Part 19 (1/2)
Chapter 14.
Cait s.h.i.+fted restlessly on the bed, but her movements were restricted. There was a furnace of heat sealed against her back. A weight around her waist, over her legs, that pinned her in place. Her unconscious sounded an alarm and her eyes snapped open. Took an instant to adjust to the dim light in the room.
And in that instant, comprehension filtered in.
She looked down at the hair-roughened arm draped carelessly over her. Who would have figured Sharper for a cud dler? Although it was probably more likely that he was simply a bed hog and she'd merely been an obstacle preventing him from claiming all the mattress s.p.a.ce.
Eyeing the bathroom door, she wondered how she could go about freeing herself without waking the man. It'd be infinitely easier if she had a shower before facing him. A jolt of caffeine wouldn't hurt, either, but the room didn't run to amenities like coffee makers. Carefully she tried inching away. His arm tightened and she stopped. Tried to turn her head to see if she'd wakened him.
In the next moment it became a moot point. A phone rang. They sat up in bed simultaneously. Cait looked around for her purse. Saw it lying on the floor inside the door, contents half spilled out.
Zach was rubbing a hand over his stubbled jaw, his eyes drowsy. ”Is that yours or mine?”
”I don't know.” They both listened for a moment. Heard two different alerts. ”Sounds like both of ours.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose to pad across the room, unconcerned about his nudity. Which was just as well, Cait observed, because she'd been wondering how to retrieve her phone without making a production of wrapping herself in a sheet like a Victorian virgin.
She could only imagine the comments that would have elicited from Sharper. But she was uncertain that she was up to prancing around the room in front of him wearing nothing at all.
Although the sight of him doing the same wasn't exactly hard on the eyes.
”Here.” The purse he tossed toward her almost hit her in the head. She preferred to blame that on early-morning sluggishness and not being hopelessly diverted by the sight of his tight male buns. He was already answering his call while she was still fumbling for her cell.
”Yeah, Tuck. What's up?”
Cait's phone had gone silent by the time she reached it. And looking at the screen, she figured that was a good thing. Talking to her mother could wait until after this case was over. It certainly wasn't something she'd tackle first thing in the morning, on any day.
”Why, what happened?” Silence on his end for a moment, then, ”Let me check.”
He came back to sit on the edge of the bed, looking at her inquiringly. ”What's my schedule today?”
”I . . .” There was a jagged scar on his shoulder. Wide, like too much flesh had been torn away for the skin to heal evenly. And she knew without asking that shrapnel had caused it.
She forced her gaze to his face and mentally regrouped. ”I have to go to Eugene. Maybe for only part of the day, but likely I'll be in the lab until evening.”
He returned to his call. ”Yeah, Tuck, I can take the IK trip. How many rafts? Uh-huh. What's the meeting point?”
It occurred to her that now was as good a time as any to make her escape. So while his back was turned, she slipped from the bed and hurried to the bathroom. And tried not to think of it as fleeing.
Turning on the shower, she waited for the water to warm before stepping inside the enclosure. She might even get lucky and Sharper would have left before she got done. Calling herself a coward for having the thought didn't make it disappear. She'd walked into last night with her eyes wide open. But facing him today was another story. s.e.x wasn't the only area in which she was out of practice.
She was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair when the shower door opened. Before she could say a word, Zach was crowding inside the cramped s.p.a.ce. ”Ah . . . I'm almost done here.”
”Seems sort of stingy to shower alone when I'm right in the next room.” He picked up the bar of scented soap she'd brought and began to lather his hands. ”Here in Oregon, we take conservation seriously. We're very green.”
”I've already washed, thanks.” One-handed, of course, which hadn't gotten any less awkward, as she'd attempted to keep her right hand out of the spray in an effort to keep the Steri-Strips dry. But certainly she hadn't spent the care he was expending as he soaped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Trailing a path of lather down her stomach. Lower.
”Then you can wash me.” Somehow he seemed to loom closer. And there was a glint in his eye as he lowered his head toward hers that had hormones revving to instant life. ”You look good wet, Slim. I knew you would.”
