Desire After Dark (Page 25)

"Yeah."

Duncan settled himself in the wheelchair, his expression sullen. Vicki followed the nurse down the hallway and out the front door to where Vicki had parked Duncan ‘s Camaro.

She pulled his keys out of the pocket of her jeans. "Do you want to drive?" she asked,

"or would you rather I did?"

"Maybe you should."

"All right." She unlocked the passenger-side door. "Are you staying at the hotel?"

He grunted an affirmative as he eased down on the seat and closed the door.

Vicki turned the key in the ignition, looked over her shoulder, and pulled away from the curb. The Camaro might be old and beat up, but it ran like a dream.

"So," Duncan said, "tell me about Battista."

"What do you want to know?"

"Where did you meet him?"

"At the diner." She looked at Duncan and smiled. "It’s where I meet everybody."

He grunted. "Is he from around here?"

"I have no idea. I really don’t know anything about him."

"Yet he was prowling around your house late last night."

"It’s a good thing for you that he was!" Vicki retorted.

"You’re mighty quick to jump to his defense, considering you don’t know anything about him."

She slid a glance in his direction. "What are you implying?"

"How do you know he didn’t attack me?"

"Antonio? Why on earth would he do that?"

"He’s new in town. I did some checking around. You told the police you saw him leave the diner with two of the murdered women. You do the math."

"He doesn’t have yellow eyes."

"That could be a trick of the light, or he might wear contacts."

"Yellow contacts?" she asked skeptically.

Duncan shrugged. "I’ve seen stranger things."

"Are you suggesting that Antonio is a murderer who… " She forced the words past her lips. "Who kills women and drains them of their blood?" She stared at him in shock when he didn’t answer. "You don’t think he’s a vampire? You do, don’t you?" she demanded when he didn’t deny it. She thought of Antonio’s potent kisses and her reaction to them and shook her head vigorously. "That’s impossible! He was at my house the same night as Falco."

"They could be the same man," Duncan remarked, his voice thoughtful.

Vicki shook her head again. "Antonio doesn’t have blond hair."

"Vampires can change their appearance."

"But they were both here at the same time," she reminded him. "Antonio chased Falco away and saved your life."

"I didn’t see who hit me. It could have been Battista."

"Then why did he pretend to save you? It doesn’t make any sense."

"You’re right." Duncan rested his head against the back of the seat and closed his eyes.

The hit on the head must have affected his thinking. If Battista were the killer, Vicki would be dead by now, Tom thought, and so would he. Unless Battista was playing some sort of insane game, but that didn’t make sense, either. All of the vampire’s kills had been quick and clean. He had stalked his prey, taken their blood and a lock of hair, and vanished.

But what if Falco had changed his M.O.? What if he was looking for a diversion from his usual method of killing? Thinking himself smarter than any mere mortal, the vampire could have decided to change the rules, make things a little more exciting…

Tom scrubbed his hands over his face. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. Now, with his head throbbing, he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had seen Battista somewhere before.

He opened his eyes when Vicki switched off the engine. She glanced at the hotel, then looked over at him. "Are you going to be all right here?"

"Sure."

"If you need anything, call me. I’ll be home most of the day."

"I will, thanks." He frowned when she handed him the keys. "How are you going to get home?"

"I can walk. It’s not that far."

"Are you sure? I can drive you, if you want."

"No, I can use the exercise. Take care of yourself."

On the sidewalk, she waved good-bye to Tom, then started down the street. She waved at old Mrs. Kent, who was sweeping the walkway in front of her son’s florist shop, smiled at Toby Benjamin, who was mowing the grass in front of the library. Ordinary people doing ordinary things.

She paused in front of every shop to look at the displays. She told herself she was window-shopping, but she was really hoping to run across Antonio. She had quite a few questions she wanted to ask him, like what he was doing in town and where he came from, and what he did for a living, and why he never seemed to eat or drink anything and why she only saw him at night..

Vicki frowned, annoyed with Tom for planting the ridiculous notion that Antonio might be a vampire in her mind. Antonio was no more a vampire than she was!

Crossing the street, she paused to look in the window of Cliff’s Department Store, thinking it was time she bought herself some new jeans and sweatshirts, and maybe a dress or two, like the pretty green and white dress in the window.

Her mind made up, she went inside. There was nothing like shopping to take a woman’s mind off her troubles.

Half an hour later, she emerged from the store carrying two large shopping bags. Inside were three pairs of jeans, two sweaters, two sweatshirts, a long black wool skirt, the green and white dress, a pair of black heels, and a matching handbag.

She hadn’t bought any new clothes in, well, in forever. She told herself that the fact that she was doing so now had nothing whatsoever to do with Antonio Battista, though she had to admit she couldn’t wait for him to see her in the other new dress she had bought, a slinky black jersey with a low back and a come-hither slit up one side. Of course, she had no idea when she’d have an excuse to wear such a thing but, as her mother always said, it was a smart girl who was prepared for any occasion.

She was about to turn downFifth Street toward home when Mrs. Heath waved at her.

Smiling, Vicki crossed the street.

"Good morning, Mrs. Heath," Vicki said. "Isn’t it a lovely day?"

"Yes, indeed." Mrs. Heath turned the hose on her flower bed. "How was your date with your young man?"

"It was very nice. And you know what? He is related to the Thomas Duncan that you knew."

"You must be careful, dear. I’m sure your Mr. Duncan told you there’s a vampire in town.

I don’t want him to get you."

"The man with yellow eyes," Vicki said.