He sucked in a deep breath then held out his hands. She took them and he pulled her to her feet. “Promise me,” Isaac said softly, “that we’re in this together. We’ll fight this together.”
She pressed her lips to his. “I promise, Isaac. I love you.”
He took her back to the city that night. Sarah had told him she didn’t want to be near the island for a few days and with Molly, they’d agreed the Varsity should close for a week. Sarah had insisted on paying Molly more than double for her enforced vacation but Molly had waved her away.
“No way chuckles. This is family time. We need this.”
As the elevator ascended to Isaac’s penthouse, they kissed, tenderly, gently at first then as they walked into the living room, Sarah began to unbutton his shirt, her breath hitching in her throat. Isaac grabbed her hands to stop them, searching her eyes with his intense gaze.
“Are you sure…?”
Sarah stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips firmly against his. “Make me forget, Isaac, make this night about love, and happiness, and…”
She never finished the sentence. With a groan, Isaac pulled her into his arms, kissing her fiercely as he stripped her before sweeping her up into his arms and into the bedroom.
Finn looked up and out of the window. His mood worsened when he saw Caroline walk to their car and get in. Probably off to see one of her playthings. He really, really, didn’t care.
“Go ahead and leave me,” he muttered to himself. “I don’t want anything from you.”
He saw Caroline swing the car around and head across the island.
He closed his eyes. The last few weeks had taken its toll on him; worrying about Sarah, grief over George’s murder. Who the hell would do that to another human begin? And why for the love of god would anyone want to hurt Sarah? Sarah who never had an unkind word for anyone (except Caroline, Finn smirked to himself, but his wife’s constant antagonism made her fair game). Sarah, who had finally, finally found someone who was worthy of her love, her good heart. Finn liked Isaac Quinn very much. After Sarah had found George, he and Isaac had worked together to hold her together, get her out of there, home, safe. And now someone wanted to kill her. Why?
He pushed a thought away. It’s because she’s beautiful, dumbass. It’s a matter of possession, obsession, and madness. No. No. Something, a scintilla flashed across his mind.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out the newspaper story he’d ripped from the paper He looked at the girl in the picture. Young, pretty Asian American girl, stabbed to death in Seattle. No apparent motive. A thrill kill, the police said, a sex crime. Finn knew he was clutching at straws but he flicked on his computer and started a search. He’d done this so many times since Dan had disappeared, each time finding nothing on the guy but each time hoping there would be something. A lead. A clue to where he was and where he’d been. Had Molly been right? Had he come back? You’re reaching, buddy. Finn gritted his teeth and turned to the screen.
He started a nationwide search. Sexual assaults, harassment cases. Finn considered for a moment and added “murders.” He knew he was being unreasonable, that his dislike of Dan was mostly because of the way the man had treated Sarah, but he decided if he was going to search anyway.
Victim profile: Female, twenty to thirty-five, petite build, long brown hair, brown eyes. Asian-American.”
He set the search going and reached for the phone. Time to start at the beginning. Dan was from Louisiana – according to what he’d told Sarah, anyway. Tapping out the number, he waited.
“New Orleans Police Department, how may I direct your call?”
She felt his fingertips drifted gently down her spine and smiled. She opened her eyes to see Isaac beside her, propped up on his elbow, smiling down at her. She rolled onto her side, stretching her aching limbs before leaning over to kiss him.
“You okay?” His voice was so full of love that she luxuriated in it a second before answering.
“As long as you near, I always will be.”
He traced a line around her lips with his finger. “Sarah, love, can we talk about our future? Seriously? I’m trying to hold back from dragging you to city hall right this minute and marrying you…,” he grinned as he said that and she laughed, “…but I do want us to move forward now. I love you and I would like it if we lived together.”
Sarah smiled and burrowed into the crook of his arm. “I would like that too. Even after this short time, this feels right, doesn’t it?”
Isaac smiled. “Hell yes. So, geography. I obviously have to have a base here but I’m happy to live on the island; really, anywhere is fine.”
They talked for most of the morning without ever deciding anything concrete but that didn’t matter – between exhilarating love making and talking, it was nearly three o’clock before they got dressed.
“How about we go into the city, grab the late editions, and commandeer a table at this bar I know?”
“God, that sounds perfect.”
Isaac high-fived her. “Then, later, we’ll go find some dark alleys and…”
“You are such a dirty boy,” Sarah giggled as he caught her by the waist and spun her around. “Come on, Don Juan, let’s go drink ourselves silly.”
The call to New Orleans had yielded nothing but the guy on the phone had promised to ask around. Finn sat down heavily at his desk. Damn it. The screensaver on his computer had activated and he flicked the mouse in irritation. And saw the results of his search.
A sense of dread, of certainty, settled over him as he read down the screen. The breath froze in his lungs. San Francisco. Auburn. Wilmington. Colorado Springs. A dozen more places across the country. All of them looked like the dead girl in the city. Like Sarah. Finn could feel his heart beat pounding, the blood roaring in his ears. There was no proof, no logical reason to think Dan would have had anything to do with the killings, that he was any kind of criminal at all. But Finn stared at the crime scene photos of the dead girls. Almond shaped eyes, long dark hair, and luminous golden skin. But even that wasn’t the reason Finn felt his whole body weaken with shock. He’d seen this before, the horror, the savage way these women died. He’d seen it in the home of his good friend, George Madrigal.
