Mariah Stewart - Cold Truth

Cass stood behind Rick and rolled her eyes. Lucy saw and laughed out loud.

“So, where are you staying?”

“The Brighton.”

“It used to be real nice.” Lucy started to unpack a bag.

“It still is.” Rick turned to Cass. “Well, I’m going to get out of your hair. I’ll see you in the morning. We’ll get together with the county lab person…”

“Tasha Welsh.” Cass nodded. “I’ll give her a call this afternoon and see what her schedule is for tomorrow.”

“What time do you think you’ll be in your office?”

“I’ll be there by seven. No later.”

“I’ll see you then.”

“Can you stay and have dinner with us?” Lucy asked him.

“No, no, but thank you.”

“Seriously. We have tons of food. I’m used to buying for an all-male house and haven’t figured out how to cut down on the portions for just me and Cass. Really. It wouldn’t be an imposition.” Lucy smiled at Cass. “Would it, Cassie?”

“Not at all.” Cass smiled, too, between clenched teeth.

“Thanks anyway, but I’ll take a rain check. I have to go clean up.”

“So does Cassie.” Lucy grinned. “I insist.”

“Cass?” he asked tentatively.

“Oh, it’s fine. Really. And Lucy is a wonderful cook.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Sure. Go on back to the Inn and change, and be back here… when, Luce, an hour?”

Lucy nodded. “Perfect. Dinner should be on the table by then.”

“Okay. Great. I’ll see you both then.” Rick left by the back door.

“I’m going to kill you,” Cass said when Rick was safely out of earshot.

“No you’re not. You’re going to thank me someday. I saw the way he was looking at you.”

Lucy opened the refrigerator and tucked away cartons of yogurt. “That is one hot guy, Cassie-girl. You won’t find many like him wandering around Bowers Inlet in the off-season, that’s for sure. I did you a favor. Anyone could see he’s interested in you. He was itching to find a way to spend some quality time with you. I’m just helping him out a little.”

“Oh, please.” Cass shook her head and went upstairs.

“You have forty-five minutes, Cassie. And I’m doing your face…”

As it turned out, there’d been no time for a facial makeover, nor, for that matter, time for dinner.

Cass had barely gotten out of the shower when her cell phone rang. She wrapped a towel around her body and rummaged in her bag, which she’d left on the floor in her bedroom.

“Burke,” she said right before the call went to voice mail.

She listened quietly, without reaction.

“Where?” she asked, then, “I know where to find Agent Cisco. We’ll see you in ten.”

She towel-dried her hair, and instead of the pretty shirt she’d been planning on wearing-pale yellow with a little ruffle at the hem, so different from the plain white or dark-colored T-shirts she favored for work-Cass slipped a navy tee over her head. She pulled a pair of jeans from the dresser and stuck her feet into her running shoes, then hoisted her bag, checked for her gun, her holster, and her camera, and took the steps two at a time.

“I thought you were going to wear that cute little-” Lucy took in Cass’s demeanor and paused. “Do not tell me…”

“Over in Hasboro. I’ll wait for Cisco at the car.” She grabbed a few bottles of water from the refrigerator and some granola bars from the cupboard.

“Cass, eat something. Look, dinner is ready…”

“I can’t, Luce. I’m sorry, but I can’t eat and then go there and look at-”

“Oh, my God, of course you can’t. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ll make up plates for you and Rick, bring him back with you when… well, when you’ve finished up.”

Cass looked out the window in time to see Rick’s car pull up out front.

“I’ll see you later.” Cass went out the front door.

Rick had just opened the car door and had one foot on the curb when Cass ran down the drive.

“I just got a call from Chief Denver,” she told him as she reached him.

“Where this time?”

“Hasboro. Two towns south.”

“Get in,” he told her as he climbed back into the car and slammed the door.

She opened the passenger-side door just enough for her to slide in. She handed him a granola bar as he shifted into drive and hit the road.

“Lucy said she’d hold dinner. This will have to do for now.”

He watched from the shadows as the car pulled away and took the corner on two wheels. If he leaned back against the corner of the house next door-gratefully, this one had yet to be rented for the summer-he could see into the kitchen but not be seen.

This was good. He wanted to watch her for a while.

She passed by the kitchen window several times and he wondered what common little task she might be engaged in.

Not that it mattered.

Soon enough, nothing else would matter.

They’d be together-finally, together-and this time he would get it right. He had to. He’d waited so long…

His hand slid into his pocket and he fingered the key to the room at the pretty bed-and-breakfast in Cape May where he’d made reservations for the two of them. They’d spend a few wonderful days together there. He’d already booked them on one of those pelagic boat trips for tomorrow, so that she could watch her beloved seabirds in their natural habitat. He’d bought her new binoculars-a really special pair that had a camera built right in, so she could take all the pictures she wanted. Then after a few days, they’d head off to the Outer Banks, where he’d rented a house for the rest of the summer.

He sighed. This would be the best summer of his life. He just knew it.

Everything he’d gone through to get to this moment, it had all been worth it. He thought of all the ones who’d tried, over the years, to trick him, all the ones who’d pretended to be her. Well, he’d taught them a lesson, hadn’t he?

She walked past the window again.

Oh, but this one… this one. This one…

This is the one.

Rick followed Cass’s directions to the inlet where the latest body had been found. He parked on the road and together they walked over coarse yellow stone down to the bulkhead where a crowd of law-enforcement types had gathered. As they approached the group, the body began to come into view.

Cass had just reached the fringes, close enough to see the body of the young woman, close enough to see the arms flung over the head, the dark hair spread out like a cape, when one of the members of the Hasboro police force stepped forward.

“Hey, Caplan…” Cass began, and he grabbed her by the arm to halt her forward motion.

“Don’t bother, Burke, this isn’t your crime scene,” he said unpleasantly. “You’re out of your jurisdiction here.”

“Well, I know that,” she hemmed slightly, taken aback by his reaction to her presence, “but Chief Denver called and asked me to-”

“ Denver has no say here, either. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a civilian here. And that makes you a trespasser. I suggest you leave. I’d hate to have to arrest you.”

“What the hell, Caplan?” She shook off his arm.

“The way we see it, you’ve had several shots at this guy, and you’ve come up with squat. Now you can step back and let the big boys show you how to catch a serial killer.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several of the other Hasboro cops shake their heads and look away in embarrassment, while a few of them smirked in her direction.

“Look, I’ve been at several of the scenes, I can-”

“You can turn ass and go back to Bowers. We don’t need you.”

She shrugged and turned to Rick.