“Really? I didn’t think people came with two appendixes.”
“What?”
She pointed to another scar on his other side.
“Hey, can we just enjoy the moment here and stop with the observations and questions?” His tone was playful, but she noted the serious intent just below the surface.
“Well, you know, if you come over every day to work on the studio, we might make this a regular thing, sort of like breakfast.” LuAnn smiled and then almost immediately caught herself. What was the chance of that happening? The impact of this thought was crushing.
She quickly moved away from him and started to get up.
Riggs could hardly miss this dramatic transformation.
“Was it something I didn’t say?”
She turned to find him looking at her. As if suddenly self-conscious about her nakedness, she pulled the bedspread off the bed and draped it around her. “I’ve got a lot to do today.”
Riggs sat up and grabbed at the bedspread. “Well, excuse the hell out of me. I didn’t mean to get in the way of your schedule. I guess I had the six A.M. to seven A.M. slot. Who’s up next? The Kiwanis Club?”
She jerked the bedspread free. “Hey, I don’t deserve that.”
Riggs rubbed his neck and started to pull on his clothes. “Okay. It’s just that I’m having trouble switching gears as fast as you. Going nonstop from the most intensive passion I can ever remember to discussing the day’s workload sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I’m sorry as hell if I offended you.”
LuAnn looked down and then moved over and sat next to him. “That’s how it was for me too, Matthew,” she said quietly. “I’m embarrassed to tell you how long it’s been.” She paused and then said almost to herself, “Years.”
He looked at her incredulously. “You’ve gotta be kidding.” She didn’t answer and he was reluctant to break the silence. The ringing phone did.
Hesitating for a moment, LuAnn picked it up. She hoped to God it was Charlie and not Jackson. “Hello?”
It turned out to be neither. “We’re going to talk, Ms. Tyler, and we’re going to do it today,” Thomas Donovan said.
“Who is this?” LuAnn demanded.
Riggs quickly looked over at her.
“We had a brief meeting the other day when you were out driving. The next time I saw you was when you were sneaking out of my place with your boyfriend.”
“How did you get this number? It’s unlisted.”
Donovan silently laughed. “Ms. Tyler, no information is safe, if you know where to look. I’m assuming by now that you realize I know where to look.”
“What do you want?”
“Like I said, I want to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
Riggs went over to the phone and held the receiver with her. At first LuAnn tried to push him off but Riggs held firm.
“Sure you do. And I have a lot to say to you. I can understand your reaction the other day. Maybe I should have approached you differently, but that’s past. I know beyond a doubt that you’re sitting on a story of immense importance, and I want to know what it is.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
Donovan considered this for a moment. He ordinarily didn’t like to take this tack, but right now he couldn’t think of an alternative strategy. He made up his mind. “I’ll give you this as an inducement. If you talk to me, I’ll give you forty-eight hours to leave the country before I go public. If you don’t talk to me then I go public with everything I have as soon as I get off the phone.” He struggled internally for a moment and then added quietly, “Murder doesn’t have a statute of limitations, LuAnn.”
Riggs stared over at LuAnn, wide-eyed. She looked away from him.
“Where?” she asked.
Riggs was shaking his head fiercely but LuAnn ignored him.
“Let’s make it a very public place,” Donovan said. “Michie’s Tavern. I’m sure you know where that is. One o’clock. And don’t bring anyone with you. I’m way too old for guns and speeding cars. I catch a whiff of your boyfriend or anyone else, the deal is off and I call the sheriff in Georgia. Do you understand?”