“Okay, not every guy is a player like your Montana cowboy. Look at the luscious Detective Brody. I’ll bet he’s not a player.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like it, but I don’t know much about him.”
Courtney’s phone buzzed, and as she checked the display, a crease formed between her eyebrows. “Client. I need to take this.”
“Do you want to take some of this food to go?”
“Sure. Have them pack it up.” Courtney scooted back her chair, already punching in her client’s number.
She might be a party girl on the surface, but as a therapist Courtney was committed to her clients. She’d drop everything at a moment’s notice to see them and talk them through some crisis.
Elise asked for some to-go boxes and was scooping the food into the little white cartons when Courtney returned to the table.
Courtney unhooked her purse from the back of her chair. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to have to run out on you and meet my client at my office—emergency. Can you take the food? You can go straight to my place. I’ll give you the key.”
She reached for her wallet, but Elise held up her hand. “I’ll get lunch. After all, I’m going to be your guest for the next few days.”
“Longer if you need it.” She waved to an old Chinese woman stationed by the door. “Auntie Lu, come and say hello to my friend.”
Elise stood up and exchanged a quick hug with her friend, who then kissed Auntie Lu’s pale cheek on her way out of the restaurant.
The old woman placed a hand on Elise’s arm. “Sit.”
Elise sat down and Auntie Lu arranged herself in the chair across from her.
“Courtney busy girl.”
“Courtney is a good friend.” Elise pulled some bills from her wallet and dropped them onto the check tray. “How long has your family owned this restaurant?”
“Many years. You going to watch the parade today? Starting soon.”
“I am.”
Auntie Lu tapped Elise’s teacup. “You have leaves. Do you want me to read your tea leaves?”
“Can you do that?”
“Ancient practice.” She winked at Elise and slid the cup in front of her, wrapping her gnarled hands with their painted nails and heavy rings around it.
Auntie Lu studied the bottom of the cup, and the smile she’d been wearing faded. Then she pushed the cup away. “Silly.”
A wisp of fear trailed across Elise’s flesh. “What is it? What did you see in there?”
Auntie Lu spread her crooked fingers. “Nothing. I lost my touch.”
She eased from the chair, patted Elise’s shoulder and shuffled back to her stool by the door, where she stared onto the street through the window.
Elise tipped the cup and squinted at the residue swimming in the bottom. Then she splashed a little more tea into the cup and gulped it, leaves and all. “That takes care of that fortune.”
She dropped her wallet back into her purse, hitched it over her shoulder and hung the plastic bag of food over her wrist. She smiled and nodded at Auntie Lu by the entrance and grabbed the door handle.
Auntie Lu’s seemingly frail hand gripped Elise’s elbow in a vise. Elise looked into her dark, gleaming eyes.
Auntie Lu whispered, “Be careful.”
For a second, Elise thought she’d imagined the entire exchange as Auntie Lu’s grip turned into a light squeeze and she smiled and nodded. “Goodbye, Ming Na friend.”
Elise knew Ming Na was Courtney’s middle name, so she smiled back and pushed out of the suddenly oppressive darkness of the restaurant into the sunshine.
The pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk had doubled since lunch. Elbows and shoulders bumped as people jostled for position on the sidewalk facing the parade route.
Elise threaded through the crowd, looking for a gap she could squeeze through to get a clear view of the festivities. She darted across the street and then backtracked toward Han Ting.
Spying daylight, she scooted through two people and popped up behind a boy and a girl wiggling with excitement.
The acrobats led the parade, clutching sticks with colorful streamers on the end that created a kaleidoscope of hues as they leaped and tumbled. A float decorated with flowers sailed past, cradling the royal court of Dragon Boat princesses and their queen, all doing the parade wave and smiling.
A few firecrackers popped and the kids in front of her squealed as Elise jumped, clutching her purse.
A Boy Scout troop marched by and the fresh, innocent faces of the kids calmed her nerves.
Nerves? When had she started feeling anxious? The press of people didn’t bother her; even after coming from the wide-open spaces of Montana, Elise had reveled in the crowds and excitement of the city.
It must have been the noise from the firecrackers that had set her teeth on edge. Or the warning from Auntie Lu.
Ridiculous. She already knew to be careful after her encounter with a killer. Auntie Lu wasn’t telling her something she didn’t already have imprinted on her brain, and Auntie Lu probably issued that warning to all young women.
Standing on her tiptoes, Elise clapped loudly and whistled as the winner of the boat race passed by displaying his victorious boat. The kids in front of her covered their ears. She got the attention of her kindergartners by whistling—worked every time.
