Part 19 (1/2)
”He isn't a bad husband,” she said. ”He's just old-fas.h.i.+oned.”
”Someone needs to take him down a peg or two.”
She noticed the set of Zach's jaw and realized he wouldn't hesitate to confront Miguel Santiagoor anyone else who posed a threat to people he cared about. It was an oddly comforting thought.
”This has really been hard on Maria,” she said. ”Now Miguel is angry, just as she was afraid he would be. We've got to find a way to help her.”
”We'll figure something out.”
She glanced back at the house, thinking of Tansy Trevillian. ”It sounded pretty far-fetched all that talk about evil, but still ”
”Yeah, I know what you mean.” Zach led her over to her car and waited while she slid behind the wheel. ”We need to talk about this.”
She nodded. ”I know. I'd invite you over to my place, but I don't think ”
”I already know what you think. How about we go to Biff's and I'll buy you a cup of coffee? Worst brew in the county, but at least they're open. Not many choices in this town.”
Biff's was a restaurant/bar on Main Street. The limited menu, basically frozen fried chicken and pizza, was lousy, the employees surly. She couldn't figure out how the place stayed open but it had been there for years.
”All right, Biff's is good.”
”I'll follow you down there.”
She nodded and started her car.
There wasn't much going on in town as they drove along Main Street, but there rarely was, even on Sat.u.r.day night. The high school kids mostly took their dates to Mason, where there was a six-theater cinema and, being a farming community, the rest of the town's residents went to bed early, even on Sat.u.r.day night. Except, of course, for the beer-drinking crowd, which hung around the Top Hat Bar, on a side street a few blocks away.
Elizabeth parallel parked in a s.p.a.ce just down from Biff's front door, and Zach parked his BMW in the s.p.a.ce behind her. She hadn't been in the restaurantto use the term looselysince she had returned to San Pico, but she found it hadn't changed. Worn linoleum, a pool table in the back of the narrow room, a long bar where patrons could eat or drink and a row of wooden tables along the wall.
Zach led her over to a table, then went up to the bar and ordered a couple of cups of coffee.
”Sorry, this is the leaded version,” he said as he set the white china mug down in front of her. ”They don't believe in decaf at Biff's.”
”That's all right. After what happened tonight, I could use a bracer.”
Zach smile. ”Maybe I should have ordered you a whiskey.”
Elizabeth ignored what that grin did to her. ”Maybe you should have.” But if she had a shot of alcohol and lost even a few of her inhibitions, she would invite Zach back to her apartment, back into her bed, and she didn't want to do that.
”So what do we do next?” she asked. Picking up the little metal pitcher on the table, she poured a good dose of cream into her thick black coffee.
”Tansy says we need to find out what happened in the house, which we've already started to dounfortunately, without much success. I guess we'll just have to try harder.”
”What else can we do?”
”I'll talk to a few of the workers on the farm, see if anyone has been around long enough to remember any of the people who lived in the old house before it was torn down.” He took a sip of his coffee, then grimaced at the bitter taste. ”The place was there a lot of years, though. As far back as I can remember. I imagine quite a few tenants have lived there at one time or another.”
”After you mentioned it, I remembered seeing it there when I was a kid. I just never paid that much attention.”
”It wasn't much to look at, an old, gray, wood-framed house with a big front porch.”
”It didn't make much of an impression. I remember it had white wooden shutters at the windows, and by the time I was in high school, it was pretty run-down.”
He nodded. ”The problem is finding out who lived there.”
”More importantly, we need to know if anyone died in the house, particularly a child.”
”According to the stuff on the Net, violence is usually part of the equation, or a sudden, unexpected death, like an accident or something. Of course, there's no way to know if it's true.”
”No, but it's something to keep in mind.”
Zach took a sip of his coffee then set the cup back down on the table. ”I'll find out as much as I can. I'm not exactly welcome out at the farm, but I'll try talking to Carson.”
”That ought to be interesting. You going to tell your brother you're trying to find a ghost?”
”Not hardly. I'm going to tell him I'm interested in the history of the farm.” He took another sip of the bitter brew. ”I'll tell him I have someone interested in writing a book on the area. Carson will jump through hoops for a little publicity.”
Elizabeth stirred more cream into her mug, trying to disguise the taste. ”I really appreciate your help with this, Zach. This isn't exactly my area of expertise.”
”Mine either.”
They spent the next half hour planning their strategy. Since the house sat on ground owned by Harcourt Farms, there were no separate owners.h.i.+p records to search. Public utility companies seemed the most promising avenueif their records went back far enough and the company could be convinced to share them.
Harcourt Farms provided its overseers with a house and water, Zach told her, but the phone was paid by the tenants, as were the gas and electric bills. Elizabeth planned to speak to the telephone and utility companies to see what she could find out.
She decided to use Zach's story that someone wanted to do a history of the farm. Of course, their best hope was that Carson might have some sort of record of who had lived there, or that the longtime employees on the farm might remember something useful.
It was getting late by the time their plan was set. Elizabeth had managed to finish several cups of the too-strong coffee, leaving her wide-awake. So was Zach, she discovered as he walked her to her car, then leaned down and gave her a soft, incredibly s.e.xy kiss.
She didn't resist. It just felt too good.
”Let me come home with you.” He kissed her again, a deep, thorough kiss that turned her insides to b.u.t.ter. ”We're good together, Liz. Let's see where this thing takes us.”
She leaned toward him, tempted. Oh, so, tempted. Instead, she pressed her fingertips against his lips to stop his seductive words.
”I wish I could, Zach. You'll never know how much. But I just can't take the risk.”
He stared at her for several long seconds, then cupped her face between his hands and kissed her deeply. Knowing she shouldn't, she let him.
”I could persuade you, Liz. You know I could.”
She looked into those hot dark eyes and knew he was right. ”I know you could. I'm asking you not to.”
Zach said something beneath his breath and stepped away from her, raking a hand through his short dark hair. ”I wish things could be different.”
”I wish I were more like Lisa.”