Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil Read Online Free PDF

course, I have no proof either way who planted them, you or one of the Wylers, but--"
    "If I had planted them, they would be healthy! So, are you going to arrest me?" She glared at him and bit her lip hard. Then her fangs slid down and she turned away.
    "Of course not. I'm corrupt, remember?"
    Her voice shaking traitorously, she said, "Right. I suppose I have to sleep with you instead."
    "You'll never have to sleep with me."
    Ophelia cringed at the disgust in the lawman's voice. Well, what did she expect? She had done her best to turn him off. Mission accomplished. She flung the remaining marijuana plants onto the mounting pile of debris.
    Zelda, bless her, showed up with Oreos. "Help yourself, Mr. O'Toole. Are you gay?"
    Ophelia sputtered, and Gideon blinked. "What? Why would you think that?"
    "That person you were talking to. Art. You called him baby. That sounds gay to me."
    "Artemisia." Gideon smiled down at her. "My little sister." He picked up two Oreos.
    "Artemisia O'Toole," Zelda said. "Cool name. Have a cookie, Ophelia. Want one, Mom?"
    Violet was hurrying toward them, the wriggling Psyche clutched to her breast and Donnie close behind. "Ophelia, are you sure you won't come and stay with me while this nice policeman takes care of things? Even better, why not sell your place to Donnie and move back to town? He'd be glad to buy it, wouldn't you, Donnie darling?"
    "Be a bit of a pinch right this moment." Donnie glanced at Violet, quivered deeply and visibly, and added, "But I can find a way to swing it. Anything you need."
    "Don't worry, Donnie," Ophelia said. "I'm not selling." She couldn't.
    Violet pouted. "You could run your landscaping business just as well from town, and also come to the club sometimes. It would be perfect!"
    "No," Ophelia said. "I'm staying here."
    Violet's sigh betrayed more than a hint of annoyance. "When Ophelia speaks in that tone, it's a waste of time to argue." She looked into Gideon's eyes with a gaze calculated to enthrall. "Mr. O'Toole, before you leave, I need your advice about a suspicious visitor at my club."
    Gideon strolled down the driveway beside Violet, wishing he could brush her off the way she'd dismissed Donnie Donaldson, waiting for her to stop yammering so he could go home. Not that he didn't sympathize with her. The clubs in Bayou Gavotte were subject to endless scrutiny by moralizers who believed they were dens of sin. Of course, some of the clubs were dens of sin, but not, according to Violet, her precious Blood and Velvet.
    "It's all tourists and posers, just silly people who want to pretend they're vampires or watch other people pretend they're vampires. What harm is there in that? We only serve drinks and bar food. The only drugs are the ones the customers bring in, and of course we try to discourage that , but what can we do? Certainly not confiscate every pill in everyone's purse or pocket! We have no whips and chains, no juveniles, no spectator sex in back rooms like some places I could name, and although vampire posers tend to get overexcited and bite their dates, our emergency care is excellent."
    "In other words," Zelda piped up from the side, "it's a sissy club." In a darkling voice, she added, "But I still wish I could work there. Five more long, long years."
    Gideon grinned at Zelda. She was a nice kid, and her mother wasn't too bad, if only she'd lay off the sexy stuff, which was not only annoying but unnecessary, since she was drop-dead gorgeous. Maybe she'd been putting on this act for so long she didn't know how to stop. He tried to ignore the visceral effect it had on him, fortunately nowhere near as strong as Ophelia's. But Ophelia had gone inside, thank God, so now he could get his head straight and go home and never have to see her again.
    At the thought of never seeing her again something twisted in his gut, but he ignored that, too. Never seeing her again was a consummation devoutly to be wished. Not the ideal to-be-wished-for consummation, but never