A car’s headlights flicked across his side mirror. His gaze
immediately went to the car that had just pulled up behind him. It
wasn’t a cop wondering why he had been parked here for several hours.
He frowned and looked over at the townhouse. He wondered if his
naughty tech mogul had noticed him and called in some reinforcements to
help teach the curious PI a little lesson. Lee hoped that was the
case. He had his crowbar in the seat next to him. This might actually
be fun. Kicking the crap out of somebody might be the depression
antidote he needed; get those endorphins going. At least it might get
him through the night.
He was surprised when only one person emerged from the passenger side
and headed his way. The person was small, slender, hidden inside an
ankle-length coat with a hood, not exactly your recommended attire for
a ninety-degree thermometer and one hundred percent humidity. His hand
tightened on the crowbar. As the figure came up to his passenger door,
he hit the door lock. The next moment, his lungs had locked up and he
was gasping for air.
The face looking in at him was very pale and very thin. And very Faith
Lockhart. He unlocked the door and she slid in.
He looked at her, finally found his voice down near his knees. “God,
is it really you?”
She smiled, and suddenly she didn’t seem so pale, so drawn, so frail.
She slid off her long, hooded coat. Underneath she had on a
shortsleeved shirt and khaki shorts. Her feet were in sandals. Her
legs were very pale and thinner than he remembered; all of her was.
Months in a hospital had decimated her, he realized. Her hair had
grown out and was longer, though far from its original length. She
looked better with her real hair color, he thought. Actually, he would
have taken the woman bald.
“It’s me,” she said quietly. “At least, what’s left.”
“Is that Reynolds back there?”
“Nervous and upset that I talked her into it.”
“You look beautiful, Faith.”
She smiled in a resigned fashion. “Liar. I look like hell. I can’t
even bear to look at my chest. God!” She said the words in a joking
manner, but Lee could sense the anguish behind the light tone.
He very gently touched her face with his hand. “I’m not lying, and you
know it.”
She put her hand around his and gripped it with amazing strength.
“Thank you.”
“”How are you really doing? I want facts, nothing but.”
She stretched her arm slowly, the pain in her face so evident from such
a simple movement. “I’m officially retired from the aerobics circuit,
but
I’m hanging in there. Actually, each day it gets better. The doctors
expect a full recovery. Well, in the ninety percentile anyway.”
“I never thought I’d see you again.”
“I couldn’t let that happen.”
He slid over to her, put his arm around her. She winced a little as he
did this, and he quickly backed off.
“I’m sorry, Faith, I’m sorry.”
She smiled and put his arm back around her, patting his hand as she did
so. “I’m not that fragile. And the day you can’t put your arm around
me is the day I call it a life.”
“I’d ask you where you’re living, but I don’t want to do anything that
could put you in danger.”
“Helluva way to have to live, don’t you think?” Faith asked.
“Yes.”
She leaned against him, resting her head against his chest. “I saw
Danny right after I got out of the hospital. When they told us
Thornhill had killed himself, I didn’t think he was ever going to stop
smiling.”
“Can’t say I felt any different.”
She looked at him. “How are you, Lee?”
“Me! Nothing happened to me. Nobody shot me. Nobody tells me where I
have to live. I’m doing fine. I got the best deal of all.”
“Lie or the truth?”
“Lie,” he said softly.
They exchanged a quick kiss and then a longer one. The movements were
so easy, Lee thought, their heads turning at just the right angle,
their arms going around each other with no wasted motion, like pieces