woman who owned the sign shop in town. Why she had started seeing him again was as much a mystery to Sara as it was to her family.
A ballad came on, and the lights dimmed. Sara watched the mirrored ball drop down from the ceiling, scattering little squares of light all over the rink.
'I need to go to the bathroom,' Sara told her sister. 'Will you keep an eye out for Jeff?'
Tessa glanced over Sara's shoulder. 'Somebody just went in.'
'There are two stalls now.' Sara turned toward the women's rest room just in time to see a large teenage girl go in. Sara recognized the girl as Jenny Weaver, one of her patients. She waved, but the girl didn't see her.
Tessa muttered, 'Hope you can wait.'
Sara frowned, watching another teenager she did not recognize follow Jenny into the rest room. At this rate, Sara would go into renal failure before Jeffrey arrived.
Tessa tilted her head toward the front door. 'Speaking of tall, dark, and handsome.'
Sara felt a foolish smile come to her lips as she watched Jeffrey make his way toward the rink. He was still dressed for work in a charcoal-gray suit with a burgundy tie. As chief of police for Grant County, he knew most of the people in the room. He glanced around, looking for Sara, she supposed, stopping here and there to shake hands. She refused to do anything that would get his attention as he walked through the crowd. At this point in their relationship, Sara was content to let Jeffrey do all of the work.
Sara had met Jeffrey on one of her earlier cases as town coroner. She had taken the helm of the medical examiner's office as a way to earn extra money to buy out her retiring partner at the Heartsdale Children's Clinic. Even though she had paid off Dr. Barney years ago, Sara still kept the job. She liked the challenge of pathology. Twelve years ago, Sara had done her residency in the emergency room of Atlanta 's Grady Hospital. Going from such a fast-paced, life-and-death job to tummy aches and sinus infections at the clinic had been a shock to her system. The coroner's job was a challenge that helped keep her mind sharp.
Jeffrey finally caught sight of her. He stopped in the middle of shaking Betty Reynolds's hand, the corners of his mouth rising slowly, then dipping into a frown as he was pulled back into conversation with the owner of the town's five-and-dime.
Sara could guess what Betty was talking about. The store had been broken into twice in the last three months. Betty's posture was adversarial, and even though Jeffrey's attention was obviously elsewhere, she continued to speak to him.
Finally, Jeffrey nodded, giving Betty a pat on the back as he shook her hand, probably making an appointment to talk with her tomorrow. He extricated himself, then walked toward Sara, a sly smile on his face.
'Hey,' Jeffrey said. Before she could stop herself, Sara was shaking his hand the way almost everyone else in the rink had.
'Hello, Jeffrey,' Tessa interrupted, her tone uncharacteristically sharp. It was usually Eddie, their father, who was rude to Jeffrey.
Jeffrey gave a puzzled smile. 'Hey, Tessie.'
'Uh-huh,' Tessa mumbled, pushing off from the rail. She skated away, tossing Sara a knowing look over her shoulder.
Jeffrey asked, 'What was that about?'
Sara pulled back her hand, but Jeffrey held on to her fingers just long enough to let her know it was his choice to release her. He was so damn sure of himself. More than anything else, this quality appealed to Sara at a very base level.
She crossed her arms, saying, 'You're late.'
'I had trouble getting away.'
'Is her husband out of town?'
He gave her the same look he gave witnesses he knew were lying. 'I was talking to Frank,' he said, naming the lead detective on the Grant County squad. 'I told him that he's in charge tonight. I don't want anything to interrupt us.'
'Interrupt what?'
The same smile tugged at the corner of his lips. 'Oh, I thought I'd seduce you tonight.'
She laughed, backing up as he leaned in to kiss her.
'Kissing usually works better when the lips touch,' he suggested.
'Not in front of half my practice,' she countered.
'Come here, then.'
Despite her better judgment, Sara ducked under the railing and took his hand. He rolled her into the back of the rink by the bathroom, tucking them into a corner and out of sight.
'This better?' he asked.
'Yeah,' Sara answered, looking down at Jeffrey, because with the skates on she was a couple inches taller. 'Much better. I really need to use the bathroom.'
She started to move, but he stopped her, putting his hands on her waist.
'Jeff,' she said, aware her tone was far from threatening.
'You are so beautiful, Sara.'
She rolled her eyes like a teenager.
He laughed, trying, 'I thought about kissing you all last night.'
'Yeah?'
'I miss the way you taste.'
She tried to sound bored. 'It's still Colgate.'
'That's not the taste I was talking about.'
Her mouth opened in surprise, and he smiled, obviously pleased with her reaction. Sara felt something stir deep inside her and was about to say something-she had no idea what-when his pager went off.
He kept staring at her as if he didn't hear the beeping.
Sara cleared her throat, asking, 'Shouldn't you answer that?'
He finally looked down at the pager clipped to his belt, muttering, 'Shit,' at what he saw.
'What?'
'Break-in,' he answered curtly.
'I thought Frank was on call.'
'He is for the little things. I've got to use the pay phone.'
'Where's your cell phone?'
'Dead battery.' Jeffrey seemed to get his irritation under control enough to offer her a reassuring smile. 'Nothing is going to ruin tonight, Sara.' He put his hand to her cheek. 'Nothing is more important to me than tonight.'
'Got a hot date after our dinner?' she teased. 'Because we can cancel if you need to.'
He narrowed his eyes at her before turning away.
Sara watched him go, letting a 'Jesus Christ' hiss out between her lips as she leaned back against the wall. She could not believe that in less than three minutes he had managed to turn her into a blithering idiot.
She jumped as the bathroom door banged shut. Jenny Weaver stood there, looking out at the rink as if she was contemplating something. The teenager's skin looked pasty next to the black long sleeved T-shirt she was wearing. She held a dark red backpack in her hand, which she swung over her shoulder as Sara rolled toward her. The bag brushed against Sara's chest in a wide arc.
