Kathleen Creighton - Danger Signals

Dark thoughts, perplexing puzzles, flashed through his mind to the rhythm of the echoing scrape of his footsteps on the concrete floor of the parking garage. Not many cars this time of night-night-duty cops, dispatchers. 9-1-1 operators, cleaning crew vans and a few others, like him, working late. He wasn't the jumpy sort; normally, he wouldn't give a thought to the fact that he made a nice clear target walking alone through a deserted garage in the dead of night. Tonight he was conscious of the weight of his weapon nestled against the steady thump of his heartbeat, and his eyes scanned the shadows for suspicious shapes.

He had his car keys in his hand and was about to put them to use when one of those shadows became a flurry of movement on the outer edges of his vision.

In the space of time between two heartbeats he'd whirled and pinned the potential assailant belly-first against the side of his car. He had his weapon in one hand and the assailant's wrist in the other, pulled up and pressed hard between the shoulder blades.

With an adrenaline surge like the crashing of surf inside his head, he barely heard the whimper of pain and the airless, "Wade-please-it's me, Tierney…"

"Sweet Jesus Lord…"

Wade was slumped against the side of the car with his face in his hands, and Tierney knew from the emotions rolling off of him like thunder that the words weren't meant as blasphemy.

She, on the other hand, was incapable of speech. Incapable of movement of any kind, even to cover her head with her arms, as she instinctively wanted to do. As if that would shield her from the bludgeoning of those emotions

Fury! Fear!

Regret… Remorse… Shame…

Fury again - and something else, something 1 can't understand because it's so tangled up with everything else.

Wade-please…stop!

"Are you all right?" The question came muffled but harsh. "Are you…" Then a pause for some muttered swearing. "Did I hurt you?"

She lied…shook her head. And his reply came instantly, almost a snarl.

"Don't do that! Don't lie to me. Of course I hurt you- I was trying to hurt…not you-whoever the hell I thought you were. Damn it, Doyle! What are you doing here? Were you waiting for me? Why didn't you call me?"

"I tried to." Her voice felt small and timid. "Check your voice mail." She stirred at last, turned and leaned her back against the car next to him, unconsciously mimicking his stance.

There was another long string of swear words, some of which Tierney was sure she'd never heard before. Wade grabbed his cell phone from its holster, thumbed some buttons and glared at the screen.

"I had it turned off. I was working on…something," he said in a calmer voice, transferring the glare to her. "But you could have said something, called out- Jeez. girl, give a guy some warning. I'm in the middle of a murder investigation, there's a serial killer running loose, and I've got God knows who stalking me, maybe. It's a miracle I didn't-" He broke off to stare at her. "Hell. Are you crying?'''

"No," she said, and dashed the betraying tear from her cheek. The last thing she needed tonight was for him to put his arms around her again. As far as self-control went, she figured that would just about do hers in completely.

Which evidently he realized, because instead of reaching for her, he folded his arms on his chest as if to keep himself from doing so and frowned at her. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? And you didn't answer my question. Why are you here? Did something happen-" He straightened, then leaned toward her, suddenly on full alert. "Did you pick up something new on our killer? My stalker?"

She shook her head and sniffed, swiped at another tear, then said in a choked voice. "Nothing like that. I probably shouldn't have bothered you with it. I didn't know who else-"

"Damn it, Miss Tee-"

"It's my grandmother.,Wade. She's gone. I've looked all over for her. I can't find her anywhere, and I don't know what to do. She's out there somewhere and-" Her voice caught on a little sob of grief and terror.

What could he do? He'd tried to keep his hands off of her, truly he had. But he was the comforter, the one weeping women counted on, and if she'd been any other woman…oh. what the hell.

He snaked one arm out and hooked it around her shoulders and brought her into the curve of his arm. Then that seemed like a half-assed kind of way to comfort her. and anyway, who was he kidding? He had no doubt she already knew where this was heading. So he turned her and got her properly wrapped in his arms with her head tucked in under his chin and her body snug and warm against his. Then he closed his eyes and let out a sigh while he gently rocked her.

After a while he lifted his head and said softly, "Tell me what happened.,Miss Tee."

She pulled away from him. wiping at her eyes with both hands, and he had the good sense to let her go.

"I know I should have called the police right away instead of trying to find her myself, and then waiting for you, but it was after hours, and I would have had to call

9-1-1, and my name's been in the news so much lately, and I was afraid some reporter might pick it up-"

"Never mind that. How long has she been missing?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what time it is now. I'd been in the studio, painting, and it was later than usual when I went upstairs. Jeannette was asleep in her chair in front of the television. So I thought it would be safe to take a shower before fixing her dinner. I don't know what happened. I was tired…maybe I forgot to lock the dead bolt. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes, Wade. And when I came out she was gone."

By this time Wade had his car unlocked and was guiding Tierney around to the passenger side door. Oblivious, she went on talking while he settled her in and fastened her seat belt for her.

"The front door was open, and she wasn't anywhere- not in the gallery or even on the street. I think I sort of went to pieces at that point. I know I went running off down the street like a crazy person, looking for her. calling and calling. Finally I realized I couldn't cover enough ground that way, and since I didn't even know which way she'd gone… Anyway, at some point I started thinking rationally-sort of-and went back and got my car. I've been driving around, calling your cell phone for…I don't know how long. Oh, Wade-"

She was looking up at him with swimming eyes when he bent down and kissed her.

Not a long kiss. Just a short, sweet one. Very sweet, although her lips tasted of salt and tears. He felt a peculiar little contraction around his heart as he pushed back from her and gently closed the door.

When he had the car running and almost ready to pull out onto the street, he looked over at Tierney. who was sitting exactly as he'd left her after the kiss. "Hey," he said, and she swiveled her head toward him, looking dazed. His heart gave another of those funny kicks as he wondered for a moment whether he'd gone too far, crossed some kind of line with her. He sure hoped not. Because he knew suddenly that he'd be losing something of real importance if he had.

Then she smiled. Just that. And he knew he had crossed a line-a different one-and that it was both a good and a scary thing. And that, either way, there was no going back now.

"Hmm?" she said, and he had to think for a moment what it was he'd wanted to ask her.

"I was just wondering," he said as it came to him. "about your… thing. Your gift. You said your grandmother has it, too. You can't-I don't know…tune in, pick up on her- wherever she is?"

"I used to be able to. Not anymore." The sadness in her voice made his throat ache. "The connection between us used to be like a river, this broad, deep stream of feeling, only unlike a river, it flowed both ways. This past year it's been slowly drying up, until now it's only this little trickle. Once in a while something comes through, but most of the time…" She shook her head and finished in a whisper. "No…I can't hear her now."