Spilled Blood by Brian Freeman Read Free Book Online Page B

opened the door. He saw a good-looking man on the porch, his own height, his own age. The manhad unruly blond hair and a pale, chiseled face with a high forehead and a spattering of freckles. His blue eyes were filled with concern. He wore a white dress shirt and black slacks.
    ‘Hannah? Are you all right?’
    His ex-wife put a hand on the visitor’s shoulder. ‘Oh, yes, just more of the same. It never stops.’
    ‘Would you like me to send Johan over when he gets back from the motel? He could stay the night if you’d like.’
    ‘I appreciate it, Glenn, but that’s not necessary.’
    The two of them hugged. Chris felt an odd pang of jealousy, watching his ex-wife embrace this man, and watching his arms around her. They were obviously close. He wondered if it was anything more than that. Three years was a long time. It had foolishly never occurred to him that Hannah might be in a relationship. Olivia had never said a word.
    The man detached himself awkwardly from Hannah as he noticed Chris. He reached a hand through the doorway. ‘I’m Glenn Magnus. I’m the minister at the church here in St. Croix.’
    Hannah glanced between them in embarrassment. ‘I’m so sorry. Glenn, this is Christopher Hawk, my ex-husband.’
    ‘How is Olivia?’ the minister asked.
    ‘As well as can be expected,’ Chris said.
    ‘It’s good that she has both of you here.’
    The minister was cordial and sincere, but Chris wanted the man to leave. He didn’t want the first moments of his reunion with Hannah to be marred by the presence of anyone else. Magnus obviously leaped to the same conclusion that he was a third wheel.
    ‘Well, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt,’ he told Hannah.
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘I’ll speak to you tomorrow,’ he said. With a smile at Chris, he added, ‘Please let me know if I can be of any help to you or Olivia.’
    Chris said nothing, but he smiled back. Hannah closed the door. She turned around, leaned against it, and folded her arms overher small chest. She’d always been able to see through him, and nothing had changed.
    ‘I’m not sleeping with him,’ she said. ‘That’s what you were wondering, isn’t it?’
    ‘No,’ he lied.
    ‘Glenn is a dear friend,’ she went on. ‘We’ve been through a lot these past three years. Life and death.’
    Without saying more, she retreated to the kitchen, where she dumped the broken glass into a wastebasket under the sink. She reached for two chipped mugs from a cabinet over the counter and poured coffee for both of them. He sat down at an old Formica table, and she joined him. For several minutes, they did nothing but sip coffee in silence. The small kitchen had fading floral wallpaper and 1980s appliances, but it was impeccably clean. The house smelled of lilac potpourri.
    Hannah was small, around five feet two, and even thinner than he remembered. Thin, but not fragile; she still looked strong. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but her face was oval and perfect, like a cameo. Two crescent shadows underneath her vibrant brown eyes betrayed her fatigue. Even so, to him, she didn’t look older. Time hadn’t passed. Only her dark hair was different. It was shorter and lacked the highlights of cherry and gold that he’d always loved.
    She watched her watching him. ‘It’s fake.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘The hair.’
    Reality slapped him in the face. ‘Oh.’
    ‘I assume Olivia told you?’
    ‘Yes, she did.’
    Hannah drank her coffee and looked away, as if seeing things in the room that weren’t there.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ he asked.
    She laughed quietly. ‘What could you do, Chris? Did you cure cancer since the last time I saw you?’
    ‘I could have provided support. I would have done anything to help.’
    ‘I know that. You’re a fixer. That’s who you are. But some things you can’t fix.’
    ‘Maybe not, but I wish I would have heard about it from you.’
    ‘Yes, you’re right,’ she acknowledged. ‘I should have told