“I swear to you, I’ll be careful. And don’t forget, Nikki and Adam are here tonight,” she said.
At last, with a last brush of his lips against her forehead, he left for the night. She keyed in the alarm after he left and headed upstairs.
Adam was in the room where Joe had slept the night before. Nikki was in her room, in a big cotton nightgown, sitting up in the queen-size bed, playing with the remote control. “You must be a real celebrity,” she said. “You’ve just been on the news,” she told Leslie.
Leslie groaned. “I guess it’s out that we found bones in the basement here,” she said.
Nikki nodded. “There was just a shot of you and Matt dressed up for some kind of social event, then the story. Pretty low key, actually.”
“I’m glad.” Leslie went into the bathroom to change for the night and brush her teeth. When she emerged and crawled beneath the covers, she couldn’t help but think, Matt won’t come tonight. I know he won’t.
“You all right?” Nikki asked.
“Of course. I’m thrilled you’re here.”
Nikki smiled. “It’s just for one night. And…”
“And?”
“Joe is alive.”
“Have you seen or felt Matt in any way?” Leslie asked, feeling desperate.
“No, I’m sorry. I get hazy visions of others…but not Matt.” Nikki smiled again. “Remember what I said earlier. Entering your dreams might be Matt’s only way to contact you. And he might want you to move on.”
“I keep hearing that,” Leslie said.
“Because it’s what you have to do.”
“I do go on. I love my work. And when I can do something like bring out the truth about Elizabeth, it’s wonderful.”
Nikki nodded, then yawned. “The world is a mystery. That’s for certain.” She yawned again.
Leslie turned off the bedside lamp. “Mind if I watch TV?” she asked Nikki. “It takes my mind off…things.”
“Go right ahead.”
Despite the TV, after a little while Leslie’s eyes began to fall shut.
She slept.
Someone was out there. Watching the house.
Matt felt that he should have been able to get out there. He was actually becoming more and more convinced that eventually he would be able to. When he had sensed with such certainty that Leslie was in mortal danger, the desperation of sheer will had propelled him to her. Yes, he had been there. Yes, she had seen his face. She had felt him, helping her up from the tracks.
Joe had been there, too. Joe, with his powerful, living arms. Arms that were probably the only ones he could trust her to himself. Matt couldn’t stand her being alone with anyone anymore.
And soon he would be able to leave the house at will. He would reach the street lamp.
And he would see the watcher’s face.
But tonight…
Tonight he was upstairs in the bedroom, watching the women sleep, quiet, beautiful. Two blondes, angelic-looking. He touched Leslie’s hair with a rush of nostalgia and tenderness, and then he moved to sit on the floor, leaning against the wall, still watching.
He would stay through the night.
Leslie woke with a start.
She didn’t know what had roused her. Frowning, she saw that Nikki was still sleeping peacefully by her side.
It must have been something on the TV, she told herself.
She aimed the remote at the television and pushed the Off button, then lay back down and smiled wistfully.
“Matt? Are you here?” she breathed almost silently.
There was no answer. She thought she saw the curtain rustle; perhaps she felt a breeze. Maybe it was only because she was tired and so desperately hopeful, but in that whisper of movement she felt enfolded by love. Tenderness.
Then she bolted up to a sitting position again.
What she’d heard hadn’t been the television.
She heard it clearly now, the sound of sobbing.
Heart-wrenching tears.
Tears…
Just as she had heard them earlier…when she had seen that vision of Genevieve O’Brien.
16
It had been a hell of a long day. Joe knew damned well that there were things Leslie hadn’t told him about her friends Adam and Nikki, just as he was sure there were plenty of things she thought and felt that she didn’t say to him. But she trusted him. And that was enough for the moment. Though he ached to hold her—and more—he kept his distance. He had to.
As soon as he got home, he looked up Harrison Investigations on the Web. The official site was bare bones, giving little but contact information, but he did find several articles. He read them all, wondering whether to be amazed, amused or irritated at the allusions to the supernatural, including several strange situations that had required the government’s intervention; situations that had been managed through Harrison Investigations. An apologetic call to a sheriff he’d worked with once in a town west of Richmond supplied him with far more of a response than he’d expected. His friend was friends with a fellow lawman, a Sheriff Stone, who was married to one of Harrison’s associates and swore by the man.
At the least, Leslie was safe for the night, Joe thought. He could get some real sleep.