Victoria Dahl - Flirting with Disaster

Mary grinned. “It’s pretty awesome.”

They both turned toward the stairway when the door to the first floor opened, expecting Wes to head down, but these footsteps were soft and light.

A young woman Tom recognized as Veronica Chandler stuck her head past the wall, her blond hair swinging. “I just wanted to check and see if you needed anything before I turn in.”

Tom stood. “No, we’re all set up down here. Thank you for the cookies.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you know Jill Washington up the road? She’s an amazing baker.”

The woman smiled. “No, my father only bought this house two years ago, and I was living in New York then. And these cookies went straight from the tube to the oven.”

“The perfect recipe,” Mary said.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Veronica called as she headed back upstairs. She looked happy enough to be here. Tom suspected she was relieved. She’d spent two of the past three evenings here already. What was the point in driving home in the dark to sleep?

It was the same reason Tom was in the basement, after all.

“I’m heading out,” Mary said.

“You can take the cot, if you want. I’ll sleep here. It’s a fold-out couch.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. If I wanted to wake up to obnoxious men, I’d change my dating habits.”

“Are you calling me obnoxious?”

“No comment.” She eased her feet into the heels she wore on duty to add a couple more inches to her height.

Tom cleared his throat. “So what’s your age range?”

“For what?”

“Dating.”

She frowned at him and grabbed her coat. “That’s a weird question.”

“I’m just making conversation.”

“Bullshit. You know somebody? Is it that new girl in Intake? She’s only twenty-one. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“It’s no one,” he said. “Forget I said anything.”

“Stop trying to take care of me. I’m not one of your lost causes.” She tugged a knit hat over her blond curls and glared at him for a moment before heading toward the staircase. “Ten years on either side,” she tossed back without slowing down.

“Good to know,” Tom responded, not bothering to hide his smile.

But as soon as Mary’s footsteps hit the first floor and the door closed behind her, Tom was left alone with his thoughts. And those thoughts were not on Jill anymore; they were on her freaky-ass neighbor. What the hell was up with Isabelle West?

He closed his email program and opened his browser to try her name again, but there were still no good clues, so he searched for anatomical art instead. He clicked around for a good half an hour, learning what he could about it. What he saw was pretty on par with what he’d glimpsed at her house. He didn’t like one bit of it.

He could handle seeing dead bodies on the job. It was rarely a complete surprise. He usually had the chance to brace himself against the sight so he wasn’t snapped back to that long-ago moment when he’d found his brother. But tonight had sneaked up on him.

He took a deep breath and cleared the search window then tried a new one for “medical paintings” and her name. He got back garbage. That was weird. She obviously did well for herself. She must have a legitimate career. So why was she missing online?

Tom sat back in his chair and tapped a pen to his chin for a minute then thought of the other painting he’d seen in her home. The vivid realism of it. The beauty. And the very short signature in the corner.

He typed in “I. West” and “anatomical painting” and hit the mother lode.

“Bingo,” he breathed. Here was her career. She’d been telling the truth.

There wasn’t much to get from the search results, other than that confirmation. Her work wasn’t meant for private buyers. The hits were all sites where posters and textbooks could be purchased. There was no author biography anywhere. No pictures or stories about her.

Still, the morbidity of the whole thing niggled at his brain. Combined with her initial hostility, Tom decided he couldn’t ignore that prickling he’d felt on the back of his neck earlier.

He signed in to the National Crime Information Center to do a quick check on her background. Two hours later, he was even more confused. Isabelle West didn’t seem to be a criminal. There were no warrants, no arrests, not even a traffic ticket as far as he could tell. So she wasn’t a criminal. But she also hadn’t existed before 2002.

CHAPTER FOUR

“GOOD GOD, ISABELLE, you have got to be kidding me!”

Isabelle stared in confusion at her friend. Lauren was standing on the front porch, wearing a tight red dress and heels, and she was glaring daggers.

“What?” Isabelle asked.

“It’s Sunday! I texted you this morning!”

“It’s Sunday?”

“Yes!”

“Are you sure you sent a text?” She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead, trying to angle the paintbrush in her fingers so that she didn’t get cadmium green in her hair. “I didn’t get it.”

Lauren sighed. “Have you been anywhere near your phone today? Is it charged?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. I’m working. I guess you may as well come in.”

“Nope. We’re going out. It’s girls’ night.”

“I’ll have to cancel—”

“No, you won’t. You canceled last Sunday, remember? Let’s go.”

Now it was Isabelle’s turn to glare. “I’m not going anywhere. I look like shit.”

Lauren nodded and made a shooing motion. “Wash your face and put your hair up. If you don’t have any clean jeans then put on a dress. Surely those don’t have paint on them.”

Well, some of them did. But it was too cold for a dress anyway. Then again, Lauren was wearing one, along with high-heeled boots. Isabelle had cute boots that Jill had helped her pick out. She supposed she could throw something together.

She looked over her shoulder toward her studio, but Lauren pushed past her and pointed to the bedroom. “Do it. Sophie’s not here to protect you anymore. It’s just me and my cruel demands.”

“I think I read a book like that recently,” Isabelle muttered.

“Yeah, well... Wear something pretty for me or you’ll be punished.”

“Does this mean I’m not allowed to wear panties?”

“Whatever it takes.”

“Fine. Let me get rid of the brush first.” As much as she resented having to stop painting, she still smiled as she ditched the brush and hurried to clean up. She’d gotten in almost ten hours of work, after all. Even she could be satisfied with that.

So she did exactly as Lauren instructed. She washed her face and pulled her hair up into a neater knot than usual, and she even put on makeup. Then she stared into her closet for five minutes before finally deciding that she just wasn’t into dresses right now.

She settled on her favorite pair of skinny jeans and a gold top she’d worn only once before. It was sleeveless and low-cut and too sparkly, but what the hell. Tonight was girls’ night out. Plus, she’d found her last pair of clean underwear, and that was something to celebrate. Of course, that meant she’d have to do laundry tomorrow. Or just go commando. Probably the latter.

“I’m ready!” she called out as she walked back into the living room, but her smile transformed into an O of surprise when she saw Tom standing there with Lauren.

Isabelle fought down her alarm. She’d almost decided he wasn’t onto her the night before. But then he’d asked to search her house, and she was fighting that fear again.

“Hello,” she finally said.

“Hi.” His eyes swept down to her cleavage then back up so quickly she could’ve imagined it. But she hadn’t. Maybe he really had been interested in her internet porn.