Blood Dreams

harder. Now,' she continued briskly, 'how can I help you?'

'Miss Patty, do you remember selling a dozen roses to-'

Dani.

Once again, she was aware of a stillness inside her, a waiting, a listening. To him. To his voice.

They can't help you. They can't protect you. He can't protect you. Because you're going to come to me. just like in your dream. It's inevitable. You belong to me, Dani.

'-so I'm afraid I really can't help you, Sheriff. He paid cash, and he was a very ordinary-looking man. I doubt I'd know him again if he walked in the door right now.'

Dani was vaguely surprised that nobody seemed at all aware of the voice she had heard so clearly this time. Surprised that nobody was looking at her strangely or asking why she was breathing so unevenly, because surely she was, surely it was audible to everyone around her.

But no.

Even Paris seemed oblivious, intent on Miss Patty's conversation with Marc.

Patient, Marc said, 'Can you tell me how old he was?'

'Well, I never was very good at estimating age, and I find it's even more difficult as I grow older. If you told me it was my ticket into heaven, the best I could say would be that he was probably a little older than you, Sheriff. About as tall. I suppose he must have worn a hat, or one of those hoodie things, because I can't recall what color his hair was.'

She smiled apologetically. 'You see, he wasn't in here long at all. Went straight to the refrigerator case and got the roses for himself. We usually have a dozen or two ready and that day it was red and yellow. He chose the red. He got the card, too, from one of our little cardholders here on the counter. And then he paid me in cash, wished me a good afternoon, and left.'

'Miss Patty-'

'We were getting ready for a wedding, Sheriff. Very busy in the back, and so I wasn't really thinking about him, you understand. I am sorry. I wish I could help, I really do.'

'Thanks anyway, Miss Patty. Oh, and-if you wouldn't mind?'

Her eyes twinkled. 'Not talking about this? Of course I won't, Sheriff. You may count on my total discretion.'

Outside, Jordan said, 'So, who wants to bet me that Miss Patty isn't on the phone in the back room right this minute not talking about our visit?'

Nobody took him up on the offer.

Chapter Fifteen

THE NAME AUDREY on a bracelet seemed to mean little, or at least didn't appear to help them narrow their search in any way. Jordan reported three Audreys on the current tax rolls of Prophet County all of them born in Venture, likely to be buried here, and none having living husbands or living sons.

'Not that I'd expect to find her here anyway,' Hollis said. 'Unless our killer came home when he came to Venture. And somehow… that doesn't feel likely.'

'So why did he come here?' Dani said. She rubbed the back of her neck, tired because it had been a very long day and because she hadn't been all that rested to begin with. 'Why choose Venture as his latest hunting ground?'

'The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question,' Paris agreed. 'There has to be something that brought him here, of all places. Something Venture has that every other small town in the South lacks. And we don't have a clue what that is.'

Marc got to his feet, saying, 'All I know is that I've spent at least an hour longer than I should have in this room today. I need some air. Come on, Dani, I think you do too.'

Hollis looked at Paris with mock sadness. 'I feel unloved.'

'And unwanted,' Paris added.

They stared at each other, this time with real frowns.

'Weird,' Hollis said. 'Deja vu.'

'Yeah, me too.'

Dani had no idea what they were talking about. She was fairly certain she wasn't up to sparring with Marc, but she'd also had more than her fill of this conference room and the brutal exercise of trying to put together the puzzle pieces of a monster's insane mind.

She got up and headed for the door, saying only, 'If you guys come up with any bright new ideas, sing out.'

Paris waved an absent hand, her attention already fixed once again on the open file on the table in front of her.

'At least she's not thinking about Dan or the divorce,' Marc offered quietly as they walked down the hall toward the bullpen and main reception areas of the sheriff's department.

'The silver lining?'

'Why not?'

Dani didn't say anything to that until they were out on the sidewalk, both turning automatically toward the distant center of town because it was a pleasant walk on a pleasant late afternoon.

On most days, at least.

' Paris said-' She stopped herself.

'What did Paris say?'

'Nothing. It doesn't matter.'

Marc nodded to a passerby who had lifted a hand in greeting, and said, 'Dani, I wish you'd stop censoring your instincts and impulses around me.'

She blinked. 'Excuse me?'

'You heard me. You did the same thing years ago. Drove me nuts. I couldn't decide if it was me you didn't trust or yourself, and every time I tried to find out, you did your classic avoidance thing and managed to distract me. Somehow.'

Dani glanced at him. 'Was that what I was doing?'

'Hell, you've known the right buttons to push with me since you were about seventeen.'

She cleared her throat. 'You probably shouldn't tell me that. I might take advantage.'

'Feel free.'

It was at least the second time he had said something like that, but more than his matter-of-fact tone made Dani choose not to go down that path with him. Here and now, at least.

She knew damn well she was too tired for that. Plus, her head was still throbbing dimly, at least in part because she was trying to shield her mind and wasn't at all sure she could even manage the unfamiliar bit of psychic protection.

That voice. That damn voice. She never wanted to hear it again. And she was terrified it was somehow connected to some part of her deeper than her thoughts.

As if he hadn't expected her to respond, Marc continued, 'I was certain it had to do with trust. Then we had that shared experience in one of your vision dreams, and I thought I knew for certain. Because you were gone within a week.'

'It wasn't you. I mean, it wasn't about trust.'

'Then what was it about?'

Dani wondered vaguely why this seemed easier to talk about as they walked slowly along, not looking at each other. Was that it? Or had everything up to now just made this possible?

'Some things have to happen just the way they happen, Dani. And when they happen.' Miranda shrugged. 'No matter what we see or what we dream, the universe has a plan.'

'Dani?'

Was it just a matter of timing? She hesitated, then said, 'It was about… those monsters I see. Evil people