Read Even In Darkness (Between) for Free Online Page A

head footman—I think his name was Gerald—was standing ramrod stiff, his lips pressed tight together in barely restrained anger. Two uniformed policemen stood next to him. One of them looked strangely familiar to me, though I couldn’t imagine why. His clothes hung on his bony frame like he had no more muscle than a hanger, and his beady eyes scanned the room before stopping to rest on Aiden. He tilted his head toward his partner and whispered something out of the side of his mouth that was obviously about Aiden. The other officer, whose shirt barely covered the round expanse of his stomach, nodded and began to move forward.
    Mark MacKinnon stood up sharply, his chair scraping against the floor. “And what is the meaning of this?” The authority in his voice made no mistake who was the head of this house.
    The fat one replied, “My apologies to you, sir, but Officer Campbell and I have orders to take one Aiden MacRae in for questioning, and I understand him to be staying at your house.”
    Gasps across the table echoed in the stillness of the room. All eyes snapped to Aiden, who had become completely still.
    “And you are?”
    “Officer Murray, sir, at your service.” He straightened, making the girth of his belly even more pronounced.
    “It’s Christmas Eve, gentlemen. Certainly our American guest deserves a couple days with his family to enjoy the holiday, as do we all. I can assure you that he will remain here until the day after Christmas, at which time you may return to fulfill your duties.” The finality of his statement brooked no argument. Mark nodded to the footman, who placed himself between the policeman and the table, one arm outstretched toward the door.
    “Begging your pardon, but we’ve strict orders and we—” Whatever he was going to say was cut off by a piercing scream to my right. Celia was in hysterics, purple faced and screeching, waving frantically at me. I leaned toward her to try and calm her down and heard Mark yell, “Joanne!” My head whipped around to find Joanne MacKinnon slumped in her chair, her eyes glassy and fixed at some point on the ceiling. She didn’t appear to be breathing.
    The room exploded in a riot of noise as people left their seats to attend to Joanne, who was non-responsive. The policemen took advantage of the chaos and pressed past the footman. The one called Campbell grabbed Aiden’s arm and yanked him to his feet.
    Mark shot the officer a venomous glare.  “Don’t touch him. And get off my property. Now.”
    Aiden shook his head. “I’ll go. Attend to your wife.” And with that, they slipped out the door. People were crowding around Joanne or coming to help calm Celia, trapping me in the chaos. Pushing past them with as much sensitivity as I could muster, I dragged my way toward the door where Aiden had left, feeling like I had chains on my feet. Running through the long hallway that led to the main entrance, I started to panic. Where were they taking him? Did they figure it out? Was it the passport? I shouldn’t have brought him here. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
    The footman tried to stop me leaving. “You really shouldn’t…”
    “Get out of my way!” I screamed at him and he hastily moved to hold the door open for me. A blast of freezing cold air knocked me back for a second, as my brain caught up with my feet. I hadn’t even thought to bring a coat and it was well below freezing outside. Adrenaline pumped through my blood, holding the worst at bay, and I ran as fast as I could toward them.
    Turning the corner around the building, I found them in the parking lot next to the fence that edged the property. Aiden wasn’t resisting, but the policeman’s fingers were clearly digging into his arm.
    “Wait!” I yelled. Aiden jerked to a stop.
    “Go back to your family, miss,” the fat one said gruffly, though his face held a hint of shame.
    “He is my family. I’m his wife.” My breath came out in puffs of white smoke. The air stung my lungs