Murder In Her Dreams (18 page)

Had the rabbit, or whoever the rabbit
signified, already killed Ian or was there still time to warn him?
She had no idea, but she could only assume the dream had come, like
the others, as a warning. She jumped out of bed and fumbled for her
clothes.

With fingers that hardly functioned, she
pulled on her jeans and a warm sweatshirt. She skipped her socks
and just hastily pushed her feet into her sneakers. On the way out
the door, she grabbed her hooded parka. A sense of urgency
propelled her out the house and into her car. The absence of other
cars on the road as she drove north to Ian’s office disconcerted
her and added to her anxiety. Would she be in time? Could she
convince Ian this time or would he dismiss her yet again?

Chapter
Fourteen

Brad arrived at the McLeod Enterprises office
building about five-thirty. He pulled on a pair of worn leather
gloves. They would protect his hands and leave no fingerprints.
Careful of any observers, he slipped into the building and made his
way up to the rooftop.

The black tarred surface stretched before and
behind him, broken only by the hump of the door from which he had
entered. A wooden brick hod, several pieces of plywood, a few
boards, and stacks of bricks had been piled to one side, all the
raw materials he needed.

He sorted through the plywood and selected
one narrow smaller piece. It would make the platform he had in
mind. A stubby length of two by four would serve as a prop. He
balanced the plywood on the roof edge and positioned the upright
two by four at the other end.

Brad worked steadily to build his stack of
bricks. Finished, he stood back to survey his handiwork and nodded,
satisfied. One little upward push and the bricks would roar
down.

He wanted to see them squash McLeod with a
loud splat, mashing his head to wet pulp. With no warning, McLeod
couldn’t escape his fate. If the bricks didn’t kill him, he would
be crippled. Brad smiled.

He sat back, opened his thermos, and relaxed
as he sipped the hot, bitter coffee. That might even be better. He
wanted McLeod to suffer. The man had no idea how much pain he had
caused. Now McLeod would know.

Brad pressed the switch on his watch to check
the time. In the graying darkness, the numbers glowed bright green.
His watch showed six. McLeod would arrive soon. Too bad he couldn’t
test out how the bricks would fall. He couldn’t risk the noise.
Anyway, he wouldn’t have time to clean up the mess and rebuild his
pile before McLeod arrived.

Brad twisted his mouth into a bitter smile.
No one would be able to connect him with the accident. He had worn
gloves, not that bricks carried fingerprints anyway. It would look
like an accident. A careless worker had left the bricks too close
to the edge and they had fallen, just like that broken brick had
fallen the day before. Lucky that stupid jerk had tossed that
broken brick over the edge. Brad chuckled. He’d scared the hell out
of that asshole.

He glanced around the roof. Only the piles of
boards, bricks, and odd tools met his gaze. Nothing of his. He
replaced the thermos cap.

Brad stood, stretched, and stamped his feet
to get rid of the kinks. He flexed his arms and placed them behind
his head and stretched again. Glancing west then east, he knew the
sun would rise soon. Already the horizon had changed from black to
gray.

He surveyed the empty parking lot and then
looked again at a lone car parked near the building. Blue, it
looked like an Escort. McLeod drove a gray Accord. He usually
arrived an hour before anyone else. Brad hadn’t heard the car
arrive and didn’t recognize it.

His gaze darted along the walkway from the
parking lot to the building. “Damn.”

What in the hell had brought someone here at
this hour? Brad ducked down below the roof edge and cautiously
peered over. A hooded figure paced back and forth below. It looked
too short and slim for McLeod. He couldn’t tell if the figure was a
man or woman. He slumped back below the roof edge as his thoughts
raced.

He rubbed his chin and pulled at his ear.
Should he abandon his plan? Would the presence of this unknown
person make any difference? A witness, but to what? All the person
could do would be to confirm the ‘accident.’ So long as nobody saw
him, no one could make anything more of the fallen bricks than a
tragic accident.

He smiled. Why abandon a perfectly good plan?
If this ‘witness’ got in the way and got hurt, so what? It only
added to the accidental nature of the event.

