Absolutely, Positively (12 page)

“And don’t think I’ve forgiven you for dumping him on me!” she called, her voice rising above the crashing waves.

She wasn’t fooling me for a second. She already adored that dog. I went back inside, my teeth chattering.

I walked over to the hearth, held my hands out to the flames. My palms warmed. Sean came up behind me, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled my hair aside so he could have free access to my neck. He kissed and nuzzled.

In between he said, “Did that conversation outside have anything to do with what you saw earlier when you held my hand?”

I stiffened, pulled away. “No.”

“What did you see, Lucy?”

I fluffed a pillow and decided now might be a good time to check for loose change in between the cushions. “I saw Thoreau with Rourke.”

“What else did you see?”

Shit. Only one quarter and lots of crumbs. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re a lousy liar.”

Huh. Twice I’d heard that today. I gave up looking for loose change—and made a mental note to vacuum in between those cushions more. “Lying? Me? Ha!”

He dared to smile. As if that dimple of his could distract me enough to tell him the truth.

He knew me too well.

“All right,” I said, about to spill my guts. “It was you and me and we were … and well—” Damn, this was harder than I thought.

“And?”

My cell phone rang.

“Let it go,” he said.

I jumped for it. “It may be important! Really important. Life-or-death important.”

He rolled his eyes as I answered.

“Talk me off the ledge,” Mum said.

“What ledge?” To Sean I whispered, “See? Life or death.”

“The cheesecake ledge.”

Or maybe not. “Is this about the diet?”

Sean went into the bedroom, lay flat on the floor, and lifted the bed skirt. A loud hiss filled the air.

“Try cheese,” I told Sean.

“Are you talking about cheese to me?” Mum said. “I’m dying!”

“Not of the cake variety. The cheese is for Grendel.”

“Oh. Okay. Like that makes it all right.”

“You’re cranky.”

“I’m starving.”

“You don’t need to diet. You’re perfect the way you are.”

“Yes, I do. You’ve seen those girls your father usually goes for. All size minus zeros, jutting cheek- and hip bones. I couldn’t find my hip bone if I had a map with a big X on it and a shovel.”

“Mum.” I dropped into my favorite chair.

“Lucy.”

“Eat the cheesecake.”

“What kind of help are you?”

“Dad obviously likes you as is.”

“As is? Like I’m a used car without a warranty?”

My call-waiting beeped. Thank God. “Gotta go, Mum.”

“Wait! What about the cheesecake?”

“One little tiny bite won’t hurt. Just do some extra cardio tomorrow.”

“Extra cardio? Brilliant! Smooches.”

I clicked over to the other call. “Lucy Valentine.”

“It’s Meaghan,” she said. “I just got your message. I can’t believe Tristan is wanted by the FBI! What do they think he did?”

Interesting wording. She wasn’t ready to believe the worst of him. Yet. “Technically not wanted. Just a person of interest at this point.” I explained about the theft ring.

“Wow.”

“What I need to know from you is how you want us to proceed. Or if you want us to at all.”

The fridge opened, closed. I heard the crinkle of a cellophane wrapper. There was a long stretch of silence over the phone line. I didn’t want to tell Meaghan we had met with Tristan, spoken with him. Not yet. Not until she knew whether she wanted to continue with the case. “Meaghan?”

“It’s a lot to take in.”

“I know. Why don’t you sleep on it? It’s a big decision.”

“I’ll call you in the morning,” she said softly.

I hung up. Sean was rinsing his hand. “Grendel took the cheese, and gave me a nice thank-you.” A long scratch stretched across his wrist.

I grabbed a paper towel, wadded it up, and dampened it. Carefully I lifted Sean’s wrist and dabbed at the wound.

“And he still won’t come out from under the bed. Was that Meaghan?”

“She’s going to call with a decision in the morning.”

I lifted his arm to my mouth, kissed it. “Better?”

His eyes sparkled. “I’m not sure. Try again.”

I gently kissed his forearm again, working my way up to the tender spot on the underside of his elbow. “Now?”

“My arm’s okay, but I have this other ache.…”

“Oh? I’m feeling a bit achy myself.”

“We’ll just have to see what we can do about that.” He pulled in, kissed me hungrily as his hands slipped under my shirt, skimmed my skin. The heat from his palms seeped in, infusing my blood with a heat so blistering I wanted to strip off my clothes.

