She went into the living room, turned on a lamp, and was in the process of untangling her pants when Sam wandered in, stark naked and carrying a pair of sneakers. Jaine didn't bother with her bra, but slipped into her panties, then pulled on her shirt and pants. Sam stepped into his jeans and pulled them up, then sat down and put on the sneakers.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Walking you to your door."
She opened her mouth to say that wasn't necessary; then she remembered it was necessary, at least for now. She put on her shoes, stuffed her bra in her purse, then gathered up her shopping bags. Sam slid his pistol out of its holster, holding it in his right hand. "Give me your key and stay behind me," he said.
She dug her key chain out of her purse, selected the house key for him, and handed it over.
The rain had stopped, leaving the night warm and humid. Crickets chirped, and at the end of the street the corner light wore a misty halo. They crossed both driveways and went up the steps to the kitchen door. Sam tucked the pistol in his waistband while he unlocked the door; then he returned the keys to her and drew the pistol once more. He opened the door, reached inside, and flipped on the light switch.
He uttered a vicious curse. Jaine blinked at the destruction illuminated by the overhead light, then she screamed, "BooBoo!" and tried to lunge past Sam.
He blocked her with an out-thrust arm, turning so that his big body barred the entrance. "Go to my house and call nine-one-one," he barked. "Now!"
"But BooBoo "
"Go!" he yelled, giving her a shove that almost sent her flying off the stoop. Then he wheeled and stepped into the house.
He was a cop; she had to trust him in this. Her teeth chattering, she ran back to his house and into the kitchen, where she knew he had a cordless. Grabbing it up, she punched the talk button, then 911.
"Where are you calling from?" The voice was impersonal and almost uninterested.
"Uh next door." Jaine closed her eyes. "I mean, I'm calling from my next door neighbor's. My house has been ransacked." She gave her own address. "My neighbor is a cop, and he's going through the house right now." Carrying the phone, she walked out on the front porch, staring across the driveways at her little house, where lights now blazed from two of the windows. As she watched, the light in her bedroom came on. "He's armed "
"Who is?" The dispatcher sounded suddenly alarmed. "My neighbor is! Tell the police if they see a half-naked man with a gun, don't shoot, he's one of them!" She took a deep breath, her heart pounding so hard she thought she would be sick. "I'm going over there."
"No! Ma'am, don't go over there. If your neighbor is a policeman, stay out of his way. Ma'am, are you listening?"
"I'm here." She didn't say she was listening. Her hand was shaking, clattering the phone against her teeth. "Stay on the phone, ma'am, so I can keep the responding officers up-to-date on the status. Units have already been dispatched to your address; they'll be there in a few minutes. Just be patient, please."
She couldn't be patient, but she could be sensible. She waited on the porch, tears tracking down her face as she stared unblinkingly at her own house, where Sam was methodically searching it and putting his life in danger every time he entered a room. She didn't dare think about BooBoo. The dispatcher said something else but she had stopped listening, though she did make a noise to let the woman know she was still there. In the distance she could hear the shrill of sirens.
Sam stepped out on the kitchen stoop, BooBoo cradled in his left arm.
"BooBoo!" Jaine threw down the phone and ran across to them. Sam let her take the cat from him, then he tucked the pistol in his waistband.
"Whoever did it didn't hang around," he said, putting his arm around her and urging her back toward his house. With BooBoo safe and disgruntled in her arms, she dug in her heels. "I want to see "
"Not yet. Let the techs do their job first, maybe find something that will give us a clue who this bastard is."
"You went in "
"And I was careful not to disturb anything," he said, exasperated. "Come on, let's sit down. The guys will be here in a minute."
She remembered that she had thrown the phone aside. She picked it up and handed it to him. "Nine-one-one is still on the line."
He put it to his ear, but kept a firm grip on her while he succinctly outlined the situation and said the house was clear, then disconnected. He put both arms around Jaine and BooBoo and held her close.
"Where did you find BooBoo?"
"He was hiding under that shelf thing in the hallway." She stroked the cat's head, so grateful he was all right that she almost cried again. Her mom would never forgive her if anything happened to BooBoo.
