“The cameras were installed?” Dan asked him.
“The entire house is covered. An agent will be watching the screens 24-7. No one will be coming near Katie’s place, with or without the dogs on the loose,” Axel assured them.
Dan nodded. “Sleep,” he murmured. “Sounds good.”
Axel rose to go pay. “Adam is footing this bill. The case is personal to him, too,” he assured them.
“And we’re not...taking advantage of Adam?” Katie wondered.
Dan shook his head. “Adam... Adam has the Midas touch. And he’s an amazing man. He uses his business acumen for good things and helping people. Of course, he put together Axel’s team, the Krewe of Hunters.”
“And they all see the dead,” she said.
“We do!” Axel said. He was back at the table, answering her but looking at Dan. “And we love to find the right new recruits.”
Dan raised his eyebrows. “Let’s get through this,” he said.
“Right. Let’s get through this.”
The dogs were out when they reached Katie’s place. They were thrilled to greet her and Dan as they returned.
The stables were quiet. Monty’s lights were out. He’d probably gone to bed for the night.
Axel waited until they were in the house, then he drove away.
Katie stood in the entry for a minute: she knew Dan was walking around, checking out every room, every window and every nook and cranny.
He returned and met her on the landing.
“All secure?” she asked.
“All secure,” he said. He held her gaze.
“And?”
“I don’t sleep deeply. I’ll be awake at the first little yip the pups let out.”
She nodded. “Okay. So...in the morning, I should—”
“Take the day off. We’re going to do research.”
“I’m not sure that I should.”
“Monty will be fine with it, I’m sure.”
She nodded and started up the stairs. He followed. When she stopped to ask him how and where they were going to research, he plowed into her.
They were touching for only a second. His hands brushed her waist. She had caused the collision, but he laughed and apologized.
In that second, she thought about him, really thought about him.
She’d despised Dan so much for his persecution of George. But Dan had been such a haunted man himself. And he’d been willing to open his mind and listen, and now...
She liked him. She still didn’t really know him, but she’d begun to like a great deal about him.
More than that.
Touching, the way his touch felt. She was embarrassed to realize that she wanted him. In the worst way.
“What is it?” he asked. He must have seen something of her feelings in her face.
“Uh, nothing! I’m so sorry!”
She turned and fled the rest of the way up the stairs, hurrying through the small hallway and to her own room.
She remembered that it had been a long day with a corpse and blood and the morgue... She needed a shower.
A cold one.
She stripped quickly, throwing her clothes in a pile. She might never wear them again. She should burn them. No, that was ridiculous. She could wash everything and then donate it where it was needed. Yes, that’s what she would do.
She brushed her teeth almost savagely and headed into the shower, forgetting at first that she wanted it cold and standing in the steam. But the steam made her think of him...
No, no, she told herself, just his body. He had an enticing body, strong, lean, muscled. It had been a long, long time since she’d even accepted a date for coffee or a drink. She was busy. She was...awkward.
She kept too much inside, and she’d always been afraid of getting too close...
Well, she wasn’t thinking marriage proposal.
She was just thinking sex.
She shouldn’t be. She should be trying to solve the puzzle of her parents, Orlando, New Orleans, Jennie, Dr. Neil Browne, the Axeman...
But thinking like that was making her anxious.
Maybe it was better to think about sex.
She turned off the shower, stepped out and dried off. She knew she was exhausted, but she felt she was too keyed-up to sleep. She thought she would just lie down, turn on something completely diverting to watch...
A ridiculous comedy. But not a romantic one!
Nothing about criminals...
Not the news, which would be about murder...
She was standing by her television, holding the remote before a blank screen and wearing nothing but a towel, when she heard something downstairs. Like a door or a drawer closing.
Pure terror seized her.
While telling herself it was the stupidest thing to do, she raced out into the second-story hallway, ready to bang on Dan’s door or go flying down the stairs to meet the danger head-on.
She froze.
Dan was coming up the stairs with a pack of cookies from her cupboard and a bottle of iced tea.
He met her eyes.
He’d showered, too. His hair was dark and slick against his head. He was shirtless, barefoot and in jeans.
He looked at her, frowning.
“Hey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I wasn’t sleeping. I just...”
She stopped talking; she just stood there.
He came up the rest of the stairs, setting his tea and cookies on the hardwood floor by his door, then came over to her. He started to put an assuring arm around her shoulders and seemed to realize she was wearing only a towel. He stepped back awkwardly. “Sorry. I, um, just couldn’t sleep. I hope you don’t mind. I figured I’d watch what they were saying on the news and snack on some sugar.”
“No, no, of course not,” she said.
Neither one of them moved for a moment.
And then it seemed they moved together, started to speak together, but didn’t. They were all but touching. His face hovered close to hers.
She started talking fast, faltering over words that weren’t cohesive enough to be understood. “I wanted... I can’t sleep... The circumstances... If you wanted... I mean, you could join me...if you want... I’m not even sure... I...”
“Whatever you would like,” he told her, smiling slowly.
He was looking down at her with a crooked smile on his face that might have annoyed her at
