“You’re helping as much as a partner,” he said. “Not to mention you’re much better looking than most.”
“You’re not too bad, yourself,” she said lightly. “Always thought so.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, you know, years ago... Anyway, never mind, the bartender is coming.”
“Hey!” Axel said, smiling at the bartender, a man of about forty with an easy manner, able to chat a bit with his customers without being too intrusive.
“You ready for another? You’ve got to watch it with those wicked drinks,” he teased.
Axel had his picture of Jennifer Lowry out.
“You’ve seen her here?”
The man—whose name tag identified him as Gregory—nodded grimly. “Jennifer. She was in here about once a week with that crew from the dentist’s office.”
“You knew them all?”
“Nice group and great dentist. I go to him.”
“Good to know.”
“You some kind of cop?” Gregory asked.
Axel nodded.
“You’re looking for her killer? Man, talk about an injustice! I don’t get it. She didn’t lead men on, she was never nasty, she always had something good to say. We saw the picture, but no one wants to believe from a sketch that it’s really a person they know. I thought about calling in, but didn’t think I could really help in any way.”
“Can you tell us anything about her? People she hung out with outside her coworkers? Did you ever see her with anyone who came on to her, or...?”
“Sure. She liked the guy you were with earlier,” he said to Raina.
“Jordan,” she supplied.
“She was excited about him. She came up to me one night for her order and she asked me what I thought. Said he was an attorney, a solid guy, and he wasn’t touchy-feely, if you know what I mean.”
Axel smiled. “I can tell that you see the whole room. You’re good at what you do. I’m betting you know what the cocktail waitress and waiters are getting from you at the service bar and where they’re going with their orders most of the time.”
Gregory grinned. “Someone who has also bartended.”
“All through college.”
“And now? Cop?”
“FBI,” Axel said.
“Oh, you’re with the local office?”
“No, I came down. But I’m from here.”
“Oh, well, good. Hey, maybe you can arrest whoever dumped their so-called pet pythons in the Everglades!” He shuddered. “Now they’re making TV shows about it, making us all look like we’re toothless yokels, like they did with the gator people thing in the Louisiana shows. Ugh.”
“If they get more of the big snakes out of the Everglades, it’s a good thing,” Axel said.
“I suppose. Here’s my fear—don’t tell me snakes don’t swim or hitchhike. They’ll be making it down to the Florida Keys, and if so, they’ll start munching on our key deer, and that will be just horrible. I take it you’ve seen a key deer? Cutest little things you ever want to see.”
“They are adorable, aren’t they?” Raina said, smiling politely. “Gregory, can you help us in any way? Did anyone try to buy a drink for Jennifer? Did you ever see her leave with anyone, or perhaps see someone try to persuade her to leave the club?”
He was thoughtful and shook his head slowly. Then he seemed to remember something, arching a brow. “Yes!”
“Yes?”
“Well, you were with that guy, too, the guy with the pretty, curvy lady. That couple you and your buddy over there were with.” He pointed to Nigel over at the other bar.
“Really?” Axel said.
“Were they together that night? That couple?” Raina asked.
Gregory shook his head, a little smile on his lips. “Not sure. I was close to the entertainers. Jennifer had been talking to me about making sure I made an appointment because Wong is one popular dentist. Anyway, the guy came up to the bar and talked to Jennifer. He wanted to buy her a drink. She smiled and said no, said she didn’t drink much, and besides, she was here with friends.”
“And then?” Axel asked.
“That was it. She smiled and walked back to her table and friends, and he shrugged, bought two beers and headed back to his table.” Gregory paused to grin. “He probably thought he got away with it because his lady had been busy watching the stage the entire time. But I saw her look around. She knew what he was up to.”
“Oh, did you talk to her?” Axel asked. “Was she the jealous type?”
“You didn’t see her react at all. Maybe they’re not really a twosome. That I can’t tell you. But they do come here together often enough. Then again, so do a lot of people. Owners here are nice and had a dream for a cool place to just hang out. There’s not a bad night during the week here. We even fill in on Mondays. Not as late a crowd as we get on the weekends, of course. Doesn’t hurt that the massive parking garage is near, right?”
“Parking always helps,” Axel said. He produced one of his cards to pass to Gregory. “This is my information, if anything else occurs to you.”
“I’ll ask around. If anyone knows anything, we’ll get it to you. Everyone here liked that girl. She tipped—not ridiculously, but consistently—and better than that, she had a smile for everyone,” Gregory assured him.
Axel thanked him and paid for the drinks. He and Raina left the bar, and he looked across the room for Nigel, who was heading toward them.
“Anything?” Axel asked.
“Yes. Everyone loves Wong. He must be the best dentist in town. I think I’m going to make an appointment for myself,” Nigel said, letting out a weary sigh. “You?”
“Maybe. Our boy Gregory over there says Jennifer was here often, repeats she was about the nicest human being walking the earth. And she did see Jordan Rivera while she was here, and our kindly chaperon, Frank Peters, tried to buy her a drink. An offer she rejected. Oh, and Frank was here with the other kindly chaperone, Loretta Oster, when he did so, and Loretta pretended not to see the exchange, but she did.”
