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the cliffs, reality chilled her to the marrow.
What if the last woman Sebastian offered a future to had been the
one in Amsterdam?
* * * *
The hours between bedtime and dawn had never crawled by so
slowly, and her bed had never seemed less comforting. The prospect
of leaving it unnerved her even more. For the first time, the shadows
drifting outside her window felt ominous and threatening, as if some
toxic agent infected the dark mist. She slept in fits, her mind and heart
in turmoil. Over and over she ran through the events of Ami s demise,
alternately finding no evidence to support Sebastian s involvement
and seeing no logical way to exonerate him. When she did sleep, she
became the woman in Amsterdam trusting Sebastian, loving the feel
of his hands on her body and his teeth in her throat, only to find his
protection torn away from her in one bewildering instant. The cold
hard surface of the canal rushed up to meet her.
When morning finally came, she got up much earlier than usual
and headed to the motel.
Everything at The Dunes was more or less as she d left it, and the
sign-in book s blank pages showed that no one had registered while
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188 Cassandra Pierce
Reggie did desk duty. With the police tape up, she didn t expect better
results today. How long could a motel go without guests and still call
itself a motel? She had the uneasy feeling she d soon find out.
Settling herself at the desk inside the office, she retrieved the
ledger book from the locked drawer. Paging through it gave her a
whole new set of worries that had nothing to do with Sebastian, which
proved something of a relief. On the other hand, The Dunes was now
seriously in the red.
After toting up the numbers a few different ways and finding no
way to interpret them favorably, she called Will Garvey.
 Any chance of getting this crime tape down soon? I m not
kidding, Will, I m about to go bankrupt here.
 Word is the DNA experts will be there sometime tomorrow.
Meanwhile, we have to keep everything secure. I m sorry, Briana.
Disgruntled, she banged down the phone without responding to
him. It immediately rang again, and she picked it up expecting a stern
reprimand for her behavior. Instead, she found herself talking to a
reporter from one of the larger newspapers in the area, seeking details
about Ami s affiliation with the motel and her own reaction to the
recent tragedy.
 I m afraid I have no comment, she said, hanging up quickly. To
her surprise, a similar call followed the first only minutes later, and
after that came an inquiry from a television station seeking permission
to film her parking lot and front entrance for the evening news.
 Under no circumstances, she retorted, suspecting they would find a
way to include the desired shots anyway.
When she put down the phone and glanced up, she saw Reggie by
the desk. He pretended to ferry an armload of towels to the laundry
room, but Briana knew he d been listening to her take the calls. One
of the towels dragged, unnoticed, along the ground.
 You were talking about the murder, weren t you? Reggie asked.
 It wasn t a murder, Briana informed him.  Ami fell into the
water and washed up on the rocks. I know how the gossip mill works
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Heirs to Darkisle 189
in this town, but what happened was a tragic accident and nothing
more. She bent and picked up one of the towels, heading toward the
washroom. Reggie followed.
 Sometimes there s truth in gossip, you know.
She clenched her jaw. Might as well hear it now, since she
expected it to be juicy and involve either her or Todd.  All right, tell
me. What have you heard?
Reggie grinned.  Word is those two weirdos up at Morgan House
killed her in some kind of ritual. They threw the body in the ocean,
but they didn t weigh it down right and it washed back up on their
own beach.
Ugh. Worse than she d thought.  I can t imagine where you heard
that, but I hope you won t repeat it. It s ridiculous.
 Is it? You have to admit that they re a little strange. And that
Morgan guy is incredibly strong I heard. Like he s got powers or
something.
 Oh? What makes you say that? Briana s eyes narrowed. It
sounded almost as if Reggie referred to the way Sebastian had
disarmed the burglar. How could he have known? Now that she
thought about it, though, maybe it wasn t so farfetched to think that
her clerk had inside knowledge. He and the robber seemed about the
same age, and the whole incident had seemed a bit suspicious at the
time. It couldn t have been Reggie himself, since his hand was clearly
not broken, but she had to wonder about other possible connections.
Reggie suddenly backtracked.  Well, you know, just heard it
around town. No one s ever seen  em during the day either.
 They re probably still unpacking. It s a big house for two
people.
 If you say so. People talk is all I m saying.
 People should talk less. Briana took the load of towels from his
arms and shoved them into the washer.
 I d sure like to see what the cops find in her room when they toss
it.
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190 Cassandra Pierce
 Why? What do you expect to see?
 That s just it could be anything. Could be blackmail
photographs of half the guys in town. Or maybe even you know
stuff in the drawers.
 What do you know about Ami s room? Have you been in there?
 Well, sure I mean, I let her in a couple times when she locked
herself out, stuff like that. She did that a lot. No pockets in those tight
jeans, you know. His nervous grin faltered.  I guess I shouldn t talk
like that. I m sorry she s dead and all. That part just doesn t seem too
real to me somehow.
 It doesn t seem real to me either. Listen, Reggie. Do not go in
that room. Let the cops do whatever they re doing. We have to stay
out of it.
He turned away, scooping up another load of towels.  Okay, I
promise. Besides, I don t want my fingerprints on any of her stuff. I
don t need to get involved with a murder investigation.
 For the last time, there s not going to be any murder
investigation. Ami died by accident. This isn t some cop show on
TV. Or some horror movie. Briana found herself amazed at her own
hypocrisy.
 Reggie s got a point, came a voice from the doorway. Graham s
voice. He sauntered into the laundry room and leaned against the door
jamb, muscular arms folded across the front of his faded sweatshirt.
 There could very well be more going on than we know. We all have
to watch what we say and do until this blows over, one way or the
other.
 Guess I d better get to the front desk in case anyone shows up,
Reggie said, slipping past Graham. He and Briana faced each other
awkwardly.
 How did everyone hear about it so fast? she asked him.  They
only found her last night and already half the town has a theory about
what happened.
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Heirs to Darkisle 191
Graham snickered.  More like three quarters. You underestimate
the number of people plastered to their police scanners when it s cold
and rainy outside. As for the rest& well, Joel stopped at the diner this [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]