“I live alone. So I thought I’d stay here at the inn for the duration.”
Dana scooped ice, then eyed Paige. “But you aren’t a blonde.”
“Neither was-is-Cheryl Bayne. And then there’s the body they found today.”
Wary, Dana said, “I know they found one. Been dead a while, I heard.”
“Yeah.” Paige scooped ice into her bucket and straightened, adding, “My sources claim she was brunette.”
“Brunette.”
“Yeah.”
“Did your source also say she was… tortured?”
“Mangled.”
“The difference being?”
Paige hesitated, then said, “Tortured means she was alive when it happened. Mangled means she was dead.”
“Oh, shit.”
“I’ve got a bottle of scotch in my room. Want some?”
Dana didn’t hesitate. “Bet your ass I do.”
Rafe didn’t push his luck by asking too many questions. He knew Isabel had been exhausted even before the evening began, and by the time she’d confided the unspeakable tragedies in her life, it was obvious what she needed more than anything was sleep and plenty of it.
So he took her back to the inn, some instinct urging him to maintain the physical contact between them as much as possible. He was still holding her hand when they walked up the steps to the wide, old-fashioned porch.
Absently, she said, “This place couldn’t decide what it wanted to be when it grew up-a bed and breakfast or a hotel. I’ve never seen a hybrid quite like it.”
“Rocking chairs on the front porch, but no central dining room,” he agreed. “Strange. But nobody has to share a bathroom, and there’s cable.”
Isabel smiled faintly, looking at him in the yellow glow of the front porch lights. “I think Hollis and I, and a few of the news- people, are the only guests.”
“ Hastings was never a favored tourist destination, just a little town on the way to Columbia. Nothing much to see. But if we manage to stop this guy here, before he slips away again, I have a feeling it’ll put us on the map. For all the wrong reasons, unfortunately.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Isabel… that first evil face you saw. He killed himself, didn’t he? After he thought he’d killed you.”
She nodded. “Left that note I mentioned earlier, explaining what he’d done and why. Then blew his brains out. They found his body draped across my bed. How did you know?”
“Because you never went after him. Once you healed and before your friend was killed, if he hadn’t already been dead, you would have gone looking for him.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybe about it. You would have.”
Her smile went a little crooked. “You’re probably right. And I probably would have gotten myself killed doing it. Anger and vengeance as motives never offer a happy ending. So it’s all for the best that he did the job for me, that evil is as self-destructive as it is destructive. Tips the scale a bit toward the good guys on those rare occasions when evil consumes itself with little or no help from us.”
“That balance thing.”
“Yeah. That balance thing.” She looked down at their clasped hands. “Rafe… what happened to me is something I recovered from, eventually. Physically, even psychologically. I’ve had a few relationships in recent years. Not very successful ones, but that’s probably due as much to my dedication to my job as to any lingering… emotional scars. Or maybe it’s the voices that men along the way haven’t been able to deal with. I do come with lots of baggage.”
“You don’t want me to be afraid to touch you.”
“Stop being so perceptive. It’s unnerving.”
Rafe smiled. “The only thing I’m afraid of, Isabel, is that you still don’t know what it is you want. From me. For yourself. And until you do, taking the wrong step could be the worst possible choice. For the record, I don’t think either of us is the type to consider a quick roll in the hay as a great way to de-stress.”
“No.”
“And neither one of us is a kid. At our age, we should know what we want-or, at least, know what we’re risking by getting involved with each other.”
Isabel eyed him, not without a certain humor. “I’ve always been impulsive as hell. Jump, then look for a place to land. Obviously, you look before you jump.”
“They do say opposites attract.”
“They certainly do.” She sighed. “You’re right, I don’t know what I want. And I have been feeling rattled all day because of the changes in my abilities. Not the best time to make this sort of decision, I guess.”
“No. But for what it’s worth…” He leaned over and kissed her, his free hand lifting to the side of her neck, his thumb stroking her cheek. There was nothing especially gentle in the action, nothing in the least tentative; he wanted her, and left her in no doubt of that fact.
When she could, Isabel said, “Okay, that wasn’t fair.”
Rafe grinned at her and stepped back, finally releasing her hand. “See you tomorrow at the office, Isabel.”
“Bastard.”
“Night-night. Sleep tight.”
“If you say don’t let the bedbugs bite, I’ll shoot you.”
Rafe chuckled and turned away.
She stood there on the porch and gazed after him until he returned to his Jeep, then shook her head and went into the inn’s lobby, still smiling.
“Good evening, Agent Adams,” the desk clerk said cheerily.
Isabel glanced back over her shoulder at the mostly glass front door and very well-lighted front porch, then at the clerk’s face. She looked like the soul of discretion.
Which undoubtedly meant she was already making a mental list of people to call with the latest tidbit of gossip.
Sighing, Isabel said, “Good evening, Patty.”
“We provide a continental breakfast on Sunday morning, Agent Adams. From eight to eleven. In case you and your partner didn’t know that.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her. Have a nice night, Patty.”
“You, too, Agent Adams.” She sounded consoling, sympathetic, obviously since Isabel was going to bed alone.
Isabel escaped up the stairs, hoping that glass front door was, at the very least, soundproofed. She stopped by Hollis’s room and knocked softly, reasonably sure her partner was still up but not sure she wanted company.
But Hollis opened the door immediately, saying, “I actually ordered a pizza a couple of hours ago. And ate some of it. Does that mean I’m taking a step closer to becoming accustomed to dead bodies?”
“It means your own body is healthy and needs sustenance, mostly,” Isabel replied, stepping into the room. “But, yeah, it’s a good sign you can handle the more gross aspects of the job. I’d put it in the plus column.”
“Good. I need more checks in the plus column. I was beginning to feel horribly inadequate.” Hollis invited her in with a gesture, adding, “I have an extra Pepsi here. Or did you get enough caffeine with dinner?”
“Enough. Plus, I really need a good night’s sleep.” Isabel frowned slightly, but said, “The plan is to meet up at the station by nine-thirty. Patty, downstairs, says the inn offers a continental breakfast on Sunday morning. We can go down between eight and eight-thirty, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure.” Hollis studied her thoughtfully as she went to sit on her bed beside a closed pizza box. “You look sort of… disconcerted. Rafe?”
“He’s a little more complicated than I bargained for,” Isabel admitted, wandering around the small bedroom somewhat restlessly. “Even the clairvoyant stuff I picked up didn’t warn me about that. Dammit.”
“You told him?”
“My horror story? Yeah.”
“And?”
“He… handled it really well. Didn’t freak out, didn’t act like I was suddenly a leper. Compassionate and understanding and very discerning.” She frowned again and added in a dissatisfied tone, “Also a cautious man.”
Hollis grinned. “Wasn’t ready to just jump into bed, huh?”
“Now, what makes you think-”