Carly made a face. “If I’d known what was coming down the pike, I would have been right back in that U-Haul beside you, believe me.” Her expression changed, and she looked at Sandra a little hesitantly. “If you want to move back to Chicago after this, I’ll understand.”
Sandra met her gaze, started to speak, and paused to cast a crafty glance behind Carly at the door.
“Antonio’s been in here three times already this morning. He was sitting in that very same chair you’re sitting in now when I woke up,” Sandra said in a near-whisper, keeping one eye on the door. “He’s
worried
about me. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since a man was worried about me? No way am I letting some Darth Vader dude mess this up.”
“Are those wedding bells I’m hearing?” Carly asked, teasing.
“I couldn’t get so lucky.” Sandra sounded glum. Knowing that Sandra’s ex-husband had done a real number on Sandra’s estimation of her own attractiveness to men, Carly felt a surge of protective affection for her.
“Antonio’s the one who would be lucky to get you,” Carly said fiercely, although like Sandra she kept her voice low. “You’re amazing, Sandra. Did you know that? Really amazing.”
Sandra grinned. “What’s more to the point, I can cook. Whoever said that’s the way to a man’s heart must have known Antonio.” She cast another cautious look over Carly’s shoulder. “Speaking of wedding bells, I hear that the hunky sheriff about had a heart attack over you. I hear that after he did his crime scene thing he came back here and slept in your room.”
“Matt takes his responsibilities very seriously,” Carly said sourly. “And he’s decided that I’m one of his responsibilities.”
“Did he
say
that?” Sandra asked, sounding both appalled and fascinated.
Carly nodded, and tried hard not to look as depressed as she suddenly felt.
Sandra shook her head. “Honey, you need to do something to wake that man up. Like take him to bed and pull out all the stops.”
Carly didn’t say anything.
Sandra looked at her closely. “You’ve gone and done it with him, haven’t you? When? Last night? You mean while I was being attacked by the sicko psycho you were getting it on with the sheriff? That’s the story of my life right there. I’m getting murdered and you’re getting off.” Sandra shook her head in disgust, and then her eyes sharpened on Carly’s face. “And he
still
thinks you’re a responsibility?”
Carly nodded glumly.
Sandra grimaced. “That’s not so good.”
“Yeah, it’s not.”
“What are you going to—”
“Oh, there you are, Miss Linton. If you’ll just sign these papers, you’re free to go.” Another nurse appeared in the doorway with a clipboard.
“I’ll be back later with the nightgown and things,” Carly said to Sandra, and went to sign the papers.
Matt was waiting for her in the hall. They said very little as they rode down the elevator. Carly had nothing to take away with her except her purse—the clothes she’d been wearing the previous night were ruined, and anyway she never wanted to see them again as long as she lived—and as they reached the revolving doors that opened onto the parking lot she realized that she was holding on to the purse so tightly that her knuckles were white. It had just occurred to her that she was going home—home to her house—her house where she had been violently attacked the night before. Even thinking about spending another night in that house made her heart race.
With Sandra in the hospital, she would be sleeping in the house alone.
With the man who had attacked them still on the loose.
“Matt,” she said in a small voice when he put her into his cruiser and then came around to slide behind the wheel, “I don’t think I can go home. Not to stay. Not by myself. Not even with the security system. Not while that man is still out there.”
There was a humiliating little tremor in her voice as she said that last.
Matt slid a hand behind her neck, leaned over and kissed her, a quick comforting kiss that, despite its clearly nonsexual intent, made Carly’s heart miss a beat. She was just clutching at his shirt front and reflecting on how much better she already felt when he let her go and started the car.
“You think I’d let you? You’re going to be staying at my house until we catch this guy.” He cast an unsmiling glance her way as he pulled out of the parking lot. “Your killer cat’s already there and we can pick up your dog on the way. You didn’t really think I’d leave you on your own in your grandmother’s house after last night, did you?”
Carly looked at him and shook her head. That is, she hadn’t really thought about it until this minute. She just had been instinctively terrified at the idea of going home again. But now that she did think about it, she knew that Matt would never have left her there on her own. As she’d told Sandra, he took his responsibilities very seriously.