Yes, everything worked for him. Watch out,
McLeod. You’re gonna get yours, bastard.

Brad crawled along the rooftop toward the
parking lot side to watch for McLeod’s arrival. This had turned out
even better than he’d planned.

* * * *

Cassie shifted from foot to foot as she stood
on the sidewalk near the entrance to Ian McLeod’s office building.
She stamped her feet and paced back and forth, rubbing her arms.
The retro style building, mostly brick and glass, looked normal.
Its clean, boxy lines soared up four stories above her, but didn’t
look threatening or forbidding.

Her steamy breath spiraled upward. The
effects of her nightmare still clung to her. Where was Ian? Why
didn’t he come? Had something already happened to him?

Cassie had dressed in a hurry. Now she wished
she had stopped for socks. She paced the walkway and wondered what
she could say to convince Ian. “I dreamed about a rabbit killing
you.” Last time she’d said that he’d thrown her out of his office
and told her not to come back.

He hadn’t said anything last night about
either the rabbit or the Easter dinner. Cassie smiled. An awards
banquet is not exactly the place to talk of weird things, and he
had his fiancée with him. Cassie’s smile faded. He had looked at
her with curiosity, but had said nothing.

Cassie walked to the entrance and tried the
door, but found it locked. No other cars were in the parking lot.
She paced back along the walkway. Maybe she should just leave.
Then, the memory of the bricks striking Ian held her fast.

A noise sounded from above. Cassie jumped.
For a moment, her heart stopped.

She looked toward the roof of the four-story
building, but saw only the roof edge and then the sky above.
Someone might be up there. She scanned the roof edge with care, but
saw no one. No further sound came. Had she imagined it? She
listened, but heard only her own rapid breathing and the thudding
of her heart.

Suddenly, a dark shape flew up from the
corner of the roof. Cassie gasped, startled. Her heart raced. Then
as the dark shape circled above, she recognized it as a crow. It
let out several hoarse cries and then flew off. She released her
pent up breath. Only a bird. It must have a nest on the
rooftop.

The bird had frightened the bejesus out of
her, but once seen she could forget it. The bird had nothing to do
with bricks or the rabbit. The dream had falling bricks.
Bricks.

She looked up again and glimpsed something on
the roof above the entrance. Cassie walked closer. Her sneakers
made no noise on the cement walk. As she stood at the entrance and
peered up, she could just see the edge of a board jutting out. It
looked safe enough. She walked past toward the end of the building
and looked up again. From the color, it could be bricks stacked on
the board. From the ground, she couldn’t be sure, but they looked
stable.

Why didn’t Ian come? She paced back along the
walkway, passed the entrance, and walked toward the parking
lot.

Things fell off buildings, old buildings that
is. Only last week a piece of concrete had fallen off an old
downtown building undergoing renovation and hit a man. She studied
the roof edge, but it had no overhanging cornices or decorative
elements. She saw only a smooth façade with the board and those
bricks above the building entrance. In her dream, the rabbit killed
Ian with falling bricks.

With the building locked, she had no way to
investigate the roof. She shivered and looked away toward the
parking lot. She had come early, not even stopping for breakfast.
To the east, the sun began its rise, painting the low clouds with
pink and gold. It would be warmer once the sun rose. Cassie pulled
the hood of her jacket tighter.

A gray car drove along the entrance road and
parked. The driver, a man, got out, locked the vehicle, and walked
with brisk strides toward the walkway. The early sun made his hair
gleam blood-red.

* * * *

Brad smiled as he saw McLeod lock his car and
start toward the building. He slithered across the roof to his
booby trap and braced his shoulder under the edge of the plywood.
He listened to a loud tattoo on the cement walkway. McLeod’s crisp
footsteps neared. They paused for a moment. He must be near the
woman. Then continued.

Brad held his breath. They sounded close,
right below. He heaved upward.

The plywood board tilted. Bricks grated
against the board. They began to slide. Brad gave a final shove.
The bricks roared over the edge.

* * * *

“NOOOO,” a woman screamed. A body hit Ian in
the midsection and knocked him to the ground.

Heavy thuds followed in rapid succession. A
loud slapping sound. Then silence.