With each passing parade participant, the people behind her pressed in closer and closer. She leaned back, not wanting to push the children into the street. By now she could barely move, barely turn her head.
The dragon float made its appearance, its head shaggy with crepe paper tilting back and forth to the delight of the crowd, which surged forward. Elise hooked her arms around the kids’ shoulders to protect them.
The dragon undulated forward, its body twisting this way and that way. Another round of firecrackers exploded so close Elise could smell the acrid gunpowder.
A sharp pain stabbed her thigh and she lurched forward, knocking the kids off the curb.
“I’m so sorry.”
They giggled as she tried to pull them back onto the sidewalk. Elise couldn’t even drop her arms to her sides to feel her leg. Someone must’ve had something sharp in a purse or pocket, or maybe a little kid had jabbed her with some trinket from the knickknack shops that lined the streets.
The last flick of the dragon’s tail signaled the end of the parade, and people began to shuffle away, giving everyone a little more breathing room.
“Are you guys okay?” Elise finally had room to bend forward and check on the kids.
They nodded and scampered away.
Elise trailed her hand down the back of her thigh toward the sore spot. The material of her jeans gaped open, and she drew her brows over her nose.
What the heck had gouged her?
Her fingers probed the ripped denim and her skin beneath, and she gasped as they met moisture. She snatched her hand away and brought it in front of her face.
Her stomach lurched and a scream ripped from her throat. The people milling around her backed away, creating a ring of space around her.
She dragged her gaze away from her hand and tried to focus on the faces swimming before her. Only one face stood out—Auntie Lu’s as she hovered in the doorway of her restaurant, her dark eyes sharp amid the lines of age.
Elise swallowed and gasped to no one and everyone. “I’ve been stabbed.”
Chapter Seven
The woman had been stabbed, her throat slit.
Sean massaged his temples. So much blood. Had that been the fate this maniac had intended for Elise?
He pounded his fist on his desk, and the pencils in the holder jumped and rattled. He slid one between his fingers and rat-tatted it on the blotter.
Elise hadn’t called him yet with her phone number. He checked his watch. She and her friend had a lot to talk about over lunch, and the Dragon Boat Parade was probably still going on.
He ran his finger over the receiver of his desk phone. He could call Central Station to see if her car was still parked in the lot.
As if by magic, the phone rang beneath his hand, and he wrapped his fingers around the receiver. “Brody, homicide.”
“Detective Brody, this is Officer Yin with Central. We have a situation here with one of your witnesses, Elise Duran. She requested that we call you.”
“A situation?” Sean’s pulse picked up speed.
“Someone stabbed her on the parade route.”
The pencil in Sean’s other hand snapped. “Is she all right?”
She had to be. She’d asked for him.
“The wound just broke the skin. She’s okay, but understandably upset. We’ve got an ambulance on the scene, but she doesn’t want to go the hospital and insisted we call you first.”
“Does she need to go the hospital?” Sean had already grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and swept his keys into his pocket.
Elise needed him.
“My guess is she’s going to need stitches.”
“Get her in that ambulance and tell her I’ll meet her at the hospital. And I’m gonna want your report.”
“You got it.”
For the second time in as many days, Sean raced to the hospital to see Elise—only this time it was much more personal.
When he got to the emergency room, he found her sitting on an examination table, her legs swinging and hospital paper wrapped around her waist.
She jerked her head up at his approach. “Can you believe this? He got to me. I swear I wasn’t followed.”
In two steps he was at her side. “Tell me what happened.”
“I was standing in a big crowd of people watching the parade. When the dragon float passed by, everyone surged forward. I could barely breathe. I was just trying to keep my balance when I felt a sharp pain in my thigh.”
She rolled onto the side of her hip and pointed to a bandage on the back of her leg.
Sean flinched at the spot of blood forming in the center of the white gauze bandage. It was not as if he hadn’t seen his share of blood. Hadn’t he just left a bloodbath on the shore of the bay? Seeing Elise injured made his blood boil. She’d endured enough already.
How had he gotten to her?
She continued. “When the crowd cleared, I reached down to feel the sore spot and found sliced jeans and blood instead.”
“Did anyone see anything? Notice anybody?”
“Not that I know of.” She twisted her lips. “I screamed bloody murder, and I think that scared everyone away. The cops asked around, but nobody noticed anything.”
“Cameras in the area?” He knew that some cameras were stationed in Chinatown, but closer to the banks on the edge of the area.
She shrugged and her eyes widened. “How’d he find me, Sean? I’m sure nobody followed me. I kept my eyes glued to that rearview mirror.”
“Maybe this was just a random attack. Were there any other reports of violence along the parade route?”
