He couldn't wait to see her. Jeff knew he was taking a chance leaving the office when Fran was so insistent that he stay. But he'd slipped out, antsy to get home. To get to Deanna. The office was in an uproar, he thought. No one could work, and he could always claim to have needed to be alone. Nobody would blame him.
He poured a glass of milk, arranged fancy tea cookies on a china plate and put them all on a tray with another single rose.
She'd be rested now, he was certain. She'd be feeling better, more at home. And soon, very soon, she would see how well he could care for her.
Finn waited at the top of the stairs. He heard Jeff whistling and the sound of dishes ringing together. He heard the footsteps, a quiet click, followed moments later by another.
Then he heard nothing at all.
Where did the bastard go? he wondered. Moving quietly, he descended the stairs. He slipped like a shadow from room to room. By the time he reached the kitchen, he was baffled. He saw the bakery box of cookies, caught the candy scent of icing. But the man had vanished like smoke.
"You look wonderful." Secure in the soundproofed room, Jeff smiled shyly at Deanna. "Do you like the clothes?"
"They're very nice." She willed herself to smile back. "I took a shower. I can't believe you went to all the trouble to pick out all my favorite brands."
"You saw the towels? I had them monogrammed with your initials."
"I know." Her stomach rolled. "It was very sweet of you, Jeff. Cookies?"
"They're the ones you like best." "Yes, they are." Watching him, she walked over, fighting not to grit her teeth. She kept her eyes on his as she chose a cookie, bit in delicately. "Wonderful." She saw his gaze lower to her mouth as she licked at a crumb. "You were gone a long time."
"I came back as soon as I could. I'm going to turn in my resignation next week. I have plenty of money put away, and my uncle invested. I won't have to leave you again."
"It's lonely here. By myself." She sat on the edge of the bed. "You'll stay with me now, won't you?"
"As long as you want."
"Sit with me." In a subtle invitation, she touched the bed beside her. "I think if you explain things to me now, I'd be ready to understand."
His hands trembled as he set the tray down. "You're not angry?"
"No. I'm still a little scared. It frightens me to be locked in here."
"I'm sorry." He eased down beside her, careful to keep an inch of space between them. "One day it'll be different."
"Jeff." She made contact by laying her hand over his. "Why did you decide to do this? How did you know this was the time?" "I knew it had to be soon, before the wedding. When I came in yesterday and saw you in your wedding dress — I couldn't wait any longer. It was like a sign. You were so beautiful, Dee."
"But it was a terrible risk. Tim was downstairs waiting."
"It was me. I was waiting. I used his hat and his coat, the sunglasses. I had to get Tim out of the way."
"How?" When he looked down, staring at their joined hands, her heart dropped. "Jeff. Is Tim dead?"
"I didn't do it the way I did the others." Eager, anxious, he looked back at her, his eyes as hopeful as a child's. "I wouldn't have done that. Tim didn't hurt you. But I had to get him out of the way, and fast. I liked him, too, really. So I was real quick. He didn't suffer. I put him in the trunk of the car after — and then when I'd brought you here, I drove the car to a parking lot downtown. I left it there and I came home. To be with you." His face crumbled when she turned hers away. "You've got to understand, Deanna."
"I'm trying to." Oh, God. Tim.
"You haven't hurt Finn?"
"I promised I wouldn't. He's had you all this time, and I've been waiting."
"I know. I know." Instinctively she soothed. "They're looking for me, aren't they?"
"They won't find you."
"But they're looking."
"Yes!" His voice rose as he pushed off the bed. Everything had gone perfectly up till now, he reminded himself. Perfectly. But he felt as though he were standing on the edge of a cliff, and couldn't see the bottom. "And they'll look and look. And then they'll stop. And nobody will bother us. Nobody."
"It's all right." She rose, too, though her legs trembled. "You know how curious I am about everything. Always asking questions."
"You won't miss being on television, Dee." He used his sleeve to wipe a tear away. "I'm your best audience. I could listen to you for hours and hours. I do. But now I won't have to watch a tape. Now it can be real."
"You want it to be real, don't you?" "More than anything."
Her heart slammed against her ribs as she reached out to stroke his cheek. "And you want me."
"You're all I've ever wanted." His face twitched under her palm. "All these years, you're all I've wanted. I've never been with another woman. Not like Pike. Not like Riley. I was waiting for you."
She wished she could harden her heart, but part of her wept for him. "You want to touch me." She steeled herself and lifted his hand, placed it on her breast. "Like this."
"You're soft. So soft." There was something pathetic and terrifying about the way his hand shook against her, even as his fingers moved to caress.
"If I let you touch me, the way you want, will you let me go outside?"
He jerked back as though she'd burned him. Bitter betrayal welled in his throat. "You're trying to trick me."
"No, Jeff." It was all right for her desperation to show, she told herself. Let him see her weakness. "I don't like being closed in. It frightens me. I only want to go outside for a few minutes, get some air. You want me to be happy, don't you?"
"It's going to take time." His mouth set in a stubborn line. "You're not ready."
"You know how I have to keep busy, Jeff." She stepped toward him, careful to keep her eyes fixed on his. When she slid her arms up his chest, his eyes clouded, darkened. "Sitting here like this, hour after hour, is upsetting me. I know how much you've done for me." And she felt the outline of the syringe in his pocket. "I know you want us to be together."
"We are together." He brought his unsteady hand back to her breast. When she didn't flinch, he smiled. "We'll always be together."
He lowered his head to kiss her. She slipped the needle from his pocket.
"Deanna," he murmured.
Her sharp indrawn breath betrayed her. She twisted, fighting to plunge the needle into him as they grappled to the floor.
Searching for Jeff finally brought Finn back to the bookcase. He had seen what he and Jenner had missed on their first search. The dimensions, he thought, as the spit in his mouth dried to dust. The dimensions were wrong. The bookcase couldn't be an end wall. Couldn't be.
She was in there, he realized. Deanna was in there. And she wasn't alone. He had one panicked notion of hurling himself bodily against the shelves. His body quivered with the effort of holding back. It wasn't the way. God knew what
Jeff would do to her in the time it took him to break through.
Struggling for calm, he began to search methodically for a mechanism.
She was losing. The hypo squirted out of her fingers when he rolled over her. She screamed as her head rapped hard against the floor. Though her vision blurred, she could see him above her, his face distorted, his tears running. And she knew he could kill. Not only others, but her.
"You lied," he cried out in an agony of despair. "You lied. I have to punish you. I have to." And sobbing, he closed his hands around her throat.
She used her nails to rake his face. The blood surged to the surface and ran like his tears. When he howled in pain, she squirmed free. Her fingers brushed over the syringe as he snagged her ankle.