I may not have a werewolf’s strength, but my gun at this range would blow her clear across the hall. Superfast healing isn’t in my repertoire, but I’m secure in the fact that no matter what happens, I will eventually heal. Demeter would never finish me off when there was pain to be dealt. I’ve been around a long time. And I’ve experienced my fair share—been up against stronger, faster, and smarter than Sarah. I’d match my cunning and determination against this werewolf’s any day.
“You’re threatening the wrong girl. I know what you are and I know how to stop you. You think you can take me out? Give it your best shot,” I growl right back at her.
The rumble of the elevator behind us signals its approach. Half a dozen people spill out, including Kirk, the boss’ admin assistant. He steps between Sarah and me, momentarily blocking her from my sight.
“Hey, Monroe, the lottery’s up to thirty million. You want in? I’m going to buy tickets. You can’t win if you don’t play,” he points out for the hundredth time.
I reach into the pocket of my slacks, pull out a buck, and hand it to him, waving him away. The rest of the crowd has already dispersed. When he steps to the side, I no longer see Sarah.
“There was a woman here,” I say. “Did you see where she went?”
“Sorry,” he says. “No.”
I release an angry sigh. Sarah is gone.
CHAPTER 18
The confrontation with Sarah should have left me anxious. Instead, she’s made me curious . . . and sore. I’m sure I’ll have a glorious bruise on my arm where she grabbed me. Rubbing the spot, I decide it’s time I ask Zack if she poses a real threat or if it was all posturing—the attempts of a scorned lover to scare off the competition.
If only she knew she had no need to take me out of the game. I’ve got an envelope of powder in my handbag to do that for her.
I’m stepping off the elevator onto our floor when my cell phone rings. A glance at the caller ID shows it’s Zack. In a flash, Sarah is pushed from my mind. Instead I wonder if
“This is Emma,” I croak through a throat suddenly gone dry.
“Where are you?” he asks without preamble. Then, “Wait. I see you. Stay there.”
I look up in time to see him crossing the floor. There’s nothing intimate in his expression—no sly sideways glances, no seductive smile. And he’s not peering at me as if I’ve suddenly sprouted a second head. Maybe the Emma he made love to last night was the Emma he’s seeing now. Maybe I’m not in as much trouble as I thought.
But I remember the feeling of soaring, of giving myself to him completely, of holding nothing back.
More important, I remember the way I looked in the mirror.
That was not my imagination. Did Zack see it, too?
All this runs through my head in the time it takes Zack to close the distance between us. For him, it seems to be all business. He’s got a piece of paper in his hands.
I feel my shoulders relax a bit. If he can separate what happened last night from our professional life, I certainly should be able to.
“Just got this,” he says, waving the paper. “Alan Pierce moved recently.” He reads off the address.
It’s one I recognize. “That’s the same address as Michael Dexter’s.”
“Bingo!”
“He’s Michael Dexter’s partner?” I follow Zack as we head back to our cubicle.
“Did you peg them as being together last night?”
I shake my head. “But then, Alan was constantly working the party.”
“There’s more.” Zack hands me a cup of coffee. “When the first Mrs. Barakov disappeared, Alan Pierce was interviewed. He had been working for an architectural firm in Los Angeles. The one the Barakovs hired to renovate their home. He had a key and free rein of the house, so the police thought he might have seen something. He hadn’t and they dropped him from the suspect list.”
Zack pauses to take a drink from his mug. I’m reminded of the envelope in my bag. All it would take is one little sip. Thankfully, Zack doesn’t give me much time to think. He has something else to tell me. I see it in the gleam of his eyes. He plunges ahead.
“So, Alan’s mother, the present Mrs. Barbara Barakov, met the good doctor at Alan’s office. He was there for a consultation and she dropped in to take her son for lunch. While Alan works on the renovation project, his mother works on Barakov. The affair only lasted a couple months. It’s not clear what ended it. But Barakov went back to his wife. You still with me?”
I nod, recalling my research. “A month or so later, the wife mysteriously disappears.”
Zack continues. “Barakov plays the concerned husband for a while. Then he starts seeing Pierce again. Not long after that, Alan gets a new stepdaddy.”
“What kind of doctor is Barbara?” I ask, remembering how she was introduced last night.
“She’s a surgeon. Specializes in organ transplants.”
I watch Zack as he goes over the notes in his hand. Excitement is there in his expression, hopefulness that we may have uncovered the one detail that can help us break the case, determination that we’ll stick at it until we do.
The one thing that’s missing is any indication that we spent last night having sex—great sex.
Am I relieved or angry?
Do I even need the fucking powder Liz gave me?
Suddenly I realize Zack is peering at me. “What’s the matter? You look disappointed.”
I turn away, briefly, to recompose my expression. “Nothing’s the matter.”
“Is it about last night?” He steps close, glances around, then whispers, “I assumed you left early this morning so you’d have time to change clothes before work. Are we okay?”
Suddenly I’m back there with him—fire crackling, candles glowing, wringing torturous pleasure from Zack’s body in ways that were utterly exquisite and entirely addictive.
But that was then. This is now. “We’re fine.”
He lowers his head so it’s close to mine. “Last night was—I don’t have the words.”
I can feel the pulse of his breath against my ear. “Try.”
“Best. Sex. Ever.” He straightens and steps back. “Now, where were we?” He makes a show of shuffling the papers in his hand, but he’s grinning.
For an instant, this morning’s feeling of bliss is back. With all its implications. I am at the core a sexual creature, after all. And as Liz reminded me, sex is okay. As long as we leave it at that. I see him and can’t help wondering,
Just sex.
Sarah pops into my consciousness. Maybe that’s the kind of relationship he has with her now. Is this the time to bring it up?
No. Now it’s time to get back to business.
I clear my throat when what I want to do is clear my head. “I think I should
Zack nods. “I agree.” He glances at his watch. “He should be at the Green Leaf offices right about now.”
“On a Saturday morning?”
“Someone called him earlier posing as a new fat-cat customer and requesting a morning meeting.”