Sean must have read my mind. He unbuttoned my blazer, let it slide to the floor. His fingers grabbed the hem of my sweater, pulled it over my head.

My hands threaded through his hair as I kissed him with blind passion. It was always like this with us—a desperate desire, as though we were never going to let each other go. As though we knew that at any moment what we had could be gone.

His hands went to the buttons of my shirt. “Just how many layers do you have on, Ms. Valentine?”

“Only two more. Well, three if you count the bra.”

He groaned. “You’re killing me.”

I smiled against his lips. “It’s winter. It’s cold. I need layers.”

The buttons were finally free and he slid my shirt down my arms. “Funny,” he said as he lifted my camisole. “You don’t feel cold.”

I tugged his shirt over his head, ran my hands down his chest until they stopped on the button of his jeans. With a twist, I had it undone. “Imagine that.”

He was reaching for the hook on my bra when my phone rang my tinny version of the
Hawaii Five-O
theme song.

Sean’s hand stilled. “It’s late.”

I glanced at the ringing phone. “Only bad news comes this late.”

I thought of all the cases I’d helped Aiden with. The late-night calls usually meant a fresh case, someone recently reported missing. Time was of the essence. There was a three-hour window crucial to an abduction.

“Go on,” Sean said, handing me the phone.

I let out a breath, stared longingly at my hand, still on the zipper of his pants. I reached for the phone.

“Sorry, Lucy,” Aiden said when I answered. “I know it’s late.”

“A new case?” I was suddenly chilled, though it had nothing to do with my lack of clothing.

“In a way. I just got a call from Agent Thomas.”

An icy finger of dread slid down my spine. I shivered. “And?”

“He wanted to let us know … I’m sorry to tell you this, but Anthony Spero is dead.… And there’s a massive manhunt on for Tristan Rourke.”

14

For the three hours I was actually in bed, I hadn’t been able to sleep. I just lay there, wide awake, staring at the shadows shifting along the ceiling. I was afraid to move, to jar Sean. I was afraid of what the day would bring. How was I going to break the news to Meaghan that Tristan was wanted for murder? I was just … afraid.

I didn’t like it. Not a single bit. Yet I hadn’t figured out how to change it.

For years I had busied myself with dead-end jobs, numbly going about my days, feeling I couldn’t use my psychic abilities for anything other than finding the odd lost object. A book, a cell phone, car keys. Nothing
important.
I’d spent almost ten years flitting from one job to another as a paralegal, a dog walker, a day-care worker. As hard as I tried, nothing made me feel like I was making any difference with my life.

But when I found that lost boy in Wompatuck, utilizing my abilities in an altogether new way, I realized I’d held the key to my happiness all along. Using my ESP, I had the power to help other people, to locate loved ones, to find closure. It was a calling, truly a gift. One I treasured.

Why, then, did I suddenly feel like going back to work as a telemarketer? Back to the days when missing-person cases were news bites, when evil was something on the fringe of someone else’s life, never smack-dab in the middle of mine.

On days like today, I had to remember the sheer joy I received from reuniting long-lost loves, from finding a missing child. Even the simple pleasure of locating a lost ring for my mum.

And I would do well to remember I’d hated telemarketing. That job had lasted less than three hours.

By seven, I was up and dressed. I fed some Cheerios to Odysseus, who immediately stuffed them in his cheeks and went back to his burrow.

I glanced at Sean, who was sleeping on his side, a fistful of blankets twisted under his arm. He was a restless sleeper, often tossing and turning fitfully in the night, his dreams taking him places I suspected I’d never been.

What startled me most was that before now it hadn’t mattered. Whatever he’d been through had shaped him into the man he was today. But now I longed to know more of him. I wanted to know all those little secrets, his dreams, even his nightmares. It only seemed fair since he knew mine.

I tapped my leg to get Thoreau’s attention. He bounded to the floor. Not to be outdone, Grendel raced him to the kitchen. I fed them both, setting their bowls a good two feet apart (Grendel had been known to distract Thoreau to steal his food), and poured myself a cup of coffee. It was endlessly amusing to watch them eat, with Grendel’s method of dragging his kibble from his bowl to pounce on it and Thoreau inhaling rather than eating so Grendel didn’t steal his breakfast.

