by Tawni O'Dell
“But you won’t be surprised if someone doesn’t,” I finish for him, smiling.
He kisses me and, before I can respond properly, stands and swings me up over his shoulder caveman-style, and stomps up the stairs to my bedroom.
He could have just as easily thanked me for the food and left mumbling something about an early morning and I wouldn’t have been surprised or offended. I never know when he’s going to want me and definitely not why.
Nolan doesn’t have skills or finesse, but he doesn’t want them and doesn’t try to fake them. I’ve been with too many men who I felt had memorized a textbook before taking me to bed; I could almost hear them counting out the amount of times they were expected to rub a nipple. Then there were the ones who learned the art of love from pornos. And those who expected me to act like I was in one with them. And the talkers. The hackneyed sex scripters. Yeah, I like that. Ooh that’s good. Ooh you’re wet.
Nolan is a war machine; his battleground is me. He does thorough recon, invades, penetrates, withdraws, and leaves me in ruins. Every time.
Afterward, he wants to stay but can’t allow it. I want him to stay but won’t admit it.
I hear him getting out of bed and looking for his clothes in the dark. I pretend to be asleep to make it easier.
He’s a sprawling sovereign empire to my lawless island nation.
chapter twenty-eight
SINGER SPENT TWO SUMMERS as the Buchanan Flames mascot, Milton Matchstick, running around in red foil long johns with a big, red, tinselly, fright-wig headpiece. He never showed his face on the field without being pelted with beer cans and ketchup-stained ends of hot dog buns. I didn’t hold it against him when he applied for a job with my department. I thought it showed he had composure under fire.
Since then he gets into the games for free and has a seat of honor above the dugout.
I thought a baseball game would be fun for Mason after spending these last few days worrying about his father and being largely ignored by the two aunts taking care of him who have lots of other things to take care of, too.
I came up with the idea yesterday and invited the whole department to come along. Karla had other plans and Everhart’s wife explained to him that it’s not a good idea to take five-day-old infants to loud sporting events. He didn’t understand why and argued over the phone with her before finally giving in and then arguing some more with her over why he couldn’t go by himself. After hanging up he continued to complain until Dewey told him to SUDS.
I invited Dewey, his wife, Angie, and kids, and Singer and Blonski back to the house with Mason and me for an extension of our fiesta the night before. Neely and Smoke come for the meal.
My backyard is full of noise and chaos. Dewey’s children climb my overgrown apple tree and throw a ball for Smoke.
Singer and Blonski are deep in conversation about a controversial call at third base. Out of their uniforms, wearing shorts, T-shirts, and red ball caps, carrying pennants and giant Slurpee cups, they don’t look to be that much older than Dewey’s oldest son, who’s eleven.
Angie offers to help with the food, but Neely makes her sit and stay outside with a cold beer.
Mason is getting along fine with the Dewey clan but continues to pop into the kitchen now and then to see what we’re doing.
I was able to convince him to leave his Trapper Keeper at home and not take it to the game. Since we’ve returned, he hasn’t gone to get it. I think this is a good sign.
Neely hasn’t asked me to elaborate on the few facts I gave her regarding the solving of Camio Truly’s murder. She was glad to know it’s all over and commented on the big notch it would be in Nolan’s already well-scarred belt. I didn’t tell her what he said to me last night. Or what he did to me. I do keep some secrets from my sister.
I’m surprised when she looks up from taking a couple of baking dishes of chicken enchiladas out of the oven and says, “So after it’s all said and done, what was her motive?”
Anyone else asking me this question and I’d reply that I already explained what happened: Jessyca Truly became enraged at the sight of her sister killing their grandmother and reacted violently, striking her with a heavy object and accidentally killing her.
But I know there’s more to this story and Neely senses this, too. She isn’t any more satisfied with this easy answer than I am.
Jessyca saw a side of her sister that others didn’t. I think about how upset she was while telling me Camio showed no remorse over killing Adelaide and that she planned to betray their family by airing their stained, patched psychological laundry for the whole world to see.
How she got blood on her baby.
“There was something Grandma said not long after Mom was killed,” I say while chopping tomatoes for a pico de gallo. “I don’t know if you’d remember this but you were there. So was Champ. We were sitting in her kitchen eating dinner after we moved in with her.”
I fall silent remembering how cramped we were in Grandma’s small house after all the space in Gil’s, and how deprived we were after all the excess at Gil’s, and how deliriously happy and grateful we were to be there.
“Champ was complaining about kids at school asking him questions about Mom’s murder. He was asking our advice about what to say.”
“I remember,” Neely breaks in. “I told him to tell kids he didn’t like to talk about it. You told him to tell kids he wasn’t supposed to talk about it. You were already a cop.”
“Maybe,” I say. “Grandma was busy at the stove and I didn’t know if she was paying any attention to our conversation when all of a sudden she said . . .”
I look up from my task and do my best Grandma impression.
“ ‘. . . If you find a small fire in a back room, you don’t let it spread and burn down the whole house. You put it out.’ ”
“I remember,” Neely confirms.
“At the time I didn’t know what she meant. I thought it was just one of the weird sayings she said sometimes like ‘I’m about to have a come apart’ or maybe she hadn’t heard him right. But now I think I know exactly what she meant.”
We exchange knowing looks.
“Jessyca was putting out a small fire,” Neely says.
The back screen door opens and slams shut.
“I need my binder,” Mason says breathlessly, and streaks past us into the living room.
Neely glances at the clock on the microwave.
“He’s gone for four hours without it. That’s not bad.”
He returns almost immediately, empty-handed.
“Aunt Dove,” he says. “There’s a police car out front.”
Neely and I follow him out of the kitchen.