Finn almost made it to the bathroom before he threw up.
Molly was exhausted by the time she’d herded the kids to bed. Mike, her ever reliable husband, had helped out but was now slumped into his armchair, the game on the t.v., but Mike was snoring gently. Molly smiled fondly and closed the door to the living room. For the first time in days, she had time to herself but all she could think of was sleeping. Every bone in her body ached. She got up to make herself hot chocolate and glanced out of the window, across the street to the silent Varsity.
“Shoot,” she said softly. One of the windows to the backroom was open – how the hell had they missed that. Molly, muttering to herself, pulled on her sneakers and headed out of the door.
At the Varsity, she quickly shut the offending window and turned to go back home when she heard it – or rather, felt it. A rolling, a vibration beneath her feet. Molly frowned. Earthquake? No, she thought, as she glanced again out of the window. She didn’t think anything else was shaking. Something was definitely making the floor tremble. She padded over to the kitchen door, unlocked it and went into the dark coffee house.
The espresso machine was juddering and spilling dark brown liquid onto the floor. Molly switched on a lamp and cursed to herself. She pulled the power cord out of the wall and grabbed a cloth, dropping it into the puddle of coffee and soaking it up. How in the hell had coffee machine had been left on? Molly rinsed the cloth and cleaned the floor.
From the other end of the coffee house, the sound of a table scraping across the stone floor made her heart stop.
Molly’s head shot up and she stared into the murky darkness. Chest thumping, she squinted towards the sound. Through her fear, she couldn’t tell if she was imagining someone else breathing or whether it was just her o
wn shaky, nervous gasps. Then she heard it. A low laugh. The table moved again and she was running, slamming the door behind her. She darted up the stairs then cursed when she realized her door had locked behind her. She looked back down the stairs. There was no lock between the backroom door and her stairs. She crept back down and unlocked the back door. As she slid out, she thought she heard the backroom door open.
She didn’t look behind her as she ran, half slipping in the freezing snow. She ran down the alleyway at the back of the Varsity, skidding to a halt when she saw a shadow pass along the end. Her breath was coming in sobs now as she considered what to do. Turning back along the alley would mean she was out of sight of Main Street for longer as the alley passed along the back of the coffee house and its neighbors. But then, she could see clear space at the end and at least it was well lit. Molly, barefoot and freezing, skittered back along the alley.
She was almost at the end when he caught her
They’d settled in the little bar on 2nd Avenue. The bar was full, but they’d managed to get a couch in the window. It had started to rain hard outside, a typical Seattle autumn. Inside, the bar buzzed with a low hum, people chatting, laughing. Sarah had directed Isaac rather bossily to the couch then went to the bar to get them some drinks.
Thanking the barman, Sarah sashayed back to a grinning Isaac.
“What you got behind your back there, sexy?”
She winked at him and handed him the bottle. Tiffin. He started to snigger.
“I don’t believe you. “
“My friend Josh over there is gonna make you that cocktail.” She swung away and took the bottle back to the bar.
Finn shook his head, laughing. He couldn’t believe she’d remember his joke from the day they had met. When she returned, he grinned at her.
“How would you remember what was it in?”
Sarah flopped into the couch next to him. “I looked it up.”
Isaac bugged at her. “You looked it up? Why?”
She flushed and grinned. “Because…”
“Ah. Some of that mushy stuff.”
“Yep.”
He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her. “Anyone tell you you’re totally adorable?”
Josh, a tall, gangly man with long blonde hair and a goatee, grinned at them as he brought over two glasses and set them down in front of Sarah and Isaac.
“Good luck with that,” he shook his head, amused. “There’s a lot of alcohol there.”
Sarah and Isaac picked up their glasses and cast doubtful glances at each other.
“I don’t know, it looks…”
“Gross?”
“Yeah. After three. One, two, three.”
They both took a swig – and both made the same face.
“Jeez,” Isaac swallowed and stuck his tongue out. “That’s fucking disgusting.”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah, where did you get this recipe?”
“Google.”
“Do me a favor? Next time just stick to porn.”
Josh brought them some beers, snickering at the half-full cocktail glasses as he bore them away. Sarah snuggled into Isaac’s arms as they sat on the couch, watching the rain. She felt a peace she hadn’t felt since George’s death…not, scratch that, since Dan had gone. It was him, Isaac, his presence in her life was steadying, comforting, and more than that, she trusted him. She stroked her hand over the hard plain of his chest and he turned to smile down at her.
“I want to know more about you,” she told him. “I feel like all the drama that’s been going on has over-shadowed my getting to know you.”
He tugged a strand of her hair gently, smiling. “What would you like to know?”