"Do you think it was him?" she asked Sam, her voice low. He was silent for a moment. The sirens were much closer now, the sound growing louder and louder in the still night air. As two cars turned the corner onto their street, Sam said, "I can't afford not to think it."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.
Lights were coming on up and down the street, heads poking out of doors, as Sam and Jaine went to meet the patrolmen. "Detective Donovan," said one of the patrolmen, grinning. "So you're the half-naked man we were told not to shoot."
Sam scowled down at Jaine. She cuddled BooBoo closer. "You're carrying a pistol," she explained. "I didn't want them to shoot you by mistake."
Sadie and George Kulavich came down their sidewalk and stood peering at the flashing lights. They were both wearing robes over their nightclothes; Mr. Kulavich wore bedroom slippers, but Mrs. Kulavich had put on rain boots. Mrs. Kulavich craned her neck, then came closer. Across the street, Jaine could see Mrs. Holland come out her front door.
Sam heaved a sigh. "I checked the house," he said to the patrolmen. "It's been trashed, but no one is in there. You guys take over while I go put on a shirt."
Mrs. Kulavich had edged close enough to hear him. She beamed at him. "Don't bother on my account," she said. "Sadie!" Mr. Kulavich said in rebuke.
"Oh, hush, George! I'm old, not dead!"
"I'll remind you of that the next time I want to watch the Playboy Channel," he growled.
Sam coughed and strode into his house, keeping his pistol held low against his leg so their bright-eyed old neighbors wouldn't spot it and get too excited.
Jaine became aware of the speculation in the neighbors' eyes as they studied her. She remembered that she hadn't put on her bra, and her silk shirt probably made that fairly obvious. She didn't look down to check, just kept BooBoo cradled to her chest. She didn't reach up to check her hair, either, because she knew it was a mess. The rain had wet it, then she had wallowed in bed with Sam for a couple of hours; it was probably sticking out in spikes. Given Sam's state of undress... well. She imagined the conclusion they were jumping to was pretty damn accurate.
Thinking about the neighbors was easier than thinking about her house.
After her first horrifying glimpse of the kitchen, she didn't know if she wanted to see the rest of the house. This, coming so soon after the trauma of Marci's death, was almost more than she could bear, so she concentrated on other things, such as the way Mrs. Kulavich winked at her when Sam came out of the house wearing a neat oxford shirt with the tails tucked into his jeans and his badge clipped to his belt. She wondered if he had put on underwear.
"Are you official?" she asked, eyeing the badge. "Might as well be. I'm on the scene, and we're all on call after eleven."
She gaped at him. "After elev what time is it, anyway?"
"Almost midnight."
"Poor BooBoo," she said in horror. "Could you try to find some of his food and let me have a can, so I can feed him?"
Sam looked down at her, the expression in his dark eyes telling her he knew she was avoiding facing the reality about her house, but also saying that he understood. "Okay, I'll find something for him." He glanced over at Mrs. Kulavich. "Sadie, why don't you and Eleanor take Jaine in my house and put on a pot of coffee, okay?"
"Of course, dear."
With Mrs. Kulavich and Mrs. Holland flanking her, Jaine went back inside Sam's house and into the kitchen. She put BooBoo down and looked around with interest, since this was the first time she had seen much of the house. Before, they hadn't bothered to turn on a light until she was getting dressed, so she had seen the bedroom and the living room, both of which were furnished with only the essentials. The kitchen, like hers, had a small table and four chairs occupying one end of it, and the stove was about twenty years old. The refrigerator, though, looked brand new, and so did the coffeemaker. Sam had his priorities.
Mrs. Kulavich efficiently prepared the coffee and turned on the machine. Jaine became aware of a pressing need. "Um... do you know where the bathroom is?"
"Of course, dear," said Mrs. Holland. "The big bathroom is the second door on the left in the hallway, and there's a small bathroom opening off Sam's bedroom."
Funny that they knew that when she hadn't, but then it was difficult to explore much when one was flat of her back with a two-hundred-pound man on top of her. She chose the big bathroom, because it was closer, and carried her purse with her. Hurriedly she stripped off her clothes, used the facilities, then found a washcloth and washed away the evidence of four hours of sex. She used his deodorant, combed her hair which was indeed sticking out in spikes all over her head and this time when she dressed she put on her bra.