I look out my windows and see a state trooper cruiser parked on the street. Nolan’s car is parked behind it.
I take Mason’s hand. Neely takes his other. We walk out onto my porch in a flesh-and-blood chain.
A rumble of summer thunder echoes in the distance and I peer up at the bank of ominous gray clouds gathering over my neighbors’ rooftops. Our perfect weather is coming to an end.
Nolan gets out of his car. He bows his head and walks slowly toward the three of us.
I know what this means. Neely and I have a son.
Want more from Tawni O'Dell? Check out her other pulse-pounding thriller, One of Us!
A forensic psychologist is forced to face his own demons when he returns home to find his small community terrorized by a serial killer.
One of Us
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GALLERY READERS GROUP GUIDE
Angels Burning
Tawni O’Dell
Introduction
Angels Burning tells the story of a small town that has suffered the tragic and gruesome murder of a teenage girl. Local police chief Dove Carnahan has been tasked with finding the girl’s murderer but must navigate through a slew of defensive and hostile relatives and friends in order to determine the truth. In the process of
this investigation, dark secrets of a similar murder in the town years earlier are unearthed and the trauma from her personal life competes for Dove’s attention. Throughout the investigation, Dove learns that under everyone’s tough exterior and behind all of the rumors that the locals spread, no one is who they appear to be—including those closest to her and even herself.
Topics and Questions for Discussion
1. Discuss the title of the book Angels Burning. How does the title relate to Campbell’s Run’s hardships with the collapsed mine and its “ability to swallow up lives?” What is the physical and economic impact on the town’s inhabitants?
2. Dove calls Campbell’s Run a “poisoned ghost town.” However she and many others have chosen to remain near it. Discuss Dove’s motivations for remaining in the town that has caused her so much pain. Discuss how your perception of her character and motivations changed after learning about her past. Was she really “on the side of the angels . . . when it was all over?”
3. Discuss Dove’s motivations for becoming a police officer. In what ways did she grow up to protect others from the horrific things that happened to her, Champ, and Neely as children? In what ways is she trying to cope with the murder of her mother and the cover-up?
4. Lucky, the man convicted of murdering Dove’s mother, has been released from prison after thirty-five years. How has his release affected Dove? How does she react to him finding her? What is her perception of him and the past that they share?
5. How does Lucky’s return affect Dove’s investigation of Camio’s murder? Dove observes that “One of the worst aspects of growing older is the lengthening of hindsight. As it stretches, it becomes thinner and more transparent and we see things more clearly.” How does Dove feel about her actions in her mother’s death at the end of the novel?
6. Discuss how your interpretation of Dove’s investigative tactics changes after learning about her violent past. Has her personal history informed how she approached this murder investigation? Why or why not?
7. Dove observes that she gets “these flashes of irrational passion where [she’s] willing to risk everything [she’s] worked for in order to accomplish one thing [she] can’t control.” Where do you see instances of this in the novel? Where does she lose her objectivity when reflecting upon Camio’s murder and on her personal life?
8. Discuss how your impressions of some of the following characters changed and evolved throughout the novel: Dove, Champ, Shawna, Camio, Jessy, Zane, Lucky, and Miranda. Was your initial impression of these characters based on physical presentations and rumors? Did learning more about their backgrounds and experiences increase your empathy towards them? Why or why not?
9. Discuss the relationship between Dove, Neely, and Champ. How are they complicit in each other’s lies? How do they distance themselves to avoid thinking about their past and their mother?
10. As the first female chief of police in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Dove faces sexism at various points in her career and throughout the novel. How does she deal with being treated differently among her coworkers and with the men and women she interrogates? What assumptions do others make based on her age? As Dove notes: “I’m okay with my age, but nobody else is. Especially men.”
11. Dove observes, “We didn’t know living nightmares don’t ever go away because you can’t wake up from them. The most you can hope for is to dilute them by spreading them around.” How does this quote reflect the lives of various characters in the novel?
12. Consider the parenting styles portrayed in Angels Burning. During the course of the novel, parents are portrayed abandoning their children, being disinterested in their well-being, putting them in harm’s way, or defending and protecting them. Reflect on how these characters were treated as children and think about how that may have informed their parenting style. Dove observes: “I also know what it’s like to have a mother who doesn’t care about you. This isn’t always the same thing as having one who doesn’t love you. Love is a highly subjective concept; everyone has different standards for what qualifies.” How this is reflected in the various relationships portrayed in the novel.
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Read Tawni O’Dell’s previous novel, One of Us, with your book club. Discuss how these two novels relate to each other. Both are set in mining towns. Discuss the significance of setting and locale in O’Dell’s work.
2. Tawni O’Dell wrote an essay called “The Oprah Effect” for OfftheShelf.com detailing the experience of her book Back Roads being chosen as an Oprah Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection. Read the essay here and discuss her experience: http://offtheshelf.com/2014/09/the-oprah-effect-tawni-odell-back-roads/
3. Visit www.tawniodell.com to learn more about the author, her other books, and read other essays she has written.
AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY CAROL ROSEGG
TAWNI O’DELL is the New York Times bestselling author of five previous novels, including Back Roads, which was an Oprah’s Book Club pick and a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection. Her works have been published in more than forty countries. Visit her website at tawniodell.com.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Tawni-ODell
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ALSO BY TAWNI O’DELL
One of Us
Back Roads
Coal Run
Sister Mine
Fragile Beasts
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Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Tawni O’Dell
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition January 2016
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Interior design by Davina Mock-Maniscalco
Cover design by Black Kat Design
Cover image © Mark Owen/Arcangel
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-4767-5595-3
ISBN 978-1-4767-5597-7 (ebook)
