Daniel knocked on the door again.
“Your mother was from the Raven Clan,” she said.
“I know.”
“Is that something you remember? Or something I already told you?”
“I remember,” he responded, then added, “Hoya,” using the Native word for his mother’s clan.
The dog at their feet wiggled and danced, waiting for the door to open. Allie and Daniel waited, too.
“I wonder if Linda decided to avoid us,” she said.
He knocked louder.
Finally the door flew open, and there stood a full-figured woman with medium-length, straight brown hair and no makeup. Two little girls appeared beside her. They wore matching play clothes and curious expressions. They appeared to be around six and seven. Allie assumed they weren’t in school because they were on Christmas break.
“Daniel?” the mom at the door said. The dog ran past her and went into the house.
“Yes.”
“You look different from the boy I remember. But life changes us, doesn’t it?” She turned to Allie. “You must be the friend he mentioned. I’m sorry I didn’t answer right away, but I didn’t expect you so soon. I was helping the girls with their bath.”
The children grinned, and they were as cute as could be. Allie hoped Linda wasn’t the stalker. She certainly didn’t seem like a whacko. She was well spoken and personable. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t have a warped mind.
“Come in,” she said, and gently nudged her kids to make room for them.
Daniel smiled at the little girls, and Allie’s heart went pitter-pat. She hoped Linda’s heart wasn’t pitter-pattering, too. The other woman started fussing with her appearance, smoothing her hair and tugging at her clothes, as if she wished she’d taken the time to fix herself up a bit. Instead, she’d gotten her kids ready. They each had pretty barrettes in their freshly washed hair.
Linda offered her guests a seat in her living room. It wasn’t spick-and-span clean, but it wasn’t as cluttered as the front yard, either. Apparently the kids weren’t allowed to leave toys lying around the house.
She sent the girls to their room so the grown-ups could talk. Once the kids were gone, she said to Daniel and Allie, “I can put on a pot of tea if you’d like.”
They declined, and for a moment, everyone was silent. Then Daniel said, “Thanks for seeing us.”
He and Allie had discussed their approach ahead of time and had agreed that they wouldn’t come right out and accuse Linda the way they’d done with Glynis. They would use a less invasive method.
“I don’t understand why you’re here,” Linda said. “You didn’t explain yourself clearly on the phone.”
He responded, “I wanted to thank you in person for the get well card you sent when I was in the hospital.”
“Oh, that.” Linda made an open gesture. “I felt badly for what happened to you. I read about it in the paper. You thwarted a robbery at a museum and got shot.”
Allie shifted in her chair. She and Daniel had actually been part of the robbery. They’d broken into the witchcraft museum that housed a talisman that could set Raven free, intending to steal it. But another thief, a dangerous witch, was already there, waiting for them. After the shooting, the museum director concocted a story that had absolved Daniel and Allie from any wrongdoing, and that was the version that had been fed to the press.
“I didn’t know you’d sent a card,” Daniel said. “My dad hadn’t told me about it until yesterday.”
“That’s okay. I imagine you’ve had a lot going on with your recovery.” Linda gave him a faint smile. “You look well now.”
“Except for my mind.”
Her smile vanished. “What do you mean?”
“I have amnesia. Didn’t you know?”
“Oh, my. No.” Her reaction seemed genuine, but maybe she was a good actress. “Is it because of the coma you were in?”
“Yes.” He offered more information. “I don’t remember you, but I recall snippets about Susan.”
At the mention of her sister’s name, Linda’s eyes clouded. She blinked and blew out a sigh. “I named my oldest daughter after her.” She kept talking, confiding in Daniel. “I still miss Susan, but I quit blaming you and the other kids a long time ago. She jumped into the river on her own. No one forced her to do it.”
He cleared his throat. “I tried to save her.”
“I know.” She expelled another sigh. “That’s why I quit blaming everyone. You all tried to save her.” She shifted her attention to Allie. “Did you know my sister?”
“No. I’m sorry, I didn’t.”
“You actually look a bit like her. Don’t you think so, Daniel?”
“My dad said that, too. But I can’t remember what Susan looked like.”
“Oh, goodness. Really?” The other woman scooted forward. “I have a picture in the den. Hold on.”
She left and came back with a framed photograph. She handed it to Daniel.
He stared at it for what seemed like forever. When he glanced up, Linda was watching him. So was Allie.
Daniel asked Linda, “Do you know if your sister was seeing anyone? Or if there was a boy she liked?”
“She was supposed to go to the prom with Todd Monroe.”
“Was he there the day of the drowning?”
“No, he wasn’t. I guess it’s safe to assume that you don’t remember him.” She shook her head. “Having amnesia must be awful.”
“Was Susan ever involved with me?” he asked.
Linda said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
She’d given the same response as Daniel’s father, Allie thought. As far as anyone knew, Susan and Daniel hadn’t been an item.
Nonetheless, Allie noticed discomfort in Daniel’s eyes. Was he still debating if he and the dead girl had harbored feelings for each other?
