to sign him up. He's going crazy in Biloxi. He's doing a training program, and he hates it.' He turned back to the monitor, removed his glasses, and set them on the desk. He was having trouble concentrating now. It was all he could do to restrain himself from grabbing her. What the hell was the matter with him? Michelle was a complication he didn't need now. She wasn't the love-her-and-then-leave-her type of woman, and he wouldn't be staying around.
He knew he wasn't making any sense. He had come to Bowen because of her, and yet…
She poked him in the shoulder to get his attention. 'Who's Priest?'
'Father Tom Madden,' he answered. 'He's like a brother,' he added. 'When he was just starting grade school, he moved in
with our family. He's Nick's age, and the two of them are best friends. They went to Penn State together. Nick's going to
marry Tommy's little sister.'
'Why does Noah call him Priest?'
'Because, and I'm quoting Noah now, 'It pisses him off.' That's why he does it. Tommy lets him get away with anything.'
'Why's that?'
'Because Noah almost died saving Tommy's life. He drives Tommy crazy, but they've actually become good friends. The three
of them go fishing every once in a while,' he said.
She nodded, then asked, 'That last line Noah wrote… what does he mean, 'regarding the other, no problem'?'
'It means he knows I'm out of my element here, and so he's going to check out a couple of things for me.'
'Your answer is as ambiguous as his message.'
She walked away from the desk and opened the French doors connecting the library to the living room. There were medical journals strewn along her sofa. She picked them up, stacked them on an end table, and sat down with a sigh.
She lifted her hair up so her neck would get some air. God, she was hot. The heavy robe was suffocating her. She picked up
one of the journals and was going to fan her face, then realized how telling that would be and put the magazine down.
Theo leaned back in his chair and peered around the half-open door. 'Are you okay? You look a little flushed.'
The man didn't miss anything. 'I'm just tired.'
'How long have you been up?'
'Since four or five.'
He finished typing into his computer. 'I'll leave this on,' he said. Then he stood, stretched, and rolled his shoulders.
He reminded her of a big old tomcat. 'How come you packed your laptop? Going to check your e-mail while you're fishing?'
'It's like my cell phone. I never leave home without it. Do you want something to drink?'
'No thanks, but you help yourself.'
Theo went into the kitchen, grabbed a Diet Coke out of the refrigerator, then searched through her pantry. He found an
unopened box of low-fat, low-sodium Triscuits and carried the box with him back to the living room.
He sat down in the big, overstuffed easy chair, kicked his shoes off, and swung his feet up on the matching ottoman. Placing
his drink on a cardboard box next to the chair, he held up the Triscuits and said, 'Want some of these?'
'I just brushed my teeth. Do you ever fill up?'
'Not on stuff like this.'
He opened the box and began to munch on the crackers. 'I've got some friends making calls and a couple of my interns doing some research for me. It isn't a tough assignment, so hopefully, they'll e-mail me tonight and have everything ready to go tomorrow.'
'Justice Department work while you're on vacation?'
'Sugar mill work.'
She perked up. 'Oh? Do you think you might be able to help Daryl and his family?'
'I'm going to try. What do you know about the Carson brothers?'
'Not much,' she admitted. 'You should talk to Daddy. He's known the brothers for years. He can answer your questions. This
is a small community, so information is pretty easy to get. Everybody keeps up on what everybody else is doing.'
'And yet, no one knows anything about the break-in at the clinic,' he remarked. 'I've given it some thought, and I don't believe
kids trashed it.'
'Then what do you think?'
'It was a one-man operation. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. There was a pattern.'
'I don't understand. What do you mean by 'a pattern'?'
'There was order to the chaos. He came in through the back door-'
'But the window in the reception area was broken.'
'He broke it while he was inside. That was easy to figure out. The glass fragments prove it.'
'What else?'
'I don't do this kind of thing for a living,' he said. 'I prosecute. But if they were kids looking for drugs, as your dad and your
friend Ben Nelson believe, then how come the examination rooms were barely touched?'
'The glass and the locks were broken in the medicine cabinets.'
'Yes, but the needles and the prescription pads were still there. And what about the files, Michelle? Why would someone take
the time to go through boxes of files?'
'Maybe they were just throwing things left and right.'
'This didn't look like a simple case of vandalism to me. Kids who set out to vandalize… they bring along their own fun equipment.'
'Like what?'
'Spray paint,' he said. 'The guy who did this used your paint to mess up the rooms. Makes me think he didn't come prepared
to tear things up. And the trash bags in the yard looked like someone had gone through them. There wasn't a scratch on the
lock on your back door, which tells me that he had the right tools and knew how to use them.'
'As in a professional?'
He didn't answer. 'Noah's going to be here tomorow. If you don't mind, I'd like you to leave the clinic the way it is until he's finished looking around.'
'Just tomorrow?'
'Yes.'
'Okay,' she agreed. Her friends weren't coming to help until the day after. She could wait until then. 'What does Noah do for
a living?'
He didn't give her a specific answer but said, 'He's FBI,' and left it at that.
'FBI?' She couldn't hide her alarm. 'Then you must think-'
He interrupted her. 'Don't jump to conclusions. Noah's a family friend, and I thought it would be a good idea to let him look at
