Angel in My Arms by Colleen Faulkner Read Free Book Online Page A

did it?"
    "That's the strange thing. Margaret didn't see anyone last night.
She… she was on her off week. She made gingerbread with one of the
other girls at Sal's and then went to bed early 'cause she was
cramping." Kate fished a handkerchief from between her breasts and
wiped her nose. "No one saw or heard anything. They found her this
morning." She wiped her nose. "I need you, Celeste. I'm tellin' you,
the girls are in a way. They won't stop crying."
    Celeste brushed Kate's arm with her fingertips. "Let me get my cape. I'll come now."
    "What's wrong?" Fox appeared behind Celeste.
    "There's been a murder. A woman friend." Celeste grabbed her cape
off the oak rack on the wall. She tried not to think about the fact
that Margaret was one of their own. Celeste could have been Margaret.
"This is my friend Kate. I have to go with her."
    "We've met." He nodded gentlemanly, giving no indication that he
noticed she was standing on the front porch in her nightgown and rag
rollers. "I'll go, too."
    "No. Really." Celeste tossed her cape over her shoulders. "It's not
necessary." She didn't want Fox at Kate's. She didn't want him to find
out who she was that way.
    But Fox already had his hat in his hand and reached for his coat.
"If there's a murderer about town, I don't want you ladies walking the
streets alone."
    Celeste made no further protest. What was the point? Perhaps it was
better if he saw for himself what she truly was. If Kate and the other
women needed her now, she had to go. She couldn't be concerned for
herself.
    Celeste put her arm around Kate and led her friend across the porch
and down the steps, leaving Fox to trail behind them. The storm had
passed and the rain had ceased, but there was still a light mist in the
morning air. Celeste looked up to see that the sky was as gray and
dreary as her heart.

----
Chapter Four

     
    Funny how easily a sinner's blood washes from my hands. Somehow I knew it would. I am protected. I am unsoiled.
    Watching my hands rinse clean and the water in the chipped
porcelain washbowl turn a dirty red, I have to remind myself that I
must remain humble. This is not my work, this slaying of sinners, but
His work. It's through Him that I pass invisibly down the street,
through doors, down hallways where I hear the whores laughing.
    I can't resist a smile as I reach for a clean, dry towel and rub
my thick fingers with the rough cloth. It was so easy… Easier than I
had thought it would be. The little slut was so meek that she mewed
when I gagged her and tied her to that filthy bed. She never cried out,
not even when the knife sank into her pale, white breast. Not even when
the blood splattered her dolly.
    An omen. I know now that this is what I have been called to do.
It is for this that I was born, have lived out this dull existence.
It's for this work.
    Celeste hurried up Peach Street, her arm linked through Kate's.
"Everything's going to be all right," she soothed as they walked. The
misty fog was cold and enveloping. "I'm sure Sheriff Tate will catch
the bastard," she whispered in Kate's ear.
    Fox walked behind the two women, remaining silent. Celeste felt
comforted by his presence. She wasn't afraid of anyone in Carrington,
but the idea that a mad killer was in town petrified her. She thought
of Denver and a chill shivered up her spine. She hadn't gotten to know
Mealy Margaret well, and now she regretted it. Had Margaret had her own
Denver somewhere? Would someone weep for the loss of her life? Would
someone's heart break when he or she received word of the tragedy. That
was what frightened Celeste. Not fear of her own mortality, but fear
for the one who waited for her in Denver.
    The three passed Sal's Saloon on Peach Street where a crowd had gathered. Celeste resisted the temptation to stop.
Keep walking. Pretend not to see the stone-faced townsfolk. Pretend not to feel the tearing in your heart.
Just the thought that a woman she had played cards with last week had
been murdered so