He took one last look at Susan’s picture. Then he passed it to Allie.
She studied the image of a teenager with long hair, tanned skin and a breezy smile. It was strange to search for herself in someone so young, but a haunting resemblance was there. Mostly it was the hair, although they had similar bone structure, too.
Everyone appeared to be waiting for her to comment, but she didn’t know what to say.
Finally she spoke, giving Susan life beyond the grave. “I wonder if she would have grown up to look like me.”
Linda took the picture. “It’s hard to say. She might have gained weight the way I have. I used to be skinny, too, before I started eating so much to fill the void.”
“Of losing your sister?” Allie asked.
“Of going through an emotional break-up.”
Linda didn’t seem like a stalker. If anything, she seemed like a typical divorcee, struggling to get her life back on track.
But Daniel wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. He asked her, “Was Susan good at art?”
“No. Why?”
“It’s just something I thought I remembered.” He segued into Linda’s artistic abilities, the true reason he’d brought up the subject. “What about you? Do you draw or paint?”
If the question alarmed her, she didn’t let it show; she didn’t react as if she’d left a gruesome drawing on his door the night before. She laughed and said, “Not unless coloring with my daughters could be considered art.”
Her genuine nature made it tough to keep suspecting her.
But still…
After Daniel and Allie left, he said, “I don’t think it’s her. But we’re not ruling her out. Not completely.”
Because anything was possible, Allie thought. Anyone was capable of being secretly insane.
Two days went by and nothing happened. No vandalism. No death threats. No more clues. Then the phone rang in the middle of the afternoon, and Daniel answered it.
Detective Bell was on the other line with information about the handwriting analysis. Daniel listened to what the cop had to say and frowned at the receiver.
“I
’ll tell Allie,” he said, and thanked the detective for his time. Time was all they seemed to have. Too much of it.
Daniel peeked into the third bedroom, which Allie had set up as a makeshift studio. She stood in front of an easel, creating a light-hearted watercolor: a wood nymph with butterfly wings.
“Hey,” he said, by way of capturing her attention.
She turned around, and they gazed at each other. In the nights that passed, she hadn’t come back to his bed, but he hadn’t expected her to. Regardless, he missed holding her, waking up next to her, keeping her as close as he possibly could.
He explained the interruption. “Detective Bell called. They can’t tell if the party invitation envelope and the message at your loft was written by the same person. According to the analysis, the calligraphy on your wall was scripted with a stencil, and the envelope was done freehand.”
“So that’s it?” She put down her brush. She had pretty little pastel paint droplets on her top. “We’re back to square one.”
“At least we have some suspects.”
“And they’re all shaky, at best. We don’t have anything linking them to the original crime scene. Or to the drawing.”
“The police are still investigating.”
“With what tools? They didn’t find any identifiable fingerprints at my loft.”
“They collected hair samples.”
“They’ll probably turn out to be mine. Or yours or Olivia’s or West’s.”
Olivia was Allie’s sister, and West was the FBI husband. Daniel didn’t remember them from before, but he’d gotten to know them over the past few months. “The lab hasn’t gotten the results back, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
She made a face. “I hate waiting.”
“I know. Me, too. Maybe we should call West and Olivia. It wouldn’t hurt to have a psychic and a special agent helping us on the case, and I’m sure they would want to know what’s going on.”
“I’m not destroying my sister’s honeymoon over this. They deserve some time alone.”
“Yes, but—”
“But nothing. Do you know how long it took for West to propose? And for her to accept? They’re not exactly the most romantic couple.”
All the more reason to intrude on their honeymoon, he thought, to bring them into the fold.
Allie balked. “If you call them, I’ll never forgive you.”
He considered shaking some sense into her, but he knew how determined she could be. Besides, he didn’t want to be on her unforgiven list.
She changed the subject. “I think I should go back to work.”
“You are working.” He gestured to her painting.
“I was talking about the senior center.”
“It’s too soon.” He couldn’t stand the thought of her being away from him, not while the case was pending, not while the stalker was still out there. “We took a vacation from our jobs.”
“But I’m going stir-crazy. I can’t concentrate.” She glanced at her work in progress. “Look at that. It’s crap.”
He thought the painting was beautiful, but he doubted that his opinion would matter. He wasn’t an art connoisseur. “Just wait until your vacation time is over.” Then they would both be forced to return to their jobs, to resume their incomes. “By then, we’ll catch the stalker and everything will be okay.”
“Promise?”
He nodded, even though he shouldn’t have. There were no guarantees. “I’ll keep you busy until then.”
“Doing what?”
He couldn’t think of anything, so he said, “Stuff.”
She crossed her arms. “What stuff?”
He wracked his brain for a response and came up with, “You can help me get this place ready for Christmas.”
“Really?” Her soulful eyes went bright. “Oh, Daniel, that’s perfect. It’s just what we need to stay occupied.”
We? He’d concocted the holiday activity for her, not for himself. But seeing her smile was worth it. He got the urge to scoop her into his arms, but he refrained from making physical contact.
