Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series (25 page)

“
Just like Mr. Cole,”
Melinda affirmed. “Everyone tells me he’s a private
man.”

Marv removed some wires from the back
of the intercom panel. “Mr. Cole just likes to keep his private
life private. After Miss Julie started up with him, she became more
like a recluse.”

“
That sounds odd. Did she
never go out at all?”

Marv put his screwdriver back in his
toolbox and selected his wire cutters. “When she first moved in,
she was seen ‘round the buildin’ a lot, doin’ her decoratin’ thing.
After a while, she spent most of her time in this apartment and
never went out. I always thought it was a shame ‘cause she was a
real pretty young lady. Should have been out enjoyin’ herself, you
know?”

“
What did she look
like?”

He clipped one of the wires. “Dark
hair, pale skin, and bright brown eyes. She had real nice
eyes.”

Melinda’s stomach twisted. “Brown
eyes, not green?”

“
No, hers were brown, but
always kind of sad, if you know what I mean.”

Melinda remembered the green eyes she
had seen in her bedroom. She tried to recall as much detail as she
could about the other times she had seen the mist in the storage
area.

“
That’s it for this panel.”
Marv pointed to the console with his wire cutters. “All you have to
do is press this yellow button to get Mr. Cole. If you keep it
pressed down, he can listen in for as long as you need. Just in
case you get spooked again. I have to go to the main board in the
basement and program the connection, but it’ll be ready by this
afternoon.” He glanced at the hallway past the living room. “I’ll
do the one in your bedroom next, and then I’ll put that dead bolt
on the storage closet door for you.”

“
I’d appreciate that. The
door always seems to open on its own.”

Marv put his wire cutters back in his
toolbox. “Yeah, must have bothered Miss Julie, too. When I came up
here after she left, I found a padlock had been put on that door.
Mr. Cole told me to get you a strong deadbolt with a key to make
sure you could lock it up real secure.”

Melinda felt a trickle of dread circle
in her stomach. She tried to analyze why she was having the
sensation, but nothing came to her.

Marv popped the intercom panel back
into place. “How long have you had the sight?”

Melinda turned from the door and went
to the kitchen. “I was four when I saw my first vision. I thought
it was a cartoon, until I told my mother about it.”

“
Your mother’s still with
you, Melinda. She’s close by. There’s another lady ‘round, too.
She’s older and real worried ‘bout you.”

Aghast, she faced Marv. “You see
them?”

He retrieved a screw from the floor.
“I feel spirits, but I’ve never had the sight in my head like you.
I just know there are two women here with ya.”

“
Do you feel anyone
else?”

He shook his head. “All I feel is
what’s ‘round you. They’re tryin’ to protect you.”

Melinda chuckled as she turned back
toward the kitchen. “Well, at least that hasn’t changed. My
grandmother, the older woman you feel, was always trying to protect
me. Sometimes, I think, too much.” She shooed the memories from her
mind. “Would you like some coffee?”

“
Thanks. I take it
black.”

Melinda went to the cabinet above her
kitchen sink. “My grandmother never understood that I didn’t want
to be special, I wanted to be normal.” She pulled two mugs out of
the cabinet and carried them to the coffeemaker.

“
You and me ain’t normal,
Melinda. We’ll never be. We see the world differently from normal
folks, and ‘cause of our gifts, we’re more susceptible to bein’
hurt. Your grandmother knew that, and that’s why she hangs
around.”

Melinda lifted the coffeepot from the
warming plate. “Grandma Teresa always said she would be there for
me no matter what. I sometimes wondered if I was crazy for thinking
she was still here. Thank you for confirming my
suspicions.”

“
And your mother? She’s
still here for you, too,” he called from the door.

She filled the two mugs with coffee.
“My mother knows how I feel,” she softly said.

When she carried the mugs to the front
door, Marv had just replaced the last of the screws in the intercom
panel. He took the mug from her hand and returned his screwdriver
to his toolbox.

“
Does Mr. Cole know about
your gift?” she asked, clutching her warm mug.

He blew on his coffee. “I’d be
grateful if you didn’t say nothin’. Mr. Cole might have hired you
for your gift, but he didn’t hire me for mine.”

“
I understand. It’ll be our
secret.”

“
Thanks, Melinda.” He took
a sip from his mug.

“‘
Birds of a feather have
got to stick together,’ my grandmother used to always
say.”

“
Your grandmother thinks
that’s funny,” he commented, lowering the mug from his
lips.

“
About what I
said?”

He smiled at her. “No, that you
remembered what she taught you. If we can remember half of what our
parents tried to teach us, then we’ve got a pretty good shot at
makin’ a decent life for ourselves. That’s what my mother taught
me.”

“
Do you see her here, as
well?”

Marv chuckled. “Nah, she lives in
Baton Rouge.”

* * *

It was well after seven the following
evening when Melinda heard a light rap on her front door. She found
Nathan, leaning against the doorframe and holding a single red rose
in his hand. He had rolled up his white shirtsleeves, exposing the
rope-like muscles in his forearms. His light gray silk tie was
slightly askew and the sharp crease in his black pinstripe suit
trousers had been replaced by a few wrinkles. She stared into his
brown eyes, noted their weary appearance, and saw the worry lines
etched slightly deeper on his brow.

“
Was your meeting that
bad?”

His condescending smirk resurfaced. “I
thought you would have already seen that in your
visions.”

Melinda was getting real tired of
Nathan’s continuous grilling about her ability. He was starting to
sound like all the other men she had dated.

“
No, I didn’t see it in my
visions,” she shot back. “I’m psychic, Nathan, not
omnipotent.”