Feeling more in control, she returned to the kitchen for a much-needed cup of coffee.
"It's terrible about your house, dear," said Mrs. Holland, "but wonderful about Sam. I take it congratulations are in order?"
"Eleanor," admonished Mrs. Kulavich. "Times are different now. Young people don't get married just because they've been jumping each other's bones."
"That doesn't mean they shouldn't," said Mrs. Holland severely.
Jaine cleared her throat. So much had happened that she could barely comprehend it all, but the hours in bed with Sam stood out clearly in her mind. "He did ask me to marry him," she confided. "And I said yes." She didn't use the cursed word "engaged."
"Oh, my!" Mrs. Kulavich beamed at her.
"That's wonderful! When's the wedding?"
"In about three weeks, when my parents get back from vacation." She made a rash decision. "And everyone on the street is invited." So their small wedding just got a little bigger; so what?
'"You'll have to have a bridal shower," said Mrs. Holland. "Where's a pen and notepad? We have to make plans." "But I don't need " Jaine began, then saw the expressions on their faces and stopped in mid-sentence. Belatedly she realized that she did indeed need a bridal shower, to help replace what had just been destroyed. Her chin wobbled. She quickly firmed it as one of the patrolmen stepped into the kitchen carrying two cans of cat food. "Detective Donovan sent these over," he said. Grateful for the distraction, Jaine looked around for BooBoo. He wasn't anywhere in sight. Upset at being plopped down in a strange environment, he was probably hiding. She knew all his favorite hiding places in her house, but she had no idea where he would hide in Sam's. As bait, she opened one of the cans of food, then crawled through the house softly calling BooBoo's name, pushing the open can in front of her. She finally found him behind the couch, but even with the lure of food, it took her fifteen minutes to coax him out of his hiding place. He crept out and daintily began eating, while she stroked him and took comfort in his warm, sinuous body.
He would have to go to Shelley's house, she thought. She couldn't risk letting him stay with her now. Tears seared her eyes, and she bent her head to hide them, concentrating on the cat. When she hadn't been at home, the maniac had taken out his rage on her possessions. While she was grateful beyond telling that she had been in Sam's bed rather than her own, she couldn't risk BooBoo and her dad's car again The car. Oh, my God, the car.
She sprang to her feet, startling BooBoo so much he darted back behind the couch. "I'll be right back," she called to Mrs. Kulavich and Mrs. Holland, then ran outside. "Sam!" she yelled. "The car! Did you check the car?" Her yard and Sam's were full of neighbors. Since the Viper was sitting right there in her driveway, startled faces turned toward her. She hadn't thought to check the Viper, but as much as she loved it, her dad's car was at least five times more valuable, and totally irreplaceable. Sam came out on the kitchen stoop. He glanced at the garage and jumped from the stoop. Together they ran to the garage.
The door was still padlocked. "He couldn't have gotten in, could he?" Jaine asked in an agonized whisper. "Maybe he wouldn't have tried, since your car was sitting in the driveway. He probably thought the garage was empty. Is there another way in?"
"No, not without knocking a hole in the wall." "Then the car is okay." He put his arm around her and walked her back toward the house. "You don't want to open the door with all these people watching, do you?" She gave an emphatic shake of her head. "I'll have to move the car," she said, planning ahead. "David will have to take it. And Shelley will have to take BooBoo. Mom and Dad will understand, under the circumstances."
"We can put the car in my garage, if you want." She thought about it. At least it would be close to hand, and whoever was doing this didn't know about the car in the first place, so it should be safe. "Okay. We'll move it when everyone leaves."
She didn't look at the Viper as she walked by it, but she stopped. Staring hard at the blue lights on top of the patrol cars, she asked Sam, "Is my car okay? I can't look."
"It looks okay. I don't see any scratches or anything, and nothing's broken."
She heaved a sigh of relief and sort of sagged against him. He hugged her, then sent her back to his kitchen and the care of Sadie and Eleanor.
It was dawn before she was allowed to enter her house. She was surprised at the amount of attention given to what was essentially vandalism, but she supposed Sam was responsible for that. Of course, he didn't think it was just vandalism.
Neither did she.
