Part 5 (1/2)
”Peace is something you need in your life, is it? What do you do for a living?”
The waitress had returned with the check, and Maris reached into her purse for the cash to pay the bill. ”I'm a librarian.”
”A-a librarian?” Laughter erupted from his lips.
”Yes, that's the old-fas.h.i.+oned term, but I prefer it. Keep the change.” This to the waitress. ”What's so funny?”
”Just trying to picture you in a room full of books, that's all. And why the need for peace with a job like that.”
”There's more to my job than returning books to their proper place. Besides, it's the a.s.sistants who do that. Students mostly. I like books. I like being around them. Better than people, if I must be honest.”
”I see. So you're not a people-person?”
”No.”
”Could have fooled me,” he said.
”What's that supposed to mean?” Maris gathered her purse, dropping her napkin onto her empty plate.
”I don't know.” Dan grabbed his sungla.s.ses from the table. ”I don't. But you don't strike me as a loner.”
”Well, that's exactly what I am.”
Dan followed Maris out, observing the way she moved. What did a woman do with all that s.e.xuality when she spent her days avoiding people? A quick picture flashed into his mind that he swiftly dismissed. He didn't need to go there. He was trying his best not to be enticed by Maris Granger. He really was.
He unlocked the car, and she climbed into the pa.s.senger side without waiting for him. As he approached the driver's door, his phone chirped in his pocket. He yanked it out. ”Stauffer.”
Opening the door, he stood outside the car, the phone against his ear. Maris leaned across the seats, peering up at him. He ignored the concern on her face.
”Dan, it's Rankin. Glad I didn't place a bet on that Mabry woman. Not natural at all. Looks like somebody poisoned her.”
Chapter 6.
Maris frowned at Dan, blinking with each smack of his hand against the steering wheel, her stomach sinking into her ankles at his reaction.
”I never should have let you into your aunt's house. Stupid mistake. A rookie mistake. The kind of thing that'll get your a.s.s handed to you.”
”What's happened?” Maris asked for the third time. ”Tell me.”
”You mean you don't already know?”
”Sarcasm? Lovely.”
Dan inhaled and released a slow, steady stream of air. ”I'm not being sarcastic. Your great-aunt didn't die of natural causes. The ME is thinking poison and testing for the type and how it was administered. I'm sorry. And I've screwed up by bringing you to her house. It's a crime scene, and now it's been compromised.”
”You didn't know.”
”No, but you did. Or at least you hinted that you did. That opens up a whole different can of worms.”
”You don't think-”
”I don't know what I think.”
Maris bit her lip, staring out the window. Dan leaned closer to the wheel, yanking his right hand off it and curling the fingers into a fist, which he smacked once in the middle of his forehead.
”What? Dan, what?” Calling him by his first name appeared to calm him in some fas.h.i.+on. Jaw set, he leaned back in his seat.
”I remembered something. No big deal. I'm going to take you back to your car, and you'll head over to your hotel and stay put, got it? Where are you staying, by the way?”
Rubbing her eyes, Maris shook her head. ”Nearby. I don't remember what it's called. Some little place.” G.o.d, she hoped there was a motel matching that description in the vicinity. ”I'll call you from my room when I get there to give you the exact name and the main phone number.”
”Okay, fine. Wait a second. Where did you get my number?”
Maris pulled her cell phone out and waved it a couple of times in the air. ”You called me, remember? It's in my phone.”
”Oh for the love of-right. I forgot.”
”You need to stop being so suspicious.” She turned in the seat to get a better look at him. ”And jumpy. And skeptical. And secretive.”
”Secretive? What does that mean?”
He knew exactly what she meant. His eyes told all, as did the fact he'd zeroed in on that comment above the others. He'd never admit to it, of course, but he understood the secrets she referenced. She decided to drop it, though. Now was not the time to address those things he kept hidden. Nor was it any of her business. She had no right to the knowledge she received, whether intuitive or clairvoyant, and no duty to impart it. That was one of the problems of being gifted in this fas.h.i.+on. It was very difficult to decipher when to open your mouth or when you were better off stuffing what you had seen into some deep, dark corner.
Dan pulled alongside her car, his vehicle facing the wrong way on the street. She got out, bending to look in at him, her fingers curled over the doorframe. ”Thanks for the company at breakfast.”
”Thanks for asking...and buying. Do not, and I repeat, do not leave the area. Go back to where you're staying and dig in. You might be there for a while. You call me, or I'll call you. There are going to be questions, I'm sure.”
Maris nodded and straightened, noticing two police cars parked in front of her aunt's house. She pulled her car key from her purse and pressed the b.u.t.ton to unlock the driver's door while shutting the pa.s.senger side of Dan's. He pulled away slowly and up against the curb, still facing the wrong way. He'd climbed out before she'd gotten into her vehicle. She hovered outside to observe his energetic stride as he took the steps two at a time, stretching an arm out and yanking the door open before he'd reached the top of the stairs.
Maris slid down into the seat and shut the door. She clutched the cross bar of the steering wheel with both hands. Poison. Was this, then, why Alva had reached out to her at the very end of her life? To insist on the truth? But no, there had to be more. The results of testing would have been the same whether Maris had insisted on further investigation or not. Apparently, the medical examiner had made the discovery in the process of doing his job despite the belief held that Alva had died of old age.
”Who did this to you?”
But no answers came to her out of the air. If only it were that easy.
Knuckles rapped on the pa.s.senger side window. Maris jerked and turned, finding Dan's eyes gazing in at her through the gla.s.s. She rolled the window down.
”You're still here.”
”I know. I'm leaving. I was just thinking about Aunt Alva.”
”Understandable. Since you didn't leave yet, would you mind coming inside for a couple of minutes? Hands in your pockets, like I said before.”
Maris's heart began a faster rhythm in her breast. Without a word, she disconnected her seatbelt and got back out. She stood a moment in the street with her hand on the roof, steadying herself. ”What is it? What's wrong?”