It wasn’t much more than an hour ago that she’d lectured herself about steering clear of other people’s problems, but now things were different. She was alive when she might so nearly have been dead, and Chris was quickly beginning to seem like a friend, a real friend…
    She took a breath and dived in. “Just that you and that pilot, Craig, had something going once upon a time,” she said. “And Liz was in the middle of it somehow. Or maybe Craig and Liz had something, and you were in the middle of it. Some kind of triangle, anyway. Is that pretty close?”
    Chris burst out laughing. “Was I that transparent?”
    Alix smiled. “I’m afraid so. So which way was it?” She had another slug of brandy. “If you want to talk about it, that is.”
    “I do,” Chris said. She swallowed the last of her drink and held up her glass to the bartender to signal that she wanted a refill. “Light on the gin this time,” she called. “And could we get some chips or something?”
    Chris settled back in her chair and turned to Alix. “You were right the first time. Craig and I were an item, but it was an odd situation. I was actually his boss for a while.”
    “That must have been a little uncomfortable.” Alix gave the bartender a negative wave of her hand when he inquired with a lift of his eyebrows whether she wanted another drink.
    “A little, but not as much as you might think. It was only for a couple of months. See, with the project management approach Sytex had, the lines of authority were always changing. Besides, it was a pretty laid back