Books by Maggie Shayne (10 page)

Torch was there, and Alex thought she'd never been so glad to see anyone in her entire life. He stood in the tiny kitchen area, unloading a bag of groceries into the cupboards. Or pretending to.

Actually, he was waiting. For her, she realized. He was fully expecting her to try to comfort him again, the way she'd done before.

And he was dreading it. The expression he wore stated clearly that she was to ask no questions, offer no solace and keep her hands thoroughly to herself.

Well, he'd get his wish this time. She drew a couple of steadying breaths to calm her quivering lungs, and. went right to the front, sat down in the driver's seat and started the motor. Then she put the thing in gear and pulled slowly out of the parking lot.

A second later, Torch was standing behind her, one hand on her shoulder, but only to steady himself, she was sure. "What's going on?"

"One of them ... back there, in the diner. I saw..." She bit her lip.

Her words were coming out in 'bits and pieces, and she was starting to breathe too fast again. " She hadn't realized she was this shaken up.

"Easy," he said, and his hand squeezed her shoulder. She closed her eyes because it felt so good to have that strong grip there.

"Drive nice and slow, Alex. Take your time. No one's gonna look twice at a camper, unless it's caxeening through town, taking curves on two wheels."

She eased up on the accelerator, nodding, fighting to steady her breathing. Safe now, she kept telling herself. She was safe now.

“You need this?" Torch held her inhaler in one hand. She hadn't even seen him reach for it.

"I don't think so."

He returned it to the glove compartment.

"Now tell me what happened."

"I went to the rest room. When I started to come out there was a man at the counter, dressed all in black. He was showing a photo to the waitress, and the waitress pointed toward the rest room. I was the only one in there." "And?"

"I ducked back inside and locked the door and climbed out the window."

She looked up at him to gauge his reaction to' that and was surprised to see him smile a little.

"Good girl. The guy's probably still sitting there waiting for you to come out."

"Do you think it was" -- "No, Alex. To be honest, I doubt it was one of Scorpion's henchmen.

They'd have to be bloodhounds to track us to that diner. "

She breathed a relieved sigh, felt her muscles relax a little. "I overreacted, didn't I?"

He shook his head.

"Hell, no, you didn't overreact. You. did exactly what I told you to do--followed your instincts. We can't be too careful, Alex."

"I didn't get our sandwiches."

"We'll get some more sandwiches, Alex."

She bit her lower lip, turned to look at him again.

"I'm scared."

"" Ishouldn't have left you alone in there. "

"It's all right," she said quickly.

 
"I"

"It's not all right." He drew a breath, let it out slowly and finally moved up to sit opposite her in the passenger seat. "It's been ten months," he said softly.

"I ought to be handling things better by now."

Alexandra blinked in. surprise He'd brought the subject up. Not her.

"It... can't be easy."

 
Torch was staring straight ahead, deep in thought. Alex had to make an effort to keep her eyes on the road.

"After... after it happened, and Scorpion got away clean, I resigned. I couldn't focus on the job anymore."

"But you came back to it," she prompted when his words faded to silence.

"Yeah. The minute I found out Scorpion was involved. I thought I could handle it, after so much time. But I'm not doing too great so far, am I?" He looked toward her, met her eyes, gave her a sad smile.

"Turn left at this light, we need to get back on the highway up ahead."

She did as he said, waiting for him to continue, but her own mind was filling with new thoughts, new fears. One, in particular, that wrapped an icy hand around her heart and chilled it through and through.

"Torch?"

"You said you only came out of retirement to take this case when you realized Scorpion was involved. Will you tell me why?"

He laughed, but it wasn't really a laugh: More like a short burst of air being forced from his lungs.

"He murdered my family, Alex. I want him to pay."

The icy hand clenched tighter. She battled a shiver. "You're going to catch him and turn him over to the proper authorities," she said sol fly "You're going to see him go to trial and be convicted, and spend the rest of his life in prison. Right?"

She had a feeling she knew the answer already, but she -had to hear it.

