The Truth of Yesterday (42 page)

     The room was beautiful, just like every other room in the house. Adam and Steve had furnished the entire place with antiques from the civil war period. This particular room was done in shades of blue with white accents.
Very soothing.
Rich, heavy blue velvet curtains hung at the window over sheer white drapes. The large, comfy looking chair with carved wooden arms and legs had been upholstered in the same material. A tall mahogany dresser stood against one wall with an oil lamp and silver-framed mirror on its top. Framed watercolors hung on the wall and a beautiful hand-painted glass shade covered the overhead light bulb.

     Despite the beautiful decor, there was only one piece of furniture that I was interested in at that particular moment: the bed. It was a mahogany frame bed with carved spindle posts with a mattress that was almost as high as my waist. I barely registered any of that, however, as exhaustion suddenly overtook me. It had been a stressful night and it was beginning to take its toll. I turned off the light, pulled my clothes off, and climbed into the bed. As I drifted into the dream world, I wondered again if it was just simply too late to help
Amalie
. I could only hope it wasn't too late to help Adam and Steve.

Chapter 18

     I have to admit that I was relieved when I awoke the next morning without having been wakened during the night by anyone, alive or otherwise. Despite my determination to see this through, I still wasn't looking forward to seeing
Amalie
again.

       I took a break from my cases on Friday; I just went to class and caught up on routine stuff at the office. It was a nice change of pace. That night, Micah took me out to dinner and again. We avoided discussing the case while we ate. Afterwards, we took a walk along the river that ran along next to the restaurant where we had eaten. I couldn't resist bringing up the case any longer. I had been thinking of a plan to find Neal and I had a question that I needed the answer to in order to implement my plan.

     “What is the name of the agency that you and Paul worked for?” I asked him.

     He looked at me as if gauging my feelings on the subject. “Are you sure you want to talk about this?”

     I shrugged. “I'm doing better with it now. I'm trying not to be so judgmental.”

     He gave me a lop-sided smile. “I thought I'd given you the name already, not that it will help much. They're not exactly listed in the yellow pages. It's called Top to Bottom.”

     I blinked for a second, thinking he must be joking. When I realized that he was serious, I couldn't help but burst into laughter. “No,” I sputtered, “You definitely had not told me the name before. I would not have forgotten that.”

     Micah waited for the giggles to wear off before asking, “Why did you want to know? Are we still on for Michelangelo's tomorrow night?”

     “Yeah, we're still on. I was just curious. It occurred to me that if the club doesn't pan out, it would be hard to find something that you don't even know what it's called. Actually, I have an idea. If it works, it might mean that we can just have fun at the club and not worry about business. Our last trip there didn't turn out so well; I wouldn't mind exorcizing those memories.”

     “True,” he said with a grimace. “I'd ask you what your plan is, but the fact of the matter is
,
I don't want to talk business right now.”

     “Oh?” I asked, giving him a coy look through my lashes. “And what do you want to talk about?”

     He stopped and caught my arm, swinging me around into his embrace. “I don't want to talk about anything,” he said in a husky voice before kissing me tenderly on the lips. I melted into his arms, slipping one arm around his waist and running my other hand through his hair. It didn't take long for kiss to heat up. We came up for air a few minutes later, both of us breathing heavily.

     “I've missed you,” he breathed as he held me tightly to his chest.

     “I've missed you too.”

     “Do you want to come back to my place tonight?”

     I knew what he was asking and I did want it; I was surprised at how desperately I wanted it. “I want to, but I need to stay at the bed and breakfast. I'm on
Amalie
watch.”

     Micah pulled back wearing a startled expression.
“Since when?”

     
“Since last night.
It's a long story, but suffice it to say that I'm trying not to be so selfish. Steve and Adam need me to do this and I'm going to do my best.”

     
“To get rid of
Amalie
?”

     “Something
like
that.”

     “I'm proud of you.”

     “Don't be. I'm still scared
spitless
.”

     “What does that have to do with anything? Who wouldn't be scared? The important thing is that you're doing it anyway. How about if I stay over with you then? You have your own room, right?”

     “You'd be willing to do that?” I asked in surprise.

     “Do what? Would I be willing to sleep with you? That's a silly question,” he teased.

