Well, maybe it hadn't been such a simple kiss.
Sarah could be at the grocery or the pharmacy. She could have a doctor's appointment. She could have decided to have tea at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. She could even have gone out to Garvin MacCrae's herself. Sarah Linwood was not a helpless woman. She was accustomed to getting along on her own. Whether she ordered in provisions and supplies or fetched them for herself, she did manage to get what she needed.
She could simply have called a taxi, Annie reasoned, and gone out for the afternoon. But she couldn't repress a stab of fear. What if Vic Denardo had found her?
Grumbling and growling at her paranoid state, Annie marched back out to her car, got Otto's big leather leash, attached it to his collar, and walked him around the top of the hill while she considered her options. She was disturbed that chief among them was to call Garvin. It meant she still wasn't thinking clearly.
It must have been the salt air that had her wanting him so badly, she decided. Belvedere was an exclusive little peninsula that jutted out into the bay, and there'd been a stiff breeze off the water.
Of course, she was used to salt air.
"There's no explaining it," she said under her breath. "You cannot rationalize what is on the face of it not rational. Right, Otto?"
Otto sniffed a tree trunk. After ignoring her for a minute or two, he finally acquiesced to her tugs on his leash, and they started back up the hill together. She wondered if he'd like a place like Belvedere or Garvin's marina better than the city.
"Stop!"
Mistaking her command, Otto plopped down on his butt.
Annie laughed, feeling the tension that had gripped her for hours finally ease. "Oh, Otto, not you! Me." She scratched his head. "Poor fella. You don't know I'm a crazy woman, do you? C'mon, let's go see if Sarah's home."
They returned to the little pink house, and Annie knocked on the front door. Again, no answer. She debated walking down the steps to the street below, which had several shops, including a convenience store where she could at least get a candy bar. As tense as she was, she'd hardly eaten all day. Maybe her brain could use a jolt of sugar.
Before she could commit to her next move, a taxi pulled up to the cottage, stopping as close to the front door as possible without landing in the kitchen. Annie backed onto the flat, sloping front step and shortened Otto's leash, commanding him to sit.
The driver came around and stopped abruptly, eyes on Otto.
"He's friendly," Annie said automatically.
Keeping his distance, he opened the rear door of his cab and assisted Sarah Linwood in getting out. He was a good five inches shorter than she was and not any younger, but he took her by the elbow as she leaned onto her cane and struggled to her feet. He kept glancing back at Otto, whose attention seemed to be focused on a trail of ants marching across the step.
Sarah moved slowly, painfully. She was pale, even her vivid eyes watery and fatigued. Fumbling in the pocket of her ratty, frayed red corduroy jacket, she produced a wad of bills and thrust them at the driver.
"You need me to see you in, ma'am?" he asked, not even counting the money. Clearly there was more than enough.
"No. I'll be fine."
He seemed relieved not to have to pass Otto. He eyed Annie. "You got her?"
She nodded. "Thank you."
"No problem, she's a nice lady."
He waved a hand in a quick farewell, scooted around the front of his cab, and climbed in, wasting no time getting out of there. Otto, Annie knew, sometimes had that effect on people.
Sarah scowled after him. The wind caught the ends of her shapeless graying hair. She had traded her Keds for a pair of sturdy men's ankle boots and her usual mismatched socks. Otto, judiciously, left her alone as she hobbled toward her front door, muttering more to herself than to Annie. "I won't be treated like a daft old woman."
Annie couldn't stop a smile from creeping across her mouth. "Well, what do you expect when you dress like a bag lady?"
"Bag ladies should be treated with respect."
"That driver looked like he took pretty good care of you."
She sniffed. "He was patronizing."
"He was solicitous. There's a difference."
"I'm in no mood for seeing the bright side of things," she grumbled, unlocking her door.
"I've been worried about you," Annie said, not sure she was going to be invited in.
"First the cab driver, now you." She shot Annie a sharp look. "I suppose you think I should have left a note?"
Definitely touchy. Annie didn't back down and just managed to hold on to her patience. She'd had a rough day of her own. "Since there's a chance Vic Denardo's on your tail, it would have been nice."
"Vic," she sneered, pushing on inside. "He doesn't worry me."
"Well, he worries me."
Sarah leaned on her cane. "Are you coming in or not?"