“I hope you don’t need CPR,” she muttered, “because I don’t think I can move.”
His laugh was half groan. “I think I’ll live.” He rolled to his side and pulled her against him, so that they lay spooned together. “But I needed it,” he added quietly.
“So did I,” she whispered. “Thank you, Daniel.”
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, reached to turn off the light, and pulled the blanket over them. She’d started to drift off when he sighed. “Alex, I need to talk to you.”
She’d figured this was coming. “Okay.”
“Tonight you said your mother told Crighton that you’d seen him with Tom’s blanket.”
Alex swallowed. “Tom was my dad. He died when I was five.”
“Meredith told me. What was so special about the blanket?”
“It was my dad’s camping blanket. We didn’t have a lot of money, but camping was cheap and he liked being outside. Sometimes we’d all pile in the car and go to the lake and fish and swim… Then at night he’d make a fire and he’d wrap me and Alicia up in that old blanket and hold us on his lap while he told us stories. My mom kept all of his stuff out in Craig’s garage in case Alicia and I wanted it someday. I remember Craig didn’t like that very much. He was very possessive of my mother.”
“So what did you see, honey?”
“I don’t know, but I know there’s something. I keep remembering thunder and lightning. Mary said she was a little surprised when I insisted starting the day after Alicia died. We just need to go back another day. That’s all.”
“No, that’s not all.” His arm tightened around her waist. “You’re going to be mad, and I don’t blame you. Just remember, I was trying to do the right thing at the time.”
Frowning, Alex rolled to look up at him. “What?”
He stayed on his side, his expression grim. “This hasn’t been in any of the press releases and we’ve been able to keep it quiet. But two of the three bodies we found in ditches had a hair wrapped around the big toe. The hairs are at least ten years old.” His chest expanded, then fell. “And they match your DNA exactly.”
Alex was stunned. “My DNA? How do you know? I’ve never given you a sample.”
He closed his eyes. “Yes, you did. Remember Tuesday when you were leaving to go with Ed to Bailey’s house and I kissed you and pulled your hair?”
Alex’s jaw tightened. “You did it on purpose. Why? Why didn’t you just ask me?”
“Because I didn’t want to worry you. I was trying-”
“Not to hurt me,” she finished. “Daniel…” She shook her head, wanting to be annoyed, but he looked so miserable that she couldn’t find it in her. “It’s okay.”
He opened his eyes. “It is?”
“Yeah. You were trying to do the right thing. Just don’t do it again, okay?”
“Okay.” He pulled her back against him. “Let’s go to sleep.”
She snuggled back into him. Then the full import of his words struck her, and despite the heat radiating from his body, she felt cold. “He has her hair,” she whispered.
“I know, baby.”
Fear snaked its way into her gut. “Where did he get it, Daniel?”
His arm tightened around her protectively. “I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out.”
Thursday, February 1, 2:30 a.m.
“Bailey,” Beardsley whispered. “Are you alive?”
Bailey drew in a shallow breath, testing. “Yes.”
“Did you tell him anything more?”
“I don’t know anything more,” she said, her voice breaking on a sob.
“Sshh. Don’t cry. Maybe Alex just hid it.”
Bailey tried to make her brain think. “I told her to, in the letter.”
“Letter? You mean you mailed it?” he murmured. “To Ohio? When?”
“The day they took me. Thursday.”
“She might not have gotten it then. She got here on Saturday.”
Bailey drew in another, faster breath. “Then she might not know about the key.”
“We need to buy some time. If you have to tell him, say you sent it to her in Ohio. She’s not there if they look, so she and Hope will be safe. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Dutton, Thursday, February 1, 5:30 a.m.
He rolled by Alex Fallon’s little bungalow, his eyes narrowing. Crime scene tape was stretched across her front door. He wondered if the assholes who’d tried to run her down two days before had finally been successful at snuffing her out. They better not have. He needed her alive so he could kill her himself. Otherwise his circle would not be complete, and that would be a damn shame.
He kept rolling along at his snail’s pace, doing what he’d been paid to do. A few doors down, old Violet Drummond hobbled out to the street and he handed her a paper through the window. “Mornin’, Miz Drummond.”
“Mor-nin’,” she said auspiciously.
“What happened at the bungalow?” he asked nonchalantly.
Her lips pursed as if she’d sucked a lemon. “Break-in. Somebody ransacked that Tremaine girl’s things and poisoned her dog. Tore up the house, too. I knew she was trouble the minute she walked back into town. She should have just stayed away.”
He looked back at the bungalow through his side mirror. Somebody had been sloppy. Somebody was getting scared. Inside he grinned. Outside he made his face frown. “Yes’m. Have a nice day, Miz Drummond.”
He rolled away, relieved Alex Fallon still lived, but annoyed that now she’d be more on her guard than ever-and no longer conveniently located on Main Street. But he knew where she’d be staying. She and Vartanian were practically joined at the hip. But he and Vartanian would meet soon and he’d grab Alex then.
For now, he’d finish his job, then go get some sleep. He’d had a very busy night.
Atlanta, Thursday, February 1, 5:55 a.m.
The phone woke her and groggily Alex answered it. “Fallon. What is it, Letta?”
“Um, I’m not Letta and I want to talk to Daniel. Is he there?”
Alex sat up, awake now. “I’m sorry. Wait.” She poked Daniel’s arm. “I think it’s Chase. I was so sleepy I thought I was at home and my charge nurse was calling.”
Daniel lifted his head, his eyes still heavy with sleep. “Oh, hell. Give it here.”
She handed it over, wondering if they would have any trouble over their… sleeping arrangements. She glanced at the clock with a wince. They hadn’t done much sleeping.
“I’m sorry. I did call you about her mother.” Daniel sat up and hunched over, his free hand massaging his temples. He had a headache already. “I should have called you about the break-in at the bungalow, but I had to take Riley to the vet.” He looked up at her with a hopeful grimace, then rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah, there was that, too.”
Alex scooted over so that she knelt next to his hip and lifted his chin. His eyes were shadowed with pain. She pressed her thumbs to his temples and her lips to his brow until she felt him relax. She leaned back and he nodded, but his lips didn’t smile.
“When?” he said. “Who?… Never heard of him. Why didn’t APD call us? I thought we had a picture of that kid on the visor of every patrol car in the city.” He sighed. “I guess that would make it hard to see his face. All right.” He sat up straighter and looked at his clock. “Again? Then there’s another one. Who’s his tail?… Good. Have him call me when Woolf stops. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” He started to hang up, then paused, looking at Alex. “I’ll tell her. Thanks, Chase.” He handed her the phone and she hung it up, her stomach already starting to churn.
“Who did APD have a picture of on their visors?”
“A kid we’ve been looking for. They found him dead in an alley, a few blocks from his car.” He scrubbed his palms over his face. “Shot in the head with his face covered in blood. Nobody recognized him until they’d gotten him to the morgue and cleaned up his face. They found his car, ran the plates. But I’ve never heard of him.”