Suddenly being one of his responsibilities didn’t seem so bad.
“I know I’ve asked you this before, but I want you to really think about it now. Is there anyone, anyone at all, who might want to hurt you?” They were approaching town now, and there was actually quite a bit of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. The revamped storefronts on Main Street looked solid and prosperous, and the flowerfilled planters and ye olde street signs added picturesque touches to what was basically the same little town she’d known since childhood. But what struck Carly most was how normal everything seemed. Her world had changed overnight, grown dark and scary around the edges. But the sun still shone and flowers still bloomed and people still went about their business.
She was going to get back to normal, too.
Carly shook her head. “I can’t think of anyone. You’ve known me practically my whole life. Why would anyone want to hurt me? Who?”
“Just so you know, I’m having your ex-husband checked out.” Matt’s voice was grim.
“O—kay.” At this point Carly was willing to have Santa Claus investigated if it would help find the attacker. “But it certainly wasn’t John himself, and he doesn’t have any reason to hire someone to hurt me. I’m sure he isn’t behind it.”
“Then who else could it be?” His voice was impatient, a little fierce.
“You don’t think it was just some random psycho, then?” If it was a random psycho, he might just go away. She really, really wanted to think he might just go away.
“Do you?”
Carly took a deep breath and faced what her senses had been telling her all along. “No. I think it was the burglar. I think he—came back. I told you—he said,
Now I remember you.
Who else could it be?”
There was the tiniest of breaks in her voice. Matt’s jaw tightened.
“That’s what I think too. I think he’s been stalking you, waiting his chance. He made no move that would lead me to think he’s a rapist. What we have here is a would-be killer. And I think it’s you
he’s after, specifically, not Sandra. He had plenty of time alone in the house with Sandra last night, but he didn’t go after her until she stumbled across him. He waited for you. You’re damned lucky I had Antonio and Mike drop me off to pick up my motorcycle last night. If I hadn’t been right there when you threw that dish through the window, he might still have had time to do what he came to do before we could get a car out there.”
Remembering the horrible moment when she had stood in the kitchen, sure that her attacker was only a few feet away ready to pounce even while the alarm wailed overhead, Carly shivered. Matt knew about that, of course. He knew the whole story from beginning to end. On the way to the hospital last night Carly had told him everything, about her conviction that someone had been watching her in the dark and about the night she’d been sure someone had been at her bedroom window and about how she’d been so scared she’d nailed the upstairs windows shut—not that it had done any good in the end.
Matt’s response? A harsh, why didn’t you tell me all this before?
Because there hadn’t been anything tangible until last night. Because she’d felt foolish. Because she hadn’t trusted her instincts….
Carly gasped. “Oh, my God, do you think he poisoned Annie?”
Matt looked grimmer than ever. “I’d say it’s a good possibility. Without the dog, I’m betting he would have come after you that night. He got rid of Annie so her barking wouldn’t alert you when he tried again.” He braked at the light and looked at her. His eyes were hard as stones. “What we have here is a planned, premeditated attempt to kill you.”
“Who would do such a thing?” There was despair in her voice. “Matt, it isn’t John, I’m sure it’s not. But who else is there?”
“We’ll find out. Don’t worry, Curls, we’re going to find out. And I’m going to make sure you’re safe until we do.”
He pulled into the strip mall where the vet’s office was located, and they went in to get Annie.
“Did you by any chance keep the contents of her stomach when you pumped them out?” Matt asked Bart Lindsey when Annie was brought to them in the examining room.
“I’m afraid not. There didn’t seem to be any reason to.” The vet shook his head apologetically as he handed Annie to Carly. “I feel pretty confident in saying that it was rat poison, though. She had all the classic symptoms.”
“No way to tell if somebody gave it to her deliberately?”
The vet shrugged. “It’s possible. With dogs, it’s hard to say. A lot of them will eat just about anything.”
“Do I need to do anything special for her? Give her medicine or anything?” Carly asked worriedly as she held Annie close. The little dog’s tail was drooping and she seemed slightly groggy. She felt frailer than ever in Carly’s arms, practically skin and bones now after her ordeal. At the sound of her voice, Annie gave a little whimper.