Torch didn't oblige, though. He didn't give her any answer at all. Not with his voice, at least. But in his eyes . in his eyes there was something blacker than the pain that filled his heart.

"Right here," he said.

"That's the on ramp. See it?" She nodded and flicked on the signal light.

They arrived in the town of Pine Lake just after dark. If she hadn't known this place so well, she might have let Torch drive right through.

Because "town" was really a misnomer. In. truth, Pine Lake was just a bend in the rutted gravel road that had a few more houses in closer proximity than other places along the same route. The general store was the focal point. The thing was the size of a barn and carried everything from food for humans to grain for livestock.

In the front, an ancient red gas pump leaned tiredly to one side.

Torch pulled the RV off the narrow road but left it running.

"So now what?" She was uneasy, and she knew it came through in her voice, but she'd never been very good at disguising her feelings. She just wasn't sure why she felt as much dread as she did.

"We go talk to your lawyer friend and get our hands, on those papers of your father's."

 
She nodded. He hadn't said another word about the family he'd lost, and she hadn't asked. She wanted to. She wanted to know how it was that he felt responsible for their deaths, and she wanted to know what he planned to do to Scorpion. Or maybe she just wanted something to focus on besides what might lie ahead.

But he'd made it dear he didn't want to discuss his family. So she forced herself not to bring them up again. She bit her lip, cleared her throat, left with no choice but to look at the present and the very near future.

"There's not going to be anything there," she whispered, but it was like a wish. Like a prayer, and she was pretty sure Torch knew it.

She didn't want to look at him. Didn't want him to see the doubt that must show in her eyes right now. So she stared up at the ghostly gray clouds skittering over the moon, their color just a shade paler than the dark sky, their shapes as ominous as specters.

"It's going to snow." ' "Probably."

"We ought to go up to the house."

"No."

"If it snows, we might not be able to."

"Snow melts, Alexandra."

She bit her lip to. keep from arguing. Max hadn't been fed today.

He'd be climbing the walls by now. if he' was able. Those men they'd left behind at her house might have done something to him.

The thought made her have to blink away tears. The 'one that followed was worse. That she was worrying about her pet because she didn't want to think about what had been in that safe-deposit box, or why her father had kept it even after breaking every other tie he'd had in the city, What secrets were about to be revealed?

"Where does the lawyer live?"

He has a one-track mind, doesn't he?

"Just drive through town. It's a big house at the north edge, on the tight. I'll tell you when we get there." Why was she having all these doubts now? Her father was innocent. She'd known that all along.

There would be nothing but proof of that at Jim's office, which was no more than a converted spare room in his house's huge basement.

Torch put the rig back in gear and pulled onto the road again. In a few minutes, they were turning into the driveway of James McManus, attorney-at-law. And a light snow had begun falling into the twin beams of their headlights.

Torch walked beside her to the. door She didn't think he could tell how terrified she was of this moment. How frightened she was of what they would find. If her father had been working on something. something he shouldn't have, that would explain his actions at the end. So would nility or stroke, she assured herself. So would a lot of things. He couldn't possibly have done what Torch had accused him of doing.

She didn't realize she'd frozen on the top step until Torch's arm slid around her shoulders, squeezed just a little. "It isn't gonna matter what's there, Alex. It can't hurt your father now."

She lifted her chin, turning to look Torch in the eye.

"It can hurt me, though."

"You can handle it." His hand cupped her chin, and his eyes plumbed hers as if he truly cared what she was feeling right now.

"You're tougher than you think, Alexandra Holt."

She thought that if she were so tough, she wouldn't be trembling. She wouldn't be staring at his eyes, and noticing that they were stating at her lips, and wondering and wishing and. Her thoughts ground to a halt when a dog started barking from the next place over. The noise drew her gaze, and she saw curtains part, a face peering out at them. The neighbor's dog kept up his barking, which in turn made her wonder where the McManus's dog was, and why he wasn't barking right now. She turned, stating first at the door, and then at the rest of the house, noticing for the first time the darkened windows, and the way the cold wind riffled the pages of three newspapers lying on the porch.

