Read Online Nightwind by Charlotte Boyett-Compo - Free Book Online

more than was the absolute truth, I’m sure.”
    “Nevertheless, I shouldn’t have insulted her.” She turned to her guest. “Beth didn’t like me before all this
    happened. She’s not going to like me any better if I go back.”
    “That doesn’t matter.” Angeline stood and smoothed the fabric of her skirt. “Don’t give it another
    thought. The little problem with the Janacek girl will be taken care of, I would think.”
    Lauren got to her feet. “I appreciate this, Mrs. Hellstrom. I really do.”
    Angeline reached out and put her palm on Lauren’s cheek. “My dear, you are very special, do you
    know that? I’ve heard such glowing things about you lately.”
    Lauren’s face showed her surprise. “From whom?”
    Angeline lowered her voice. “From someone who is most smitten with you, I fear.”
    “Me?” Lauren gasped.
    The smile that passed over Angeline’s face was gentle. “I’ve no doubt your life will be changing quite a
    bit from now on, Lauren.” Something strange flickered in the older woman’s eyes. “Enjoy it while you
    have it, dear.”
    Lauren was stunned as the elegant lady bent forward and kissed her on the cheek, smiled, and then
    strode to the front door.
    “I’ll see myself out.” She waved a slim hand in goodbye and pushed through the screened door.
    Lauren stared after her, wondering about the unexpected visit from her landlady, someone the town saw
    only once or twice a year at most. Walking slowly to the porch, Lauren was in time to see the chauffeur
    open the white limousine door for his employer. The black man tipped his hat to Lauren and Lauren lifted
    a shocked hand in reply, watching until he was in the limousine and had pulled away from the curb. She
    turned back, staring blindly at her little living room.
    “Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” she breathed, unable to believe what she’d just experienced.
    Louvenia Yelverton’smouth was pursed into a vicious pout as she jammed the shop’s door key into the
    lock the next morning. Who would have thought, she fumed, that one little call from that slutty Angeline
    Hellstrom could ruin a person’s entire day? Slinging her purse onto the counter, the shop’s manager
    reached behind the counter to flip on the overhead lights. Outside, the sky was a dark, gunmetal gray and
    fat globules of rain were already beginning to strike against the sidewalk. It was just a little past 8:45 a.m.
    and the shop didn’t open until 9:30, but Louvenia had decided after church the day before to come in
    early so she could begin to go through the names of prospective employees to replace Inez and Karla.
    Just thinking about that Hellstrom woman insisting on interviewing all the candidates set Louvenia’s teeth
    on edge.
    “It has been brought to my attention,” the bitch had told Louvenia Sunday afternoon, “that there has
    been more than one instance of employees not getting along in that store, Louvenia. I will not tolerate my
    girls sniping and causing trouble for one another.”
    “There’s been only one employee who has caused any trouble, Mrs. Hellstrom,” Louvenia had told her.
    “And I would imagine the main instigator in any situations that have occurred was Beth Janacek,” the
    Hellstrom tart had snapped. “She was a hateful little child, spoiled rotten by her parents, and she has
    become a spiteful grown woman with no regard for any one other than herself. I certainly did Marge and
    Henry Janacek no favor in hiring her to work at my store.”
    “The problem has been Lauren Fowler, Mrs. Hellstrom,” Louvenia had informed her. “She just doesn’t
    fit in here.”
    “Why? Because she’s too honest? Too sweet? Too willing to let Beth and Inez and Karla run all over
    her?”
    Louvenia had ground her teeth. “The customers don’t like her. She’s—”
    “She’s a personal friend of mine, Mrs. Yelverton,” the Hellstrom whore had said in a cold,
    non-compromising voice. “Do you understand my meaning?”
    “Yes, Mrs.