Ian groaned and tried to roll over, but the
weight on top of him held him in place.

“Ah-chOO. Are you all right?” a breathless
female voice gasped.

Ian stared up into the startled blue eyes of
Cassie Blake. “You?”

She stared back for a long moment that
threatened to stretch to forever. Her sea deep eyes pulled at him,
demanding something. But what? She suddenly came to herself and
pushed up and off him. The impress of her hands on his ribs almost
made him laugh.

She scrambled to her feet. Dust clouded the
air. She sneezed again.

“God bless you,” he said automatically.

“Thank you. It’s all this dust.” She held out
a hand.

He ignored it and picked himself up. “What in
the hell just happened?”

She pointed, and his eyes followed her finger
to a pile of bricks and a splintered board lying on the sidewalk.
He stared from the bricks to her.

He blinked and then blinked again as the
realization dawned. “I could have been killed.”

She nodded, eyes solemn.

Ian stared up at the roof. A couple of red
bricks teetered on the edge. He glanced at the tumbled ones on the
walkway and back to Cassie. He wanted a rational explanation for
what had happened.

The workers must have left the bricks too
close to the edge. He’d have the hide of that contractor for
criminal negligence. If it hadn’t been him, it could have been
anyone.

He shook his head and brushed the dust from
his suit. “Well, Miss Blake, why don’t you tell me what this is
about?”

She shivered and rubbed dirt from her sleeve.
“I’m not certain I know.”

A chill coursed through his body. He stared
again from the bricks to the roof and then back to Cassie Blake as
she rubbed her arms. “Are you cold?”

She nodded.

“If it were a little later, I’d suggest a
stiff drink for both of us,” Ian said, still shaken and
confused.

His thoughts turned to the jumbled bricks.
“Look, I’d better check the building and see what caused this.”

Ian studied Cassie Blake unable to work out
where she fit and why, but first he’d find out what caused the
accident. She appeared cold and as shaken as he felt.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“I’d rather not be out here alone.” She
glanced upward at the roof edge.

“You can wait in my office while I check the
roof.”

Ian unlocked the door and held it open for
her. She entered the building and he followed. Inside, he led the
way to his office. He left Cassie in the reception area as he made
a quick check of the office suite, but none of the staff had
arrived yet. As he returned to the reception area, he pulled out a
chair.

“I want to check out the roof. Why don’t you
wait here?”

She searched his face for moment and then
nodded. Her eyes still looked fearful.

“If you’re nervous, you can lock the door
behind me.”

Cassie nodded.

When Ian closed the door, the lock clicked
behind him. He rode the elevator to the fourth floor and took the
stairs to the roof. He unlocked the door at the top and stepped
onto the flat, tarred surface of the roof that extended in both
directions. Only the clutter left by the workers lay scattered
about. Near the front edge, he saw the remains of a stack of
bricks. A wooden brick hod, a few boards, a pan for mixing cement,
a hose, a shovel, and a forgotten thermos lay beside the
bricks.

Circling the work site, he saw no sign of
anyone. He walked to the roof edge and peered down to the tumbled
bricks below. If he’d taken one step more, they would have buried
him. He shuddered.

Turning back to the pile of boards and
stacked bricks, he examined both more closely. He would have to
call the contractor and ask him about the bricks. They shouldn’t
have been piled so close to the edge. Nothing looked particularly
suspicious, but neither could he decide what had made the bricks
fall.

He retraced his steps to his office and
knocked on the door. “Miss Blake? It’s me, Ian McLeod.”

The lock clicked and the door opened. Her
bright blue eyes stared back. She wore her long hair in the same
braid she had worn last night. Her eyes still wore that scared
look.

It made him want to soothe her, to assure her
everything was all right. “I didn’t find anything or anyone on the
roof.”

“Just before you drove up, I thought I heard
something or someone, but I didn’t see anyone. A crow flew up.”

He wanted a cup of coffee. Usually he waited
until MaryLou came in, but... He looked at the wall clock. She
wouldn’t arrive for another hour. “How about some coffee? Or better
yet, have you had breakfast?”