Fatal Reaction Read Online Free PDF Page A

fast as word normally traveled in Marion, somehow, it seemed, neither Anthony nor Misty had heard what happened to Sydney. He hadn’t planned on being the one to break the news.
    “Don’t know what?” Anthony said.
    “It’s better if we sit down. May I come in? I just want to ask you a few questions.”
    Misty shook her head. “You don’t have to let him in, Tony. Tell him to get lost.” No one had ever called Anthony “Tony.” He hated the nickname, and everyone who really knew him, knew it.
    Anthony backed away from the door and gestured for Mike to come in. “Let me grab a shirt, would you?” He blew out the candles and headed toward the bedroom.
    Mike paced the cramped galley kitchen, taking stock of the bleak surroundings and wondering how Anthony could’ve ever thought this was a better situation.
    A pile of laundry overflowed from a plastic hamper in the corner, and the room reeked of smoke. Mike had heard about a big fire in the warehouse district a week earlier, but it seemed a long time to have not done the laundry. Dishes were piled in the kitchen sink, and a dirty apron hung from a nail in the wall. The yellowed name tag heralded too many years spent serving fryer grease-soaked food.
    Misty, who hadn’t said a word since Anthony let Mike in, must have noticed him staring. She huffed out a breath, rolled the apron into a ball, and threw it in the trash.
    “Aren’t you going to need that for work?” Mike said.
    “She doesn’t work anymore.” Anthony came out of the cluttered bedroom, wearing a firehouse sweatshirt, shorts, and a pair of dingy socks with the pink-red hue of having been washed with mixed laundry. He pulled out one of four mismatched chairs at a vintage kitchen table and offered Mike a seat.
    Mike brushed the crumbs off the chair and sat down.
    Misty turned her head into the light and blew a thick curl from in front of her face.
    Mike noticed what looked like scratch marks down her cheek. “What happened there?”
    “She broke up a fight at the diner,” Anthony answered before Misty had a chance to. “You know how it gets in that place late at night when the bars close.”
    Misty uncrossed her arms and tousled her hair. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
    “Big enough deal that you quit, though, right?” Mike said.
    Again, Anthony spoke for her. “She was going to quit anyway, weren’t you, babe?”
    “Yeah, sure.” Misty brushed her hair back from her forehead, and Mike caught the glimmer of a diamond solitaire on her left ring finger.
    “Looks like congratulations are in order.”
    “Not if this divorce isn’t finalized.” Anthony sighed. “You said you had some questions, so shoot. I know this isn’t a social call.”
    “Okay, does Sydney know about the engagement?”
    Anthony shrugged. “If she does, I didn’t tell her. It’s been hard enough trying to reach a divorce agreement without pissing her off worse. Misty and I have been trying to keep things quiet, but, you know how it is.”
    Misty set a pot on the cluttered counter, a mix of clean and dirty dishes, and it slid, knocking a spatula into a pile of crumbs on the dirty linoleum floor. She picked it up and, without so much as brushing it off, put it into a drawer.
    Mike tried not to think about how many times she’d done similar things at the diner he frequented. “I do ‘know how it is,’” he said. “Divorces get nasty, even between the most agreeable couples. Is that why you were going after half of Sydney’s house?”
    Anthony looked over his shoulder at Misty and lowered his voice. “I don’t want the house, Mike. Sydney should know that. It’s a bargaining chip to get the things that do matter to me. She’s not giving an inch. Maybe you can talk to her for me? At this point, I just need this to be over with.”
    There was something going on with Misty that Anthony wasn’t comfortable talking about.
    Mike drew his bottom lip between his teeth and let it out before asking the big question.