“You don’t believe that. I can tell by your voice you don’t believe it. You don’t have to try to make me feel better.”
Oh, but he did. He wanted to run his hands across the smooth skin of her face and brush away all the pain and fear.
“Just trying to look at all possibilities.”
A doctor poked her head into the room. “Are you Elise’s husband?”
“I’m Detective Brody, SFPD Homicide.”
The doctor’s brows shot up. “Homicide?”
“We think this attack is related to a murder. Is Elise going to be okay?”
“She’ll be fine. We cleaned the wound and I’m going to put in a few stitches. You can wait in the hallway or the waiting room.”
“I want him to stay...if he wants to.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He shouldn’t have made a promise he couldn’t keep. He couldn’t be Elise’s round-the-clock bodyguard and protector—but the wobbly smile she’d just aimed at him made him want to try.
The doctor snapped on a pair of gloves, and the nurse wheeled a cart of instruments next to the cot.
“Lie down on your stomach and we’ll get this stitched right up.”
The paper on the table crinkled as Elise scooted back and rolled to her stomach.
Sean sat in a plastic chair in the corner while the doctor and nurse went to work. The killer must’ve followed Elise from the bridge parking lot and she hadn’t noticed. That meant he’d been lurking around waiting for her. Someone that bold would make a mistake sooner or later.
And if this guy wanted to continue playing games with him, he’d have the pleasure of bringing him down.
“Try not to get it wet.” The doctor was peeling off her gloves. “And you should be fine.”
Fifteen minutes later, Sean was escorting Elise out of the hospital. “I’m assuming your car’s still parked in Chinatown.”
“It’s still at the station.” She turned and wedged her back against his car. “Why did he do it? Why did he come after me again if he wasn’t planning to kill me?”
“I think it’s obvious.”
“Why didn’t he take the opportunity to kill me?”
“In the middle of Chinatown? That would’ve been a little more noticeable. He sliced your leg in the crowd, knowing you might not register the pain right away or wouldn’t immediately identify what had happened. Then he made his getaway.”
“But why did he bother? Why take that chance if he wasn’t going to finish the job he’d started last night?”
“He’s toying with you, Elise. He’s sending you the message that he can get to you.”
She shrugged off the car and yanked the door open before he could reach for it. “Let him try.”
Sean chewed the inside of his cheek as he went around to the driver’s side of his car. He understood Elise’s anger, but a healthy dose of fear wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
He started the car. “I didn’t ask, but I take it your friend wasn’t with you at the time of the attack?”
“She had an emergency with a client—she’s a therapist.”
“I hope you asked if you could stay at her place.”
Elise reached into the side pocket of her purse and dangled a key ring from her finger. “I’m all set, but I have to go back to my place to pack a bag and get my stuff for school.”
“Does your friend live closer to you or closer to Chinatown?”
“Closer to Chinatown. Why?”
“How about if I drive you to your place first and then take you to your car at the station?”
“Are you a cop or a chauffeur?”
“Sometimes I ask myself the same question.”
She tapped his arm. “No, really, I don’t want to put you out.”
“No problem.” Problem? Sean was reluctant to let her out of his sight. If she thought she’d been looking out for a tail when she’d left the bridge and this guy managed to follow her anyway, he must be good.
Elise’s temporary digs had better be secure, or he didn’t think he’d be able to leave her. She’d gotten under his skin, not that he hadn’t felt protective about witnesses before. That was in his DNA. It was in the Brody DNA.
Something about Elise pushed all his buttons. Her prettiness had a different quality from the rest of the drop-dead-gorgeous women in the city. Her fresh face and quick smile had an irresistible openness—irresistible to him, anyway.
He had to admit that his attraction to her stemmed, in part, to her ignorance about him, about his family. About the dark cloud that hung over his head. Couldn’t she see it following him around?
When they got to her house, he stepped in front of her at the door. “Let me check it out first.”
He did a quick sweep of the small house, including the bathroom, where the note on the mirror still mocked him. “All clear.”
“I figured that.”
Crossing his arms, he blocked her entrance into the living room. “Don’t let down your guard, Elise. He’s out there. He’s watching you. He’s already proved that.”
“You’re right.” She swept past him. “I just don’t like the idea of this guy controlling my life. I don’t want anyone controlling my life.”
“I get it, but you still need to be careful.”
“I know.” She banged a few cupboard doors in the kitchen and emerged holding a bowl and a carton of milk. “I’d better leave something for Straycat.”
She tucked the milk in the crook of her arm as she slid open the door to the patio. The dish clinked as she set it down on the porch. “Straycat!”
“Does he actually come to that name?”
“No, he’s very independent.”
