She knew that she had to go out, that the crows were calling to her, showing her where to go. She tried to turn, to go back into the house, but she couldn’t. A crow had landed on the railing and looked at her, cocking its head as it let out another terrible scream.
It lifted off from the railing and joined the flock circling…something in the middle of the cornfield. She knew what it was.
And she didn’t want to see.
“Rowenna!”
She woke with a jerk and instantly winced. The dream had been dispelled by the sound of his voice, but she was still afraid to open her eyes.
One nightmare was easy enough to explain.
But two?
He was at her side. And it was the crack of dawn, the light as misty as it had been in her dream. They hadn’t bothered to draw the drapes before tumbling into bed, and now the thin light was creeping into the bedroom.
His face was beautiful, she decided, though a man wouldn’t want to hear such a compliment. Jawline strong, nose straight and perfect, mouth generous and wide, shock of dark auburn hair a perfect complement to the gray, wide-set eyes and ruggedly arched brows. His forehead was furrowed now with concern. He had risen earlier, she thought, because he was already dressed.
But he was back on the bed now, seated at her side, holding her.
“Um…good morning,” she whispered.
“You were dreaming again. Another nightmare.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t do it all the time—honest,” she said.
“What was it about?”
“What?”
“Your dream. What were you dreaming about? I hope you’re not having nightmares about me,” he teased.
“No, of course not.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Then maybe you are having nightmares about me,” he said. “Seriously, you really don’t remember?”
He sounded concerned, she thought, but when she shook her head, he just rose, looking down at her.
“I made coffee,” he told her. “I found some little packets of that powdered cream stuff.”
She noticed that his hair was clean and damp. Apparently he’d also found the shower. He’d obviously been up for a while, and she wondered how long he’d watched her dream before he’d awakened her. She didn’t understand why it bothered him that she didn’t remember what the dream had been about.
Because she was a lousy liar, and he didn’t like being lied to? Maybe.
But she had the strange feeling that it was more.
“Coffee,” she said, “sounds divine.”
He nodded briefly and headed downstairs. She found herself wondering if she had done something to disturb him. Didn’t new lovers find it almost impossible to resist one another?
She headed for the shower herself, then found him getting ready to leave when she went downstairs a little while later. “I have to pick up Brad at nine. We’re going to retrace his every step that day, see if there isn’t something, somewhere, anywhere, that we’ve missed so far.”
“Good idea,” she said, wondering why she suddenly felt uneasy. The daylight was coming, and this was her home, for God’s sake. She was going to be fine. She was going to unpack.
And then, as she had promised Joe when he had dropped her off at the Hawthorne last night, she was going to go into his office and talk with him. Alone.
“Want to meet us for lunch?” Jeremy asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“Sure, if you don’t mind a late lunch. I have a few odds and ends to take care of here,” she told him.
He kissed her on the lips, stared into her eyes and smiled. “See you then. Um, you have a car, right?” he asked.
She laughed. “I have a car. It’s in the garage out back,” she told him.
He hugged her, and as she held him, she felt the gun in his waistband. For some odd reason, it gave her a little jolt. He was licensed to carry a concealed weapon, she knew. It shouldn’t have been a shock.
But it was.
“What time?” he asked.
“How about two?” she asked.
“Sounds good. Where?”
She chose a restaurant down by the water. If she was going to meet Brad, she didn’t really want to be too close to the cemetery. Let the guy have lunch without staring at the place where he’d last seen his wife.
“I’ll see you there,” Jeremy told her, and left.
She listened to the sound of his car as he drove away. Then she looked at her suitcases and decided that she would unpack, then run over to the MacElroy place and let them know she was back and they might be seeing a strange car in her drive. Then she could head in to see Joe.
When they left Brad’s B and B, Jeremy told Brad again that he wanted to retrace the day of Mary’s disappearance step-by-step.
“We were all over town,” Brad told him.
“So we’ll go all over town,” Jeremy said, and started walking.