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Je
Casey's curls bobbed in a hard nod. "You did. I swear it." She gri
Je
It was greed. Pure, unadulterated craving. Throw-common-sense-to-the-wind desire. It was as different from any previous experience as… As Haagen-Dazs Rocky Road to store-brand vanilla. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. Adam deserved a hell of a lot more than being store-brand vanilla. She felt like a dirty traitor even letting the comparison form in her mind. Her hand closed on her keys and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Here they are," she said thickly. "Casey, don't you have someplace to be?"
"Of course. I probably have thirty-two panting tenth graders looking for the dirty parts in the Lady Chatterley's Lover I left on my desk." She smirked. "They'll be surprised when they find out it's only the cover of Lady Chatterley on a copy of The Iliad." Her brows snapped together. "What?"
Je
Monday, October 3, 9:30 A.M.
The red-eye from Seattle had been uneventful. Neil landed in Newark at six in the morning where he'd reset his watch to Eastern time, grabbed a three-dollar bagel and a two-dollar cup of coffee. Then he'd changed planes and landed in Raleigh two hours later and five bucks poorer.
"Would you like a smoking or nonsmoking room, sir?" the man behind the motel counter asked politely and Neil wanted to scream "Smoking!" but didn't.
"Nonsmoking," he made himself say. He'd quit ten years ago, but there didn't pass a day that didn't have him fighting the craving. Especially stressful days, which was pretty much every day of his life. He signed the ledger and took the key.
The room was nondescript and mostly clean. He dropped his overnight bag on the bed, then pulled out an envelope. He drew out four photos and laid them on the dresser, edge to edge.
Four young girls. He didn't need to look at the neatly typed labels on the back of each photograph to remember their names. Laura Resnick. Trudy Valentine. Emily Barry. Gina Capetti. All sixteen years old. All cheerleaders. All brunettes.
All dead.
He studied each photo, seeing the girls as they'd been before meeting William Parker. Beautiful, vibrant smiles. Eyes shining with anticipation over their bright futures.
He didn't need to look at the "after" photos. He still saw their faces every time he closed his eyes. But he looked anyway, their eyes wide-open, blank, staring upward. Their heads shaved bald.
The photos blurred before his eyes, the smug smile and cold eyes of William Parker materializing in his mind, uninvited. The fatigue was catching up with him. He'd lie down for a little while, get over the jet lag. Then he'd find William Parker. It was time to honor his promise.
Monday, October 3, 12:15 P.M.
"Je
Je
"I don't know. But here"-Je
"But you'd have to give them an A for coming up with a new swearword," Lucas said, sweeping up piles of broken glass. "Feuc. It sounds old-Englishy, like it could have come out of Beowulf."
Casey reached up and yanked one comer of the ruined ten-foot-wide Periodic Table from the wall. "So tell me again why Blackman didn't call the cops?"
"Because there's no indication of who did this," Je
Casey and Lucas stopped what they were doing. "What threatening note?" they said together.
Je
Lucas dropped the broom, walked over, and grabbed her chin. "What threatening note, Jen?"
Je
"Was there text included, or did they just make all those comic-strip cursing characters, like ampersands and asterisks?"' Casey asked, tongue in cheek.
Je
Lucas squeezed her chin. "What else?"
She rolled her eyes. " 'You bitch,'" she added. "They misspelled 'rue.' That's it, I swear. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry. Steven gave it to the police and they took it in for prints, but Officer Pullman called me this morning and told me they didn't get a single print."
"Who's Officer Pullman?" Casey said.
"He took the report," Je
Lucas's eyebrows had shot to the top of his forehead. "Who's Steven?"
Je
"He's Rocky Road," Casey added slyly. "Yum. yum."
Lucas frowned at Casey. "Yum, yum?"
"Hey, I just call ' em like I see 'em," Casey said. "He looked pretty good to me on CNN."
"Hmm," Lucas mused. "So you're on a first-name basis with a parent. Interesting."
Je
"No. No. Perhaps a bit sticky, but a young Jedi like yourself can navigate." He let go of her chin and patted her head. "I have every confidence in you."
"Gee, thanks, Obi Wan," Je
Lucas looked at Casey. "She almost sounds like she wants it to be against the rules."
Casey looked disgusted. "She does. She-"
"Casey!" Je
Lucas looked hurt. "I thought I was one of the girls."
Casey leaned toward him and whispered, "Hormones. Approach with caution."
Lucas shot her a sympathetic glance. "What's wrong, honey?"
"Nothing. Lucas, it's really nothing."
Casey pulled the rest of the Periodic Table from the wall and scampered backward to keep from being covered when it fell. "It's not nothing. She's convinced she's being untrue to Adam's memory because she drools over Steven Thatcher."
Je
"Hmm. Seems to me the situations are very different," Lucas said. "Adam and this Steven."
Je
Lucas shrugged. "You women always blame men for your lack of orgasm."