Page 30 of Calling All Angels
“I do,” Emma murmured.
“I’m in town for a week or so. I’ll stop by again. I hope…I’m sure she’ll be awake then.” He handed her a business card. “If you need anything, Aubrey…”
“Thanks, Aaron. For stopping by.”
He kissed her cheek, then walked down the hallway.
Emma watched him until he’d disappeared around the corner. “Why do we procrastinate doing things that are important? I should have gotten in touch with him myself, but I didn’t, either.”
“Do ye find it a wee bit odd that he should show up here just now?”
“What do you mean?” she asked as Aubrey headed back to Emma’s room.
Connor stared down the hall after Aaron. “I mean I dinna believe in coincidence.”
It took her a few beats to catch up with him. “What are you implying? That he could have had something to do with my accident?”
He shrugged noncommittally. “Might’ve.”
“Aaron? You can’t possibly think—?”
“It’s been years since he last saw ye. Last…kissed ye.”
She felt her cheeks heat. How could he know that? And what difference could it possibly… “Are you—? You can’t be jealous?”
“Jealous? Och, no. I’m only sayin’—”
“That because he came to seeme, he must have some ulterior motive?”
“Well, someone has it in for you or Aubrey. Knows somethin’ about ye.”
“There’s an old saying that if you hear hoofbeats, you should be looking for horses, not zebras.”
His jaw worked. “I dinna ken what that means, but—”
“Aaron is a zebra,” she informed him. “He wouldnever.”
“And,” he added, “your zebra, Aaron, also knew your sister, Lizzy.”
“So what if he did?”
“Maybe ye should tell me how she died, your sister.”
Emma braced her hands on her hips. “Don’t you know? You know everything.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t. ’Tis not my job to keep track of all the souls. That would’a been Elspeth’s job.” Almost instantly, she could see he regretted bringing up her name.
“Who’s Elspeth?”
“A friend of mine. Ex-keeper of the Celestial files. She had a knack for it. She rarely forgot anything. Some kind of a photographic mind, she had.”
“Had? Where is she now?”
Now he really looked uncomfortable. “Retired.”
“Is she a guardian like you, then?”
“Not anymore.”
