Darkness Exposed (4 page)

Jeannine shook with revulsion as she came back to the present. She didn’t have a better idea of who had done this to her, but at least she understood why she couldn’t remember the details of her death. She had been drugged.

She needed to let Mary know what she’d remembered and Bradley would have to know too. She shuddered again.

But first she needed to think things through before she shared them with anyone.

Bradley found himself heading to Mary’s house once again. He was going to fight for her! Well, at least I’m going to talk to her, he thought, and give that Scottish Casanova a thing or two to think about.

He turned right and headed down Empire Avenue toward Mary’s home. As he drove past the park a familiar figure caught his eye. He slowed the cruiser down and stared. It couldn’t be Mary out on the ice, could it?

He pulled onto the emergency lane that ran through the park and headed toward the rink. Damn, that is Mary!

Parking the cruiser on the side of the lane, he jumped out and started to jog towards the rink. His jog broke into a run when he saw her slip from the chain and race towards the edge of the rink.

“Wow, you skated to the rescue…,” she stopped midsentence once her eyes were fully open and she realized it was Bradley holding her in his arms. They were both lying on top of a four-foot pile of snow. “Bradley!”

He raised one eyebrow. “You were expecting someone else?”

“Um, no,” she stuttered. “I was…it was…a…surprise. That’s all.”

Bending her head away from him, she couldn’t believe how intensely guilty she felt being caught participating in outdoor activities. She had promised him she would take it easy all week-end.

Bradley could see the guilt spread across her face. Damn, that could only mean one thing. She had slept with Ian.

Ian and Andy brought their skates to a quick stop when they saw Bradley help Mary. Andy shook his head. “She’s in trouble now. Can a grown-up get grounded?”

Ian grinned. “Well, I guess we’re going to find out. Shall we wait and see if she needs our help?”

“Yeah, but let’s watch from this far away,” Andy replied. “I don’t want the police chief to get mad at me. It was my idea we go sledding.”

“That’s a cunning plan, Andy,” Ian agreed.

Bradley held Mary loosely in his arms. “Are you hurt?”

Shaking her head, she looked up into his eyes and smiled. “No, I’m not,” she said. “Thanks. How about you? Are you okay?”

“Well, that, and he was pretty hard to resist,” she said with a smile. “He really does know how to wheedle his way into my heart.”

Bradley’s heart sunk. He realized he had been hoping it had been a misunderstanding. That she hadn’t slept with Ian.

“But, Mary, after all you said about waiting,” he insisted.

“I know,” she admitted. “And I really had planned to wait. But, I really didn’t see the harm in it. Although, to be honest, I was really exhausted afterwards.”

“I know, right?” she replied. “I couldn’t believe it either. We’d just finish and then it was time to start up all over again. I mean it was fun; actually, it was pretty exhilarating. But all that work for just a few moments of excitement and, poof, then it’s over.”

“But, you enjoyed yourself?” he asked. “I know it was your first time.”

Mary was confused. “First time?” she asked. “Bradley, I grew up in Chicago. I’ve done it hundreds of time. But I haven’t really taken the time to do it lately.”

“But, I thought you said…”

“Thank heavens his mother called and interrupted us,” Mary continued. “They would have had to pull me home on the sled. And, let me tell you, only my pride prevented me from begging for a ride anyway.”

Bradley shook his head to clear it. “Mary, what are we talking about?” he asked.

“Sledding with Andy Brennan and his brothers on Saturday,” she said. “Right?”

Ian watched the conversation between the two and saw the confused look in Bradley’s eyes. What in the world were they discussing? He decided it was time to skate over and reintroduce himself.

“Oh, aye, we met last night whilst you were making up my bed,” he replied easily. “But he left in a hurry and I dinna get the chance to introduce myself.”

At first she was confused, then she thought back to the conversation they’d been having before Ian introduced himself. “That’s what we were just talking about, wasn’t it?”

She pushed herself out of his arms, stumbled, and would have fallen if Ian hadn’t caught her. But she was oblivious to all of it. She was only aware of the boiling anger and hurt raging through her body.

“You thought that I…that Ian and I…after all I said,” she said, closing her eyes a moment to try and control her feelings. “I had hoped you thought better of me.”

The single tear that slid down her cheek broke his heart. “Mary, I’m sorry,” he said. “But, what was I supposed to think when I come to your house in the middle of the night and a man answers your door.”

She quickly whipped back to face him. “I gave you my word that I would help you with Jeannine’s case,” she said bitterly. “And although you don’t find much value in it, my word is my bond.”

She skated across the rink, leaving Ian and Bradley alone facing each other.

Bradley turned to Ian. “So, who the hell are you?”

Ian shrugged. “I’m a professor from the University of Edinburg. I’m on a joint fellowship with the University of Chicago researching paranormal entities and criminalistic methodology.”

“Oh, aye, Gillian, my fiancee back home who’d rip my heart out of my chest and serve it with jelly if she’d thought I’d even looked at another woman,” he said with a sigh. “I miss her terrible.”

“Wow! So what did we do? I mean other than starting wars, destroying civilizations and being generally insensitive and smelly?”

Mary faced him, ready to fight, when a large tear escaped from her eye and ran down her cheek. She tried to sniff it back, but once the first one escaped, she had no control of the others.

“I really hate him,” she cried, sitting down on the couch and burying her head in her hands.

“Well, of course you do,” Mike said, floating over next to her. “What did the big, bad, police chief do this time?”

She looked up at him, her face tear-stained, and her nose runny. She grabbed a tissue from a nearby box and blew noisily. “How did you know it was Bradley?” she asked.

He looked at her for a moment and shook his head. “Tell me.”

“He thought I slept with Ian.”

“Well, where would he get an idea like that?” Mike asked, hoping she didn’t find out about his part in the charade the night before.

“Well, I thought he found out that I had gone sledding with the Brennan boys,” she said. “But when I tried to explain, he thought I was talking about sleeping with Ian.”

“No!” Mike asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Mary replied. “And I have no idea how he could have mistaken anything I said for having sex.”

Mike turned his head slightly away from Mary. “Mistaking sledding for sex? I don’t see the connection either,” he said, his voice slightly strained. “So, what did you say?”

“Well, first, I wanted him to understand that I didn’t purposely break my promise to him, But I was so bored, so I agreed to do it,” she said.

“Okay, you were bored,” Mike repeated, “Sounds innocent enough.”

Mary paused, trying to remember how the conversation had progressed and listing the items sequentially. “I told him that it was really exhilarating, but I was exhausted afterwards. I told him that if we had just done it for an hour or so, I would have been fine, but after three hours I could barely lift my legs.”

She turned to Mike. “You know, climbing that hill over and over again is exhausting!”

Mike just nodded.

“Then the last thing I said was that it was a lot of work for just a few moments of fun,” she added. “How could he think I was talking about anything else but sledding?”

Mike was silent. Mary looked over at him. He had turned fully away from her, his shoulders were shaking, but he was completely silent. “Mike?”