Part 6 (1/2)

'That would be why I'm the black sheep.' He grinned.

Carrie shook her head. 'I don't understand. You could be doing anything.'

Charlie looked at the utter disbelief in her face. Veronica had looked at him like that. Often. Had said the same words. Somehow he'd thought Carrie was different and the thought that she wasn't was strangely depressing. He pulled up a chair and sank into it, taking a swig of his coffee.

'There was an incident when I was a med student. I was on a ride-along s.h.i.+ft with the ambulance and we got called to the valley to an overdose. When we arrived there was this girl, she was about my age. And it was cold, you know the middle of winter, so cold. We were all rugged up and she was wearing this tiny T-s.h.i.+rt and miniskirt.' He shook his head, still staring at his coffee.

'No one knew her. I mean, there was this crowd of people around her, gawking at her like she was an exhibit in a museum, but no one knew her. She had tracks all up her arms. A junkie. We tried to revive her but it was too late. We declared her deceased and everyone just drifted away. No one cared. She was just a faceless street kid all alone at the very end with no one to grieve for her. No one to mourn the waste.'

Carrie s.h.i.+vered as she listened to Charlie recount the story. He was staring into the murky depths of his coffee, a far-away look in his cloudy grey gaze.

'And it's stuck with me ever since. I don't know.' He shrugged, looking up at her. 'Maybe it was her age, maybe it was her dead-looking eyes, but all I could think was, there but for the grace of G.o.d...you know? And I just knew, right there at that moment, I knew I had to do something to help kids like that.'

There was silence for a few moments as they stared at each other. It was a moment when Carrie felt she could almost see into his soul. Everything was laid bare to her. There was compa.s.sion and righteousness and belief. How would she feel if Dana went off the rails and ran away from home, got into drugs? She could only hope there would be a Charlie with a blanket somewhere, looking out for her.

A few more moments ticked by. 'So, your father's not thrilled?'

Charlie chuckled and downed the remnants of his drink, 'You could say that,' he said, rising and heading for the sink.

Carrie's mobile phone rang. 'It's my mother.'

Charlie nodded and headed out of the room to give her some privacy. 'See you later.'

At nine o'clock Carrie was satisfied enough with her progress to call it a day. She packed up her laptop, grabbed her bag and threw her jacket over her arm.

'I'm off,' she said, leaning against Charlie's doorjamb.

Charlie looked up. She'd applied some more lip gloss and her electric blue silk tempted him with its delectable contents. 'I'll walk you out,' he said, feigning interest in a journal article as he rose.

She shook her head. 'Don't be silly. I'll be fine.'

He gave her a stern look. 'This is the valley. The dodgy end. Daytime, fine. Nighttime, no way.'

Carrie laughed to hide her consternation. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. Charlie's aura was too disturbing. She gestured with her arm. 'Lead the way.'

They walked side by side the short distance to the back alley where they both parked their cars. His beat-up old Datsun obscured her car temporarily, which was just as well.

'Oh, no,' she gasped, dropping her briefcase in horror.

Her hire car had been stripped and vandalised.

'G.o.d d.a.m.n it!' Charlie shook his head, inspecting the damage. Her wheels were missing, the windows had been smashed and the seats slashed. 'This is why I don't bring the Beamer.'

'You have a BMW?' Carrie asked, temporarily forgetting about her car.

'A present from my parents,' he dismissed.

Of course. 'How tragic for you.'

Charlie ignored her. 'Were there any valuables in it?'

She shook her head. 'Because it was a rental there was nothing in there of ours. Oh, except...' Carrie quickly checked the empty back seat '...Dana's car seat.'

Charlie looked at her. 'I'll buy you another one.'

Carrie groaned and turned to lean against the remnants of her car, trying not to think about the insurance excess she'd be facing. She earned good money but her mortgage was hefty and she always ran fairly close to the wire.

'Come on,' Charlie said, putting his arm around her shoulder and urging her away from the car. 'We'll call the police, file a report and I'll drive you home.'

Carrie resisted the urge to put her head against his shoulder. Just. 'I can catch a taxi.'

'No, wouldn't hear of it,' he insisted. 'It's the least I can do, considering your car was more than likely vandalised by some of my clients.'

Carrie was relieved that Charlie had taken over. She sat in the lounge chair and accepted the cup of tea he'd made for her. The police came promptly due, no doubt, to Charlie's close working relations.h.i.+p with them, and she gave them her details.

'Did you say Swenson Street, miss?'

Carrie nodded at the policeman, who looked like he'd just graduated from high school. She had to concentrate hard on his questions because Charlie was sitting casually on the fat, squishy arm of her chair and his leg swung lazily in her peripheral vision.

'We've just been there. Your burglar's struck again.'

'”Your” burglar?' Charlie asked, sitting up straighter.

Burglar? Good grief, it made it sound like there was a master jewel thief at large. 'We have a gnome-napper terrorising the street. Old Mrs Dennis's gnomes are mysteriously disappearing.'

'Ah.' Charlie nodded. 'Poor Mrs Dennis.'

Carrie could see the twinkle of mirth lighting his grey eyes, like the sun s.h.i.+ning through rainclouds. 'Yes, Swenson Street, just like living in the Bronx,' she agreed gravely.

The police left and Carrie and Charlie argued over his offer of a lift. The clinic was dark, Charlie having turned off all the lights in preparation to leave. The streetlights bathed the lounge in a soft glow.

'Don't you trust me?'

He was standing behind her and his voice was soft, a seductive caress reaching through the gloom to touch her across the short distance that separated them. That was the crazy thing. She did trust him. She felt perfectly safe. But there was a frisson of something else, too. A slight tremble to her hand and huskiness in her breath when she thought about sharing a car with him. Something stirred inside that hadn't been stirred in a long time. Something that had been breathed into life five nights ago.

'Don't be ridiculous.' She gave a half-laugh. 'Of course I do and because it's Friday night in the city, and I can't be bothered to wait an hour for a taxi, you've got yourself a deal.'

Carrie's mobile rang as she did her seat belt up and she answered it. Charlie buckled up, too, started the car and pulled out as Carrie was hanging up.

Charlie's male scent filled the confines of the car and Carrie had to resist the urge to put her face against his neck and inhale deeper. What the h.e.l.l was happening to her? She was sitting in a car with a man she barely knew, getting high on pheromones. She just didn't do stuff like this.

'That was my sister,' she said into the silence, grabbing hold of anything, anything to stop her actually sniffing his neck. 'She was just ringing to remind me about my hair appointment tomorrow,' she prattled. 'She's a hairdresser,' she prattled some more.

Charlie pulled out of the alley. 'Yeah? Maybe I'll drop by one day and get that sensible haircut my father keeps nagging me about.'

'Oh, no,' Carrie admonished immediately, and raised a hand to touch his hair. It was soft and fine and the glide of it through her fingers was a surprisingly sensual experience.