She started talking fast, faltering over words that weren’t cohesive enough to be understood. “I wanted... I can’t sleep... The circumstances... If you wanted... I mean, you could join me...if you want... I’m not even sure... I...”
“Whatever you would like,” he told her, smiling slowly.
He was looking down at her with a crooked smile on his face that might have annoyed her at one time but now seemed like the most seductive come-on.
She dropped the towel.
He wrapped his arm under hers and literally swept her off her feet and carried her into the guest bedroom, laying her gently on the bed and leaning above her. He smoothed back a lock of her hair and asked, “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her. She wondered if he was especially good or if she was just woefully inexperienced. But she wasn’t really: she had lived, not promiscuously, but she had dated, been in a few relationships deep enough to care, to become intimate.
It was the tension...
Her fear. And it was Dan.
She forgot thought; she gave way to sensation, the sweet, wet, fire of his lips and tongue, the feel of his hands, masculine and large and a bit rough against her flesh...
Touching him, feeling the pulse and rope of muscles beneath her fingertips.
The air in the room was cool against the growing heat of her flesh. A drape was just slightly open, allowing in a tiny stream of moonlight that seemed to dance over them as he slid out of his jeans. His mouth moved against her throat and her breasts and down her torso, and she gasped and drew her fingers down the length of his body, loving the power in every twist and turn of it. She writhed against him, twisting and turning, took in the sweet, salty taste of his flesh, and she teased and kissed him.
She felt his stroke against her thighs. His movement as he thrust into her, so slowly at first, a tease even there that seemed to elicit an even greater longing until they were locked as one and moving in an electric wave of energy that was sensuous and wild.
He held her, rolled with her, moved with her. Their lips met and their tongues parried and broke away. And it was forever...and it ended too soon, and she lay beside him, still ecstatic at first, heart pounding, breath coming at a million miles an hour...
And then...
What the hell had she done?
She wondered if the trickle of the moonlight showed that she was blushing red from head to toe, so embarrassed she had all but presented herself on a silver platter to him in the hallway.
She couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
But it didn’t matter. He lay beside her gasping for breath himself. He turned, rising on an elbow at her side, and looked at her with a gentle and tender smile and murmured, “Wow. You’re beautiful. And you know what’s even better?”
She hoped he didn’t expect an answer. She couldn’t create sound now and certainly couldn’t form words.
“Beautiful inside and out,” he murmured.
She should speak, of course. But she still couldn’t. He lay down again and pulled her gently to him so that she rested cradled by his side.
He didn’t say anything else; they just lay there in that moonlight.
She was almost dozing when she felt him adjusting the way he lay. Then she pressed into him. Bodies slid along each other.
They made love again.
Later, as he held her, she finally slept.
So deeply, and so at ease.
Nothing stirred in the shadows and soft moonlight.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dan wasn’t at all sure what it might have been that he ever thought was unappealing about Katie Delaney.
Waking early, he pulled the covers tightly around her and left her curled up with a pillow, the fiery streaks of her hair splaying over the soft mauve cover on the second pillow where her head rested.
He forced himself to dress and walk out of the bedroom.
He first called Axel. Agents had watched the cameras through the night. They had seen the dogs chase each other around and nothing more. No one had come near her house or the fence or made any attempt to enter.
“I’m expecting to hear from Angela soon, but while I’m pleased to report that no attempts were made against Katie—”
“God, no, another murder?” Dan asked.
“No. A letter. An exact copy of the letter that was sent to the newspaper years ago was sent again, received at the crack of dawn this morning. There was an addition to it—a single piece of paper claiming the Axeman was immortal, a true demon from the depths of hell, and that anyone who thought he could be caught or killed was sadly mistaken and might well feel the kiss of the axe.”
Dan was surprised by the amount of fury the words awakened in him. He knew he had to control it—he simply despised that kind of grotesque arrogance.
“We’ve got to prove him wrong,” he said quietly.
“Yes,” Axel agreed. “I’m going to the autopsy for the woman we know as Jennie. So far, we have nothing on her. They pulled prints, but they aren’t in the system. We’re trying DNA, and because we put it on a desperate rush, we should have results back soon.”
“I bet she’s not going to be in the system. I’m not a profiler, but I’ve attended enough lectures. I see Jennie as someone who first came to New Orleans as a lost soul. Maybe she ran away from home, maybe she had an abusive parent or guardian. She wanted to get away from home as soon as possible. Somewhere in the city, she came across Neil Browne, charming and charismatic, and who seemed to be the answer to her prayers. She fell for his doctrine, for his promise of power over others. But she was a pawn, nothing more.”
“If that’s the case, George Calabria is truly innocent. He wasn’t in New Orleans back then,” Axel said.
“No. Neil Browne is a separate entity. We know that from Katie.” He was quiet for a minute. “What we don’t know is whether there is someone else behind Neil Browne. In other words, Browne may be nothing more than a patsy, too. Someone may have been pulling the strings from here all the time, staying safe, even, or waiting for the right time in New Orleans for his end game.”