“
Forgive me. I shouldn’t
have said that.” He handed her the rose. “Negotiations are always
bad at this stage. There’s a lot of planning to do before we meet
with Denise’s people. I wanted to call earlier, but I didn’t finish
with the accountant until after six.”

She smelled the fragrant aroma of the
flower. “Thank you. It’s lovely.”

“
I hate to admit it, but I
didn’t get the rose for you. It came with the dinner I have waiting
for us. Ruth’s Chris Steak House has catered our meal for the
evening.” He grinned and rolled his eyes. “I figured I should make
up for my steak fiasco from the other night.”

“
How did you find time to
do that?”

He pulled her into his arms. “I
didn’t. Edna did. I just told her dinner for two from
Ruth’s.”

“
Does she know about
us?”

“
If she does, she never
said a word to me, but everyone around here will find out soon
enough.” He kissed her on the lips and Melinda’s heart quickened.
He deepened his kiss and as Melinda’s lips parted for him, he
pulled away. He sighed against her cheek. “We’d better get back to
my place before the food gets cold. We can pick this up
later.”

“
Promise?”

“
You can count on it,
baby.” Nathan led her from the apartment. “Did Marv come up and get
everything done?” he asked as he circled his arm around her
waist.

They started down the hall toward his
penthouse doors. “Yes, yesterday. The intercom system is up and
running between your place and mine, and he gave me a key to the
lock on the storage room door.”

“
That should help keep your
ghosts secure until I can get someone in here to tear out that
room.”

“
Tear it out?
Why?”

He stopped in front of his open double
doors. “I’m going to expand my office into there. Then you and I
won’t have to use this hallway anymore. I told you about this
yesterday morning.”

“
I forgot.” She giggled. “I
guess I got distracted.”

He kissed her cheek. “I really liked
watching you come over and over again.”

“
Did you?”

“
Very much.” He ushered her
inside. “I have so many wonderful games planned for
you.”

An uncomfortable twinge turned in her
belly. Was that because she was excited or concerned about his
games?

The aroma of butter and spices soon
enveloped her. In the center of the living area, a circular table
had been set with a white tablecloth and an array of white china,
crystal, and a vase filled with red roses. Melinda was transfixed
by the way the spotlights placed in the old cypress beams in the
ceiling made the crystal glasses on the table glisten.

Nathan browsed the assortment of
silver chaffing dishes on the breakfast bar. “We have roasted
sirloin tips, new potatoes in a rosemary sauce, salad, broccoli
tips in some kind of cheese sauce, and for dessert …” He
dramatically bobbed his eyebrows. “Dark chocolate crémeux
tart.”

Melinda marveled at the chaffing
dishes and the fancy table sitting in the middle of the room. “I
can’t believe you did all of this.”

He pulled out a chair from the table
for her. “Have a seat and I’ll get the champagne.”

She kissed his cheek. “Thank you …
Sir.”

“
I have a fantastic idea.”
He lowered his gaze to her body. “Let’s get you out of those
clothes.”

“
But I thought we were
going to eat first,” she declared as he slid the zipper of her
jeans lower.

He shoved her jeans and underwear down
to her ankles. “We are.” He stood up and reached for her T-shirt.
“You’re just going to eat without your clothes.”

She kicked her jeans away. “Why do I
have to eat without any clothes?”

After dropping her shirt at her feet,
Nathan unhooked her bra. “Because I want you to be naked in my
presence.” He kissed the black collar on her neck. “And you must
always do what I want.”

* * *

After they had finished their
chocolate crémeux tart and half the bottle of Piper-Heidsieck
Champagne, Melinda stretched lazily in her chair. Glancing down,
she realized she had forgotten about her nudity. Somehow, being
with Nathan made the uncomfortable act feel natural.

“
I’m going to get as fat as
a house if I keep eating like this.” She patted her
belly.

Nathan ran his fingers down the stem
of his crystal champagne glass. “Please don’t. I want you to keep
your slim figure. I’ll buy you a treadmill so you won’t get
fat.”

“
What if I get pregnant?”
snuck out from her lips before she could stop it.

He lifted his glass. “That would be
very different and very wonderful.” Nathan finished the last of his
champagne.

She rested her elbows on the table and
put her head on her hands as she studied him. “I still find it hard
to believe you haven’t found a woman to settle down
with.”

He shrugged and set his crystal glass
on the table. “After Yvette, I didn’t really want to be committed
to anyone. I spent time with a lot of women … some nice, some not
so nice.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “The kind you don’t bring
home to Mother. But I’m done with all that. I’m ready to settle
down with one person, have kids, and own a minivan.”

Melinda lifted her champagne glass
from the table. “I can’t see you driving a minivan.”

“
People change, Melinda.
I’m getting too old to try and keep up the pretense that I’m having
fun when I’m not. You get to a certain point in your life where you
want to please yourself and not wonder what everyone else is
thinking.”

Melinda sipped her champagne. “That’s
easy for you to say … you don’t know what everyone else is
thinking.” She put the glass down on the table with a thud. “I’ve
had people in my head since I can remember. My first day of school,
Mary Ellen Karlin thought my dress looked cheap. She didn’t tell
anyone my dress was cheap, she actually thought it. That was the
first day I realized I could read people. After I punched Mary
Ellen in the stomach, I discovered there’s a real disadvantage to
knowing what people think.”

“
But look at all the lies
and deception you have been spared from experiencing.”

“
I’m not spared from
feeling the pain everyone else feels, sometimes I just know it
sooner. Then there are times when I’m just as clueless as the rest
of the planet.” She sighed. “I don’t know why they even call this
thing I have a gift. If it were a gift, I could see or know hurt
and pain before it entered my life. I could have known what was
going on with Josh, and maybe things could have turned out
differently for me.”