"Torch, I don't think anyone's here."

He followed her gaze, then left her standing there, while he ran down the steps and over to the garage, to peer through the glass.

"No car inside. Dammit."

Alex poked the doorbell with her forefinger, let up and poked again.

But even when she' gave up and started knocking instead, there was no response.

She didn't feel relieved. She'd worked up enough strength, she thought, to get her through this. The anticlimactic ending of this day only left her tense and jittery, and with the beginnings of a headache throbbing to life behind her eyes.

"Three newspapers," Torch muttered, coming back to the porch.

"Looks like they might be gone for a while."

 
"They never go away for very long."

"It's almost Thanksgiving."

Alex bit her lip.

"That's right, it is. I forgot about that." Torch frowned at her, and she shrugged.

"It's been a while since I've celebrated any holidays," she said by way of explanation.

His lips thinned. He was going to say something nasty about her father, she thought, but he bit it back. Instead, he just said, "Me, too."

That admission made Alex's eyes sting. We can cheek down at the tore.

Someone will know when they're expected back. "

"Or we can break in and get what we need tonight."

"No!" She was so shocked at his suggestion that her jaw fell and her eyes widened.

"We can't go around breaking into people's homes."

He shrugged.

"Maybe you can't" -- "Torch, please. Let's wait." She glanced again at the house next door, pointed at the face still peeking through the window.

"Besides, we'll be seen. let's at least wait until later, when the neighbors are in bed."

 
He sighed--in disgust at her reluctance, she was sure--but finally nodded "Okay, all right, but it has to be tonight. We don't have time for finesse, Alex?"

"know."

He turned and headed back to the RV. And then they were driving again, through snow that fell thicker with every passing second.

Torch was looking for a hidden spot to park for the night, and Alexandra was worrying about her cat. So she directed him to an old fire road cut into the forest. And he followed her instructions but looked less happy about it the farther they drove. The snowfall had already coated the narrow dirt road, but not enough to make driving hazardous. Not yet, anyway.

"This seems like it sits awfully close to where your house is, Alex.

Are you playing games with me? "

"No games," she told him as he chose a spot off the fire road, in a LITTLE copse of pines, and drove carefully onto it. "The house is nearby. If you follow the fire road for a half mile, and then veer off to the right, and cut through the pines, you'll end up in my father's precious flower bed."

Torch frowned and shut the motor off, then the lights. "You say that as if you're not overly fond of flowers."

"He spent' more time digging in that dirt than he did with me," she blurted before thinking better of it. "But he was a saint, all the same, right?"

She lowered her head.

"I loved him."

"But he didn't love you back, did he, Alex?"

A single tear fell. It dropped from her cheek to splash onto the back of Torch'. s hand, just as he reached out to cup her face. His thumb ran over her cheekbone, and he lifted her head to stare into her eyes.

"You should have been disappointed in him, Alexandra, not the other way around. You need to open your eyes and see that one of these days. He didn't deserve a daughter like you."

 
No, Alex thought. He'd deserved a much better one. Aloud, she said, "I thought I asked you not to talk about my father."

"I was talking about you."

She shook her head slowly, taking her gaze from his.

"I want to go home," she whispered. '-"I want to go up to the house."

And for the first time, she realized why. It wasn't Max. It was. that the place had become a haven in her mind. She'd run away from her entire life.

She'd been hiding there. And she wanted to hide again.

"We can't. Not yet. Do me a favor and be patient, okay?"

She'd try. But, God, she craved space. Room, lots of it, between Torch and her. It was killing her to be this close to him and pretend nothing had happened between them. Which was exactly what he expected, even silently demanded, that she do. She needed space. time alone, to come to grips with the very real possibility that her loyalty to her father had been sorely misplaced. She'd always known he wasn't a very nice person. Not a very honorable person.

Maybe she'd only loved him so much because she'd had no one else to love.