“So Loretta Oster has spent the last thirteen years or so killing people and dumping them in the Everglades?” Nigel asked skeptically.
“I came to no such conclusion. But I did decide she and Frank are worth more of our time,” Axel said.
Raina was shaking her head. “If you’re putting everything together, it would have been impossible for Loretta or Frank to have taken the victim thirteen years ago. They were with us that night. The night she disappeared. It’s hard to chaperone forty-something young teens and escape for even ten minutes alone,” she said.
“They were with you all day and all night?” Axel asked her.
“Well, no. Not all day. We were in school and had an orientation there at 3:00 p.m., and then the buses came at about four or four-thirty. When we arrived, we received another orientation and culture lesson from your friend Jeremy and then we had our campfire meal. Then you started with the pirate ship story, Axel.”
Axel glanced at Nigel. “We need to go back and look at the old records. See what time people discovered the victim’s car and found it abandoned.”
“That’s a long shot, isn’t it?” Raina asked.
“It’s all a long shot,” Nigel told her, smiling ruefully. “All we’ve got is long shots. Anyway, I’m going to keel over. Tomorrow is another day. Axel, I’ll get my people on records first thing in the morning,” he said.
They all headed out together. Raina was silent as they walked to the car.
“What’s wrong?” Axel asked her.
She shook her head. “It’s just so insidious. Sometimes you can almost understand murder. Someone kills someone who has hurt someone else. A domestic situation out of hand. Greed, jealousy, but just killing time after time for no apparent reason?”
“We don’t know if that’s the case yet,”
he said quietly. “We’re going on theory now, not facts.”
She nodded. “But it is going to turn out to be the girl who disappeared all those years ago,” she said.
“You touched the skull, and you know that?”
She shook her head. “I just know it. Your way. Intuition.”
He was driving, but he reached out to set his hand on her shoulder. “Hey. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have been dragged in on this.”
“No. I’m glad I was. But I need you to do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
She turned to look at him. “I want you to stay with me tonight.” She winced. “At my house, I mean. Not with me. You don’t have to sleep with me.”
The intense look he gave her had her rambling further. “Unless you want to. But you don’t have to. It’s a big house.”
He smiled. “I don’t have to?”
“No. That was terrible of me. I mean, people keep assuming we’re together, and I’m hearing it so much—”
“Does it sound bad?”
“No, not at all. I just...”
“Does that mean I can sleep with you if I want to? It’s not the criteria for me staying. I’ve got a hotel room. It’s no problem.”
She wasn’t sure how serious he was being. “Is there anything wrong with me?” she asked anxiously.
He looked at the young woman he’d first met so many years before. And he remembered his first impression when they’d met again. She’d grown into a stunning young woman. She had confidence, but no idea of just how attractive she was, not just in her looks, but in her manner, her way of looking after others, being firm and assertive without aggression, and charming those around her with a smile. Those amber eyes of hers seemed to have a touch of gold from the sun in them, dazzling even in the shadows of the car.
She might train dogs, but she smelled as sweet and evocative as a jungle garden.
“Not a thing in the world,” he said. He smiled, then. “And what about me?”
“What about you?”
“Is there anything wrong with me?”
“With you?” she asked.
“I mean, you’re beautiful. Perfect. Awesome. Strange. Delightfully weird.”
She was silent for a minute, looking downward, a smile creeping into her lips. She looked at him again.
“Tall, dark, handsome and extremely weird. I didn’t know how weird. I’m not at all sure that either of us is delightfully weird, so I’m going to go with usefully weird on that one. But as to the other...you’re beautiful. Perfect. Awesome.”
“Wow,” he said.
“Oh, please! You must get that often enough.”
He fell silent himself. He wondered if there was a way to make her understand. Relationships in his life didn’t last. The phone would ring and he would have to go; and far too often, he was distracted and even impatient. And, of course, there were the dead. Hard to explain to most others.
He didn’t live as a monk in any way, but he seldom really connected. You met someone, there was an attraction, you slept together and then you tried to talk, get to know one another and...
Usually it fell apart.
This time...
They talked. And oddly, in little time, they knew one another.
They’d reached her house. She hurried out of the car before he could get the door. Running up the steps, she opened the door, greeting the dog, who boisterously greeted her in return.
“Special Agent Tiger is going to be staying with us tonight, watching over us,” she told Titan. “You do a wonderful job of that, of course, but tonight...”
Her voice trailed. Axel was right behind her. He hunkered down to greet Titan, who seemed happy to see him.
He looked up at Raina. “Curious. What about you? Dating, I mean. Me, easy. Too much job. Too much weirdness in my life. But you dated handsome attorney Tate Fielding, right?”
“We just had different values,” she said. “The breakup was mutual.”
“Surely there were others.”
“Well, of course I’ve dated!”
“And?”
She winced. “Well a lot of the time I was reminded of why I like dogs more than people.”
