by Nora Roberts
it's flooded; it's coming under the door."
He shoved the door open so more water sloshed out. Inside, the tub overflowed as the water running from the faucet poured into it. The few things she'd deemed usable after the incident in the laundry floated like flotsam.
"I didn't leave it on. I didn't even turn it on. I just ran up here…"
Saying nothing, he sloshed through the floor to wrench the faucet off. Shoving up a sleeve, Brody reached down and pulled the plug.
"I hung those things over the shower rod before I went down to work. After work, I ran up here to change my shoes. That's all I did before I went out with Linda-gail."
"I'm not saying different."
"The floor's going to be ruined. I have to get something to… Oh God. Joanie's. Downstairs. It'll have leaked through the floor and down into the diner."
"Go call her. Tell her she needs to come over here, bring the keys for the diner."
SHE CAME WITH the keys, and a Shop-Vac. Her eyes grim, she pushed the vac at Reece. "Go up, suck up that water. When you're done, bring it down here."
"Joanie. I'm so sorry—"
"Just be quiet and do what I told you."
Joanie unlocked the door, stepped in. flipped on the lights.
Water dripped and streamed through the ceiling of the north corner. The dry wall had buckled under the weight and split like bad fruit. Below it two booths were soaked.
"Son of a bitching bastard."
"She's not responsible," Brody began, but Joanie only jabbed a finger toward him, her eyes on the damage.
"I'm going to need some fans in here, dry things out. Some plastic to put up over that fucking hole in the fucking ceiling before the fucking health inspector shuts me down because of it. You want to be helpful, go back there and drag out that big standing fan I've got in the storeroom. Then you can go back to my place. I got a roll of plastic out in my shed. A staple gun."'
Brody glanced at the ceiling. "Stepladder."
"That, too. Son of a bitching bastard."
REECE WEPT AS she worked. It wasn't only herself being hurt now, but the woman whose only crimes had been giving her a job. renting her an apartment, standing up for her.
Now it was all a mess. Ruined floor, ruined ceiling and God only knew what else was ruined.
She emptied the tank of the vacuum, started it again.
She glanced up miserably when Joanie came through the door.
'"All crying's going to do is make more water to suck up."
Reece knuckled tears away. "How bad is it?"
"Bad enough. Fixable."
"I'll pay—"
"I got insurance, don't I? Sons of bitches ought to shell out a claim after they skin me for premiums every blessed month."
Reece stared at the floor as she worked. "I know how this looks, and you couldn't possibly be in the mood for excuses. But I didn't leave the water on in the tub. I didn't even—"
"I know damn well you didn't."
Reece jerked her head up. "You do?"
"You never forget a goddamn thing. Didn't I just have to use my key to open that stupid door? You said somebody's been screwing with you. Now they're screwing with me. And I am pissed. But the point is now we fix what has to be fixed, then we figure out the rest." She planted her hands on her hips. "That floor's going to have to come up. You got a problem staying over at Brody's?"
"No."
"Then finish up in here, pack up your things. I'm going to get a couple of boys working on this first thing in the morning."' She kicked the desk, then took her first good look at Reece's face. "Where'd you get that cheek?"
"There was a sort of fight at Clancy's."
"Oh, Christ on a crutch. If it's not one thing, it's two. Get a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer below before you leave."
"IT'S JUST UNTIL I can move back in over the diner."
It was after three when Reece stowed the last of her things in the back of Brody's car.
"Uh-huh."
"Just a few days." Burned out, sick at seeing the damage down at Joanie's, Reece climbed into the car. "I won't offer to do your laundry. I'm not having a lot of luck in that area anyway."
"Okay."
"She believed me. I didn't even have to try to explain."
"Joanie's a smart woman. She sees through most bullshit."
"Whoever this is, he didn't have to do this to her. He didn't have to bring her into it." She looked out the window as he drove, at the dark surface of the lake. Her life felt like that tonight. Too dark to see what lay under it.
"If she blamed you for it, she'd have fired you, kicked you out. Odds were you'd leave town. Knocking your paycheck and living quarters out from under you. It's a smart move."
