that what Ah just said?" She mimicked her mother's drawl. "I'll just go upstairs and call Selene and we'll have us a real nice gossip. You call me if you need anything, y'heah?"
Flowing skirts twirling around her, Maya drifted up the stairs and out of sight.
Headley grunted and shoved up from the awkward parlor chair. "If she's talking about Selene Blackburn, you got your hands full, son. That little witch could scalp an army and leave them grinning. You won't have to worry about poor Ralph, except where to send the flowers for his funeral."
"Selene? She's a pest, but from what I hear, she didn't even graduate high school." Uncomfortably catching himself watching the empty stairs, Axell adjusted his focus. Maya could damned well do whatever she wanted to do. She wasn't any of his concern. He just had to decide the best way of handling this. "Selene will call her daddy and have Ralph's accounts audited or something."
Headley snorted and shook his shaggy head. "You're living in a dream world, boy. You need to get out and around women more often." He glanced at the stairway. "And I reckon that one bears watching as well. She might look like an addlepate, but keep in mind: she arrived broke and homeless seven months ago and already she has a school and a shop and a hook in you and one of the richest families around. She's not dumb. She's got an agenda. You might look further into her background."
No, Maya wasn't dumb, but agendas weren't precisely her method of operation. Axell glared at Headley, then glared at the far wall after Headley strolled out.
He had to remember why he was doing any of this: Constance.
And she might not even be his own kid.
A wave of emptiness engulfed him, and wearily, Axell unfolded from the counter to head back to the restaurant. He'd pick up Constance later, after he got off work. He just couldn't face her again right now. He kept searching for signs of himself in her, and even he knew kids were sensitive to things like that.
Chapter 12
Ain't nothin' in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.
The tension headache pounding in the back of his skull matched the churning in his gut as Axell watched Ralph Arnold parade up and down the floor, oozing sincerity. The mayor's office in this tiny town was scarcely a standard of high living, but the polished desk and the flag hanging behind it offered a semblance of Southern patriotism. The mayor, with his professionally styled chestnut hair and gym-maintained physique, practiced the role of up-and-coming politician with more arrogance than the office deserved.
"Alyssum. That's the name of the woman who owns that shop, isn't it? I'd heard her family was from here, but that name doesn't ring a bell."
"Only ding-a-lings hear bells, Ralph," Axell growled. In a town like this, family name was everything, but he wasn't buying into that tradition. "It doesn't matter who their connections are. The point is, these rumors are bordering on slander, and I want an end to them."
The mayor shrugged. "Where there's smoke, there's usually fire. Charlotte police have been cracking down hard on dealers, but drug use is escalating. Face it, Holm, the dealers are moving out here where they figure we don't have enough police to catch them. And they're probably right."
"They're not using my premises," Axell said irritably. "Let the police do their drug busts elsewhere."
"It's not my venue, Axell, you know that. I have nothing to do with any of it."
Grimly, Axell slapped his hands on the huge desk and leaned forward. "Don't give me that bull, Ralph. It's got your signature all over it. Those busboys have only been with me a week. In another week, they'd have been gone. Kitchen help comes and goes faster than flies. It was only a matter of time before some of them got busted for something. You just made sure it was on my time and that the incident got publicized."
Ralph shrugged his padded shoulders again and stared out the window blinds to the rain-puddled parking lot. "I don't tell the police department what to do."
"You damned well should. That's your job." Axell removed his hands from the desk and swung around, heading for the door. "And if you don't back off, I'm taking that job away from you. That's a promise." He slammed the door after him.
He didn't usually slam doors. Ralph's secretary looked up in surprise, but Axell