“Not over the phone. I want you to meet me.”
“Where?”
“At the Bayou Restaurant in Houma.”
“What do you have for me?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you.”
“Something to do with the Solomon Clinic?”
The detective hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yeah.”
“Okay.”
He clicked off and looked at Stephanie.
I’ll be back as soon as I can.
I was hoping you wouldn’t leave.
I know.
He reached for her, and they clung tightly together. “I just found you. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
“You won’t lose me.”
They held each other for long moments, and he had to force himself to ease away.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He stepped outside the door of the cottage and stood for a moment, feeling the barrier between them. He couldn’t see Stephanie now, but he could still feel her mind, and that was comforting. Even when he walked to the car and climbed in, he was still in contact with her.
Craig,he heard her whisper his name.
I don’t like leaving you.
Then don’t.
He didn’t answer because there was nothing he could say. Still, he had to fight the need to turn around and go back as the contact with her faded and then vanished altogether.
He flashed back to the horrible moment when Sam had died, and the contact between them had snapped.
This was the same, only Stephanie wasn’t dead; she was just out of range. He would finish his mission and come back to the cottage, and she would be there waiting for him.
He turned on the engine and drove away, heading for the restaurant where Broussard had said he was waiting.
Stephanie walked back to the bedroom, where she and Craig had made love. While they’d been out, Mrs. Marcos had remade the bed.
Stephanie sat down, smoothing her hand across the spread, thinking that if she folded back the spread and climbed underthe cover she’d feel closer to Craig. Maybe she could just sleep until he came back.
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.
“I’ll be right there,” she called out as she walked into the living room. Thinking it was someone from the B and B staff, she opened the door.
The two men she’d seen in the car across the street from her house barreled in, a mixture of triumph and relief on their faces.
As Craig drove into Houma, he kept alert for the men who had kidnapped him and Stephanie. He’d struggled to keep his thoughts to himself as he’d discussed this trip with her, but now that he was alone, he was aware that he was at risk. And as he thought about it, he couldn’t be sure if Lieutenant Broussard was acting on the up and up. He drove slowly past the Bayou Restaurant, looking in the window, trying to spot Broussard. Although he’d never met the man, he was pretty sure he could spot a police detective.