“Anything. How did you start your business? What did you want to be when you were a kid? Your dating history.” She grinned at this last as his eyebrows shot up.
“Oh it’s that stage of our relationship, is it – the “Sex Files”?”
“Like Mulder and Scully but dirtier. Come on, gimme deets, gimme, gimme.”
Isaac tweaked her nose fondly. “Okay but quid pro quo. Who was your first boyfriend?”
She pretended to think. “Jiminy Billy-Bob.”
“No.”
“No.”
“Wise-ass. Okay, to sweeten the deal, my first girlfriend was Becky Mayberg. We went to junior prom together then she left me for a mathlete.”
“Burn.”
“Yup. Your turn.”
Sarah grinned. “My first boyfriend was Simon Le Bon. No, really. Not the famous one of course. This one was seven. We went out for a whole afternoon.”
“True love.”
“The truest. After that – and feel free to mock – my next boyfriend was Dan.”
Isaac stared at her. “No way. Have you seen you?”
Sarah shrugged good-naturedly. “Dating just didn’t interest me. I mean I went out on dates before Dan but nothing ever came of them.”
“Why was Dan different?”
Sarah was quiet for a while. “You know what? I don’t think I know, it just was.”
He didn’t press the subject. “I was engaged for a while.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Really? What happened?”
Isaac smiled. “She married my brother.” Sarah, who had been sipping her beer, had to cover her mouth as she choked on her drink.
“What? You were engaged to Maika?”
Isaac laughed at her and she scowled at him. “Oh, you’re just teasing me again.”
Isaac shook his head, still grinning. “No, really. I dated Maika in college, got engaged but then we went home for the holidays, to my parents and Saul was there. It was obvious to everyone they were meant for each other.”
Sarah was gaping at him. “And you just…”
Isaac shrugged. “Can you imagine being married to someone who is in love with someone else? Who were so destined for each other? I loved Maika, yes, but until I met you, I didn’t realize what in love meant. Totally different.”
Sarah sighed. “Damn.”
“What?”
“You are perfect. So annoying.”
Isaac laughed out loud at that. “Believe me, I’m not. But I think I’m perfect for you, I want to be perfect for you.”
Sarah pressed her lips to his, hard, fierce, her eyes filled with tears. “I love you.”
He caught her head in his hands and held it, kissing her deeply, totally oblivious to the amused stares of the other people in the bar.
Her feet slid out from beneath her and they tumbled to the cold ground. Molly flipped herself around and used her fists, her feet, to pummel her attacker’s body as he tried to grab her wrists. She saw the glint of metal in his hand and her stomach constricted. She caught him squarely in the mouth, felt his teeth grate along her skin of her knuckles and he jerked his head back. She slammed the blade of her hand into his nose and he tumbled away from her. She scrambled to her feet and skidded back along the alley, hearing his roar. As she got to the door of the Varsity, she felt a sharp sting across her back and she cried out in pain. She threw herself into the door as he grabbed at her, pulling at her sweater. She put all her weight against the door as he tried to break it down, throwing his immense bulk against it. Molly gasped with the effort but inside knew it was hopeless. He was far too strong. She yelped in terror as the knife was slammed through the wood of the door, narrowly missing her head.
Then the shots rang out. Shouting. The pressure against the door ceased. Molly stepped back, not lowering her guard, waiting for the attack to recommence.
Then a pounding and to her relief a voice she recognized. Steve, one of the island’s police deputies, a friend of Finn.
“Molly? Hey, Molly, it’s Steve, are you okay?”
She pulled open the door and the mere sight of his gentle face made her break down. She fell into his arms.
“He was going to kill me…” her words were barely audible amidst her sobs. Steve patted her back and then exclaimed as his hand met a warm dampness.
>
“You’re bleeding! Looks, let’s get inside, in the warm. He’s gone now, I promise.”
“I’m sorry.”
Finn wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. He sat up from his prone position on the couch and looked at Caroline. He hadn’t even heard her return from wherever she had gone. After leaving work, he’d come straight home, relieved to be alone.
She was standing in the doorway, the light behind her casting her in shadow. He stared at her blankly. She moved into the room, sat in the armchair across from him, her face serious. She leaned forward, searching his face.
“I mean it, I’m sorry. You’ve been having a hard time lately and my… dislike… of Sarah doesn’t help. I’m sorry I ruined our evening with your sister and Mike.”
Finn was taken aback. Caroline, her face free of make-up, her red hair pulled back in a ponytail, seemed genuine in her contrition but Finn knew her too well. His eyes narrowed.
“Thank you,” he said cautiously. She saw his reticence and smiled sheepishly.
“I get it, Finn. Things between us haven’t been good for a while.” Even she had to laugh at her understatement. Finn smiled thinly.
“Caroline, I just…I don’t know. How are we going to make this work? We can barely stand to be in the same room.”
Caroline got up and sat next to him. “We weren’t always like this. Not always. In the beginning, we had so much fun, we enjoyed being around each other.”
“You mean we enjoyed screwing each other.”
She winced and he was immediately sorry for his words. Caroline shook herself, took a deep breath in.
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