“Hard to argue with that,” he teased, rising.
He loved dogs, too. But he was suddenly awkward with himself, Raina and Titan.
“Think he’s going to mind if we get close?” he asked Raina.
“I think he likes you,” Raina told him. “I think he’ll approve.”
“Shall we test that out?”
She smiled, walking closer. He pulled her into his arms. She was warm and vital, her skin soft, her wiry frame strong in his hold. He found her lips and they were as sweet as he had expected, her mouth parting to his kiss, a passion building with the plunge and play of their tongues as they locked in an embrace, holding tightly, hands moving and bodies melding ever closer, till it seemed they were one being, burning together.
He broke away, heart thundering, breath coming fast. There were things to do.
“Doors locked?” he asked.
“Front and back.”
“Window?”
“Hurricane code, all locked.”
“Well, then...”
“Titan, guard the hallway!” Raina said.
The dog barked, and hurried ahead of them, ready to be obedient to his master.
Raina caught Axel’s hand, drawing him down the hall and into her bedroom, leaning against the door to close it as they entered.
A night-light burned from the bathroom. It was enough. She was caught in a yellow-gold shadow, watching him as she slid from her shoes and started to disrobe. He watched as fabric fell from her body to the floor and felt his own body respond to the beauty of her form. He sprang to life, aware he wouldn’t feel the fire and lightning fully from her body if his own remained clad.
But there was the one thing he never forgot—his Glock and the small holster at his back. He ripped himself away to set those on the nightstand within easy reach, then tore off his jacket and shirt and found her in his arms again, her lips on his, her fingers at his belt. In a matter of minutes, his pants were gone, even as he used every resolve of equilibrium to maintain his contact with her while not tripping out of his socks and shoes.
It didn’t fully serve him. They fell together on her bed, laughing and pausing as she wound up on top, looking down at him, and then locking again in an embrace that brought them rolling and more fully into the center of the bed. It was more than his imagination had given him, the full touch of flesh against flesh, the vibrance and feel of her, the intoxication of her scent and her lips and the lightest brush of her fingers.
They scrambled to kiss and touch and tease. They rolled to one side and the next and twisted and turned in eagerness. He found her breasts and collarbone and ribs and worked his way down. Her fingers teased liquid fire into his shoulders and neck, grasping at his hair as whispers escaped her lips and she arched beneath him. The length of him seemed to be composed of lava then, hotter than melting steel, and the world became nothing but urgency. He came to her at last, for a second, just feeling that melding as if their flesh became one, frantic and eager, and longing still for the ecstasy and even agony to go on, rising like the sound of thunder crashing closer and encompassing all.
It was perhaps the best sex he’d ever had, a thought that shifted through his mind as they reached a shattering climax and slipped into the sweet and incredible afterglow that came as their hearts slowed and their bodies cooled.
They were both silent, just holding tight.
She lay curled against him, and he closed his eyes, savoring the silken feel of her hair against his chest.
And he wondered if it was true, if there was one person out there destined to be everything—lover, friend and all else.
She shifted, hands on his chest, rising against him, a sweet and slightly wicked smile on her face. She was about to speak.
But suddenly Titan began to bark, ferociously, frantically.
They both jumped out of bed as if a train were about to come crashing through the walls.
He was good at stumbling into his pants, grabbing the Glock and shouting at the same time.
“Stay here—leave this one to me and Titan!”
* * *
Stay here!
Weren’t those the words used in dozens of horror movies? Kids messing around in the woods, the guy telling the girl to stay in the car while he checks out the situation.
Then the killer with a giant knife or hook sweeps in, skewers the guy and comes for the idiot girl who is just screaming in the car.
They weren’t in a car. This was her home.
And Axel wasn’t an idiot guy; he was a trained agent. Not to mention Titan. The dog would die before allowing anyone without permission into the sanctuary of his home.
But be that as it may, she couldn’t just “stay.”
She raced to the closet for a dress and threw it on. She didn’t rush out; she hesitated at the front door, listening. She could hear Titan barking.
And she could hear Axel speaking to him. “Good boy. It’s all right now. Whatever it was, it’s gone now. Good boy, you were great. Come on back in.”
Raina ventured into the hallway, waiting. Titan came rushing in first, down the hall and straight to her, for once almost knocking her over in his eagerness to reach her and assure himself that she was okay.
She patted her dog, waiting for Axel.
She heard him relock the front door and saw him as he came back down the hallway, frowning.
“I didn’t catch it,” he told her.
“Catch it?” she asked.
He nodded, brows still tightly drawn. “I think someone stopped a car in front of your house. I don’t know if they did or didn’t get out, but it was blocks down the street by the time Titan and I got out there. I couldn’t see the license plate.” He shrugged lightly and offered her a half smile. “I could have chased the car down the road, but he took off. It was probably nothing. Animals are instinctive, and Titan probably knows he needs to be on high alert all the time. The car might’ve just belonged to a neighbor or someone visiting nearby. Anyway, doors are locked again.”
Deadly Touch Page 17