“I guess he doesn’t want anyone controlling his life, either.”
She jerked her head up and studied his face. Then she opened her mouth, snapped it shut and stepped into the room. “I’m going to throw some things in a bag. Would you like something to drink or eat? A banana?”
“Banana?”
“I just bought a bunch and I don’t want them to go to waste if I have to leave them for several days.”
“I’ll take one.” He walked into the kitchen and snapped a banana from the bunch. Peeling it, he strolled to Elise’s room, where she was pulling clothes from a hanger and stuffing them into a suitcase, and he leaned against the doorjamb.
“How’s your leg feeling?”
Without looking up from her task, she replied, “Fine.”
“Do you need me to do anything? Check your locks? Leave a lamp on?”
She stood back from the overflowing suitcase, hands on her hips. “You like to help, don’t you?”
Heat crawled up his neck and he took a big bite of the banana. Chewing allowed him to avoid the question. He swallowed and shrugged. “I’m a cop. That’s what we do.”
“Ah, but which came first?” She plunged her hands into the suitcase to flatten the clothes. “Did your desire to help people encourage you to become a cop, or once you became a cop did you just naturally develop that trait?”
He swung the banana peel back and forth. “You know, I never analyzed it. The career runs in the family.”
“Really?”
“My brothers are all in law enforcement.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Three.”
“That’s a coincidence. I have three brothers, too.”
Great. He needed to change this subject. If he spent much more time in Elise’s presence, he’d be revealing all his secrets. Secrets better kept to himself.
He backed out of the room, waving the banana peel. “I’m going to toss this.”
When he returned to the bedroom, he took up his position at the door. “So, what do your brothers do?”
“Make my life miserable.” She leaned on the suitcase with one hand and used the other to yank at the zipper.
Sean took two steps into the room, hunched over and held the suitcase down while she zipped it. “Mine can do that, too.”
Still bent over the suitcase, she turned suddenly and her golden hair brushed his arm. “Nice to see a human side to you, Detective.”
He didn’t move an inch. The ends of her ponytail tickled his arm. The pulse in her throat beat out waves of her floral perfume. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with curiosity and humor.
Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds, and in those few seconds he had an overwhelming urge to take possession of her plump lips. To lose himself in the rush of senses that her presence stirred in him. To find out what it felt like to taste sunshine.
The over-the-top thoughts running through his mind must’ve shown on his face.
Her eyes widened and her lips parted as she lodged the tip of her tongue in the corner of her mouth.
He didn’t need a body language expert to tell him what her response meant. Hell, he
was
a body language expert. If he kissed her now, he’d meet no resistance.
He smacked his palms on the lid of the suitcase and straightened to his full height, feeling as if he were emerging from a spell. “School stuff?”
“What?” Elise blinked her eyes.
“I can take your suitcase out to the car while you get your school materials.”
“Oh, yeah. I keep them all together in a bag.” She swiveled her head from side to side as if lost in her own house.
Sean hoisted the suitcase from the bed, pulled out the handle and stated the obvious. “I’ll take this.”
She nodded and scooted past him into the living room to retrieve her school bag.
Sean loaded the suitcase in the car and returned to the house.
Elise dropped her school bag at his feet. “I forgot my shampoo and stuff. I’ll dump it in another bag.”
She darted for the hallway, and Sean followed. As she plucked items from her medicine chest and a shower caddy, Sean pointed to the mirror. “Do you want me to clean that up? We got all the evidence we’re going to get from it.”
“Go ahead. It’s your message.” She hitched the bag over her shoulder and tilted her head. “Did you ever figure out what it meant?”
“He hasn’t contacted me again. Probably just a jab at law enforcement.”
He’d figured the guy probably knew his history and was taunting him. Wouldn’t be the first time.
“There’s a roll of paper towels on the counter and window cleaner under the sink in the kitchen.”
The lipstick smeared the mirror as he swept damp paper towels across it. A few more swipes and the words disappeared. If only he could erase them from his mind as easily.
Elise hovered at the bathroom door. “Ready? I have everything.”
“Let’s go.” He crumpled the used paper towels in his hand and dropped them into the kitchen trash and replaced the glass cleaner under the sink.
He loaded her remaining bags in the trunk of his car and took off for what he hoped would be her safe house for a while.
They wended their way through the city streets as the late-afternoon sun streamed through the buildings and glinted off the water that made an occasional appearance when they crested a hill.
Sean pulled into the lot at the Central Station in Chinatown, where Elise’s hybrid huddled between two patrol cars. If the killer had followed her here, where had he parked? Spaces were at a premium and he wouldn’t have wanted to risk a parking ticket, which could be traced.