Alone in the Dark. Marie Ferrarella

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      “Haven’t you heard about crime in the suburbs?”

      She fixed him with a look that said she saw right through him. “Is that anything like lying in the suburbs?” Before he could say anything, she began, “Look, if you’re here because of this morning—”

      He looked at her with an attempt at innocence she found endearing. “This morning? What happened this morning?”

      She made no effort to suppress her grin. Amusement shone in her eyes. “If being a policeman doesn’t work out for you, Coltrane, promise me you don’t try being an actor. There’s no future in it for you. Trust me, you’re awful at it.” And then her grin softened into a smile. “I’m touched.” She nodded toward the house. “Why don’t you come inside for a cup of coffee?”

      He reached for the key in his ignition. “I was just on my way home.”

      “Sure you were.” Before he could start the car, Patience opened the rear door. Instantly, King came bounding out. His tail wagged so hard, had he been a smaller dog he might have succeeded in levitating himself off the ground. Laughing, she ran her hand along the animal’s head. “Well, I’m happy to see you, too. Why don’t you come on in and say hi to Tacoma? I’ve got this great extra soup bone I don’t know what to do with.” She began to lead the way, but King turned to look at his master. His expression seemed to implore Brady to come along. “Don’t worry about him, King. I already asked him, but he doesn’t want to come in. He likes sitting in cars in the dark. Let’s go.”

      Turning on her heel, she started to walk back to her house. After a moment’s hesitation King followed her willingly.

      She probably had treats in her pocket, Brady thought darkly. Patience was forever doling them out to the dogs she treated. Disgusted at being abandoned, he leaned out the window and called, “That’s bribery.”

      She looked at him over her shoulder. Even at this distance, her expression looked purely impish to him. “Yes, it is.”

      With a sigh, Brady got out of his car and shut the door. He made no effort to catch up to the duo. Instead he followed behind the clearly smitten animal and the woman who had made him give up his evening routine.

      Not that it was any great sacrifice on his part. Evenings for Brady meant heating up whatever he found in the refrigerator, then stretching out in front of the television set, tuned to some news channel so that he could stay informed.

      Law enforcement had advanced a long way from making sure the town drunk was locked up for the night. It had even progressed beyond the thieves, the drug pushers, the murderers, kidnappers and rapists that were all a part of the modern world. Now there was an international threat to be on the alert for, as well.

      It never seemed to stop.

      However, tonight the world had gotten a great deal smaller again and his focus was concentrated on the woman walking into the house, adoringly followed by his four-footed partner.

      Entering the house, he followed woman and beast into a kitchen that was both warm and cozy. Something out of a sitcom, he thought, because it certainly wasn’t out of anything he’d ever experienced firsthand. He remembered hearing somewhere that the kitchen was the heart of the house. In his house, the kitchen had been where his father liked to do his drinking when he wasn’t throwing back shots at the local bar.

      Brady watched as King followed every move Patience made. He liked her hair down, he noted, instead of up and out of the way. He hadn’t realized it was so long. The tresses moved with her like a strawberry-blond cloud.

      He straddled a chair. “You know, he’s not supposed to do that. Divide his loyalties that way.” He gave King a dark look. “He’s supposed to respond only to me.”

      Patience tossed the dog a treat out of her pocket. King stretched, catching the bone-shaped snack in midair. “Don’t feel bad, I have this way with animals, I always have. That’s why I became a vet when everyone else around me was cleaving to the Aurora Police Department.” And then she smiled, which Brady found oddly unsettling. “I promise I won’t get between you two unless absolutely necessary.”

      He gave her a penetrating look. “And this was necessary.”

      “Absolutely.” Taking the coffeepot she always kept brewing, she poured Brady a cup, then filled her own. Just talking to Brady made her feel better. “I didn’t want your butt falling asleep because of me.”

      “No part of me was going to fall asleep,” he informed her tersely. When she reached for the sugar, he shook his head. He took his coffee the way he took his view of life: black.

      “It would if you sat out there long enough.” Reaching into the cupboard, she took down two small plates. “Just how long were you planning on staying there?”

      He tried not to notice how tight her body was when she stretched. “Not long.”

      She shook her head. Opening the drawer beneath the counter, she took out two forks and a long knife. “Like I said, you just don’t lie well. Look, Coltrane, I’m touched—”

      “Most likely,” he said in a disparaging manner, which made her think that he meant the term in the old-fashioned sense, as in touched in the head, “but it’s my job to protect the citizens of Aurora and last time I looked, you were among that number. Besides…” He paused to take a sip of coffee. It was so strong, it jarred his teeth. He gave his silent seal of approval. “Anything happens to you, the department has to find a new vet. King doesn’t like adjusting to anyone new.”

      She turned to look at him, a smile playing on her lips. “Oh, King doesn’t, does he?”

      He could see exactly what she was saying. That she thought he was substituting King for himself. Obviously the woman didn’t suffer from an inferiority complex. “You know, I never realized it before, but you’ve got a smart mouth.”

      “Lots of things you probably haven’t realized about me, Officer Coltrane.” She flashed him a very significant look. “Lots of things I apparently didn’t realize about you.”

      He cut her off before she began to wax sentimental or something equally as unacceptable to him. He never knew what to do when confronted with either tears or gratitude. He usually wound up ignoring both. “I think we should stop the conversation right here.”

      Patience nodded, agreeable up to a point. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

      He felt like a mustang, cornered in a canyon with only one way out. The way he’d come. “Who said I wanted to talk?”

      For a second she stopped what she was doing and studied him. “Well, you don’t want to just sit there like a department store mannequin, do you?”

      No, he wanted to finish his coffee and leave, but he kept that to himself. For the moment. “What’s wrong with that?”

      She laughed again and the sound went right through him. “It’s too quiet for one thing.”

      The last time it had been too quiet for him, he’d found himself, without warning, looking down the business end of a Smith and Wesson. Other than that, he took his silence where he could. “I never saw the need to litter the air with words.”

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