“I came to surprise you for your birthday, Gracie. Is that so odd?”
He sat hunched over a beer at her kitchen table.
“Yes, because you aren’t that sentimental.”
She sat on her couch, grasping a pillow to her chest. Bad vibes robbed her of her strength. Mark being here wasn’t a good sign, but she didn’t know why it was a problem. Did it fit into the Dolores’ situation? Too many question rolled around in her brain.
The past few days had her more off-balance than usual. If she didn’t get back on track she wouldn’t save Dolores. The idea sent a shudder through her.
“This is a pivotal birthday. You could lose this power.”
“And you know I won’t miss it,” she said with honesty. The “gift” was more like a too small sweater some distant aunt knitted for you. You didn’t want it, but you still had to write a “Thank You” note.
“You will if you don’t solve this murder.”
She couldn’t argue with that. She shrugged and yawned. “I’m in no mood to argue. You got a place to stay?”
Mark finished his beer then stood. “I’ll find one.”
Zach perused the paper at this desk the next morning while consuming a fast food egg sandwich. Not a usual reader of the sports page, he almost put it in the recycling bin when he remembered Grace’s prediction.
He dropped his breakfast on his napkin when he saw the score of the Phillies’ game.
“Damn.”
Zach wasn’t sure what to think so he went back to his sandwich. But he wasn’t hungry anymore so he wrapped it up and dumped it into his trash.
Within a minute he was out the door and into his car. He pulled into Dolores’s driveway ten minutes later.
Grace answered the door to his ex-wife’s house with a satisfied smile on her face. Did actor boy inspire that?
“You read the paper,” she said.
His scowl hurt his face. “Yes. Lucky guess. We need to talk.”
“Dolores is asleep so let’s talk outside.”
The day had dawned warm with a light breeze. Wisps of Grace’s hair had escaped from her pony tail and were blowing around her face. He longed to brush them away.
“Speak. Do you believe me or not?”
“You know something. I’m not sure how or what. Spill it. How does she die?”
The absurdity of his words were not lost on him, but if he could prevent a death then this foolishness would be worth it.
“She’s shot, then her house is set on fire. I don’t know by whom. She couldn’t tell me.”
“When?”
“Tonight. Someone she knows. I heard the cops saying there was no forced entry.”
“That’s why you think it could be me. I have a key. But it could be anyone she knows. You, for example.”
Grace waved a hand to her apartment. “Search my place. I don’t have a gun. I’m not sure where I’d get one illegally.”
“You could have it on you. And I know you love when I touch you.”
Her face went white and she took a step away from him. “I’m not carrying.”
He could have fun with this. “But how do I know?”
Her gaze went over her outfit. “Where?”
With a short t-shirt and skin tight denim shorts on she wouldn’t hide a gun anywhere. “True.”
He let his gaze linger on her, taking in the pleasure of her miles of revealed skin. “You responded as a medic to the scene?”
“Yes. She had lost too much blood by the time we got here. That along with the miscarriage did her in. We didn’t know about that when we worked on her.”
Grace looked away as if she considered Dolores’ death to be a tragic mistake.
He reached out to her and for once she didn’t flinch. His fingers grazed her arm, but he pulled away before her eyes glazed over. “Would you have done anything differently?”
He was talking as if the incident really happened, which, in his mind, didn’t. This woman was getting under his skin.
“No. We did the best we could.”
“Then don’t worry about it. How much time do we have?”
“Do you believe me?”
He raked a hand over his hair. “I believe you believe this happened.”
She snorted out her disgust. “Don’t patronize me.”
“Look, I don’t think anything will happen, but on the off chance it does, I want to be here. What time?”
“The call came in at 4:30. Near the end of my shift.”
“But you aren’t working today.”
She shook her head. “I took the day off. Since I couldn’t figure out the murderer then I have to head them off when.”
His head spun, but he couldn’t see her logic. Here they were, on a normal Spring day, talking about an incident that never happened. “Where’s your friend?”
“He left.”
Zach bit his tongue. He wouldn’t ask what he wanted to know. Were they lovers? When this all came down and was done, would he have a chance with Grace?
“What?”
He’d been staring at her. Shaking off his thoughts he smiled.
“You don’t do that very often. And sometimes you look like a shark when you do.”
“There isn’t too much to smile about in my line of work.”
She nodded and as if she understood. “I at least get to save people.”
“I get to see them afterwards.”
“Mm. What do you do to blow off steam?”
“Yoga. And you?”
“Run.”
“Do you run from everything?”
“I haven’t run from this town or Dolores. No matter how much I want to put this ‘gift’ I have behind me. I want to forget about it most days.”
“How’d you meet Mark?”
There, he’d asked it. It was out on the table.
She laughed. “Mark seems like he’s always been here.”
“You been together long?”
She smiled. “Are you asking if we’re lovers?”
“Yep.”
“We aren’t. But you don’t like me very much.”
“I never said that. I just don’t trust you.”
“That isn’t conducive to starting a relationship.”
He shrugged, moving closer to her. “But you’ve grown on me.”
Her head tilted back to look up at him. “Like a fungus?”
With trepidation, he reached out and brushed a hair from her face. She didn’t flinch. In fact, for a moment, she turned towards his hand. “That didn’t hurt? Or make you faint.”
“I see colors when you touch me.”
“What kind of colors?”
He tried again, letting his fingertips brush her cheek.
“Like I’m inside a kaleidoscope.”
“Is it bad?”
“Not completely.”
Her eyes fell closed as his fingers went to her lush lips. “How about now?”
“Purples and reds with an underlying warm feeling.”
“Do you like it?”
Her “Yes” came out as a whisper.
Then she pulled back. “We can’t do this.”