I wanted to ask whatall thiswas, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“So, having Claudette around is a no-go. Especially given her background,” he whispered.
Anger flared in me, and I stuck a finger at his chest.
Zing! More static electricity. Did the man rub himself with balloons or something?
“Herbackground?” I nearly shrieked. He meant consorting with vampires, but I doubted he knew the rest of the story.
Roux patted the air with his hands, telling me to quiet down.
I jerked my head to the passenger side and growled, “Get in. Now.”
He hesitated. Did he think I was going to kidnap him?
“Get in, dammit, and I’ll tell you a thing or two about herbackground.”
His eyes narrowed, but he did as he was told, slamming his door in tandem with me.
Clem, I noticed, didn’t so much as glance our way. I could be abducted by a tiger shifter, and he would never know.
My mood plunged, and it showed in my snippy tone.
“The summer my father died, everyone said how sorry they were. You know what Claudette said?”
Roux waited, lips tight, his knees practically to his chin in the confines of the compact car.
“She said, ‘I wish mine died too.’ And for the first time, I put it all together,” I said.
Roux paled, indicating he had too.
“I finally realized why she put off going home after playtimes,” I said. “Why she never invited me to her house, and why my grandmother strictly forbade me from ever going there. Why hanging out with a wild crowd was better than spending time at home, and why she ran away again and again…”
Roux’s expression went hard, and a muscle ticked in his cheek.
I gazed off into the distance. “I used to feel sorry for myself for losing my father at a young age, but Claudette taught me how lucky I was to have a good dad instead of… Well, instead of the monster she had.”
Roux flexed his fingers, and the points of his tiger claws showed.
“No one ever did anything?”
“Madame Fontaine contacted the authorities several times, but nothing ever came of it.” I took a deep breath. “But Claudette got her wish eventually. Her father died in a work accident.”
Roux’s eyebrows jumped. “Accident?”
I shrugged. “Something with heavy machinery. So maybe someonediddo something. I never asked, and no one ever said. But I figure Claudette deserves a lucky break from time to time. Like now.”
We both watched as she and Clem walked toward the end of the street.
“What about Clement?” he asked, a little less harshly than before.
I snorted. “You can’t possibly blame him. He was just a kid then too.”
“Not blaming. Maybe looking for something positive about the guy.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Says the mercenary about the police officer?”
He closed his eyes briefly, then flashed a bitter smile. “Touché.”
