Cold Dark Places (Cady Maddix Mystery Book 1) by Kylie Brant

Author:Kylie Brant [Brant, Kylie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542040198
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2018-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

Eryn excused herself from dinner as soon as she was able. She felt off-kilter, a result, no doubt, of the day’s events. Even after the awkward meeting in the grocery store, Mary Jane had been determined to proceed with her other plans for their day. There’d been a trip to the local mall, where Eryn had finally bought a purse and a pair of jeans, if only to placate the woman. Then they’d moved on to a department store. Mary Jane had a list for it, too, and Eryn had found a paint-by-numbers book of video game characters. She’d bought it for Jaxson, with paints and brushes, despite the sniff her purchase elicited from the older woman. “Boy’s got more toys and games already than he knows what to do with.”

But her selection was neither, and when she’d given them to the boy, he’d seemed generally enthusiastic. She’d been reminded again how dissimilar her cousins were.

There was a knock on her bedroom door. Somehow Eryn already knew who’d be standing on the other side of it even before she opened it to find Henry framed in the doorway.

He took her lack of response as an invitation and brushed by her, looking around. “Must be safe, since they let you out. I guess you can be trusted with scissors now, right?” After a moment, he gave her a twisted smile. “Okay, bad joke. It’s good you’re home. But you didn’t have more than two words to say at dinner. What’s the matter? Not excited about the prodigal’s return?”

“Not especially.” The stress of the day had stripped away any vestige of politeness.

He looked at her over his shoulder from his stance at her window. “Well, you’re honest, at least. Probably the only one in this house with the trait.” He leaned against the window frame. “Not that I gave you much of a reason to miss me. I was a bit of an arrogant asshole back in the day.”

“I don’t know about the arrogant part.”

After a moment, he let out a bark of laughter. “Still have a bite, don’t you? In my defense, I was dealing—not well, I admit—with an alcoholic mother who had a habit of bringing her drinking buddies home to spend the night in her bed. Best thing my dad ever did for me was to fight for custody. Life in this place was never any prize, but considering the alternative . . .”

She’d had no idea of his history. How could she? Eryn had been a kid at the time. Henry looked much like he had as a teen. Still good-looking. His hair had darkened in the intervening years. He’d put on weight, and the jaded look in his eyes was new. The vague air of disgruntlement was not.

“Let me guess.” He gestured to the room. “Rosalyn’s doing?”

“Yes.”

He nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I recognize the insipid look. She did mine, too, when I got out of college. I honestly think it drove me to join the army.

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