Third to Die Read Online Free Page B

bluntly. “She’s just mad as I’m under her feet all day. She can’t keep popping off to the shops like she usually does.”
    Edna didn’t reply, she just headed out of the room, once more giving the men their privacy.
    “Is there anything I can do to help?” Aiden asked sincerely.
    “If I lose any more energy, you may have to service Mrs. Copes on my behalf,” Edmond joked but Aiden was unable to laugh. The gravity of the situation was beginning to weigh him down so that he felt like his whole body was made of lead and bolted to the sofa on which he sat.
    Edmond looked across at his young colleague and his smile fell away when he registered his troubled expression.
    “I’m doing everything I can to fight this,” he admitted. “But I’m a proud man. I didn’t want you, or anyone, for that matter, to see me like this.”
    “You should have told me,” Aiden’s voice cracked slightly as water gathered behind his eyes.
    “I know. I just…” Edmond looked back at the draped windows and sighed. “It crept up on me like some monster. One day I was fine, the next I was pissing blood and collapsing on the bathroom floor. She was terrified. I don’t like scaring people, Aiden. The fewer people this monster can scare, the better.”
    “I want to help,” Aiden declared, straightening. “It must be exhausting for Edna to manage everything on her own. Let me help. I can take you to hospital appointments, sit here with you at home, whatever you need.”
    “I need my company to stay afloat,” Edmond told him. “So that when I return I’ve still got a job to go back to.”
    Aiden’s face betrayed him as his eyes misted with pity.
    “Copes and May is my legacy,” Edmond continued, his voice becoming light with nostalgia.
    “We made that company when we were young, idealistic men. We wanted to change the world. And you helped.”
    “I did?” Aiden blinked in surprise.
    “You saved Brandy White. Without your intervention an innocent woman would have died. That’s the reason I ever got into law in the first place; to save those who genuinely needed saving.”
    “I’m not sure my other cases have been quite so noble.”
    “It’s early days,” Edmond said sagely. “You’re making a name for yourself for being a good, honest man. People will seek out your help. You’re going to make Copes and May great.”
    “Okay, but I still want to help
you
.”
    Edmond squirmed awkwardly in his chair.
    “Ask Edna what help she needs,” he said quickly. “But I draw the line at having you here when she bathes me! I need to retain some of my mystique!”
    “I’ll ask her,” Aiden smiled.
    “I wish we could sit and chew the fat all day,” Edmond said wistfully. “I want to hear all about what a smug bastard Clyde White was when he told you I was sick. But I’m tired. And as a sick man I get to call it when I’m tired and insist people leave so I can rest!”
    “Sounds like a fair perk to the deal,” Aiden stood and fondly placed a hand on Edmond’s shoulder.
    “I promise I’ll be back at work soon,” Edmond told him, his eyelids already beginning to droop.
    “I’ll hold you to that!” Aiden pointed at him.
    *
    “I want to help,” Aiden said solemnly to Edna as she showed him to the front door.
    “He’s so stubborn,” Edna sighed. “He struggles to accept help from me!”
    “Is there anything at all I can do?”
    Edna pursed her lips and thought for a moment.
    “Could you take him to his chemo appointment next week? I’d take him myself, only some of our family are flying in and I need to get the house straight for having them all coming to stay.”
    “Absolutely, I’ll take him.”
    “We’re circling the wagons,” Edna admitted woefully. “As much as he wants to bury his head in the sand, the rest of us can’t. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how bad things were. He insisted I shouldn’t say anything.”
    “It’s okay,” Aiden briefly embraced Edna and tried to hold back his own