Digging Up The Dirt

An’gel rang the bell, and they waited. She rang it again and held her finger on it for several seconds. Moments later the door swung open, and Hadley stood there.

He flashed a brief smile but did not step back from the open door. “Good afternoon, An’gel, Dickce. As always, it’s lovely to see you, but I’m afraid I’m really swamped at the moment. Can’t we talk later?”

An’gel glared at him. She wasn’t going to be put off by these tactics. Hadley ought to know her better.

“No, we can’t talk later.” An’gel pushed against the door, and Hadley stepped back, his expression one of resignation. “We have to talk to you, and it has to be now. I don’t care what else is going on, it can’t be as important as what we have to discuss.” She walked into the entry hall with Dickce right behind her.

“Really, An’gel,” Hadley protested, “this is high-handed, even for you. I can’t imagine you have anything to discuss that calls for forcing your way in here so rudely.”

“You shut that door, Hadley Partridge,” An’gel said. “Three women are dead, one is missing, and another one is barely hanging on to life, and it’s all due to you. So don’t you tell me I’m being high-handed. You get yourself into that parlor and start talking to Dickce and me. We have to stop this craziness before someone else gets killed. Do you understand me?”

An’gel was ready to snatch Hadley bald-headed, as her mother used to say to her and Dickce when she was aggravated with them. Hadley stared at her as if she were a complete stranger, but after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. “All right.” He led the way into the front parlor.

An’gel was right behind him, and Dickce brought up the rear. Hadley indicated they should be seated, and An’gel chose the sofa. Dickce sat beside her. An’gel stared pointedly at Hadley until he took a seat in an armchair across from them.

“Why is it you think I’m somehow responsible for all this?” Hadley asked. “I didn’t harm Sarinda, and I surely didn’t run Arliss off the road.”

“You were always too good-looking and too charming for your own good and anybody else’s,” An’gel said, trying hard to hold on to her fast-fraying temper. “The most eligible bachelor in Athena.” She snorted in a most unladylike manner. “I hate to admit it now, but even I fell for those so-called charms of yours. Briefly.”

Dickce coughed, and An’gel turned her head to glare at her sister. She suspected that Dickce was covering up a laugh. She turned her focus back to Hadley, who was sitting there looking like a juvenile who’d just been caught smoking or doing something else inappropriate.

Hadley opened his mouth to speak, but An’gel wasn’t done yet.

“You went around playing fast and loose with women’s hearts, and consorting with married women,” An’gel said. “Your parents raised you better than that, and you know it. Your mother spoiled you rotten, but even she didn’t want to see you running around with other men’s wives. Especially your brother’s.”

Hadley tried to speak again, but An’gel was on a roll. “I know you’ve told us you weren’t in love with Callie, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t in love with you. The same thing goes for Barbie Gross, Lottie MacLeod, Reba Dalrymple, Arliss McGonigal, and poor Sarinda Hetherington. And then there’s Coriander Simpson. What about her, Hadley?” An’gel finally paused for breath.

“What about her?” Hadley asked. “What do you mean? She was my brother’s servant, Callie’s maid. What does she have to do with anything?”

An’gel knew by the way he’d tensed up the moment she mentioned Coriander’s name that he was lying to her now. He knew exactly what Coriander had to do with everything.

“You’re still trying to lie to us even now,” An’gel said. “I swear to you, if you don’t start acting like the man your daddy and mama raised you to be and start telling us the truth, I’m going to, well, I don’t know exactly what, but it’s going to hurt like hell, I know that much.”

An’gel felt Dickce’s hand on her arm, and she realized she was getting too worked up. She had lost control of her temper, she realized, because she’d been on the point of getting up and slapping Hadley for all she was worth. She made herself take several deep breaths, but she kept her eyes locked on his.

Hadley must have read the determination in her gaze and in her words. He held up his hands even as his shoulders slumped in obvious resignation.

“All right, An’gel, you win,” he said. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

An’gel wanted to say, It’s about damn time, but refrained. Instead she said, “Let’s start with Callie.”