Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series (3 page)

“
Sure, Nathan.” She closed
her eyes and let the noise around her fade into the background as
her visions rose to the surface in her mind’s eye. “I see an old
building with two tall, round bricked chimneys, next to the river.
Some place that was once a power plant. There are others involved
with you. You need to be careful. They’re not to be trusted.”
Melinda opened her eyes. “But you already knew that. You didn’t
come here to ask me about this venture.” She tilted her head to the
side. “You want to know if you’ll come out on top. If you’ll
destroy the corrupt men involved and be able to pursue this
development without them.”

Nathan grinned, appearing pleased.
“And will I win?”

Melinda pulled her hands away as a
vision of pain, fear, and a field of shallow graves crossed before
her eyes. Floored by what she had just seen, Melinda tried to put
the pieces together.

“
Will I win, Melinda?”
Nathan persisted, bringing her away from her vision.

“
Yes … but there will be a
great cost to you.” Melinda rubbed her hands together, feeling an
unearthly chill encroaching on her energy. “You may not like the
outcome, Nathan.”

“
As long as I come out on
top, I’ll take whatever fate throws at me.” He sat back in his
chair, studying her for several seconds. “You’re a very unique
woman, Melinda Harris. I could use someone with your skills on my
staff. How would you like to come and work for me?”

“
Me?” She almost fell out
of her chair. “I can’t do anything but play the piano and write
music.”

“
You can see the future,
and you’re very good at reading people. I could use someone who can
read my friends, as well as my enemies. You could let me know who
to trust and who to get rid of.”

Melinda placed her hands on the table
and looked Nathan squarely in the eye. “What exactly do you do,
Nathan? You’re always asking me about business ventures, real
estate developments, or investments, but I can never quite see an
office building or a business you actually run.”

Nathan’s fingertips lazily stroked the
green cloth on her table. “That’s because I don’t have an office
building. I work out of my home. I speculate about certain
opportunities and hook the people with the money up with the people
providing the opportunity.”

“
Is that legal?”

Nathan laughed, and for a moment
Melinda was jarred by the deceptive tone of his deep chuckle. It
didn’t sound like it came from his heart. When Nathan Cole laughed,
she swore he was hiding something.

“
I assure you, it’s
perfectly legal. Finding the right person with money to pair with
the right investment is a fine art. You have to know how to listen
to your clients and be able to see potential in an old warehouse
building or large empty lot.” He perused the shadowy cobblestoned
street around them. “New Orleans is a city full of potential and
still coming back from Katrina. It’s a virtual cornucopia of
opportunity for men such as myself. If you know the right
people.”

“
And you know the right
people, don’t you? The mayor, several city council members, along
with a few notable, wealthy New Orleanians. I’ve seen you pictured
with them in the newspaper.”

A breeze brushed a comma of thick hair
across his forehead. “Yeah, I know the right people. I came to New
Orleans after Katrina, hoping to make some money on the cleanup.
One thing led to another, and I got involved with a few
developments, which led to bigger and better things. Here I am, ten
years later, a very wealthy and well-connected man.”

She fidgeted in her chair,
uncomfortable with his penetrating stare. “Then why not quit while
you’re ahead?”

“
What can I say? I’m
greedy. I want more, and I love playing the game.” Nathan casually
shrugged his very broad shoulders. “But I’m getting to a point in
my life where I want one last big score to set me up forever. So if
I choose to speculate again on anything, it will be for fun, not
necessity.”
Melinda was all too familiar with the deadly sin of greed. She had
seen it hidden in the hearts and minds of all those she had read,
crouched away in the darkness like a thief awaiting his next
victim.

“
You’ll always get what you
want, Nathan.”

Nathan rose from his chair. “What
about you? Do you always get what you want, Melinda?” He reached
into his front jacket pocket.

Melinda stood up, shaking her head.
“Not usually. It seems every time I set out to get what I want,
something or someone else comes along and takes it
away.”

Nathan took a fifty-dollar bill from
his wallet. “What’s her name?”

“
Who?”

“
The one who stole the man
you wanted … Mr. Love-of-my-life-Josh.” He handed her the
money.

She evaded his dark eyes. “I’ll get
your change.”

“
You keep the
change.”

She glanced back at him. “That’s very
kind of you.”

“
Consider it a bribe.” He
placed his wallet back in his suit jacket. “I want you to come and
work for me. I can pay you well and help get you out of Jackson
Square.”

Melinda crinkled her brow. “What’s
wrong with the Square?”

“
You can do better. If you
come and work for me, you can get out of that ratty apartment you
live in on St. Ann and spend more time on your music.”

A trickle of trepidation tightened her
gut. “How do you know where I live?”

Nathan retrieved a white business card
from his inner jacket pocket. “I like to know who I’m dealing with,
whether I can trust them and share my secrets with them. Think
about my offer. I know you and I would be good together.” He handed
her the card. “My cell number is on the back when you’re ready to
talk.”

Melinda took the card and gleaned the
number. “I’m happy where I am, Nathan.”

“
Are you? I don’t see it
that way.”

She peered up at him. “Really? What do
you see?”

His deep brown eyes warmed over with
concern. “I see a woman who wants more out of life, but isn’t quite
sure how to get it. I can help you get what you want, Melinda, but
you have to help me in return.”

Melinda pocketed the card in her
jeans. “I promise to think about it.

Nathan smiled, and Melinda’s stomach
danced with excitement.

“
That’s all I ask. Good
night, Melinda.”

