To Die For. Sharon Green

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      “Not to mention the possibility that the person you’re chasing could catch you instead,” she added, sober again. “That must be terrible for some women, the ones who don’t stop to think about it. I mean, perfectly ordinary people are killed every day, in traffic accidents, or when someone goes suddenly berserk and starts shooting everyone in sight. At least your people are armed and can defend themselves. An accountant, say, in his car and about to be run off the road by a drunk driver, isn’t and can’t.”

      “That’s a very good point,” Mike said, surprised and pleased. “You sound as though you’ve had occasion to think about it. Does that mean you used to date a cop?”

      “For a while,” she answered with a nod, toying with her coffee cup. “We even started talking about marriage, but then he was accepted on a force in Vermont. He came from there and really wanted to go back, but it would have meant leaving my father here all alone if I went with him. He finally decided to go alone, and I stayed here.”

      “I’m sorry,” Mike said, reaching out to touch her hand again. “My former wife thought being married to a cop would be no problem at all, but it didn’t take long before the life got to her. She grew to hate it when I was called out in the middle of the night, or wasn’t home on time for a meal even when I’d promised to be. I was only a sergeant at the time, but a detective sergeant is on call twenty-four hours a day. I moved heaven and earth to be sure I’d be home for our second anniversary, but when I walked through the door with her present she wasn’t there. A week earlier I’d had to miss a barbecue with some friends, and her note said that that time had been the last straw. The next time we saw each other was in divorce court.”

      “That must have been horrible for you,” Tanda said, sympathy in those soft gray eyes. “These days not being married seems to mean being lucky enough to miss the divorce experience, but some people do it right. My parents wanted to be together, and when my mother died my father was glad the pain was his rather than hers. He missed her terribly, and wouldn’t have wanted her to miss him like that. Mike…is there any chance you’ll catch this murderer before he does it again?”

      “All we need is a little luck,” he assured her, going back to the topic now that she was ready for it. “Saxon was obviously killed to silence him, but I have the strangest feeling that the ritual used means something very specific. Once this is all over, we’ll find he somehow fits in with the other victims.”

      “I wish it was already over,” she said, running a hand through her dark blond hair. “You asked about Don’s house. Does that mean you intend to go there, to look for clues? Is that why you need to find his lawyer?”

      “A team has already been out there, but yes, I do intend to go again,” Mike said. “We now have a key to match to a lock, and the logical place to look for it first is in your brother’s house.”

      He didn’t add that he also wanted Don Grail’s lawyer in order to find out if the man had done more for his client than help buy a house. That could be considered official police business, at least until he knew whether something had been done that might upset Tanda. She was upset enough, and Mike wanted very much to keep from adding to it.

      “When you go to Don’s house, I’d like to go with you,” she said then, not quite surprising him with the request. “I’ve never been there, and I’d like to see it at least once before whatever happens to it happens. If that would be against the rules, let me know once you’re finished there, and I’ll go alone.”

      “No, I think it will be all right if we go together,” Mike decided at once. The house wasn’t a crime scene, after all, so there was no legal way to keep Tanda away from it. But if she was going to be there, he wanted to be with her. “I’ll call you tomorrow, and tell you what time I’ll be going over. Do you know where the house is?”

      “From the address, yes,” she said, then gave Mike her telephone number for his notebook. “You let me know when, and I’ll meet you there.”

      Mike agreed to that, joined her in talking about the weather until he’d finished his coffee, and then he left. Once in his car and back on the road, he found himself thinking about the next day. And about the dinner he’d owe Tanda when the key turned out to be an important clue after all. She was the most attractive and interesting woman he’d met in a long time, but he couldn’t help wondering how smart he was being.

      “You’d better remember that no matter what you said, she is still a suspect, old son,” he muttered to the single-lane road he traveled. “Until you know for certain she has nothing to do with this mess, you’d better watch your step.”

      And until you know for certain that she isn’t trying to recapture an old love, he added silently. That was the part he feared the most, the possibility that any cop would do as someone to replace the man who hadn’t loved her enough to stay with her. Mike considered the man a fool for giving up someone like Tanda Grail just to live in a particular place. The right woman could make hell into a suburb of heaven for a man, but she did have to be the right woman. Maybe…

      And maybe not, no matter what the question was, Mike decided with a sigh. Right now all he could do was concentrate on finding a murderer as quickly as possible.

      TANDA STOOD and watched Mike Gerard’s car pull away, then went back to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. It was really strange how attractive she found the man, especially after the way she’d sworn never to get involved with another cop. Len had been good-looking and a lot of fun, at least until it became time for him to decide to go back to Vermont or stay here in Connecticut with her. It took a short while before it became clear to Tanda that Len wanted to go home because he would have a local badge to flash around, something to show people what a big man he’d become. He hadn’t been homesick, he’d been desperate to prove something.

      “But, obviously, not every man with a badge feels the same,” she murmured to her coffee. “Some consider the job really important, but still just a job. Not something to rub other people’s noses in.”

      Like Mike Gerard. After thinking about it, Tanda was certain he’d known she was hiding something well before the point she’d told him about the key. But he hadn’t accused her of trying to withhold evidence, not before and not after. He seemed to understand that it would tear her apart if anyone else was hurt because of something she did.

      Tanda looked around herself then, feeling more alone than she had after her father had died. Lock all your doors and windows, Mike had said, when you go out and before you go to bed. If the killer thought she knew something that could hurt him, he’d hardly hesitate to come after her. One more body would mean nothing…

      After putting her coffee cup down, Tanda headed for the front door. Robby might be used to living in a run, but he was completely housebroken. And very protective of her when strangers were around. She would bring him into the house before checking windows and door locks, and he would also be her company.

      But not quite as good company as someone else, she realized with a smile as she stepped outside. Mike Gerard was very good company, and didn’t even slobber the way Robby would. The only thing that worried Tanda about him was one very important question: was he seriously interested in her, or only concerned about someone tangled up in a murder investigation? And did he really think she was innocent? A man who’d had a bad marriage didn’t usually trust women or think well of them; was he just leading her on to get what information he could, with nothing in mind beyond solving the case?

      Each question she asked herself bred ten others, and the rest of the day disappeared behind a blur of uncontrolled thinking. When suppertime came around, Tanda broiled herself a steak, then shared СКАЧАТЬ