Part 20 (1/2)

”You drugged her, too?”

Valente just smiled again, a vile light in his eyes. ”Yeah, and she was a real party girl when she was stoned.”

Logan hauled off to slam him again, but his arm was caught midswing. Sarah's strong grip held him back. She held his gaze with her own, urging him to hold back. To get control. He nodded, expelling a haggard breath, and she turned to Valente.

”You killed her, then?”

”Yeah. So what? One more worthless-”

Sarah let go of Logan's arm and Logan hit him again-hard-before he stood back. Sarah put her hand on his arm, taking over.

”Well, pal, you are going to prison for a very, very long time. You kidnapped, raped and tortured several women, but this one-” she took the picture from Logan. ”-happened to be a cop. Just. Like. Me.” She accentuated every last word with a jab of her finger into his chest, but held off hitting him herself. She didn't want to get her hands dirty.

Valente paled as they heard voices emerging down at the far end of the pa.s.sageway.

”Your word against mine.”

”Oh yeah, there's a problem. But not quite. You just confessed. And we have two witnesses right here, did you forget?”

”So it's the word of a bunch of drugged up party girls against mine.”

”Not exactly.” Logan chimed in, reaching into his pocket again, pulling out the transmitter. ”You gave the nice policemen listening in back home a recorded confession.”

Valente's face contorted with rage as Coast Guard officers ran down the hall, and Logan and Sarah backed off, hands up, identifying themselves. The lead man nodded while others hauled Valente away.

”We'd been alerted you were here-got a bit worried when we didn't see you at first, but apparently you were busy netting the big fish.”

Valente was still yelling and struggling as they carried him off down the pa.s.sageway. Logan sighed with relief.

”Catch of the day.”

15.

”HARRY, I THINK YOU'RE SET THINK YOU'RE SET.” Sarah stood up from the terminal where she'd been sitting for several hours, making sure the inn's computer was as secure as it could possibly be. She'd never told him it was Logan who'd been hacking into their connection from upstairs-no need for them to know that. But now no one would be able to mess with their online system, or they would have a heck of a hard time trying.

”We can't thank you enough. Are you sure we can't pay you? I can't imagine what having a private consultant come in here and do all this for us would cost.”

Sarah shook her head. She had developed a weakness for Harry; something in his happy eyes reminded her of her grandfather. And Karen made the best pie ever.

”No problem. This is fun for me, really. I'm glad to help.”

”We did refund the charges for your vacation stay, at least. You weren't here the full time, even.” He sat down at the computer station, checking over his new updates. ”You never did say where you disappeared to.”

She nodded. ”Family emergency.”

”That's too bad. I hope everything was all right.”

”Don't worry. We had a happy ending, more or less.”

”Good to hear. And you are staying for the party later, I take it?”

Sarah nodded. Ian and Sage were finally getting married-the engagement was official, the date set-and they had hired the inn to cater a party to announce their decision to everyone, as well as the news of their impending parenthood. Pretty much everyone already knew, but the party and the announcement would make it official. Sarah had a room for the night, as all guests did, and was looking forward to the celebration. Mostly.

It had been close to a week since they'd taken Valente down, and more than four days since she'd seen or heard from Logan. He'd contacted her before he left-it wasn't like he'd left her high and dry-but the lack of contact, her uncertainty about their future, was bugging her. To say the least.

She couldn't escape the fact that after what had happened on the boat, she'd been hopeful, for the first time in her life, that Logan could lay his past to rest and accept her work. That he would realize she was good at what she did, and that he would see they had something worth sticking around for.

They had both come to the relations.h.i.+p with pain and baggage, and she was ready to deal with hers if he could handle his. They could lend each other a hand and make the burdens lighter together.

She smiled, accepting a slice of pie from Karen before her host fluttered off to attend to some other guests, and she watched Harry mess with the computer, intent on the screen, her presence forgotten. Computer addicts came in all ages, she thought, smiling, before her thoughts returned to Logan.

He'd gone back to face the consequences of his actions on his job. He'd wanted to make sure his partner received honors and a proper service, and he wanted to contact her family. Sarah felt a surge of tenderness nearly overwhelm her, thinking of how important those things were to him, how decent he was. He'd stayed to make sure that the women they'd rescued were put in good treatment programs, and that there weren't any more of them around.

Going through that process with Logan inspired emotions she'd never realized she could feel, but she didn't know what to do now. She was restless, anxious and impatient to have him back so she could see him. Talk to him. Touch him.

Her fingers itched to run themselves over his skin again. But if it was more than l.u.s.t-love, maybe?-she didn't know. She needed him to help her figure it out.

The pie was gone, and Harry was sucked into his spreadsheets. Late afternoon sunlight dappled through the window, and she tried to shake the lonely feeling that suddenly hit her. Maybe she was tired-she had time for a nap before the party.

”I'll see you tonight, Harry.”

”Mmm-hmm.”

A few people were standing around talking, but Sarah just wanted to retire to her room to think and recharge her batteries. As she reached the stairs, she was surprised to see Ivy through the screen door, lost in a hot clinch with...Jim. Jim? Jim? Sarah turned her head. She had tried her best to warn Ivy, but everyone was ent.i.tled to their own mistakes. But before her foot hit the first step, she heard the door close, and Ivy's cheerful voice called after her. Sarah turned her head. She had tried her best to warn Ivy, but everyone was ent.i.tled to their own mistakes. But before her foot hit the first step, she heard the door close, and Ivy's cheerful voice called after her.

”Sarah-wait. I've been looking for you for days! Where have you been?”

”Oh, I had to get back home for a few days.”

”Oh, um,” Ivy blushed prettily, and Sarah waited for her to continue. ”I guess you saw me kissing Jim. You must wonder what that was about.”

”No, it's none of my business, Ivy. In fact, I was kind of hoping I might see you, I wanted to apologize for being so hard on you the other day-”

Ivy was shaking her head vehemently. ”No, really, you were right. But more than that, you made me get a grip and stop moping around.” She laughed, putting her hand on Sarah's arm in a friendly gesture that seemed very adult. ”You made me see that I didn't have to take that kind of treatment from any guy.”

Okay, now Sarah was really confused. ”But, you were just...”

”Right! I was so angry I went and confronted him, and really let him know how I felt, that no one was going to use me. And then we got talking-it turned out that girl was an old girlfriend, she came back to make a play for him, and that was what I saw. But he swore he was only interested in me. Really.”

Sarah felt the old cynicism rear its head, and squelched it. It wasn't her place to rain on Ivy's parade. ”Well, I hope that's true and it works out for you, Ivy. I really do.”

”Thanks. He's taking me to meet his family this weekend-I'm so nervous. He's never taken anyone to meet them before. And he said he knows he flirts a lot in his job, but he won't do it anymore because I don't like it.”

Ivy was literally glowing with happiness. It was hard to resist her excitement, and Sarah didn't try, smiling back and reaching over to hug her.