A soft knock sounded from the front door. Thoreau yipped and bounced on all four paws as if he were on a trampoline.

“You’re ferocious,” I said to him as I peeked out the window before opening the door.

“I saw your light on while I was walking the beast,” Dovie said. Rufus sat peacefully at her heel.

“Vicious.” If Rufus and Thoreau tag-teamed, they might be able to take down a Slim Jim.

“I have a huge breakfast cooking up at the house. Come up. Marisol’s here.”

I brightened. “She is?”

“Came to see the pup.”

Rufus was hardly a pup, though sometimes he still acted like one. “Sean’s still sleeping.”

“Leave him a note.”

“I haven’t showered yet.”

“We’re scandalized,” Dovie drawled. Slyly she added, “The waffles are already on the table.”

My stomach ached and I wasn’t very hungry, but waffles were my favorite and Dovie had made the effort to come down here. “You make a tempting offer.”

She winked and strode off the porch. “See you in a couple of minutes.”

I let Thoreau out to do his thing, rinsed my mug, and left a note for Sean on the counter next to the coffeepot.

The sun was barely breaking the horizon as I trudged through the snow and carefully navigated Dovie’s back steps. I could smell bacon from the deck. I stamped the snow from my boots and looked down toward my cottage, nestled at the bottom of the lane, the bluffs and a fifty-foot drop on one side, a small garden and woods on the other. It was an idyllic little house, postcard perfect. I felt such strong affection that it was
my
home.

I turned to go into Dovie’s, and from the corner of my eye I caught a flash of movement in the trees. Startled, I squinted. I couldn’t see anything, anyone, yet there was a feeling deep in my stomach.

The back door swung open. “Lucy!”

I nearly fell over the railing. Pressing my hand to my pounding heart, I asked Preston, “Why not scare me to death?”

“It would be a great story. What are you looking at?”

“Do you see anything in the woods?”

The woods were still rimmed in dusky darkness, the pines a deep dark green, the scruff along the forest floor a dense, dark ominous cloak.

Preston squinted. “Trees?”

“You’re funny.” I eyed the woods. All was still. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Dovie invited me for breakfast. There’s waffles.” Her nose wrinkled. “You haven’t showered yet?”

I brushed past her, leaving my paranoia behind. I was being overly sensitive was all. A perfectly normal response after what had happened last night. Anthony Spero had been walking from the parking lot of the hotel where Catherine had booked rooms to the front door when he’d been run over by a speeding car. He’d died on the way to the hospital from massive brain trauma. Boston PD had confiscated the hotel’s security footage and was looking for the car, but there was only one suspect.

And there was still no sign of Tristan Rourke.

In the kitchen, Dovie had the
South Shore Beacon
spread across the island. Marisol and Em were sitting at the breakfast table. Preston and I joined them. Em had brochures spread out in front of her.

Eye to eye with Rufus, Marisol engaged him in conversation. “I know you miss him,” she said, “but you need to eat.”

Rufus tipped his head.

“Even if you’re not very hungry,” she added.

He pawed his rubber chicken, which was lying at Marisol’s feet. She sighed and threw the chicken. Rufus galloped through the kitchen and down the hallway.

“I don’t know, Dovie. I think he may need to come into the clinic for some tests.”

Dovie took off her reading glasses. “You really think so? He seems fine other than the food.”

I eyed Em’s brochures. Palm trees and lots of beaches. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Hawaii,” Em said. “You were right, Lucy.”

“I was?”

“She was?” Preston echoed.

Em’s hair was pulled up and twisted into a sloppy bun. The look showed off her high cheekbones, long graceful neck. “I shouldn’t spend my whole break just sitting around, moping. I’m trading in my plane tickets to Paris and going somewhere warm and sunny. I think I’ll spend whole afternoons on a beach just … being.”

“Paris?” Preston asked. “You’re trading in Paris for Hawaii? Are you crazy?”

I shoved the plate of waffles toward her and glared. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“It’s okay, Lucy,” Em said. To Preston, she clarified, “Joseph and I were supposed to go to Paris for our honeymoon.”

“Oh.” Preston stared at her plate. She forked a huge piece of waffle and made a show of shoving it in her mouth. Her cheeks puffed out, reminding me of Odysseus. “Sorry,” she mumbled.