Midnight Caller Read Online Free Page B

eyes met before she closed the door and walked the short distance from the sidewalk to the house’s veranda. The Jaguar remained out front until she was inside. She watched from the foyer as David made a sharp turn in the street, the car’s headlights briefly illuminating the scaffolding on a neighboring house that was under renovation.
    As David drove away, Rain wondered if he would go to his own French Quarter apartment, or whether he’d seek out some other female companionship. David was a sexual creature, she’d always known that. It was part of his attraction. But she hadn’t expected him to cheat on her.
    They’d been together for only a few months when Rain had walked into David’s office at WNOR on a night she wasn’t supposed to be there. He had looked remorseful as he struggled to get dressed, but Ella hadn’t bothered to cover herself. Instead, she’d remained sprawled across David’s desk, her skirt hiked up around her hips and her blouse discarded on the floor.
    He’d called it a slipup. A moment of weakness that wouldn’t happen again. Still, despite David’s pleading, Rain had ended their relationship with the exception of her contractual obligation to Midnight Confessions. Time had passed and they’d managed to maintain a loose friendship for the show’s sake, but she continued to deflect his attempts at reconciliation.
    The truth, she thought as she laid her handbag on theantique table that sat just inside the door, was that at least in her mind it was indeed over. She no longer loved David, if she ever really did.
    Before David, there hadn’t been anyone in Rain’s life for a long time. She’d been busy completing her doctorate in psychology at Tulane, and then later, building up her private practice while caring for her beloved, ailing aunt Celeste. David had filled the void in her life that had become so much deeper after Celeste’s passing. He’d convinced her to do Midnight Confessions, banking on her public persona as Desiree Sommers’s daughter.
    The radio show had been a mistake. Once her contract was over in three months, she didn’t intend to renew. Rain had procrastinated in telling David, but after tonight, she knew it was something she’d have to do soon.
    She stepped farther into the house. The Greek Revival on Prytania Street held significance to her that went beyond its listing on the New Orleans’s historical society register. She’d lived there her entire life—the first two years with her mother and then later, with Celeste. She smiled faintly, aware the house’s dark history did little to neutralize the strange legacy surrounding her. But it was where she belonged. Rain walked from the parlor into the remodeled kitchen and poured a glass of red wine. She was comfortable here, and the trust fund her mother’s estate provided ensured her ability to keep up the residence.
    Rain took a sip as she decided whether she was hungry enough to make something to eat. Dahlia, a black cat she’d adopted as a stray, leaped onto the counter. Rain jumped as she caught the quick movement of the feline in the corner of her eye, splashing wine onto her silk blouse.
    â€œDahlia,” she scolded, wiping at the delicate material with a napkin. The cat padded across the counter and offered herhead to be scratched. As Rain complied, a fat moth bumped against the kitchen window, drawn by the interior light.
    It’s true, Rain. I’ve become quite interested in you.
    Her thoughts turned to the show’s caller and the intrusive questions he’d asked. She’d felt intimidated by him even through the distance of the airwaves.
    Putting out a dish of food for Dahlia, she gave the cat’s head one last scratch. Then taking her glass of wine, she set the security alarm and went upstairs.
    She flipped a switch, and the bedroom filled with soft light. The room had the same high