Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

you,” he promised.

Chapter 17
    THE pounding on the door of her family home brought Abigail to her feet, and the research paper she was writing slid to the floor and the notebooks scattered in all directions. She knew something was wrong before she opened the door, but the last person she ever expected to see was Sylvia Fredrickson.
    Abigail stared at the woman, shocked by her appearance. Sylvia’s eyes were red and swollen from crying. Her clothes were disheveled and she sobbed wildly. “Sylvia!” Unable to think what else to do, Abigail drew her into the house. “What is it? Were you in an accident?”

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    “I didn’t know where else to go.” Sylvia’s eyes were wide with shock as she stared around the living room, as if afraid something would jump out and attack her. “I had nowhere else to go.”
    “Let me call Libby. Do you need an ambulance? The police?” Abigail could see the red and black aura surrounding Sylvia. “Sit down. Are you going to faint?”
    “No! Don’t call the police. Whatever you do, don’t call them. You have to help me. I don’t know what to do.” She began wringing her hands together. “I don’t know what to do. You’re smart. All of you are really smart. You have to tell me what to do.”
    Abigail glanced down at the torn nails, the bruising on Sylvia’s wrists and arms. “All right. Just sit down.
    Take a deep breath. I’ll help you. I will, Sylvia. Please sit down.” She could feel the woman trembling as she assisted her into a chair. “Just tell me what happened and we’ll figure it out together.”
    Abigail waved a careless hand toward the mantel to light several candles and aromatic diffusers and fill the air with the scents of roman chamomile, geranium, and lavender to aid in comforting Sylvia.
    “I know you hate me, and I shouldn’t have come here, but there’s nowhere else to go. I don’t know what to do and you always do.” Sylvia took the tissue Abigail handed her and blew her nose. “You won’t believe me, but I really love Mason. I do. I would never have cheated on him, but we had this terrible fight and I was angry with him and Bruce was at the bar complaining and we both got drunk. I was just so drunk.”
    “What happened tonight?” Abigail prompted.
    “They’re going to hurt him.” Sylvia leapt to her feet and began pacing, twisting her hands together again in agitation. “They might even kill him. You have to help him. You have to do something.”
    “Who’s going to kill Mason? Why?”
    “Chad Kingman.” Sylvia spun around. “He’s doing something terrible. Illegal. And he’s mixed up with some very bad people. Chad looked awful, his face all black and blue and swollen.”
    “Sylvia, is Mason in trouble right now? Where is he?” Abigail hung on to her patience. “I know you’re upset, but if you don’t calm down and tell me everything, I can’t help either one of you.”
    “Sylvia,” Libby greeted the woman as she entered the room, the other Drake sisters following. Libby took the woman by the arm and led her back to a chair. “Please sit down. I’ve brought you a cup of tea.
    Take a couple of sips and you’ll feel much more able to tell us what happened.”
    “You can’t go to the police,” Sylvia said anxiously. “I know if you go to the police they’ll kill him. I overheard them talking. They want the Russian, Aleksandr Volstov. Abigail knows him. She was with him all evening at the Caspar Inn.” She reached out again to Abigail and gripped her hands hard. “Please talk to him. Tell him he has to go and get Mason back.”
    “Why do they want Aleksandr?” Abigail made eye contact with Joley, who nodded and left the room to make the call.
    Sylvia took the teacup from Libby and inhaled the soothing aroma. She was obviously struggling to get her breath back. Libby sat beside her and very gently wrapped her fingers around Sylvia’s wrist. The Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    trembling lessened and Sylvia dragged air into her lungs.
    Abigail crouched in front of the disheveled woman. “Tell us what Mason’s involved in.” She wanted to keep Sylvia calm until Aleksandr arrived.
    “Chad called me at home yesterday and told me Mason was going to the big party at the art gallery. He knows how I feel about Mason. We’ve always been good friends and he knew I wanted to patch things up with