"Okay?" Torch repeated.

"Yeah. Okay." She turned in the seat, looking back into the living quarters of the RV, squinting in the darkness.

"So what do we do for light and heat?"

"Propane," Torch said.

"The dealer threw in a full tank. I just have to go outside and hook it up." He tilted his head. "Loan me my jacket and I'll do it fight now."

She'd been wearing his black leather for lack of anything else.

Chivalrous of him, and unexpected, but nice. She liked wearing his coat. It smelled of leather and of him, and it was almost as nice as being held in his arms.

She shrugged out of the coat and handed it to him. Torch put it on and went into the back, bending to ~ boards and emerging with a flashlight and an oversize pipe wrench.

"Where did you get that?"

"Pipe wrench came with the camper. I picked the flashlight up at that department store while you were playing hide-and-seek with the goon in the diner. I grabbed some extra clothes, too. In the drawer under the bunk. Some sweatshirts and heavy socks and an extra pair of jeans for each of us."

"That's good. Tell me there's a three-pound flannel nightgown in there, too."

"What do I look like, an idiot?" He tugged up the zipper of his jacket, flipped up the collar and opened the door while Alex was still feeling the rush of heat in her cheeks, and the surge of warmth his last comment had instigated. He paused in the doorway, swearing soffiy. "what is it?" she asked him.

He turned to send her a narrow-eyed stare.

"It's really coming down out there. The road must be damned near impassable by now."

"Oh."

"No way in hell we'll get back to the lawyer's house tonight."

"It's just as well," she said.

"Maybe by the time the roads are cleared, the McManuses will be back."

 
"And maybe you planned it that way?"

She only shrugged.

"Maybe I dido" ~ He sighed, shook his head. '"Tomorrow, Alex. The second the roads are cleared. And I don't care if I have to break in with the whole ~lamn town watching." With that he walked out the door, closing it behind him.

So this was it, at least for tonight. And they were together in even closer quarters than they'd been in the motel. How was she ever going to sleep? Even in bunk beds, she'd be far too close to him. Far, far too close.

Torch came back inside and stood in the doorway brushing snow from his shoulders. She went to him automatically, her hands dusting the white stuff from his chest and his upper arms. She reached for his dark hair, ruffling it with her fingers to shake the snow away. And then she stopped. His hair was soft and damp, and her fingers were buried' in it. She stood very close to him, too close, maybe, and when she looked up, he was staring right down into her eyes.

He laid his hands gently over hers, still buried in his hair, and he lifted them away. Alex blinked, turning abruptly. "Do we have matches?"

"Top drawer," he said, and she thought his voice was the slightest bit hoarse.

Of course it was, he'd just been out in the cold.

She found the matches.

"Better get the pilots lit. Shine the light, will you?"

He did, and Alex lit the p'dots of the little gas lamps on the walls, and then turned the knobs. In seconds the lamps glowed, washing the camper in liquid gold. It did erotic things to a man's skin, that amber light. It did even more disturbing things to his eyes. She lit the pilot on the small two-burner range next, then handed the matches to Torch. "You can do the heat. I haven't got a clue."

He uodded, took them from her and fiddled around in the little closet next to the cubby-size bathroom. The place was toasty a few minutes after he emerged.

Torch shrugged off his coat and sat down at the table. So now what?

Alex wondered. She poked around in the cupboards to see what he'd bought by way of food, finally set-fling on a can of beef stew and some instant hot cocoa. She located a can opener, some bottled water and a pair of small pots. Seemed Torch had thought of everything.

"You, urn, you don't have to go back there with me tomorrow," she said at last, unsure whether she'd be treading on forbidden ground to broach the subject that had been on her mind since they'd left Jim's house.

"I'll go alone; get the papers and bring them back here."

 
"Sure you will. " Or maybe you'll decide to take off for parts unknown with them. "

She met his eyes, shaking her head slowly as she sank into the seat across from him.

"I won't do that."

"You'd do just about anything to protect your father's good name, Alex.