Mist started to turn into rain. She tipped up her face and smiled. Rain made the ride slower, but she didn’t mind—unless it got really dark.
The van’s engine turned over and the vehicle moved toward her, but very slowly. Pearl waved and pointed toward the warehouse. The driver gave his horn a light tap and waved at her out of his window. He stopped on the other side of the entrance.
Pearl kept going, anxious to get started toward home. A hot bath and whatever her dad had made for dinner was a friendly beacon to head for.
She broke into a run, not wanting to keep the van driver waiting.
Her dad would be mad when she turned up after dark, but she could always talk him around.
Traffic on the cross street passed with a steady hum, the headlights starting to shine on wet pavement.
Pearl glanced at the van when she veered left to get her bike, but she couldn’t see the driver through the windshield. Just the same, she waved again and mouthed, “Thank you for waiting.”
The building doors, almost always shut, were wide-open. Usually Pearl didn’t like that because she couldn’t see very far into the gloom. This evening a light shone just inside. Just as well since someone had shoved the bike rack inside, complete with her bike.
She checked over her shoulder, expecting to see the van drive on, but it stayed where it was.
Her stomach tightened and sweat popped out along her hairline. This was no place for people who scared easily. She’d get going and take the main streets rather than the smaller, more deserted ones that were her shortcut.
Although the warehouse wasn’t huge, it was big enough and it didn’t make sense that it was completely empty. Empty with the doors open, a light on and heavy shadows blanketing all but the area closest to Pearl.
As usual, the padlock key had hidden itself among the small things in the bottom of her bag. She felt around but finally held the zip wide-open and peered inside.
The light went out.
The purse slipped through her fingers.
Pearl turned toward the doors, just in time to see them swing shut. Blackness saturated everything.
She dropped to her knees, searching for her bag—and heard a sound, like breaths passing in and out through an off-key harmonica.
Two fiery red gashes bobbled toward her.
Chapter 24
Fine rain fell steadily in gathering gloom by the time Gray and Marley left the precinct house. “I want to come with you,” Gray said.
With Winnie’s chew under her arm like a military baton, Marley hurried along the wet street. She was visibly preoccupied.
“Marley, say something.”
She squinted up at him, her expression very intense. “This is life or death,” she said. “I’ve got to get back to the Court of Angels.”
“Someone must have had a sense of humor when they called it that,” Gray said.
“Meaning?”
Once again he should have kept his thoughts to himself. “Nothing. Just an odd name for a place is all.”
She gave him a long look. “Odd because you don’t think it fits the kind of people who live there? Angels are interesting. You should read about them.”
This time he kept his mouth shut.
The dog panted.
Gray scooped her up and barely suppressed a grin. He’d found the way to slow Marley down. In fact, she skidded to a halt and frowned. “She doesn’t like being picked up by other people.”
Winnie settled her wet nose into the skin where his T-shirt met his shoulder and sighed.
Despite the satisfaction he got out of the pup’s defection from her mistress, Gray knew when he was on dangerous ground. “She’s tired,” he said seriously, stroking the dog’s damp, seal-like coat while she snuggled closer. “She missed you all day and then she got hauled all over the place. And she probably doesn’t like being in Nat’s dungeon office.”
Marley’s tongue was in her cheek and her eyes narrowed. “Hold the leash then,” she said and stuffed it into his hand.
For an instant their fingers met and seemed joined by fire.
Marley bowed her head and muttered what sounded like, “Really inconvenient.” He could have misheard.
“I’ll take her from you at the shop,” she said. “But you don’t have to carry her and come with me if you don’t want to. We’ll be just fine.”
“Nope.”
“What do you mean, nope?” She was motoring again.
“You’re not going on your own.”
“Do you know how you sound? You can’t tell me what to do.” Her voice rose a notch. “You hardly know me.”
“Doesn’t feel like that, though, does it?”
“Oh, dear,” she said. “So many problems.”
She broke into a jog and he lengthened his stride. “I’ll help any way I can,” Gray said. “I hope you’re not going to try what Nat wants. Solving this case is his job, not yours.”
“You don’t know anything about…” She didn’t finish.
“Explain it, then, whatever it is.”
She scuttled in her hurry to make conversation impossible.
“I’m not just going away,” Gray said. “You can run, but I can run faster.”
“Chauvinistic drivel.”
“I’ve got your dog and she likes me. Run away and she’s mine.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You’re magnificent when you’re mad.”
“Get some original lines.” Marley looked both ways and crossed Royal with Gray right at her side. Headlights slicked across rain-soaked road. “This is serious. I don’t know why you can’t understand that I need to be alone so I can think and make decisions.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. I know a softy when I meet one. You’re a softy, Marley. You’re going to do anything to try to get those women back.”
Once again, she stopped running. “Of course I will,” she said, hands on hips, pointed chin raised. “What kind of person wouldn’t go to any lengths to help someone else get back to safety?”
“Would you like to take down names?”
She threw up her hands and caught Winnie’s chew just in time. “I’ve never based my decisions on the way other people behave.”
“I just bet you haven’t. You’re special, Marley.”
Their eyes met. “Really special,” he told her. “Are we going to have some time together—just the two of us?”
The shop was a few yards ahead. “Can we talk about that later?” Marley said.
“Whatever you say.” But he would rather know now. “We’re supposed to have dinner tonight.”
“First things first. Something’s happening. I’ve got to hurry. Give me Winnie and I’ll call you later.”
He held the dog against him. He was liking the feeling of her in his arms. “What does
She bounced on the soles of her feet. “Only…nothing. I just meant there’s a lot going on.”
“No, you didn’t. Do you think there’s a new development? Are you getting vibes or whatever?”
