"You don"t think someone could set up scenarios that prompted interaction?"
"She didn"t initiate it. I went to her with those racc.o.o.ns." Then he realized what Tia meant. If she"d set that up-no, too complicated. She couldn"t have known Piper would bring it to his attention. Whatever had developed, it happened after he initiated contact. He was the one who"d kept calling, kept asking for a.s.sistance. He was the one who had made it personal. But she"d taken it too far.
"You talked to her, Tia. Is she angry enough to hurt you?"
"Me? I was worried about you."
He brought his palm to her cheek. "You should know by now, I"m indestructible. So answer my question."
"She didn"t seem angry as much as sad-a deep, soul-weary sad. Like she regretted ..."
"What she did?"
Tia pressed her cheek into his hand. "Or might do."
He tipped her face up. "Is she a danger to herself or someone else?"
"I don"t know, Jonah. I haven"t had clinical experience. I talk to people on a prayer line. I don"t know what crazy looks like."
The bell over the door rang. "You"re not really closing, are you?"
She drew back. He brought his hand to his side. Tia turned to a small, middle-aged man.
"Your candles are my wife"s favorite thing. Without you, what will I give her?"
"Mort." Tia turned with a smile that sent a spear to Jonah"s heart.
For nine years, in countless ways she had impacted people"s lives, and he hadn"t been part of it. He watched her now, treating a customer like an old friend-and maybe he was. The spear sank deeper. She had college degrees, a prayer line, a thriving business, and more people than she realized who appreciated her. If something happened to her ...
No way. He"d spend the rest of his life-he expelled his breath. Yeah-the rest of his life taking care of her.
She sent Mort out the door with a box full of candles.
Jonah took her hands. "I want to marry you."
Her lips parted. Her eyes kindled, but with what, he couldn"t tell.
"We lost the last nine years. I can"t get that back, but I want to be the guy who knows what his wife loves-and gives it to her."
"Jonah."
"Remember the first time I saw you?"
"On the playground?"
"I was on the slide. You were standing there, so tiny, your hair like a dark flame, your eyes looking right through me."
"Yours were black and blue."
"I looked down at you, and it was like the earth shifted."
Tears welled up in her eyes. "But you chose Reba."
He pressed her knuckles against his mouth, then tucked both hands beneath his chin. "I"m not calling that insignificant. For whatever reason, that"s there and I can"t change it. But you"re the one who"s always been inside me."
A tear broke free and slid down her cheek. She was shaking her head when his pager went off. He checked it and frowned. "I have to go." He raised and searched her face. "Dinner tonight. Seven thirty?"
"You"re asking me out?"
He bent and kissed her lips. "It"s time we had our first date." He left her with the retort still trapped in her mouth.
Liz lifted the pups into her lap, cuddling and murmuring as she administered the antirejection drugs to suppress their immune systems. Everything would be better. They"d been so young when she started patterning. There would be no emotional struggle, no false need for distance. They"d never known distance.
"Lizzie, are you sure?"
"This time will be different." She turned and studied Lucy, misshapen, pale. So small and fragile. "For you, Lucy."
Tears streamed down Lucy"s wan face. "It"s the only way?"
"I have to be sure."
Gulping, Lucy nodded. "I"m here. I"ll help."
Jonah strode into the conference room. "What do we have?"
Moser rose and addressed the wall where the case was diagramed. "We got Sean Bolton peddling at the school, released on bond, did not give up Caldwell, Greggor, or his muscle, Malcolm. Must have got the message that talking wasn"t healthy."
Jonah felt gratified that none of his officers snickered. He glanced at Sue, every bit as intent on Moser"s briefing as the others. Though he had initially put her on leave, her partic.i.p.ation in this portion of the investigation had merit, for her and the case.
"Caldwell"s been a choirboy. Knows he"s on Candid Camera." Candid Camera."
"Candid what?" Newly rocked his chair back.
"Before all your reality TV," Moser explained, "Candid Camera "Candid Camera caught people kissing their elbows and such." caught people kissing their elbows and such."
As expected both Beatty and Newly gave it a try.
"Kids?" Moser snapped his fingers. "If I may have your attention."
As Moser laid out the investigation to date, Jonah forced himself to focus. The pieces seemed to be all there. If only they could put them together, they would get these guys. Jonah thought of Sam, and his blood heated once more. But thoughts of Liz and the pups and Tia kept pressing in.
When the briefing ended and the officers had dispersed, he took Moser aside. "I need to throw something at you."
"Okay."
"It goes back to the racc.o.o.ns." He gave Moser a chance to catch up, then laid out his suspicions.
"Liz Rainer? The vet?" Moser"s face reflected his own doubts. "What"s the evidence?"
He told him what little he had.
