Rick's heart clenched.
She just swam. He didn't know how long she'd been our there, how long he stood there. Her strokes became shorter, choppy. Desperate.
Finally, she reached the shallow end and weakly pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the pool. Even from here, he could see how she labored for breath after breath. Except for the frantic rise and fall of her chest, she didn't move. Just sat there, legs half in the pool, limply huddled into herself as she stared at the moon's reflection on the water.
Should he leave her alone?
The trees in the yard swayed with a breeze. Silvery light skipped across the pool. He went and snatched a towel from his bathroom, then took it outside.
The air was cool for June. She had to be freezing. He stopped behind her, his fingers closing tightly over the terry cloth as he saw the points of her shoulder blades thrown into sharp relief with each breath.
"Katie?"
She gave no sign of having heard him. She just sat there, a lonely silhouette with the night curling around her like smoke.
"I brought you a towel." His voice sounded loud and alien against the quietness of the night.
"Thanks." Her voice was as flat as cardboard.
Concern surged through him and he knelt beside her. "You should probably come on in."
Her chin trembled, as did the rest of her body.
"Here." He held the towel out to her, and when she didn't take it, he unfolded it, laid it across her shoulders.
At his touch, she scrambled up, splashing water onto the patio, onto his boots. Her fingers grabbed at the edges of the towel as she stepped onto the solid concrete surrounding the pool.
Her reaction spurred as much regret as resentment in him. He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. There were both on edge, and he knew she had to be frightened over what had happened to Billy Edwards.
She slid the towel from her shoulders, patted her face and neck. He recognized her one-piece blue tank suit as one from the closet next to the hot tub. The too-large top gaped slightly at the neck, exposing the shadow between her breasts.
She ran the towel down her legs. "Have you talked to your friend at the police department?"
Rick nodded. There was no need to tell her everything.
Arranging the towel sarong-style around her slender curves, she tucked in one end to secure it. "You might as well tell me. I have a right to know."
"I don't have any news on Grace." He brought one hand up, rubbed the back of his neck.
"But you found out something about Sanchez, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Tell me then."
"There's no point--"
"Stop trying to protect me." Her chin angled stubbornly at him.
"It has nothing to do with Grace."
"That man was linked to Grace. He knew Tommy, didn't he?"
"It has nothing directly to do with her." Rick shoved a hand through his hair, hating how cool and prickly she sounded.
"You tell me, Rick Powell." She stepped closer, moonlight revealing the wanness of her face. Her eyes glittered between wet, spiky lashes. Despite the command in her voice, she looked fragile.
He could still see remaining hurt in her eyes from what had happened between them earlier. Thank goodness she wouldn't know the significance of what he was about to tell her. "The guy was shot execution-style. Two bullets to the head."
She wobbled, and he reflexively reached out to steady her. Before he could, she straightened, visibly gathered herself. "That means something, doesn't it? What does that mean?"
"Katie--"
"Tell me." She bit the words out. "You can at least give me that, can't you?"
Her bitter reference to his earlier rejection knifed through him.
"I'm paying you, and that means for anything that might concern my sister."
His jaw tightened at her blatant reminder that he was technically her employee. "It means the job was done by professionals."
Her head came up. "More than one person was involved?"
Hell. He shoved his hand through his hair. "Mrs. Carter told the detectives that two men knocked on Edwards' door earlier this afternoon. She told the men Billy had stepped out for a few minutes. The next time she saw him, he was face down in the shrubbery."
Katie went as pale as chalk and walked around him, clutching the towel to her as if it were a shield of armor. She stopped a few feet away, next to his round, white-trimmed patio table. Moonlight skated across the glass top, slanted over the green-and-white striped chair cushions. "So, Mrs. Carter saw these men? She described them to the police?"
"Yes."
"What did they look like?"
He chewed on the inside of his cheek.
"I know you got their descriptions, Rick. You're too thorough." Her voice was taut, as if she'd already guessed.
He shifted so he faced her and met her gaze, which was dark and stormy with worry. "Described one of the men as very slender, six feet tall. And the other as short and balding. With a thick neck."
She stilled. "Like a bulldog on steroids?"
He didn't think she even heard him confirm it. She sank into the curved patio chair behind her. Undiluted fear widened her eyes. "Oh, no."
She put one slender hand to her temple. After a long moment, she looked up. "It's the guy who came to your office."
"I think so."
"He has something to do with Grace. We know that for sure now."
"Yes." And Billy's execution-style murder was a mob trademark, which was another piece of information that jived with Tommy's story.
Katie jumped up, looking around frantically as if unsure where to go. "We've got to find her, right now."
"We're doing all we can."
"Stop standing there! What if that happens to my sister? What if she's shot?" She turned away, the towel falling to the patio. "We can't let that happen. We've got to find her. I hired you to find her."
He knew emotion, not reason, was talking, but that didn't stop the slash of pain he felt at her words. He'd never failed her; he wasn't about to start now. "Until we get a lead, it's stupid to go off on a wild-goose chase."
"There's got to be somewhere we haven't looked, someone we haven't talked to. Have you done everything you know you know to do?"
"Do you have any ideas? I'm open."
