Burden of Proof by Davis Bunn

Author:Davis Bunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction;FIC042000;FIC042040
ISBN: 9781493426591
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

In the months leading up to their wedding, Adrian and Sonya had bought a fifties-era teardown on Fort Caroline Road in the Saint Johns Bluff residential district. They spent a year and every cent they had in building their dream home, a haven from all the pressures the world was already bringing to bear.

Ethan had been there before, of course. But previous occasions had been marred by the bitter friction that had defined his relationship with Sonya. So in many respects it felt as though he saw it for the first time.

Adrian walked down the brick front walk as Gina pulled into the drive. As they rose from the car, he said, “Hope you’re hungry.”

“Very.”

“Good.” He smiled a greeting to Gina. “You look lovely tonight, Miss Devoe.”

“Why, thank you ever so.” She made a pirouette. “Ethan bought it for me.”

“All I did was tell her to go spend,” Ethan corrected. “Gina did the buying.”

She wore sky-blue silk gabardine trousers, a navy blouse with pearl buttons, navy open-toed sandals, and a simple gold chain holding a small golden sand dollar. “It was a tough job. But somebody had to do it.”

Adrian smiled as his wife slipped in beside him. “Sonya doesn’t cook all that often. When she does, I become her lab assistant. I pity the jokers who have to deal with that lady every day.”

“They worship the ground I walk on.” Sonya stepped forward and kissed Ethan’s cheek. “How are your injuries?”

Ethan touched the spot on his cheek and tried to remember if she had ever before shown him affection. Perhaps at the wedding. But if so, it would have been the sort of generic motion offered to any cheek within reach. “Much better, now.”

The home’s simple brick exterior was spiced by grey clapboard siding along the roofline and around the door and windows. A steeply pitched roof hid Adrian’s second-story office. The house stood on a deep lot that extended back through a wooded marsh to a long deepwater pier and boat dock on the Saint Johns River. The house’s rear was a brick-and-timber U, with three bedrooms running along one side and Sonya’s home office occupying the other. The screened central veranda held a small pool, an outdoor living area, and exercise equipment. It was a functional and happy place that suited them perfectly.

Sonya asked Gina if she was willing to help in the kitchen, then issued a series of precise instructions to her and Adrian. Sonya’s manner suggested she was used to being obeyed instantly.

She told Ethan, “You and I need a moment in private.” She led him to a pair of cushioned chairs planted by the pool. A trio of candles burned on a cast-iron coffee table. “I’m having a raspberry tea. Would you like something to drink?”

“Maybe later.”

Sonya seated herself and said, “We need to set up a protocol.”

“I learned to hate that word, back when the doctors pretended they could do something to make me all better,” Ethan said. “Protocol. It ranks right up there with treatment.

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