Кей Хупер - Hiding in the Shadows

Apparently regretting his blunt statement, Kane said more positively, "This may be a jigsaw puzzle, and the largest missing piece may be your memory, but there are other pieces, Faith. We'll find them. We'll put the pieces together and figure out what's going on."

"Whatever I can do to help," Richardson said, "just ask."

Kane didn't hesitate to take him up on the offer.

"AU right. The car accident that put Faith in the hospital — we need to see the actual police report."

"No problem. I'll have a copy sent over to you by the end of the day."

"We could also use any information you can find on Faith since she moved to Atlanta about a year and a half ago. Did she ever report anything unusual to the police? Was she involved in any kind of accident prior to the one that put her in the hospital? Are there any reports at all concerning her?" Kane paused. "Faith, tomorrow we'll check your bank, find out if you rented a safe deposit box. And we need to find out as much as we can about your friendship with Dinah."

Richardson lifted an eyebrow at Bishop, who said, "He should've been a cop."

The photographer approached Richardson to report that he was finished with his work, and the detective got to his feet. His gaze traveled between Faith and Kane.

"Be careful. I don't yet know what's going on, but all the signs here point to somebody who's very determined, and very, very dangerous. For God's sake, watch your step. And watch your backs."

"We will," Kane told him.

When the detective and the photographer had gone, Kane said, "We can get a cleaning service in here tomorrow and have the damaged furniture replaced or repaired. In the meantime, Faith, why don't you pack enough to last a week or so, just in case, and we'll get out of here."

She went off without a word to do as he suggested, and when they were alone, Bishop said, "She could have trashed this place yesterday before she came looking for you. It's possible."

"She could have. I don't believe she did. Do you?" Bishop's reply was somewhere between a shrug and a shake of his head, not open distrust of Faith but certainly ambivalence.

"You do realize that won't it take a public connection between you and Faith to draw the wrong sort of attention if somebody happens to be watching this place."

"I realize that. I also realize somebody could have followed her to my place last night, so the connection between us might already be made" Kane shrugged.

"My building's a hell of a lot more secure than this one even with a part-time doorman. And I'll be there. Any way you look at it, she'll be safer with me."

"I wasn't thinking only of her. Kane, have you considered the possibility that Faith might be responsible directly or indirectly — for Dinah's disappearance? That she might have brought trouble with her from Seattle, trouble that Dinah got caught up in?"

"After hearing about the murder of her family, of course I've considered it." Kane leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "So what should I do differently? She can't remember, Noah. Her past is a blank. Did you see her face when you told her about the murders? Shock, yes, but you might as well have been telling her about two people she'd never met before. She's the most lost soul I've ever known, completely helpless to protect herself from whatever trouble might have followed her here. Whether she remembers anything to help me or not, I can't turn my back on her."

"I didn't say you should. But Richardson was right to warn you to be careful."

"And I intend to be."

"Sure you do. If that lost soul in the next room leads you right into the lion's den, you'll be careful as hell." Kane was silent for a moment, then said, "She can help me find Dinah. I know she can. I can't see further than that, Noah."

"I know," Bishop said.

It was dark when she turned off the jeeps headlights, dark as pitch, and cold for early October. Dinah shivered a bit even though she was wearing a sweater, and hesitated as she got out, her gaze going to the nylon windbreaker in the backseat. But in the end, she decided the sweater was enough. If she needed to move fast, the fewer layers that got in her way, the better. She stood beside the jeep until her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, then moved forward cautiously.

Dumb. This was so dumb.

The building loomed ahead, virtually impossible to identify, and she felt a moment's qualm as she asked herself if this was even the right place. The directions had been maddeningly vague, and she might easily have been mistaken in the conclusions she'd drawn from what little information she could trust. She was probably not even in the right section of the city...

What was that? A sound ... from over there. A whimper?

Dinah crept forward, her heart thudding in excitement, trying very hard to keep her breathing soft and even, not to betray her presence.

Straining to listen.

No other sound now, if there had been one.

Her overwrought imagination, probably.

God knew she had reason to imagine monsters.

Dinah stopped moving, standing still to better see and hear whatever lay around her She had good senses usually, and there was also that little bit of something extra Bishop called a "spider sense". it was a sharpened awareness of her surroundings, as though her five senses were somehow magnified by danger or the possibility of it.

Her eyes having adjusted quickly to the darkness, she was now able to make out more details of the building. Windows were high and dark, offering no clue as to what lay behind them. There didn't seem to be a door of any kind. Somewhere was a loose shutter or piece of tin on the roof; she heard it rolling faintly in the breeze. And she smelled wood, lumber.

Something else as well.

Dinah stood very still, her chin raised, sniffing the night air that was teasing her with an odor she knew she should recognize but which lurked beyond reach.

Primal Animal.

The hair on the nape of her neck was stirring.

She needed to leave.

She needed to leave right now.

When it came at her there was no warming. No sound. Just a dark shape hurtling from its darker surroundings, and then the blow that knocked her off her feet.

And then the hot, tearing pain ...

Faith jerked awake to find herself sitting up in bed, her arms raised as if to protect her throat and face.

Her heart was pounding, her breathing ragged, and her skin clammy, as though she had just raced in from the damp, chilly night.

It took several minutes for her to reassure herself that she was not out in the dark, lying on the cold ground with an animal tearing brutally at her flesh.

That she was inside, and safe.

That she was not Dinah.

She was in Kane's bedroom, which was still filled with afternoon light, as it had been when she had retreated there after lunch, when the sudden need to sleep had overwhelmed her. The clock on the nightstand told her a little more than an hour had passed, but when she slid from the bed, she felt slow and clumsy and stiff, as though she had slept heavily for hours. She was also unnerved.

She could still feel those teeth tearing at her.

Shaking off the nightmare memory as best she could, Faith decided she didn't want to be alone a minute longer. When she reached the living room, she paused in the doorway, unnoticed by the two men.

Kane was on the couch, Bishop in the chair on the other side of the coffee table, and both were leaning forward as they studied the papers spread out before them.

"No sign another car was involved," Bishop said.

"In fact, there were several witnesses, and all confirmed she was driving erratically before losing control and plowing into that embankment."

They were reading the police reports of her accident, Faith realized.