"I'm glad I'm not being stalked by a dummy. Following that logic, which I agree with, you'd be the next on his list. I'm not exactly anyone's good luck charm, Brody."
"I don't believe in luck." He pulled up at his cabin.
From the back of the car he took the hefty box of her kitchen tools, slid the strap of her laptop case over his shoulder. He left the second box and the duffel for her.
Inside, he set the box on the floor. "I'm not putting this stuff away." He took the other box from her, set it down. "Go on up and take a shower."
"I think a bath." She managed a smile, sniffed the back of her own hand. "Pretty bad."
"'Not if you like stale beer and smoke." He took the frozen peas out of" the lighter box, tossed them to her. "Use this."
She went up, ran the tub hot. Sinking into it, she pressed the cold bag on her throbbing cheek. Then scooted straight up when Brody walked in.
"Aspirin," he said. He set the bottle, a glass of water on the lip of the tub, then walked out.
When she came out wearing a baggy gray T-shirt with red stains and a pair of loose flannel pants, he was standing by the window. He turned, cocked his head.
"Nice outfit."
"I don't have a lot left."
"Well. You can put what you do have left in there." He jerked a thumb at his dresser. "I cleaned out a couple drawers.
"Oh."
"It's not a marriage proposal."
"Check. I'll, I'll, do it tomorrow. I'm really tired. I'm sorry, Brody, but did you—"
"Yes. The doors are locked."
"Okay." She slipped into bed and sighed at the sheer relief it gave her.
Moments later, the lights switched off, the mattress dipped. Then his body was warm against hers, and his arm draped around her waist.
She took his hand. She fell asleep with her fingers linked with his, too exhausted to dream.
* * *
Chapter 23
BRODY DROVE REECE to Joanie's at six sharp. The lights were on in the diner, a hard shine against the dark. A pickup truck sat at the curb along with a vile green dumpster, top up, already half loaded with drywall and debris.
The sight of it had Reece's shoulders going tight as she walked by. "How much do you think this is going to cost?"
"I haven't got a clue." Brody shrugged. "My manliness doesn't extend into this area."
Insurance was all well and good, Reece thought. But what about the deductible? She walked inside to see Joanie, hands on hips, frowning up at a curtain of plastic. She wore the work boots Reece had seen in the mudroom the first time they baked together, rough brown trousers and a tan western-style shirt with one of the breast pockets bulging a bit with what was, surely, her always handy pack of Marlboro Lights.
Behind the plastic, Reece could see a couple of men on stepladders.
The place smelled of coffee and wet. The big fan continued to whirl, chilling the air.
"You're not on until eleven today," Joanie said without looking around.
"I'm working off my part of this. Argue," Reece added, "and I'll just quit, move to Jackson Hole and get a job there. You'll not only be shy a couple of booths but a cook."
Joanie stayed just as she was. "These boys've been at this an hour already. Go on back a
nd rustle them up a couple of cattleman's breakfasts."
"How do they want their eggs?"
"Fry 'em. Sunny side."
Brody stepped up to Joanie as Reece headed back. "Did you get any sleep?"
"I can sleep when I'm dead. Are you just here to chauffeur her around and send her smoldering looks, or are you apt to be useful? "
"I can multitask."
"Then go on in there, see what Reuben and Joe can use you for. We'll have customers coming in before long. Reece, make that three cattleman's."
REECE SERVED THEM herself, at the counter, as Joanie had Bebe hauling in tables to make up for lost seating. The regular early birds were already dribbling in, and the always sleepy morning guy shuffled in the back door to wash dishes.
No one complained about the inconvenience or the mess, but it held as top topic of conversation throughout the morning. When speculative looks were sent her way, Reece told herself it was no less than she could expect. But they ate her food, clattered dishes, and at ten sharp someone had the juke going over the noise of hammer and saw.
She had the day's soup in the kettle and was making salsa when Linda-gail slipped back. "What an awful mess. You must be so mad at me."
