Catherine Coulter - The Edge

Then I realized she was alone, vulnerable to attack. I dashed back through the rain to the Taurus, opened the door, drew my SIG Sauer, and handed it to her. "Keep it close," I said, and closed the car door again.

A maid, who was dressed in jeans and a sweater, let me into the large foyer and asked me to wait. It was better that I drip on the marble than on the highly polished oak floors in the living room just beyond.

Cotter Tarcher was whistling as he came from the kitchen at the back of the house. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me.

"What's going on? Have you found Jilly?"

"No. I'm here to get the Seagull Cottage key from your father. Laura Scott and I will be staying there for a while."

"Why?" he asked, watching me drip on the floor. He was wearing sweats and running shoes. He was perfectly dry. I didn't answer him, "Do both you and your father work here at home?"

"For the most part. I usually knock off about five o'clock to either go to the gym or out running. Why are you and Laura Scott staying at our cottage?"

"Because someone tried to kill her and it seems safer if she's here, with me, than in Salem by herself. It's a bit on the wet side to go running, isn't it?"

"Yes. I'm working out downstairs in the gym. Where's Laura Scott?"

"In the car."

"Does she know Jilly?"

"Oh yes, she knows Jilly very well."

Alyssum Tarcher came striding down the stairs off to my right. He looked arrogant and intelligent, his eyes at that moment maybe even harder than his son's. He seemed somehow taller to me than he had just the night before.

"Agent MacDougal," he said, and shook my hand. "Here's the key to Seagull Cottage. I made sure the place was cleaned up and the phone works. Given this weather, I checked to make sure there's heat as well. This Laura Scott, she's with you?"

"Yes, waiting for me in the car. Since someone tried to kill her, she's keeping my gun on her at all times."

I suppose I should have mentioned Grubster and Nolan, but you never knew about a landlord, and I didn't want the pets to give him an excuse for us not to use his property. I thanked him and turned to leave.

"Agent MacDougal, call me if there's a problem-of any kind at all."

"Yeah," Cotter said. "My father chews on problems and spits out solutions."

Alyssum Tarcher laughed and buffeted his son's shoulder with a light shove.

"Who is it, Aly?"

Elaine Tarcher didn't wait for an answer, just came running lightly down the stairs. Like her son, she was wearing sweats and running shoes, and she didn't look much older than Cal. I realized I hadn't thought about Cal since, well, for a good while. "Mrs. Tarcher," I said, nodding. "Don't come any closer, I'm wet."

"I see that you are. We heard about your problem with that drug. Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm just fine. Did Mr. Tarcher tell you that Laura Scott and I will be staying for a while at Seagull Cottage?"

"Yes, he did tell me. He also told me that someone is trying to kill Ms. Scott. This isn't what we're used to, Agent MacDougal. You seem to have brought a good deal of trouble with you. We've never liked violence, only rarely seen it here in Edgerton. Until poor Charlie Duck. Have you heard anything about Jilly?"

I said no and left three minutes later, sprinting back to the car under thick, cold rain that was coming down harder than ever and had me shivering even after five minutes with the car heater turned on high.

Laura had put one of her jackets up against the shattered window. It kept the rain out, but the heat from the car seeped out quickly.

I stopped off at Paul's house. I was relieved when he wasn't at home. Truth be told, I wasn't ready to confront him. The last thing I wanted to happen was to scare him into running, maybe even disappearing like Jilly.

I packed up my clothes, left him a note telling him where I was, and didn't give him any explanation at all.

We drove to a small grocery store called The Cove to stock up. Laura remained in the car both times, my SIG Sauer on her lap.

It was dark when we arrived at Seagull Cottage, not more than fifty feet from the cliffs with, I imagined, a sweeping view up and down the Oregon coast. But not tonight. Only heavy, cold rain tonight that covered everything, leaving the ocean black and flat. There wasn't any wind at all and surely that was odd. The rain just came straight down, striking the ground hard as a slap. There were only about half a dozen spruce trees to soften the barren landscape.

I unlocked the door, checked out the inside, and waved Laura in.

At seven that evening we ate our dinner in front of the fireplace, chicken noodle soup and English muffins with butter dripping over the sides. Grubster lay sleeping at Laura's feet, sated from two cans of cat food, with just an occasional twitch. Nolan was under wraps for the night. "That was delicious," Laura said as she sat back on her hands and yawned.

"Yes, it was," I said, barely managing to stifle my own yawn. "It's been a long day."

She cocked an eye open. "You're being the master of understatement here?"

For the life of me I was too tired to think of something clever to say to that wonderful straight line. I said, "You ready to hang it up?"

Laura looked toward the cottage door. I could see the tension in her. "No," she said. "They wouldn't dare try anything here, in Edgerton."

"I don't think so either. Tomorrow is Charlie Duck's funeral. I want to introduce you to everyone and start getting in Tarcher's face. As for Paul, I want to handle him very carefully. I don't want him running."

"He'll never admit to anything, I'd swear to it. He'll protect Jilly."

She was probably right. I was imagining what it would be like to put my hands around his neck, lift him off the floor, and shake him.

"When Savich and Sherlock get here, we'll all discuss what's the best approach. They know we've got to act quickly."

"Your friends sure have a lot of flexibility."

"Yeah. They're both in the same unit and he's in charge. Savich's boss, Jimmy Maitland, usually gives him as much leeway as he wants. Besides, they're coming as my friends, not an official assignment.

"Sherlock and Savich are first-class agents and very good friends. It's possible that they'll see things as outsiders that you and I have missed. They'll have some great ideas, you can count on that."

"I don't know anyone like that in the DBA." She put her fingers on my lips. "No, don't you dare start up with cracks about my agency."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Laura. Now, I'll hook a chair under the doorknob and I'll put my SIG right beside the bed. We've got the curtains pulled over the windows and everything's locked up tight. It'll be okay."

"I guess there's nothing more that we can do. Goodness, it's only eight-thirty. It feels like it should be at least midnight, I'm so tired."

"Why don't you take the bathroom first? I want to check around outside."

"Be careful, Mac." She lightly touched her fingers to my face. "I mean it, be very careful. You've gotten kind of important to me, real fast."

I wanted to kiss her and not stop, so I got out of there fast. The rain had stopped for the moment.

Low-lying black clouds were shifting in thick, grotesque shapes across a huge fat full moon.

It looked like a werewolf kind of night.

In that instant I heard something, something not far away, just off to my left, away from the cliffs, something rustling, then moving, perhaps a heavy foot thudding on the ground, then silence, then more rustling.

I waited, so still I could hear my own breath. Nothing more, as if whatever it was that was coming toward me had stopped. I waited longer, then longer still. Still nothing. I wondered if my brain had obligingly conjured up the bogeyman.