Natalie smiled back. “Just how many samples do you plan on taking?”
“Well,” Dev said, ? icking the hair back off her forehead as they headed up the
narrow path that had been cut through the thick pines on either side by animals
making their way to the water, “between soil, water, vegetation, and ? sh
specimens? Couple thousand.”
“You’re kidding.”
When Natalie stopped abruptly, Dev bumped into her and Natalie’s shoulder
brushed across Dev’s breasts. Natalie’s long, dark hair was caught back with a
soft tie at the base of her neck and the wind blew
• 18 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
a silky strand smelling of mountain laurel into Dev’s face. Dev’s lips tingled and
she stepped back.
“Nope. I’m serious. It’s been eight months since the last multitiered biologic
survey was done on the lake. With the increase in commercial and recreational
boat traf? c and the prevalence of industry in the adjoining areas, we need to
revamp all our statistics.”
“I always thought people at your level just sat in the lab while grunts slogged
around out here collecting samples,” Natalie teased as they reached the green
and white truck with the emblem of the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation on the side.
“I’m old-fashioned, I guess,” Dev said as she stripped off her outer gear and
stowed it in the back of Natalie’s SUV. Beneath it she wore jeans, a shortsleeved
denim shirt, and a light zip-up navy vest.
She climbed into the truck and shifted to ? nd a good position for her sore hip
as Natalie slid behind the wheel. “Sometimes the only way to know there’s a
problem is to see for yourself. If I just send out someone who isn’t an expert on
the water life to randomly collect specimens, we could miss the early signs of
pollutant effects on the ? sh population.”
“That’s your thing, right? You’re a ? sh guy?” Natalie backed out of the parking
lot and headed north on Route 9, which wended its way along the shore and
through the small villages that dotted the lakeside.
“Yeah, close enough.” Dev unfolded her regional survey map to check the next
sample site. “I’m a freshwater biologist. I started out studying ? sh populations
and got interested in the effects of environmental alterations on breeding and
population dynamics.”
“So that’s how you ended up with the DEC.”
“Technically, I’m an independent consultant, but I’m heading up a joint survey
this summer with the Derrin Freshwater Institute and the state.”
“Fish, huh?” Natalie shook her head and laughed. “If you don’t mind my asking,
how the hell did you ever get interested in ? sh?”
Dev wondered if it would make any sense if she told her the truth.
If she explained that she’d grown up a stone’s throw from where they had
collected the ? rst sample. That the lake had been her ? rst and, in the end, her
best friend. That for as long as she could remember, she’d never ? t in
anywhere. Not at home, not at school. She’d spent hours on the water, in the
water, from the time she’d been old enough to walk.
She’d found peace in those quiet alone times as she’d lain on the dock in the hot
summer sun watching the small schools of ? sh circle in the
• 19 •
RADCLY fFE
shallows. She had wondered then what it would be like to be part of a group
like that, moving so easily together, effortlessly attuned. To be accepted, to
belong. She didn’t know then. She still didn’t, but she didn’t wonder any longer.
She didn’t know Natalie well enough to share those secrets, and even if she
had, she wouldn’t have answered any differently. Those times were long past. “I
spent so much time in the water when I was a kid, I guess I thought I was part ?
sh.”
“Well,” Natalie said, deciding to ? re the ? rst shot as she gave Devon a slow,
appreciative once-over, “you look to be all woman now.”
Dev took a quick read and added up the ? ndings. The answer was pretty
clear. Natalie was very attractive, she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and it was
forecast to be a long, hot summer. Dev leaned back with a smile. “Nice to know
you noticed.”
• 20 •
WHEN DREAMS TREMBLE
CHAPTER TWO
By the time the EMTs arrived, Leslie felt almost normal again.
Certainly no worse than she had on quite a few occasions in recent weeks.
She’d been working hard and sleeping even less than usual. It was nothing more
than that.
“Look, really,” she protested as a husky young blond with shaggy hair and a
deep tan, who might have been called a surfer dude in another time and place,
lifted her into a wheelchair with the help of his intensely serious female partner,
“I feel perfectly ? ne now. Obviously I had a little dizzy spell, which has passed.
Please let me up.”
“Just try to relax, ma’am,” the brunette said mechanically as she slipped a sticky
EKG pad inside Leslie’s blouse and af? xed it gently to her upper breast.
Ma’am, Leslie thought with irrational temper. She has her hand inside my
blouse and she’s calling me ma’am. There was something terribly wrong with
this picture. This was not her. In a move that startled even herself, she slapped
the EMT’s hand away. With the practiced voice that was calculated to make
jurors sit up straight in their seats, she snapped, “I’m not going to the hospital.”
The one who’d ma’am’d her leaned down with a hand wrapped around either
arm of the wheelchair. She spoke quietly so no one else could hear. “It sucks to
have everyone all over you like this, I know. But your blood pressure’s still a
little bit low and your heart rate’s a tiny bit elevated. If you try to walk out of
here, I think you’re going to go down again. That will buy you a trip to the ICU.
Just let us take you to the emergency room where you can be checked out.”
Leslie studied the dark, deep eyes inches from her own. She
• 21 •
RADCLY fFE
hadn’t seen anyone look at her like that, with such compassion and
understanding, for…so long, she couldn’t remember. How was it that a stranger
could touch her so deeply and those who supposedly knew her intimately never
touched her at all? Truth be told, she did feel terrible.
“Just get me out of here quickly, please,” she whispered.
“You got it. I’m Amy, by the way.”
“You have beautiful eyes, Amy,” Leslie murmured as she suddenly drifted away.
