As they ate, they talked about the unusually warm June the area was experiencing and the plans for a big July Fourth celebration in town. She looked so beautiful that he found it hard to focus on the conversation.
Her hair was loose, a gorgeous curtain of shiny darkness that fell around her shoulders. Her thick eyelashes looked impossibly long and her lips…oh those lush lips taunted and teased him.
By the time they finished eating and he helped her clean up the dishes, twilight had begun to fall. They moved into the living room, where she lit the lanterns and then they sank down on the sofa.
“So, tell me about your day,” she said.
He frowned. “I’m afraid to tell you that I really have nothing to report on either case. We’re waiting for a search warrant to come through for Charles Landry’s place. He and Pierre still remain at the top of my very short list of suspects. But right now, I couldn’t even make a circumstantial case against either one of them.”
He leaned forward, the scent of her wrapping around him.
“As far as your attacker is concerned, we’re no closer to figuring out who it is than we were on the night it happened. I’m sorry, Angelique, but right now, the cases have pretty much stalled out.”
“Maybe you’ll find my mother’s book in Charles’s house and that will solve the case, although I can’t imagine why he or anyone else would want her book.”
“Who knows what drives people to do what they do,” he replied.
“Well, I have several bits of news to share with you,” she said. “The first is a conversation I had with Marianne Lutgen.” Daniel listened with interest as she relayed her talk with Marianne in the grocery store.
“Interesting,” Daniel said when she was finished. “So, she not only had a grudge against your mother but also against you because you never go to her parties.”
She released what sounded like a slightly nervous laugh. “I can’t imagine her coming to kill me just because I don’t socialize with her. Who would do that? But my mother is another story. There was definitely something hard and angry in her eyes when she spoke about my mama.”
“I will definitely have a chat with her tomorrow and see if she has alibis for both the night of the murder and the attack on you,” he said.
She nodded, and then her eyes appeared to darken. “My next bit of news is when I got back here from the grocery there was a piece of paper taped to my front door.” In one graceful movement she got up and went to her bookcase, where she grabbed a piece of paper and then returned to the sofa.
She sat closer to him than she had been before and he could feel an edge of fear that emanated from her. She handed him thepaper and as he read it, a deep anxiety thudded into the pit of his stomach.
“This implies that the person who wrote it was afraid of your mother, but now that your mother is gone, all bets are off. This also implies that whatever beef they have with you, it’s been brewing for a long time,” he said as he stared at the bold red letters.
He looked back up at her. Her eyes were slightly widened and her lips were parted as if to release either a gasp or a scream. It was obvious the note had scared her. Hell, it scared him for her.
“Do you have a plastic bag I can put the note in? Maybe we’ll get lucky and get some fingerprints off it.”
She nodded and rose from the sofa. She walked into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a plastic baggie in her hand. He took it from her and she sat next to him as he carefully placed the note inside the protective covering.
He then reached out and took her hand in his. Her fingers were icy. “Maybe it’s time you think about moving in with one of your sisters,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of you being here all alone.”
“Absolutely not.” She snatched her hand back from his. “Why would I bring this kind of danger to my sisters’ doorsteps? No, I’m not going anywhere. This is where I belong and this is where I’m staying.” She glared at him as if he was personally responsible for it all.
“Hey, I’m not the enemy here,” he protested with his hands up in surrender.
Deep color rose into her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I know you’re just trying to help, but as I’ve said before, I’m not leaving my home. I think I’m safe here and besides, I have every confidence that you’re going to catch this creep quickly.”
“I can’t do that without your help. What I need you to do is think back into your past. Not just the last month or so, butrather longer ago than that. Maybe a man you dated in the past or a girlfriend you had a falling-out with. Angelique, there’s got to be something there, and I can’t do anything unless you give me some names.”
Tears misted her eyes as she gazed at the note on the coffee table before them. A deep shudder went through her, making her look small and fragile.
Daniel reached out and drew her into his arms. She held herself stiffly against him, and he was about to withdraw his arms from around her when she melted into him.
Daniel tightened his embrace as she buried her face in the hollow of his throat. She didn’t cry but rather remained in his arms, her breath warming his neck.
The heady scent of her surrounded him as he rubbed his hand up and down her back. He wanted to comfort her, but he had no words. He needed to assure her, yet had no assurances to offer her. In any case she didn’t remain there long.
After several minutes she raised her head and gazed at him. He saw no fear in her eyes, but rather he saw something else…a hunger that called to something wild and unbridled in him.
She parted her lips and he felt if he didn’t kiss her at that very moment, he would explode with his need for her. He claimed her lips with his own.
