Page 25 of Sapphire Nights
Chapter 11
Walker heldout his arms to catch the Nordic beauty descending the rocks so hastily that her platinum hair flew in a breeze of her own making. She practically fell into him, and he held her like that, letting her catch her breath—enjoying the fresh scent and firm curvesof a woman for the first time in over ayear.
He was too male not to notice how well her tattered jeans fit her hips and the way her loose shirt clung to her breasts—while they anticipated death. Nice, Walker, realnice.
Warily, reluctantly, he set her back. He wasn’t ready for anything resembling a relationship, and someone as young as Sam had commitment written all overher.
“I think you may need cadaver dogs. Is that what they call them?” she asked, brushing nervously at wisps of hair escaping her disheveled pony-tail.
She sounded normal, but she was pale as death and breathing erratically. Walker wanted to crush her against him and return her to the laughing know-it-all she’d been while driving up here, but he was on duty, and she was offlimits.
“There’s another body?” he askedgrimly.
“You asked me to translate.” She marched back to the truck, her shouldersstiff.
He was translating her body language asrattled. This place would do that toyou.
“Can you tell me exactly what she said to make you think there’s a corpse?” He opened the passenger door, caught her elbow, and helped her in. She shivered, as if withcold. Orfear.
She waited until he climbed behind the wheel to reply. “Aside from evil, spirits, and crows, she pointed at the tumble of rocks on the far side of the clearing and distinctly saidThere. They dumped him there. The animals have already foundhim.”
“I saw her pointing, but it could have been at the horizon for all I knew.” He muttered a word he didn’t want her to hear,but she flinched anyway. He needed to remember she had sharp ears. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go, then radio for help. Can you keep this quiet until I get a cadaver team uphere?”
“I won’t say anything, but the Lucys know already,” she said, sounding as grim as he did. “And you can take me to the lodge. I want to use the computer, and you may need me totranslatelater. Want toask me where I was lastnight?”
“Not up here, I hope!” A thousand scenarios flashed through his mind. He knew what crazy was. He’d lived with crazy. He was real bad at differentiating between real crazy and Lucycrazy.
“I was in my bed, listening to a spirit howl, according to Val. And afterward, I watched a car a lot like Carmel’s—maybe it was a ghost car—driving up to the cemeteryjust the way we saw it do earlier. And I saw a man who might have been Harvey watching from the woods. I’m ready to join Val’s exorcism. She may be right and evil walks thenight.”
He was relieved that she wasn’t taking any of this seriously. “Nah, that’s just Harvey hunting for branches for his walking sticks. He’s a vampire who sleeps most of the day.” Walker tried to sound humorous butit came outhollow.
“Oh good, vampires and witches. Any werewolves I should know about?” She slumped in the seat and shoved loose strands of pale hair out of herface.
“Want me to describe the Nulls?” This time, he did manage amusement. “We’ve got sexual predators, embezzlers, and looks like possibly, a murderer. I’ll take the witchesanytime.”
That got a laugh out of her.“I trust the predator is old and gray and not about to start stalkingwomen?”
“Ask Dinah,” he said curtly. “Although if she’s seeing auras now, I’m not sure she qualifies as a Null. Maybe it’s this town that makes uscrazy.”
“Dinah as a sexual predator?” She sat silent and contemplated that. “At what age did they slap that label on her? When she looked like a little boy and was exploringwhy she felt like a littlegirl?”
“She’s black and it was New Orleans. I didn’t read the case, but psychic guessing will get you there, yeah. Our laws are about as primitive as our medicinesometimes.”
“She’s happy here, where people only care that she bakes a mean biscuit. I’m glad she found a wayout.”
“It’s good to know you’re not one of the bigots who judge people becausethey’re different. You need that here.” Given the harassment he’d suffered as a kid for his not-quite-Caucasian features, he appreciated her ability to see past the surface. Walker pulled up at the back of the lodge. “I need to warn Kurt we’ll be filling this lot with cars again. He won’t behappy.”
She sat there, staring at the lodge. “Call the sheriff first, get people up here. Val mayvery well be right about evil. And if it exists, this is the place closest to where the bodies are. It didn’t feel right upthere.”
She got out and walked away as Walker punched the call on his radio. The lodge didn’tfeelright? The dispatcher responded before he could go afterher.
Sam pulledthe keycard out of her back pocket. Hadit only been yesterday that she’d learned the names of her parents? So many things had happened... and she’d had no way to combat her anxiety and curiosity and get to the lodge untilnow.
Before she could slip in the side door where Walker had left her, a lanky, graying blond man ambled out of a small cabin near the lodge kitchen. He bore a strong resemblance to Carmel in the broad, bonyshoulders, sharp nose and cheekbones. She’d heard about Carmel’s artist brother. Splashes of paint on his shabby gray clothes identifiedhim.
If she ran into him in the dark, she’d almost believe in ghosts, though. From the little she’d seen, Carmel was brimming with color and temperament. It was hard to believe the two wererelated.
Sam stopped to greet him, but he didn’t seem tonotice her existence. He opened the kitchen door and wandered inside. Shrugging, Sam took the side hall back to the empty business office. The aroma of coffee and bacon emanated from the restaurant, so she assumed most of the guests were eating. Taking a seat at the computer, she logged in and put her parents’ name into the searchengine.
