Smoke in Mirrors(57)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

She sat him down at the table and gave him some of the over-the-counter anti-inflammatory tablets she kept handy for occasional stress headaches.

She poured a glass of milk and put it down in front of him to accompany the painkillers.

He looked at the milk. “Got whiskey?”

She smiled slightly. “No. Sorry.”

“How about that cognac you served with the apple pie?”

“Right.” She opened a cupboard, took down the bottle and poured a hefty measure into a glass.

He took it from her. “Thanks.”

She watched him down the tablets and half the contents of the glass in a single swallow.

“Thomas, what on earth are we going to do?”

“Don’t know yet. I need to do some thinking.”

“What about Alex Rhodes?”

Thomas contemplated that for a long moment.

“He’ll probably assume that I suspect he was the one behind the assault tonight, but he’ll also know there’s not much I can do about it. He’s well aware of the local situation. He knows that everyone, including the chief of police, thinks that Deke is obsessed with his murder conspiracy, and that any move I make will be viewed as aiding and abetting my brother’s delusions.”

“We can’t just ignore the fact that he may have tried to have you killed tonight.”

“I think it might pay to let him worry for a while,” Thomas said. “He’s bound to be sweating a little by now, wondering what move I’ll make. Wouldn’t hurt if he gets a bit nervous. Nervous people make mistakes. Meanwhile, we’ll have our chat with Margaret Lewis tomorrow and see what comes of that. We need a strategy.”

“Strategy?”

“A plan, you know? I’d really like to have one of those. I always feel better when I’m working from a blueprint.”

She frowned. “Thomas, I don’t think—”

“Mind if I spend the night here?”

Not long ago she had been half-wishing that she had invited him to sleep in her bed tonight, thinking of all the reasons why that would not have been a good idea. Now the very direct question left her flustered.

“That’s real smooth, Walker,” she said. “Whatever happened to subtlety and romance?”

“I’m not feeling subtle or romantic right at the moment. If you don’t want me to sleep here, we can go back to my place.”

His businesslike tone gave her pause.

She cleared her throat. “I get the impression that this request to spend the night is not about finding a convenient venue for hot, sizzling sex. Why am I being asked to make this choice?”

He looked at her. “If I’m right in concluding that Rhodes tried to scare me off or maybe even get rid of me tonight, we have to assume that he had his reasons.”

“So?”

“He’s got to know by now that you and I are both involved in this thing. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if Rhodes thinks I’m a threat, he probably figures you for one, too.”

“A threat.” She breathed out slowly. “I do believe I see where you’re going with this.”

“We have to assume that if he has reasons for wanting me out of the way, he probably isn’t feeling real charitable toward you, either.”

“In spite of the view of my derriere he got that day in the supermarket?”

“Your derriere is incomparable, but I’m not sure that we can count on its wonders, splendid as they are, to stop Rhodes from doing something unpleasant.” Thomas paused. “Guy like Rhodes isn’t capable of fully appreciating your derriere, you see.”

“Just one disillusionment after another. But I take your point. We should probably stick together for a while. Watch each other’s backs.”

“Be a good idea.”

“You can stay here tonight.”

“Thanks. Sorry about the lack of subtlety and romance.”

She lounged back against the counter. “They say that a good relationship should be founded on something more substantial than subtlety and romance because those qualities never last long.”

“I’ve heard that,” Thomas said.

“Lucky for us we’ve got something more solid and substantial than subtlety and romance to work with here.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Your tools.”

When she came out of the bathroom in her robe she discovered that he had already eased himself into the large bed. Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed to her that he took up most of the available space. He leaned back against the pale sheets, his hands linked behind his head, and watched her turn out the light.

“Meant to correct a mistaken impression you had earlier,” he said when she slipped in beside him.

She touched his chest lightly, wondering how much he hurt and where. “What mistaken impression was that?”

“When I asked you if I could spend the night here?”

“Umm hmm?”

“That request was, indeed, based primarily on my concerns for your safety. But there was an ulterior motive, as well.”

“And that ulterior motive would be?”

“I was also seeking a convenient venue for hot, sizzling sex.”

“Really? In that case, it’s certainly a pity that you got all beat up tonight.”

“I don’t think that will be too much of a problem. Just promise me you’ll be gentle.”

The hot, sizzling, very gentle sex, the anti-inflammatories and the knowledge that Leonora was in the same bed combined to put him to sleep for a while.

Unfortunately, he dreamed.

. . . He stood at the sink in Leonora’s bathroom, trying to shave. But it was hard to see what he was doing because the mirror was covered in steam.

He picked up a towel and wiped the mist off the reflective surface.

He could see a face in the glass now, but it wasn’t his own. Alex Rhodes looked out at him, malevolent golden eyes gleaming with dark, taunting amusement.

Chapter Fifteen

Shaving the next morning, even without having to look at Rhodes’s phony yellow eyes in the bathroom mirror, turned out not to be an option. He did not have his razor.

Thomas turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and leaned over the white porcelain sink. He examined the dark stubble on his jaw in the steam-clouded mirror. Not a pretty sight.

But there wasn’t a lot he could do about it, he thought. Leonora probably wouldn’t appreciate him borrowing her little pink plastic disposable razor. It was just one more thing to jot down on the list of vital necessities that he intended to pick up at his place sometime today. The list was growing longer by the moment. It now included, in order of importance, condoms, toothbrush, razor, fresh shirt, underwear and a pair of socks.