“That’s a scary thought. But one way or the other, we need to find Neil Browne. And if Jennie was here in the city, so is he.”
“I agree.”
“Do you want to come to the autopsy?” Axel asked Dan.
“No, but I’ll be waiting to hear what you learn.” He hesitated. “I don’t think we’re even going to go to the archives. I want to get Katie talking. I’d even like to spend time with her and George Calabria and try to find out anything either of them might know about Katie’s father.”
“Maybe you should bring Jeremy into that conversation. He’d know more about anything that might have happened when Lou Delaney was in New Orleans after the storm.”
“True. I’m going to take it step by step. And hope for something.”
“All right. We’ll keep each other in the loop.”
“Axel, that letter. Did the paper print it?”
“No. While it would be the sensation of the year, the paper seems to value human life. They’re staying mum on it.”
“Wow! Amazing. And great. Except that it’s going to infuriate the killer.”
“Yes. But we’re keeping this as tight as we can be. The city has been warned. I talked to Ryder this morning, too. He was out last night, patrolling until the wee hours. You know what he told me?”
“That all you could hear was jazz?”
Axel laughed. “Right, and jazz is great. But a lot of venues like to blast out rock and pop, old and new. The killer wanted a panic. He wants people to believe the old Axeman was a supernatural being, and that he’s returned.”
“We need to move fast,” Dan said. “We have to stop him before he kills again. We can’t let the city fall into this fantasy.”
�
��I agree. That means we need to find the puzzle pieces. When I finish at the morgue, I’m going to continue door-to-door and walk around sketches of Dr. Neil Browne.” He hesitated. “Naturally, we have a host of agents and police out day and night. But this guy is striking by darkness.” He hesitated again. “I’d have them putting an alarm on Katie’s place, too, but I’m not sure it would guarantee safety. The old Axeman chiseled major gaps in door panels and used any conceivable entrance. The dogs and the cameras—and patrols watching through the night—seem to be our best defense. Of course, she could leave her house for a while.”
Dan spoke up. “You know I’m not leaving her.”
“Right. And don’t. But still, we may need to look at somewhere safer for her to stay.”
“Yeah,” Dan said. “But she loves her place. It’s right next to the stables.”
“But she’s not going to work today.”
“No.”
“Someone knows something, Dan.”
“I’m on it.”
They ended the call. Dan started coffee and then put a call through to Corey Crest in tech support at FDLE.
“Corey, I need help again,” he said.
“You got it,” Corey promised.
“Okay, I need anything at all you can find out about Lou Delaney, George Calabria...and also any info we got on Jennie and Dr. Neil Browne.”
“Dan, we didn’t get any info on Jennie or Neil Browne. That’s why many people didn’t believe that they existed.”
“Someone else down there had to have seen them,” Dan said.
“I’ll try to get you what I have on the other two men, but I’d say I’m not going to get anything new. Delaney has been dead for twelve years. Calabria... We had what we had six years ago, and after the trial, he left the state.”
“Thanks, Corey. Anything is deeply appreciated.”
“You got it. I hear the killer struck again. A woman, and her body was found in an old cemetery that was just about condemned.”
“Yes.”
“You knew her?”
“No, but we believe that it was Jennie.”
“Jennie! Then, she did exist.”
“So it seems. Anyway, thank you. Get back to me.”
“Will do.”
He ended the call and saw that Katie had come downstairs. She looked to have showered and dressed for the day in leggings and a tunic. She looked pale, as if she was suddenly afraid to greet him.
“Hey,” he said. “I put coffee on.”
“Uh...great,” she said. Now her cheeks looked like little rose blossoms.
“They haven’t found anything on Jennie yet, her real identity. I believe she stayed under the radar. Axel is heading to the autopsy.”
“Are you?”
He shook his head. “Do you have any of your father’s records?” he asked. “Did he keep a diary or anything? What about Jeremy? Do you think he’d meet with us? I’d like to talk to him about your father’s time here when he came back after the storm.”
“My father—” she started.
“Katie, it’s important. And there’s a clock ticking.”
“I know,” she said. “All the boxes I have with a few of my parents’ personal belongings, paperwork and so on, are at Jeremy’s house.”
“Could we speak with George?”
“We’ll have to ask George.”
He smiled. “We will. Do you remember anything about the time when your dad came up here?”
She shrugged. “I know he was happy when he talked to my mom because they’d gotten a few people off rooftops. And pets! He was thrilled when he could help with animals, too. He was a big-time animal person. I think about how my dad would have loved the boys! Let’s see, I remember him complaining, too, angry because there was an element out looting. He was sad one day when they pulled a woman out through a window, but she had already died.” She shook her head. “I didn’t know anything specific.”
“But Jeremy would.”
“Yes.”
“Can you call him?” he asked.
She nodded. “Of course. I, uh, left my phone upstairs.”