And when his lips covered hers, Cait realized that this didn't have to be awkward at all.
It could be very, very easy.
”Well, well, well. Look who's slinking back to the lab.”
”I make it a point to never slink,” Cait responded. She set a white bakery bag on the desk in the corner. ”Bad for the spine. I brought you pastries.”
Kristy's expression lightened. ”Cream puffs?” She scurried over to the desk, opened the bag, and made a sound of rapture. ”It is cream puffs! Oh, I love you, Cait. I've missed you.”
”Yeah, I could tell by that rousing welcome.” She watched in bemus.e.m.e.nt as her tech lifted one out of the sack and began to devour it with delicate greed. Kristy's appet.i.te never failed to astonish her.
”Called you last night to catch up but didn't get an answer.”
The other woman's brows rose. ”I went to a movie. Didn't see your missed call until this morning, so if you hadn't come in I would have . . .” She stopped midbite, stared harder at Cait. ”You had s.e.x!”
Shock flashed through her. Followed quickly by a ridiculous tug of guilt. ”What?”
”You did, I can tell in your face. And your eyes.” Kristy pointed the remainder of the pastry at her. ”You're all . . . loose and glowing. That's a s.e.x glow. I'd know it anywhere.”
It wasn't that she was ashamed of the night she'd spent with Sharper. And the morning, she recalled, remembering their shower together. But d.a.m.ned if she was going to stand here and discuss every detail for her a.s.sistant's lascivious pleasure. ”If anyone should recognize a s.e.x glow it'd be you. But in your case too much s.e.x has scrambled your brains. I've been hiking forests by day. Dodging bar fights by night.”
As usual Kristy was easily diverted. ”Bar fights? And you didn't call me?” She finished one pastry and reached in the bag for another. ”I'm great in fights. Especially in a mob of guys. Because of my height,” she explained around a mouthful of pastry. ”I'm just the right height to punch them in the b.a.l.l.s.”
”That's charming. Really.” Because her lips threatened to curve, she firmed them. ”Perhaps you could demonstrate when Michaels takes you home to meet his mother.”
”I don't do mothers. Meet them, I mean. What would be the point? We'll be done here in a couple weeks, right?”
”M-mm.” Spying the workstation her tech had set up for the comparisons on the garbage bags, Cait approached it. ”Found anything so far?”
”Outside the more obvious qualities, like drawstring or tie top, the only real points of reference are whether the heat seals are on the sides or bottoms.” Because she obviously wasn't done eating, only Kristy's voice followed her. ”The two marked are similar to the bags found in the cave. And they're biodegradable.”
Cait gave her a sharp look. ”Different brand names?”
”Yep.” Having devoured the pastries, Kristy balled up the sack to throw it away before going to scrub her hands. ”One of the deputies who dropped them off yesterday said he'd bought both samples in Eugene. Don't they need to start looking closer to where the bodies were actually found?”
”Maybe.” Depending on the results on the Recinos DNA test they might become very focused on that area. ”Barnes already has this information?”
”I don't have his number.”
Quickly Cait called the deputy, and when she got his voice mail, apprised him of Kristy's find before disconnecting. He'd put some officers to work calling local businesses in the area, she figured. Discovering who stocked the bags and how long they'd done so. He was nothing if not methodical. It was a tedious thread that would have to be followed up on, but she doubted it'd lead anywhere. They couldn't be sure they were bought in the area, and it's not like anyone would keep records of those sorts of sales. It was, however, one more thing that could tie the offender to the crimes if they found similar bags in his possession. Just like the saw would.
”Before you start work this morning, I need to get an elimination print from you.”
”Like I'd be unprofessional enough to touch one of the bags.” But Kristy went to the shelves and started rummaging for the materials they'd need. She was obviously more cheerful now that she'd gotten her sugar high. ”You got a couple boxes from FedEx this morning. I started stacking them over here. It's that invisible paint you ordered to run comparisons on.”
”Nothing on the fax machine yet?” She glanced over at the machine on the desk, as if she could make Recinos's DNA profile appear by sheer force of will.