"Maybe I should hire someone else."
"That's your choice," He said coldly, his voice lashing at her. "But you've got to calm down. I'm doing everything that's possible at this point. I'm waiting on a call from Carl, who may have found something on Tommy's computer, but even if he hasn't, we're not going off half-cocked. We'll hear from Grace or Tommy or someone who's seen them. It's only been twenty-four hours since I put the information on the Internet."
"What if no one contacts us? Then what do we do?"
He refused to even consider the possibility. "You've got to be patient."
"You be patient!" She stalked to him, eyes glittering, mouth drawn tight. "That's not your sister out there. It wasn't your sister who was run off the road and could've been killed just like Billy Edwards."
Her eyes were angry, but clear. And alive. Relief washed through him. He hadn't seen any emotion since this morning by the creek. "We'll find her, Katie. I know the waiting is hard, but we're covering our bases right now."
Her shoulder sagged. "It doesn't feel like it."
"I know. This is the most frustrating part of any case, trying to wring a lead out of somewhere, waiting until one turns up. I've also ordered a background check on Billy Edwards. That might tell us something. But Carl's our best bet right now, until Grace calls."
"So we just need to hop Carl finds something on Tommy's computer."
"Right."
She stilled, her eyes narrowing. "Computer! Maybe she's e-mailed me! Why didn't I think of that before?"
"She said she'd call, but that's a good idea. Let's check it out."
Katie suddenly became a blur of motion. She snatched the towel f
rom where it had fallen on the patio, whirled and started for the house. "It'll just take me a minute to change."
"Okay. "I'll call Carl again."
"Thanks." She turned at the door. "Sorry for losing it a while ago."
"You're entitled." His gaze met hers. With the towel draped over one pale shoulder, her hair wet and slicked back, she looked small. Vulnerable.
Which made him feel like a class-A idiot for rejecting her at the creek, yet how could he have done anything else? They wouldn't work. They never had.
"I know you're doing everything you can," she said carefully, awkwardly. "I wouldn't have come to you if I didn't trust you."
"I know." His throat went tight. "I'll wait in the study for you. We can check your e-mail from my computer."
"All right." She slid open the patio door and hurried across the living room, then disappeared around the corner and down the hall.
Hating the distance between them, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't want her to get her hopes up, but maybe Grace had e-mailed instead of calling. He doubted it, but checking would make Katie feel she was doing something. And she desperately needed to feel useful, he realized. In control.
That sense of being needed, being responsible was a core part of her, something she probably couldn't stop the anger that occasionally still swamped him over the night blindness that had forced him out of his pilot's seat.
He stepped into the house, locked the patio door and picked up the living room extension to call Carl. Why hadn't he ever seen how important being needed was to Katie? By wanting her to force Grace to grow up, was he asking her to turn away from a vital piece of herself?
He wasn't asking her, he reminded himself. And Katie wasn't going to suddenly let go of the responsibility she felt. Her cool independence, the remoteness in her eyes when she looked at him was a blaring announcement that she'd gotten his message at the creek. The distance between them pierced something deep inside him. Rick didn't like it, but he also wasn't going to change it.
There had been no message from Grace of Katie's answering machine, no e-mail on her computer. Disappointment a stabbing pain in her chest, Katie had ached to turn into Rick's broad chest, cry out her frustration and her growing fear, but she hadn't.
The memory of how she'd cried at the creek kept her from it. Just another humiliation in a day Katie wished she could forget.
Lying in his guest bed hours later, her thoughts spun from Rick's rejection to Billy Edwards' murder to Grace's whereabouts. Katie's swim in the pool had exhausted her, but she couldn't sleep. All that had happened today had her emotions ricocheting.
There was a link between Billy Edwards' murderer and Tommy. What if Henderson and his men had already found Tommy and Grace? Icy fear slithered though her.
She had to believe Grace was still safe or she'd go crazy. Dealing with Rick was enough to make her go there. She forced her eyes shut, but images of him teased. His woodsy scent was as strong on her now as it had been when his mouth had blazed a trail of fire over her flesh, his phantom touch as provocative as when his hands had curved over her breasts.
Her belly tightened in response, and she forced herself to recall how he'd pushed her away. The memory was enough to send a fresh urge of humiliation through her. What had she been thinking to kiss him like that? Why had she ever thought there could be a second chance for them?
He'd made clear what he wanted from her --exactly nothing. As painful as it was to recall the memory of his unequivocal rejection, Katie did it. She couldn't lean on him anymore. For ten years, she'd done fine without him. She'd do fine now.
Mixed with the sting of his rejection was the growing fear that Grace was probably in greater danger than Katie first imagined. Why hadn't her sister called? She glanced at the pillow beside her, saw that the phone was on and charged.
Rick had called his office manager, Mary, and told her that their mysterious visitor had also likely been seen at Billy Edwards' apartment before Billy's murder. Rick's suggestion that Mary carry her gun to the office for the next few days, as well as his arrangement for an off-duty police officer to stay in the office during Mary's work hours, only heightened the fear swelling inside Katie.
The fact that he recognized a definite threat to her sister, and possibly others, scared her silly. And kept the horror of Grace's car being run off the road in the forefront of Katie's mind. She willed the phone to ring.
