"Gail came in and told me."
"Why that little shit!"
Kels raises her hand. "Now don’t be too upset. I got to throw a fit, threaten to come kill you, and make a hasty exit out of a meeting that was boring me senseless. And it was perfect because Jessica was rambling on about something unbelievably stupid. So it was extra special."
I watch as she locks her office door. "Kels, what are you doing?"
"You know what, Tabloid?" She crooks her finger at me, calling me to her. For some reason my legs obey her. Traitors.
"What?" I find myself waiting in front of her.
"They want me in the closet, so I want you to consider this a great big closet for a minute."
She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. Immediately, I enfold her in my arms, pulling her tight against my body. God, I love the feel of her breasts against mine, the way our bodies seem to melt into one another. Her mouth is so soft and she tastes so sweet, like the honey she puts in her tea every morning.
I’m feeling more than a little breathless when we part, and hungry for more, but she takes a moment and wipes her lipstick from my lips. Guess I’m not getting any more right now. Damn. Why have such a nice couch in her office if we can’t put it to good use?
"So not your shade," she teases.
I step back, instantly feeling the loss. She unlocks her door but leaves the blinds closed. I guess to not seem too suspicious. She crosses over behind her desk.
"Now, why were you going through my mail?"
"I was looking for anything that might be from your little friend." I rest against the corner of her desk. I take a moment to enjoy the view, her blouse is open one button too many for prime time, and her skirt came up to mid-thigh when she sat down. She has wonderful legs. What I wouldn’t give for them to be -
"Find anything interesting?"
Oh yeah. Wait, she’s talking about the mail. "Couple of things I want to check out." Get your mind out of the gutter, Kingsley.
"Will you do me a favor and take them? I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t even want to know if they are from him, okay?"
I reach for the two pieces of mail. "No problem."
"And, please, consider yourself told off." She grins again.
"You, madam, can tell me off anytime." Oh yeah, I suppose I should tell her about the good doctor calling. "Kels," I trace my finger over a stack of files, "Susan called."
"Oh."
"She wants you to call her."
"Okay, if I get a chance, I will."
I’ll keep you busy forever if that’ll do the trick. Maybe in a year or two Susan will take the hint and go quietly into the sunset. And, I like that noncommittal response. Not overwhelmed with enthusiasm to call the good doctor. Unless she only said it for my benefit. I could ask, I suppose. But I won’t. She’d tell me if she wanted to. Right?
There is a piece of mail that concerns me in a great big old way. As soon as I read it, I call Bear and make arrangements to get it to him. It’s a list of everywhere Kels had been in the last couple of weeks. It has the times, dates, places and the people she was with. It wasn’t even lost on the guy that she spent a few nights at my place. He knows she left town, but it doesn’t seem to reflect that he knew where she was. Thank God for that. I don’t want my family involved in any way. It’s bad enough he’s after Kelsey.
I make sure Kels is indeed going to be tied up at the station all day before I leave to meet Bear for lunch at The Rio. I’m looking at the note and picking over a bacon cheeseburger and steak fries when he arrives.
"Harper, I’m glad to see you." He grabs a seat, motioning to the waitress to bring him the same thing I’m eating. "We need to talk."
"No kidding." I hand him the note. He takes it, exchanging a piece of paper with me. I read it through carefully. "Christ! Bear, are you absolutely sure?"
"Positive. The fibers found in the hair of one of the victims definitely match the fibers from the bear Kelsey got from her admirer. I just got the report back this morning. I was going to call you when I got your call."
"Then this means ..." Oh God, I just lost my ability to speak. And I might get sick right here and now.
"The guy killing the blondes is also Kelsey’s stalker."
"Fuck."
"I know, Harper. It scares the shit out of me, too." He lays a large, comforting hand on my shoulder. "But the good news is we’re going to have surveillance on Kelsey 24/7 from here on out."
"You’re staking her out like a sacrificial lamb," I accuse.
Bear shakes his head. "Nope. The sick fuck has done that himself. And she’s our best chance at getting him before he carves up some other woman."
I blow out a deep breath, trying to quiet my rebellious stomach. "They all look like her, don’t they?" I know the answer to my own question. My mind supplies me images of the previous victims, all young, all petite, all blonde, all green-eyed, all beautiful.
He nods. "He’s been trying to create them in her image, I think, although I ain’t the department shrink. Probably kills them when he realizes they aren’t her."
"I need to get back to the station."
"I figured. Look, my Captain and I will be by later to go over some safety protocol with you both. I’ll also want to talk to the general manager about what’s going on. I hear from a friend at the FBI that they are sending in another agent to help with the investigation. Most likely they’re going to bring in another profiler. They may want to talk to Kelsey."
"Yeah, fine." I can barely hear him over the pounding of my heart. I pull a ten dollar bill out of my pocket and lay it on the table to cover my lunch. "I gotta go, Bear."
I can’t hide this from her, as much as I might want to. She deserves to know what we’re up against. And to know she’s not alone.
Harper is standing in my doorway with a look that has me really confused. It’s somewhere between playful and very concerned.
"What’s up, Tabloid?"
"We need to talk."
Oh, I most definitely don’t like the sound of that. Is this where she tells me it’s been real and it’s been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun? Kels, you always manage to either run or scare everyone off. Poor Harper certainly isn’t the type to hide and I can’t blame her for that. Closets weren’t built for two.
"Okay." I lean back from my desk hoping I don’t lose it when I actually hear the words. How can it hurt so much after so short a time?
"First, I want to give you this." She steps in my office and closes my office door, locking it as she does so. In a few long strides, she crosses to me, turning my chair to face her. Harper drops to her knees and hands me a long, thin box. I take it in shaky hands. I’ve never been given anything from someone who was about to dump me. Is this some new dating custom I haven’t heard about? When I remove the lid, I find a toothbrush. I can’t stop the smile that breaks across my face. Lifting it out of the box, I find a key tied to the end.
"What’s this?"
"Everything you need to stay at my place. Something to keep your breath sweet." She leans forward and steals a brief kiss, her hands coming to rest on my legs. "And a key to get you in the front door."
"Okay, the toothbrush I can understand, but the key? That’s an awfully big step." And one I’d like for her to define for me, just so there are no misunderstandings here.
"There’s a big reason, Kels."
"What?"
And she tells me.
Blinking tired eyes into darkness, it takes me a few moments to realize the bed is empty beside me. I roll over slowly and see her outlined against the window. She’s in the wingback chair there, tucked under my Nonny’s handmade quilt. Trouble is curled up on her lap and I can hear the beast purring from here as she strokes him idly with the fingertips of one hand.