Read Online Oasis of Night by J.S. Cook - Free Book Online Page B

in Philadelphia. He was gone, the fake doctor, and there was an awful lot of blood, and in the midst of it, she lay there on the table, naked from the waist down, her legs in stirrups like she was being tortured—like she was being murdered. She was still alive when I got there, and she held on to my hand and whispered something, but I’ll be damned if I know what it was. I’ve spent a lot of sleepless nights since then, trying to remember, and sometimes, just as I’m slipping into unconsciousness, I’ll get a thread of it, a whisper that sounds something like her voice, but then it’s gone.
    â€œJack?”
    I turned so fast I nearly dropped the bottles I was holding. I could barely make her out, only the white curve of her cheek, the soft sweep of her auburn hair. “Julie? How’d you get down here?”
    She laughed and came toward me. “I parked around the corner and I saw the door. I thought it might be the back way into the Cafe, and suddenly I’m down here in this… labyrinth .” She was wearing a light summer dress and her hair was pulled back off her face. She was beautiful and rich and she knew it. “Thank God you got here in time. I thought I was about to start sprouting mushrooms.”
    â€œJulie, how’d you get down here?”
    She blinked. “I told you. I parked around—”
    â€œThere’s no other door.”
    â€œWhat? Of course there is. Don’t be silly.” She took a couple of the bottles from me. “My grandfather was the original owner of this building, did you know? At the time, it was used to warehouse port. The company who leased it from us claimed that overwintering the port down here gave it a certain unmistakable bouquet that was impossible to produce elsewhere, even under similar conditions.”
    â€œYou seem to know something about wine.” What else, I wondered, did she know?
    â€œOh, Jack, don’t look so sour! Have I spoiled your party, showing up unannounced?” She reached up and patted my cheek. “I’m here to see Chris, and I’m sorry if I’ve ruined your little boys’ club. Next time I’ll call, okay?”
    â€œJulie, where’s the other door?”
    Just then Chris bellowed from upstairs: could I please bring up the bottles? I guess that was what saved Julie from having to answer me—lucky for her. I wondered what it was about her that repulsed me. Yes, I was jealous—it didn’t take a genius to figure that out—but there was more to it than that. There was just something… rotten about her, something dark and depraved and wrong. Knowing what I knew about the Fayre family and their affairs disposed me to dislike her even more. I didn’t want her near Chris; I didn’t want her to have anything to do with him. “Chris didn’t say you were coming by today.” I pointed her ahead of me up the stairs.
    â€œHe didn’t? I guess it must have slipped his mind.”
    We emerged into the Cafe, and Julie made a beeline for the bar. A few people were beginning to filter in, and Chris was busy mixing and serving drinks. He drew off several pints of beer and set them up on the bar for Anita, one of the waitresses I’d recently hired to help cover the lunchtime rush, turned, and saw Julie. “Hey, Julie! What are you doing here?”
    She laid the bottles on the bar. “Well! That’s a fine welcome.”
    Chris leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Hiya, baby. When’d you get here?”
    â€œI found her wandering in the basement.” I handed my bottles across the bar to him.
    â€œYes, Jack was kind enough to rescue me. I parked around back and got myself lost coming in the wrong door.”
    Chris raised his eyebrows at me. “There’s another door?”
    Julie ignored the question. “Are you free for lunch, darling?”
    Chris stared at her. “Take a look around, baby—I