Nerves stretched thin, she threw back the blue-and-white windowpane comforter, then reached across the polished mahogany bedside table to switch on the frosted glass lamp. She picked up the mystery novel she'd started at least four times in the last week. Had Billy Edwards known something that might've led Rick and Katie to her sister and Tommy? And if so, had Billy's murderer managed to get that information? Was one of Henderson's men even now following a lead completely unknown to Katie and Rick?
The questions twisted viciously in her mind. She forced her attention to the book, only to find her thoughts wandering after a few sentences. The doubt she'd managed to dodge all day seeped in. Rick had hit, with unerring aim, on a question she could no longer ignore. Could she commit fully to him? She didn't know.
She closed her book, go out of bed and walked to the window, opening the wooden blinds. Moonlight rippled across the pool's water. A cloudless pewter sky sparkled with bright diamonds of light. Her satin nightgown drifted down her body, rousing again the feel of Rick's hands on her.
Tortured by her thoughts, Katie closed her eyes and struggled to clear her mind.
A phone rang. Her eyes flew open. Her cell phone!
"Rick!" she called, diving onto the bed to grab the phone. "Rick!"
She punched the button. "Yes, hello! Hello! Grace?"
"Sis!"
"Oh, thank goodness." Katie choked back a sob and a dozen questions. "How are you?"
"Fine, so far, I can't talk long."
"Tell me where you are. I'll come get you."
"No! Katie, there could be men following--"
"I know!"
The door to Katie's bedroom banged open and Rick rushed in, wearing only a pair of low-slung gray cotton shorts.
"Is it Grace?" he asked.
She nodded, sitting back on her folded legs and motioning for him to sit beside her on the bed. He eased down, his bare shoulder brushing hers.
"Who's that?" Grace asked. "A private investigator?"
"Yes." Katie wasn't getting into the story of Rick right now.
"Tell me where you are."
"Tommy says I can't say anything directly."
She nearly screamed. "I can't get to you if I don't know where you are."
"I need money, sis. Just wire it. Please. You can't meet me."
Rick pressed closer, his slightly stubbled jaw tickling her. She positioned the phone to he could hear better.
"We went to see Billy Edwards today, Grace."
"He doesn't know anything," her sister said quickly. Too quickly.
"Not anymore, he doesn't," Katie agreed.
"Tell her," Rick whispered.
"He'd dead, Grace. He's been murdered."
"Oh, my gosh!" her sister shrieked. "Tommy!"
Graced explained to Tommy; Katie heard his deeper voice urging her to do something. Rick's hand was hot on the sheet behind her; his hair-roughened thigh nudged hers where her gown had ridden up.
"Was it Henderson?" Grace asked soberly.
"We're not sure. We think so."
"It was. Tommy, what are we going to do?" her sister wailed.
"Grace, tell me where you are." Katie hoped the startling news about Billy would scare some sense into her sister.
"Has Henderson or one of his men been following you?"
"They were at first. I haven't seen them for a couple of days. What did Billy know, Grace? Why would someone kill him?"
"Tommy says I have to hang up. Send the money, Katie."
"Get her to tell you where she is," Rick whispered. "Get a phone number."
"Katie, you can't meet me. If those guys are following you, you'll just lead them straight to us! Is that what you want?"
She glanced at Rick, shook her head. "How much do you need?"
"A thousand dollars, fifteen hundred, if you can. "That'll hold us until Tommy gets what he needs from Henderson's computer. I'll pay it back. I swear. Tommy says he will, too."
"Okay, I'll wire it from my bank first thing in the morning."
"Thank you, sis. Do you think you can do that by eight o'clock?"
"Yes, but you have to tell me where."
Rick gave her a thumbs-up, his hand resting against her thigh.
"Remember when I was a sophomore in high school?"
"What?" Katie blinked. Where had this come from? Rick made a sound deep in his throat.
"Grace, this isn't the time ."
"Remember the first time I went to the senior prom?"
"Tell me where you are!"
"I am, Katie. Listen to me."
She noted the uncharacteristic calm in Grace's voice, and steadiness took Katie off guard. She went still. "I'm here. I'm listening."
"Remember who I went with to that prom?"
Katie frowned. Grace had dated so many guys. Jocks, musicians, race car drivers.
"He drove a red Camaro, jacked up in the back. Not the guy who drove a pickup. The red Camaro. That's where we are. Wire the money to this check-cashing place." Grace rattled off a company name. Katie leaned to reach her pulse.
Rick snatched it and gave her a pen so she could jot down the name.
"I've got to go. Tommy's about to have a heart attack because I've been on here so long."
"Grace--"
"Oh, one more thing. I thought about moving here once! Love ya!" The phone went dead.
"Grace?" Katie yelled. "Grace?"
Nothing.
She clicked off her phone and bowed her head, trying to focus on the relief she felt rather than the frustration boiling inside her.
After a long minute, Rick nudged her with his shoulder. "Hey, she's okay. They both are. That's good."
"Yes, and I want to strangle her." She gestured wildly. "We wait and wait on her, then she calls with this?"
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