Moser shook his head. "You know Judge Walthrup. You don"t have physical evidence? Even one eyewitness? No way."
"The st.i.tches match. At least the parts that weren"t torn out."
Moser gave him a stare.
"I looked close while you were losing your lunch. I don"t think I"m wrong."
"But you can"t prove it. And, Jonah. I"ve seen her with Marlene. Not getting that sense at all."
He nodded. That was why they needed proof.
Back in his office, he called Jay, who was either practicing silence again or too busy to answer. He"d have to trust Enola to give Scout what care the pup needed. Frustrated, he dove into the work that couldn"t wait. Ruth brought him coffee that he drank without tasting. Clearing his desk of administrative backlog would eliminate the mental clutter of undone tasks. And sometimes, in the mundane, he found clarity.
She had been forced into this date, but Piper took her agreements seriously. She dressed nicely in white jeans, a fitted green tee, and a gray sweater that tied around the waist. She applied mascara and curled her hair. She knew how to play fair.
Bob could have made trouble for Miles and hadn"t. For this she was thankful. If he wanted to know how she could befriend someone so weird, she would explain. She"d also make him understand it would be only one date.
He picked her up in a Camaro convertible she had to admit was smokin". She had a feeling the drive would leave the rest of the date in the dust.
"Here, put this on." Bob reached into the backseat for a black leather jacket. "We"ll take a little spin, and the wind can get cold."
"Thanks." That was thoughtful but probably part of the schmooze. The jacket smelled like his cologne.
He sped up the mountain highway, cornering and maneuvering like a Grand Prix driver. "Tell me you don"t like this beauty." His hair blew free of its style, and he grinned.
"I like it fine." She leaned her head against the rest and let the ride take her.
The curl had been blown out of her hair by the time they reached the restaurant, and she felt a little dizzy getting out, like after a roller coaster. But he was a good driver and, well, a Camaro? "Nice ride, Bob."
He flashed his perfect teeth, flicked out a comb, and unfortunately reset his do. "You probably won"t need that inside."
He locked the leather coat in the trunk and ushered her into Redford"s fanciest restaurant in the lobby of the Tarleton Hotel. He wore a blue dress shirt, open at the collar, and cream-colored Dockers. The flat gold chain around his neck was a half inch of shimmer, and his loafers probably cost more than all her shoes together. If she wanted money, he"d be a catch.
When the server came, Bob eased back in his chair. "What are you drinking, peach?"
She told the server, "Chardonnay, please." She could nurse that awhile.
Flushing, the server said, "ID?"
She gave Bob an I told you I told you look but showed a valid ID. look but showed a valid ID.
"Thanks. I have to ask."
"No problem." She flashed him a smile.
Bob ordered a martini, then studied her appreciatively. "They"ll probably card you until you"re thirty."
"Probably." She slipped her hair behind her shoulder.
"You are a puzzle." He stared like a cat at a fishbowl. "Now tell me, cutie, why on earth do you give that big nut a second thought?"
Right there was the reason this test drive would not end in a sale.
Twenty-Seven.
Union gives strength.-AESOP, "THE BUNDLE OF STICKS"
When Jonah came for her in a black crew-neck shirt and khakis, his hair still damp and a little tousled, Tia almost couldn"t walk through the door. How had she functioned nine years with him in the same town?
He took in her filmy layered skirt, tights and boots, her soft sweater. "You look great." The kiss he brushed where her jaw met her neck sent a jolt straight through her. "Smell nice too. Like your candles."
"I was cleaning out scents." True, but she hadn"t needed to tell him that. "Is Scout-"
"He"s alive."
"Liz?"
"Not enough for a warrant." His frustration formed a piece of common ground.
She had felt more pity than anger, but if Liz hurt a puppy to punish them ... "How will you know unless she hurts something else? Do you have to wait until something or someone else-"
"I have no proof. All I can do is put together the pieces I get."
The whole thing left her p.r.i.c.kly and agitated. Or was that Jonah? "Can"t you make her tell you?"
"I"d need grounds to interrogate."
"But you could talk to her, draw her out. Let her think-"
"What? I want her?" His face darkened. "Get her all warmed up, then ask if she attacked my pup?"
She shook her head. "I hate not knowing. What if she isn"t isn"t guilty?" guilty?"
"That"s why we have due process. Now can we have dinner?" He slipped a hand behind her back and eased her out the door.
As a cop, he might be able to shift gears like that, but she couldn"t shake the uneasy thoughts as they drove the short distance to the Tarleton Restaurant. "Really?" She hadn"t eaten there since Reba"s sixteenth birthday, and her uneasiness grew.
"I go all out on the first date." He parked beneath an old-fashioned gas lantern. "It"s burgers and fries after that."
"So many first dates, you developed a strategy?" She climbed out, gathering her skirt in the wind.