She turned and hurried on back up the stairs. As she left, his phone rang.
It was Axel. “Someone leaked the news about the letter,” he told Dan.
“Figures. Are they worried about a panic?”
“Let’s just say the airport is crowded,” Axel told him. “And we have the fanatics on Bourbon Street with their signs already, warning that anyone who commits any kind of sin—sneezing wrong is counted with that, I think—is going to hell. I just wanted you forewarned everyone is afraid of the Axeman. There is a segment of the population that really believes he’s back.”
“Great. Just great.”
“Now the paper will print the letter with this Axeman’s addendum.”
“Of course. Thanks, Axel.”
He ended the call. Katie came back down the stairs. “Jeremy is going to meet us, and he’ll bring us my boxes. He wants to go to a place he loves. It’s called Coffee Science, and it’s on Broad Avenue.”
“I know it.”
“He needs an hour or so.”
“Okay. If you don’t mind, we’ll stop by my office quickly.”
“You’re working other cases?”
“No, but I want to make sure my assistant isn’t being harassed by an old client. Besides, we have an hour to kill.”
“I’ll just check with Monty, let him know I won’t be in the carriage at all today.” She smiled. “Thank God for Monty! He’s so understanding. I might be in danger of losing my job, otherwise.”
“I’m assuming a lot of employers might see their people fleeing the city,” Dan said. “I’ll be out front if you want to lock up.” He started toward the door and then swung around. “Wait a minute! I brewed coffee!”
He went back to pour a cup of coffee. She was staring at him, and for the first time that morning, she gave him a smile. “Hey, I’m standing right here, you know.”
“Sorry! How rude!” He poured her a cup, too. She found cream in the refrigerator and added a touch to hers, then offered it to him.
He shook his head and said, “No, thanks.”
“Cools it down, you know,” she told him.
“Ice cube does the same. And I hate weak coffee.”
“That’s our city’s finest, dark and robust. No weak coffee here,” she promised him.
They both sipped the coffee, leaning against the kitchen counter together.
“I don’t want to be a cliché—” he said.
“Then, don’t be.”
“You’re good?” he asked her. “With me?”
She looked away, the color growing darker in her cheeks. “Of course,” she said, adding, “And look, it was what it was. No commitment.”
“No commitment... So, you don’t want me saying anything like About last night...”
“Lord, no. All right, this coffee was delicious. I’m just running through the gate to Monty’s.”
“Wait!” he told her.
He drained the last of the coffee from his cup. It was everything she promised. Dark, strong, robust.
“I’ll get out the door first. You lock up.”
He headed out of the house. The dogs found him as he made his way toward the gate. He heard Katie locking her door as he tried to share some quick attention between the three big dogs until they saw Katie and rushed to her.
He walked out, carefully closing the gate and getting into his car. A minute later, she came running through the gate, telling the dogs to stay, carefully closing the gate as she left.
She wouldn’t look at him as she got into the car. He wasn’t sure whether to try or talk about what had happened between them or not. She’d said no commitment.
But he wondered if she
had meant that because of him or herself.
“Katie...” he began, before turning the key in the ignition.
“Please don’t,” she whispered. “I’m embarrassed enough as it is.”
“Why?”
“Because... I mean, people just don’t do things like that.”
He didn’t mean to laugh; it was just spontaneous. She glared at him.
“Katie, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! But, yes, people do things like that. Rather frequently.”
“I don’t,” she whispered.
“Then, I’m really honored. And it was one of my best nights ever, Katie. Yes, I understand. No, I don’t expect anything from you. But in a time and place that seems to be pure hell, you made the world seem right and livable for me again. You are incredible. I won’t ask you for any commitments. Just know I think you’re wonderful in so many ways. And I’m...grateful for and amazed by last night.”
He didn’t wait for her reply but twisted the key in the ignition.
He drove down to Rampart and over to the CBD, finagling to find parking on the street. Katie followed him up to his office.
Marleah was behind her desk in the reception area busy at work on her computer. She looked up and smiled a greeting when he entered, standing when she saw that Katie was behind him.
“Well, hello. I didn’t expect to see you, Dan. The Axeman case...is it over? Did you catch him?” she asked hopefully.
“No, Marleah, I’m sorry. I just thought I’d stop by and finish up with the Wendy Lawrence paperwork. Did she come by the office?” he asked.
“No. And I left the paperwork and pictures on your desk, and I have it all digitally in the computer.” She waited.
Dan turned to Katie. “Katie Delaney, Marleah Darwin, the most amazing office assistant, secretary...receptionist and all to be found on the face of the earth.”
Marleah flushed, reaching over to shake Katie’s hand. “My main claim to fame and extraordinary powers is that I can sometimes fathom his mind,” she said. “Katie, a pleasure to meet you.”
Katie smiled, obviously liking the woman immediately. She turned to him curiously. He wondered if she’d expected him to have a twentysomething secretary with Mardi Gras breasts.
The Unforgiven Page 18