As Nathan sauntered away, Melinda kept
an eye on his broad back and fabulous ass. There was something very
appealing about working for a man like Nathan Cole. Not only was he
a pleasure to look at, but he could take her places; places a girl
from rural Mississippi longed to see. Museums, fancy restaurants,
nightclubs, designer dress shops; all the sights she had dreamed of
visiting when she first came to New Orleans with Josh. But things
hadn’t worked out as planned, and now a second opportunity to have
the kind of life she had always wanted was within her
grasp.

“
Are you finished with that
man?”

When Melinda spun around, Ellie was
gathering up her things from her table.

Melinda eased over to her friend.
“What do you think of Nathan Cole?”

“
Handsome, good dresser,
seems pretty sure of himself.” Ellie focused her blue eyes on
Melinda. “Why? Are you interested in him?”

“
Not like that. Not in a
romantic way. I’m more interested in what he could do for
me.”

Ellie’s throaty chortle resonated
through the darkness creeping across Jackson Square. “Be careful
with that kind of man, honey. Men like that are only interested in
two things, money and power. You can feel it when he walks by. His
aura exudes too much confidence and not enough concern for anyone
else but himself.”

Melinda caught sight of Nathan’s
figure fading into the shadows of Chartres Street. “But sometimes
you have to dance with the devil to get what you want,
right?”

“
Just make sure you’re
ready to deal with the consequences, because with men like that,
there are always consequences.”

Turning back to Ellie, Melinda knitted
her brow. “What kind of consequences?”

Ellie shook her head and softly
chuckled. “Melinda, sometimes you really are too good to be
true.”

* * *

The usually boisterous St. Ann Street
was blissfully peaceful as Jack escorted Melinda to her front
doorstep. The bright streetlights above the crowded Creole cottages
cast eerie shadows on the sidewalk, adding a ghostly ambience to
their stroll. When they stopped before the bright red door of a
dark green French Quarter townhouse, Jack cleared his
throat.

“
Thanks for setting up my
table for me today,” Melinda wrestled with her backpack.

Jack tugged at the straps of his green
canvas tote bag. “When you didn’t show up first thing this morning,
I almost came back to your apartment to see if you were all
right.”

Melinda fought back the urge to groan.
“You’ve got to stop being so protective of me, Jack. I’m fine.” She
opened a side pocket on her backpack and searched for her
keys.

“
Maddie, you live alone in
that little apartment, and you keep dating these losers who are
never around when—”

“
Jeez, Jack, when you shoot
someone down, you do it with both barrels.”

Jack’s shoulders sagged. “I’m not
shooting you down, I’m trying to tell you that you can’t go on
living like this.”

She wrenched the keys from her
backpack. “Living like what? I’ve got several odd jobs, live in a
small apartment, and struggle to pay the bills … just like
you.”

“
But I’m a man, Maddie.
It’s expected for me to live this kind of life, but you …” He
pointed to her. “You’re what, almost twenty-six? How long do you
plan on living this way?”

Melinda’s cheeks burned. “Oh, because
I’m a woman who is ‘almost twenty-six,’ you think I need someone
else to take care of me. Is that it?”

“
That’s not what I meant
and you know it, Maddie.”

She stomped her foot on the pavement.
“Stop calling me Maddie. I don’t know why you gave me that stupid
nickname anyway.”

Jack waved at her red cheeks. “This is
why I call you Maddie. My mad Maddie! You fly off the handle every
time I talk to you. I swear, I don’t think we’ve had one
conversation that didn’t end in an argument from the first day we
met.”

“
So it’s all my
fault?”

Teeming with frustration, Jack tossed
his head back and gaped at the balcony floorboards above him. “God,
I can’t win with you.”

“
You always like to push my
buttons, don’t you, Jack?” Her voice was peppered with anger.
“Every time we get together you’re always needling me about how you
want me to become a better musician, be a composer, be a better
psychic, and now even how I live is being scrutinized by
you.”

“
I’m not scrutinizing you,
Maddie … Melinda. I just want you to be you.”

“
You’re always telling me
that … ‘just be you, Maddie,’ or ‘this isn’t you, Maddie,’” she
said, imitating his deep voice.

Jack scowled, his hazel eyes on fire.
“Is it a crime that I want you to be who you are? Do you know how
great you are? How wonderful on the inside and the outside you …”
He froze and lowered his eyes to the sidewalk.

Melinda shifted her
backpack on her shoulder.
Here it comes.
Here comes the awkward part.

“
You know your friendship
means a lot to me, Jack,” she insisted, hoping to end their
disagreement.

“
Friendship?” His eyes
flashed with fury. “I want more than friendship with you, Maddie.
And don’t shut me out like you’ve done a hundred times before
whenever I bring up the possibility of us. I want to know why you
won’t give us a chance.”

Melinda’s body surged with dread.
“Don’t do this, Jack.”

“
Do what? Beg you to give
me a chance? Ask you to go out with me instead of one of your
deranged psychopaths?” Jack shook his head and turned away from
her. “It’s getting harder and harder to watch you from the
sidelines,” he whispered.

Melinda went to touch his shoulder,
and then she stopped. Pulling her hand back, she held her head
high, stiffening her resolve to not let him in.

“
You’re a good friend,
Jack, a very good friend. I’ve told you before I don’t want to
jeopardize that.”

He faced her, squaring his shoulders.
“But you will chase a man you know will only hurt you in the end.
Why must you always set out to break your heart and mine every time
you give yourself to another? You know how I feel, but I can’t hang
around and watch you destroy yourself with that cold-blooded
bastard.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

Jack cocked his head thoughtfully to
the side. “You don’t think I couldn’t pick up what you felt when
you saw Nathan Cole today? Come on, Maddie, you were practically
drooling over the guy.”

“
Nathan?” Melinda snorted
with disbelief. “You’re not serious. The guy’s not interested in me
like that.”