Best Kept Secrets(77)

He groped for the adequate word. "Something," he said,

closing his fist around the elusive noun, "something that

made you want to possess her."

"Did you ever possess her?"

"Physically?"

"Did you ever sleep with my mother?"

His expression was baldly honest and terribly sad. "No,

Alex. Never."



"Did you ever try? Would she have?"

"I don't think so. I never tried. At least, not very hard."

"Why not, if you wanted her so much?"

"Because Reede would have killed us."

Stunned, she gazed at him. "Do you really think so?"

He shrugged as his disarming smile moved into place.

"Figure of speech."

Alex wasn't so sure. It had sounded literal when he said

it.

He scooted along the seat of his Jaguar until they were

sitting very close. He slid his fingers up through her hair,

laid his thumb along her neck and stroked it lightly.

"That's sure a dreary subject. Let's change it," he whispered,

brushing an airy kiss across her mouth. "How about

leaving the past for a while and thinking about the present?"

His eyes wandered over her face while his fingertips touched

each feature. "I want to sleep with you, Alex."

For a moment, she was too stunned to speak. "You're not

serious?"

"Wanna bet?"

He kissed her in earnest then. At least, he tried to. Tilting

his head, he rested his lips upon hers, pressed, tested, pressed

harder. When she didn't respond, he pulled back and gave

her a puzzled look.

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You know without my telling you. It would be crazy.

Wrong."

"I've done crazier things." He lowered his hand to the

front of her sweater and fingered a patch of soft suede.

"Wronger things, too."

"Well, I haven't."

"We'd be good together, Alex."

"We'll never know."

He ran his thumb along her lower lip, tracking its slow

progress with his eyes. "Never say never." He bent his head



and kissed her again--affectionately, not passionately--then

returned to the driver's side of the car and got out. ", At the door, he gave her a chaste good-night kiss, but his

expression was indulgent and amused. Alex knew he thought she was just being coy and that wearing her down was only

." a matter of time.

She was so befuddled by his come-on that it was several

minutes before she noticed that the red message light on her

telephone was blinking. She called the motel's front desk,

retrieved her message, and called the specified number. Even

before the doctor got on the line, she knew what he would

say. Nevertheless, his words shocked her.

"Miss Gaither, I'm terribly sorry. Mrs. Graham passed

away earlier this evening without ever regaining consciousness."



Twenty-one



Alex knocked and waited until Reede called out, "Come in,"

before entering his office. "Good morning. Thank you for

seeing me on such short notice."

She sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Without

asking, he poured her a cup of coffee to her liking and placed

it in front of her. She thanked him with a nod.

"I'm sorry about your grandmother, Alex," he said as he

resumed his seat in the creaky swivel chair.

"Thank you."

Alex had been away for a week, handling the details of

her grandmother's funeral. Only Alex, a handful of former

coworkers, and a few of the nursing home patients had at





tended the chapel service. After the burial, Alex had begun

the unwelcome chore of clearing out her grandmother's room

at the nursing home. The staff had been kind, but there was

a waiting list, so they had needed the room emptied immediately.

It had been an emotionally stressful week. As she had sat

staring at the modest casket, while organ music played softly

in the background, she had felt an overwhelming sense of

defeat. She had failed to fulfill the promise she had made to

herself and to her grandmother: She hadn't produced Celina's

murderer in time.

More defeating than that, she had failed to win her grandmother's

absolution and love. That had been her last chance;

she wouldn't have another.

She had given serious consideration to throwing in the

towel, telling Greg that he'd been right, and that she should

have taken his advice from the beginning. He would enjoy

seeing her humility, and he would immediately assign her

another case.

That would have been the easier course. She would never

have to enter the city limits of Purcell again, or cope with

the hostility that flew at her like missiles from everyone she