“Poor Annie,” Carly said, caressing her ears.
“She’s still slightly sedated. She’ll be more herself when it wears all the way off.” Bart Lindsey met Carly’s gaze. “I heard about what happened to you and your friend last night. That’s just horrible. I can’t believe, in our little town …” His voice trailed off and his gaze returned to Matt. “You think it was another burglary gone bad?”
“I don’t know what I think.” Matt held the door open so that Carly could precede him into the waiting room. There was someone else there. Carly recognized him at once: Hiram Lindsey.
“Hiram!” Dr. Lindsey greeted him with pleasure as he followed them into the waiting room. “You back, or haven’t you gone home yet?”
“I’m back,” Hiram Lindsey said, then looked at Carly. “How’s the dog?”
“Better,” Carly said. Annie, as though in confirmation, whimpered.
“She should make a full recovery,” Bart Lindsey said, just as the door swung open and a woman carrying a placid-looking tabby cat came in.
Annie gave a small, sad-sounding yap. She might be recovering from a horrible experience, but Annie was still not a fan of cats.
“Hullo, Alice. Muffy ready for her shots?” Bart Lindsey greeted the newcomer cordially as Carly hurried out the door.
“So you have a dog that doesn’t like cats and a cat that doesn’t like
dogs,” Matt said, sounding resigned when they were in the car. “And they’re both going to be living together in my house. This is going to be interesting.”
“Hey, I can always stay somewhere else.” Carly patted Annie, who was curled up in her lap, in the certain expectation that Matt wouldn’t take her up on it. “With my dog and my cat.”
Matt’s mouth twisted wryly. “Curls, for you I’m even willing to put up with the zoo.”
And that was saying a lot, Carly knew.
The rest of the day passed in surprisingly pleasant fashion. Matt went back to work—Carly suspected he was headed back for her house, although she didn’t ask and he didn’t say so—and left her in the care of one of his deputies, Sammy Brooks, a stocky, balding, amiable man who looked to be around forty, giving them both explicit instructions that Carly was not to be left alone. If she went out, he was to go with her. If she stayed in, he was to be there in the house. Fixing Carly with a stern gaze, he told her that this was the way it was going to be until the man who had attacked her was caught. This was Matt in his best king-of-the-world mode, but Carly wasn’t arguing. In this case, under these circumstances, she was perfectly willing to do as he said.
“Told you he was bossy,” Lissa said to Carly with a grin when Matt left at last.
“I hope you don’t mind me staying here for a while,” Carly said to her apologetically. Having watched Carly’s installation in Matt’s bedroom with great interest—although she had at first demurred, Matt had ordered her to take it, declaring his intention of sleeping on the couch—Lissa was now on her way to work. She, Carly, and Dani were all in the kitchen. Sammy was already camped out on the living-room couch watching the sports channel. Carly leaned against the kitchen counter, having just finished waving Matt off. Dani sat at the table polishing off a salad. Lissa stood on one foot near the door, pulling on a high-heeled sandal. “I just couldn’t stay at my house after…”
“Of course we don’t mind if you stay. Anyway, I don’t blame you a bit.” Lissa got her shoe on and shuddered dramatically. “Everybody’s
talking about what happened, you know. That must have been so scary.”
“It’s Matt’s house,” Dani said, taking another bite of salad. “He can invite whoever he wants to stay here. But he never has. Until you and your friend spent the night the other night, he’s never even had a woman over here for more than like an hour before.”
“That’s very significant,” Lissa told Carly with a twinkle as she reached for her purse. “At least, we think it is. We think big brother’s smitten.”
Carly made a wry face. It was a nice thought. Too bad it wasn’t exactly accurate. “He thinks of me as kind of another sister.”
Lissa hooted. Dani shook her head.
“He doesn’t look at us like that. And he doesn’t treat us like we’re made of eggshells, either. If something horrible like what happened to you happened to one of us, he’d be mad as hell and he’d do his best to make sure we were safe. But he wouldn’t … hover.” Dani’s tone was precise.
“Good word.” Lissa nodded at her approvingly. “That’s just what he does.” She looked at Carly again. “Usually it’s the girls who are all over him. He doesn’t hover.”