     “I meant sleep in that house, silly.”

     “It wouldn't be the first time, remember? Besides, I'm not sensitive like you are. She could show up and do a Mexican Hat Dance in the middle of the bed and I doubt I'd notice.”

     I snorted at that mental image. “Oh, you'd notice alright. She can make herself known to just about anyone, sensitive or not, if she wants to. If you're serious about staying with me tonight, I'd like that.”

     “I'm very serious.” He pulled me close again and showed me just how serious he was.

      I'd gone by and picked up some clothes and toiletries from home earlier that day, and now we ran by Micah's apartment so he could do the same. We almost got sidetracked there, but we finally made it out the door. We'd left my car there when we went out to eat, so I drove from there with Micah driving behind me.

     Steve gave me a surprised look when I showed up with Micah and we both went upstairs with duffle bags, but he didn't comment. Micah was still feeling quite amorous, but I tried to convince him that we should restrain ourselves for now and go back down and
be
social. He agreed only after I promised him we wouldn't stay long. When the ballroom on the first floor wasn't being used for parties, Steve and Adam had arranged a comfortable sitting area around the large fireplace. It wasn't quite chilly enough yet to need a fire, but Steve had lit one anyway, for purely aesthetic reasons. Then again, there is something comforting and inviting about a crackling fire, so maybe there was more to it than I first thought. Steve served drinks from the wet bar in the corner every night and often the guests would gather and socialize with one another and their host.

     We arrived back downstairs to find that the ghost-hunting couple was still the only other people staying there, although another couple was scheduled to come in the next day. Conversation with Alan and Carla, the couple with the ghost fetish, was awkward at best. All they wanted to talk about was supernatural phenomenon in general, and ghosts in particular. As hard as we tried to steer the conversation to other topics, they always managed to turn it back to
Amalie
. They tried especially hard to grill me about my experiences. My reticence only seemed to inflame their curiosity all the more. They were beginning to give me a headache when I guess Micah realized how much they were getting to me.

     “We'd better go soon,” he said suddenly, cutting Alan's diatribe on the importance of understanding the living impaired off in mid-sentence. “I have to get up early in the morning and get that story finished. They want it for Sunday's edition.”

     The couple blinked at Micah in surprise. I couldn't tell if they had simply forgotten that he was there or if they were caught off guard at the implication that we were retiring to bed together. I took advantage of their moment of silence to quickly jump to my feet and offer a quick polite good night.

     “Killian,” Steve called just as we made it to the doorway. “Can I talk to you a second?”

     “Sure,” I said as he started across the room.

     “I'll meet you upstairs,” Micah said and trotted up the stairs, thoughtfully giving Steve and me privacy to talk.

     Steve stared after him as he reached my side. “Killian,” he said sounding slightly uncomfortable. I suddenly grew a little uneasy. “I don't know if this is my place or not. I mean, I'm not your father...”

     “What is it, Steve?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral. “And you may not be my father, but for all intents and purposes you've been like a second father to me. Or maybe that would be a third father. I don't really count my dad, though.” I was babbling and I knew it. I had a feeling that I knew what it was that Steve wanted to talk to me about and I would rather have avoided it if at all possible.

     “It's just that...well...I guess I didn't realize that your relationship with Micah had progressed to that point. I know I haven't been around much the last couple months; I've been so busy with this place that I probably wouldn't have noticed if you'd suddenly gone straight and started dating girls.”

     “I think we're all safe on that score,” I said with a grin.

     Steve chuckled, but sobered quickly. “I just want you to be safe on every score,” he said.

     “What do you mean?” I asked.

     “You're 18 so you can make your own choices. Adam and I both respect that. But I know that if he were here he'd want to tell you to be careful.”

     “I've done a lot of thinking about Micah and me,” I told him. “I'm sure that this is right for us.”

     “That's not quite what I meant,” Steve said with a slight blush. My blush was more than slight as I realized what he was talking about.

     “You mean...”

     “Are you having safe sex?” he asked bluntly.

     At that moment, I would have been perfectly happy if the earth had opened up and swallowed me whole. I would have actually welcomed a visit from
Amalie
, but of course, there's never a ghost around when you need one. I felt as if my face would burst into flame at any moment.