“We’ll start with a tree,” she said. “Then we’ll go from there.”
As long as they didn’t go too far. He wasn’t decorating his front yard. No mistletoe, either. He was having enough don’t-kiss-her trouble.
“I’ll get ready and we can head out,” Allie said.
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now. We need to find the perfect tree.”
Which meant what? That it could take all day? He’d more or less planned to grab the first green bush he saw. “How about a fake one?” He’d seen some easy fold-out models at Wal-Mart. No fuss. No muss.
“An artificial tree might work. That way, you’ll have it from year to year.” Her eyes went bright again. “They have some beauties at the Christmas Store.”
“The Christmas Store?” What had he gotten himself into? “Where’s that?”
“At the mall. It changes, depending on the time of year. In October, it’s the Halloween Store.”
“All right. We’ll go there.” Honestly, he thought. How big could a store like that be? How much junk could they have? A lot, his logical mind said. Christmas galore.
“Do you have any decorations for the tree?”
“I don’t know. I suppose I do. Somewhere.” Surely he had a box in the garage or the attic or in the storage shed out back.
“Somewhere?” She made disapproving sound. Tsk-tsk.
“Hey, I have amnesia. What do you expect?”
“You wouldn’t remember where the decorations were even if you didn’t have amnesia.”
Okay, so she had a point. “I’ll buy a few new things.”
She clapped her hands together. “This is going to be fun.”
Daniel couldn’t stop himself from smiling. She was sweeter than a grown woman had the right to be. “I’ll bet you shook all of your presents when you were a kid.”
“When I was a kid?” She laughed. “I still shake them.”
“Do you want to exchange presents this year?” he asked, even though he didn’t have a clue what to get her.
“Are you joking? Me? The Christmas con? I’d love to. I already have something special in mind for you.”
The sudden tenderness in her eyes had him wondering just how special her gift would be.
“I’ll go get ready.” She flitted off to change her clothes and reapply her makeup or whatever it was women did to make themselves more presentable.
He popped open a soda and waited at the kitchen table. He wasn’t going to brood. He wasn’t going to spoil her Christmas cheer. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t contemplate how strange his relationship with Allie was.
They’d agreed to keep things platonic. But their attraction dictated just about every breath they took.
Thirty minutes later, she returned looking sleek and gorgeous. She was dressed all in black, like her cat, except for a chain belt and sterling jewelry.
“Wow.” The word almost got trapped in his throat.
She sent him a beguiling smile. “You like what you see?”
“Hell, yeah.” Too much, he thought.
She moved forward, and his ever-present hunger reared its desperate head.
He wanted to say, “Screw platonic.” But he didn’t do it. He didn’t take advantage of Allie.
They left the house together, making the most out of being friends.
Or whatever it was they were.
Chapter 7
Upon entering the Christmas Store, Daniel said, “Wow.”
The same word he’d used to describe her, Allie thought. She’d taken extra care with her appearance and it paid off. Daniel liked the way she looked. Not that she had any business trying to get his attention. Friends weren’t supposed to entice other friends.
But friends with benefits were.
Maybe she could have sex with him and still keep their friend status. Maybe she could talk herself out of being in love with him.<
br />
Oh, sure. As if it was that easy. Allie lived by her heart, and she would probably die by it, too.
Die by it? She rubbed a sudden rush of goose bumps on her arms.
“Look how many they have,” Daniel said, referring to an impressive display of decorated trees.
She snapped back to holiday mode. “You can have your pick.”
“No kidding.” He pointed to an artificial Douglas fir decorated with red and gold ornaments. “I wonder if they sell their floor models. We could grab this one and go, with all the trimmings.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
He flashed a diabolical grin that made him look like the Grinch. “Who said this was supposed to be fun?”
“Me, you Christmas ogre.” She bumped his shoulder, and they laughed. She loved laughing with him. The combined sound was soft yet husky. They melded well together.
“All right,” he said. “We can pick out our own trimmings. But I still like that style of tree.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They went up and down aisles that housed hundreds of traditional ornaments. They browsed unconventional items, too.
“Check this out,” she said. “They have wildlife ornaments. You should get these, Daniel.” She thought they complemented his style. “You love exotic animals.” He also worked with them at his job. “You couldn’t ask for a better fit.”
“A wildlife tree. That is kind of cool. But we should get something that represents you, too.”
“Me?” She got fluttery inside. That happened a lot when she was with him. She behaved like a schoolgirl. When an image of Susan came to mind, she willed it away. Schoolgirl hadn’t been a good reference.
“Let’s see.” He stood back to study her. “What types of ornaments say Allie Whirlwind? Oh, I know. How about the types of things you paint?”
“I’d be a fantasy tree?”
He grinned, but it wasn’t a Grinch grin. This time, it was oh, so sexy. “Fantasy is a great way to describe you.”
“I wasn’t talking about those kinds of fantasies.” Regardless, she adored the devilishness in his smile, the primal manner in which he flirted.
Friends with benefits, she reminded herself. He would probably jump at the chance if she presented it to him that way.
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