"I was." Reece chopped and considered trying out a little bruschetta on the lunch crowd. "Then I looked at the big picture and decided it wasn't your fault. Well, not completely your fault."'
"Really? I feel like such an ass."
"You were an ass." She paused long enough to grab a bottle of water. "But that was only one element that contributed to the general mayhem."
"Oh. Reece honey. Your poor face."
"Don't remind me." But since she had. Reece held the cold bottle against her bruised cheek for a moment. "Does it look terrible?"
"Of course it doesn't. You couldn't."
"That bad. huh? Between the riot at Clancy's and the mess here, people are going to have something to talk about for a week."
"It's not your fault."
"No." Apparently her days of wallowing in guilt were over. Cheers. "It's really not."
"Does anybody know how it happened? I mean, who'd do something so stupid and mean?" Linda-gail looked around, watched Brody and Reuben carrying in some drywall " The bright side is, I heard Joanie say she might as well paint the whole damn place as slap some just on the ceiling. We could use some freshening up."
"Crappy way to redecorate."
Linda-gail rubbed a hand up and down Reece's back. "I'm just so sorry about everything."
"It's okay."
"Lo isn't speaking to me."
"He will. But maybe you should do the talking first. When there's something you want, something you need, life's too short to play games with it."
"Maybe. Reece, I want you to know that it you need to, you can stay at my place as long as you want."
"Thanks." She glanced over her shoulder. "He gave me two drawers."
Linda-gail's eyes went wide and bright. "Oh, Reece!" She wrapped her arms around Reece's waist and rocked side to side. "That is just awesome."
"It's drawers, Linda-gail. But yeah, it's a nice step."
"Linda-gail Case, I don't believe I'm paying you to dance." Joanie walked in, gave the soup a stir. "Rick's out front, Reece, wants to talk to you soon as you can. You can use my office if want privacy"
"I guess that's best." But then she turned, saw the people lingering over coffee at the counter, at tables. "No. I think we'll have this conversation out front. People'll just talk about me more if we go behind closed doors."
With a light of approval in her eyes. Joanie nodded. "Good for you."
Reece left her apron on, took the water with her. Rick was loitering by the counter, and straightened when she came out. "Reece. Why don't we go sit in the back?"
"Out here's fine. Table five's empty, Linda-gail," Reece called without taking her eyes from Rick's. "Would you bring the sheriff some coffee? 'Table five."
She led the way, sat. "Is Min pressing charges?"
"No." He took out his notebook." Talked to her again this morning, and she allows as you didn't so much hit her as get pushed into her. And on some rethinking, witnesses agree you didn't push over a table, but fell on one when other people scrambled to get away or join in the brawl. Before we move on from that, the consensus, you could say, is that the business at Clancy's was a result of a series of lamebrain actions by a number of people."
"Me included."
"Well." He smiled, just a little around the edges. "You do seem to draw… responses. Now." He paused, looked toward the plastic and the noise of drywall being hammered in place. "Why don't you tell me about this one'"
"After I left your office, Brody drove me back here. We went upstairs. I heard water running, and when we went in, the bathroom door was closed. Water leaking under it. Someone had turned the water on in the tub, plugged it up. It flooded."
"Someone? "
She'd prepared for this, and kept her gaze level. Kept her voice clear and firm. "It wasn't me. I wasn't there. You know I wasn't there because you know I was at Clancy's, then at your office."
"I know you were at Clancy's a couple hours, at my office a couple hours. From what I've been told, what I can see, the water was running for some time. Hard to pin down just how long."
"I didn't turn the water on. After my shift. I went upstairs to change my shoes and…"
"And?"
Check the locks, the windows. "Nothing. I changed my shoes, and I went back down to meet Linda-gail. I couldn't have been upstairs for more than three minutes."
"Did you go in the bathroom?"
"Yes. I used the bathroom, and I checked the clothes I had hanging; on the shower rod to see how well they were drying. That's it. I had no reason to turn the water on."
"The clothes you took to the laundry at the hotel earlier?"
