“Thank you, Alicia. And maybe a hot bath after that.”
“Of course, the rain is so chilling this time of year.” She hesitated for a moment. “Will you have to leave again soon? I was thinking we could go down to the islands. It’s so beautiful this time of year.”
“That sounds wonderful, but I’m afraid it’ll have to keep. I have to leave tomorrow.”
Her disappointment shone through on her face before her gaze dropped. “Oh, I see.”
He tucked one hand under her chin and stared into her eyes. “Alicia, I had a breakthrough today. A breakthrough that I wasn’t sure would happen. It was a risk on my part, but sometimes you have to take risks if you want the payoff.” He remembered from that morning, the haunted look in LuAnn Tyler’s eyes. “All that sniffing around, never sure if anything’s going to turn up. But that’s all part of the game.”
“That’s wonderful, Thomas, I’m so happy for you. But I hope you didn’t place yourself in personal danger. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”
He sat back as he contemplated his daredevil morning. “I can take care of myself. But I don’t take unnecessary risks. I leave that for the kiddies coming up.” His voice was calming.
He glanced over at her; the look on her face was that of a child listening to her favorite hero recount a past adventure. Donovan finished his drink. A hero. He liked the feeling. Who wouldn’t? Who didn’t need that kind of unadulterated admiration every now and then? He smiled deeply and gripped Alicia’s small hand in his.
“I promise you something. After I break this story, we’re going to take a long vacation. Just you and me. Someplace warm, with plenty to drink, and I can dust off my talents as a sailor. I haven’t done that in a long time and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather do it with. How’s that sound?”
She laid her head against his shoulder and squeezed his hand tightly. “Wonderful.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
You invited him for lunch?” Charlie stared at LuAnn with a mixture of anger and frustration on his grizzled face. “Would you mind telling me why you did that? And would you mind telling me why the hell you went there in the first place?”
They were in Charlie’s office. LuAnn stood next to the bulky desk while Charlie sat in front of it. He had unwrapped a thick cigar and was about to light it when LuAnn had delivered the news of her excursion that morning.
Defiance was all over LuAnn’s features as she scowled back at him. “I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“I told you I was going to handle it. What, you don’t trust my judgment anymore?”
“Of course I do, Charlie, it’s not that.” LuAnn dropped her defiant stance, perched on the edge of his chair and ran her fingers through his thinning hair. “I figured if I could get to Riggs before he had a chance to do anything, apologize and then get him to drop it, we’d be free and clear.”
Charlie shook his head, wincing as a small pain worked at his left temple. He took a deep breath and put an arm around her waist. “LuAnn, I had a very informative conversation with John Pemberton this morning.”
“Who?”
“Real estate agent. Guy who sold us the house. That’s not important. What is relevant is the fact that Pemberton knows everybody and everything that goes on in this town. He’s trying to track down the guy in the Honda for us right now.”
LuAnn jerked back. “You didn’t tell him—”
“I concocted a cover story and fed it to him. He slurped it up like it was the sweetest ice cream in the world. We both have gotten real good with making up stuff over the years, haven’t we?”
“Sometimes too good,” LuAnn said gloomily. “It’s getting harder and harder to remember what’s true and what’s not.”
“I also talked to Pemberton about Riggs. Trying to get some of the guy’s history out, to try and get a feel for the guy.”