She couldn't. Walking through her house, looking at the destruction, she noticed immediately how personal it all was. Her television hadn't been touched strange, since it was an expensive item but all her dresses and underwear had been shredded. Her jeans and pants, however, hadn't been touched.
In the bedroom, her sheets and pillows and mattress had been hacked to pieces, her perfume bottles broken. In the kitchen, everything made of glass had been broken, all her plates and bowls, glasses, cups, even the heavy lead- crystal serving trays she had never used. And in the bathroom, her bath linen was untouched, but all her makeup was destroyed. Tubes were smashed, powder dumped, and all the compacts of eyeshadow and blush looked as if they had been stomped, then ground to pieces.
"He destroyed everything feminine," she whispered, looking around. The bed was kind of generic, but her bed linen was feminine, in soft pastels with lace-trimmed edges.
"He hates women," Sam agreed, coming to stand beside her. His face was grim. "A psychiatrist would have a field day with this."
She sighed, exhausted from lack of sleep and the sheer size of the task before her. She glanced at him; he hadn't had any more sleep than she had, which amounted to nothing more than a couple of short naps. "Are you going to work today?"
He gave her a startled look. "Sure. I have to get with the detective working Marci's case and bring him up to speed on this."
"I'm not even going to try to work. It'll take a week to get this mess cleaned up."
"No, it won't. Call a cleaning service." He put a thumb under her chin and tilted up her face, looking at the bruises of fatigue that shadowed her eyes. "Then go to sleep in my bed and let Mrs. Kulavich oversee the cleaning. She'll be thrilled."
"If she is, then she's in dire need of therapy," Jaine said, once more surveying the wreckage of what had been her home. She yawned. "I also need to go shopping, to replace my clothes and makeup."
He grinned. "The kitchen stuff can wait, huh?" "Hey, I know what's important." She leaned against him and looped her arms around his waist, reveling in the freedom to do so, reveling also in the way his arms automatically went around her.
She suddenly stiffened. She couldn't believe she hadn't once thought about Luna and T.J. tonight. Her brain must be misfiring, that was the only explanation. "I forgot about Luna and T.J.! My God, I should have called them immediately, warned them "
"I did," said Sam, folding her back in his arms. "I called them last night, on my cell phone. They're okay, just worried about you."
She yawned and relaxed against him once more, letting her head nestle on his chest. His heart thump-thumped in her ear. She was exhausted but couldn't stop her thoughts from circling like buzzards around a fresh kill. If she couldn't wind down, she would never be able to sleep. "How do you feel about medicinal sex?" she asked him. Interest lit his dark eyes. "Does it involve swallowing?" She chuckled against his shirt. "Not yet. Maybe tonight. What this involves now is relaxing me enough so I can sleep. Are you interested?"
For answer, he took her hand and placed it over the fly of his jeans. He had a long, thick growth under his zipper. She hummed with pleasure as she ran her fingers up and down the length of it, feeling the tiny, spasmodic movements of his body that he couldn't control. "God, you're easy," she said.
"Thinking about swallowing always gets me hard." Hand in hand, they walked back to his house, where he relaxed her.
"The evidence techs didn't find a usable fingerprint," Sam told Roger Bernsen a couple of hours later. "But they did find a partial shoe print. Looks like a running shoe; I'm trying to get a make on the brand by the tread pattern." Detective Bernsen said what Sam already knew: "He broke in intending to kill her, and trashed her place instead when she wasn't there. You got a fix on the time?" "Between eight P.M. and midnight, roughly." Mrs. Holland kept a close watch on the street, and she said she hadn't seen a strange car or anyone unknown to her before Sam himself had arrived home. After dark, everyone was inside.
"Lucky she wasn't at home."
"Yeah." Sam didn't want to think about the alternative. "We gotta start running down those personnel files at Hammerstead."
"The C.E.O. is my next call. I don't want anyone else knowing that we're checking the files. He can have them pulled without anyone questioning him. Maybe they can be copied to our computers so we don't have to risk going there."
Roger grunted. "By the way, the M.E. has released Ms. Dean's body. I've contacted her sister."
"Thanks. We need to have someone videotaping the funeral."
"You think he'll be there?"
"I'm betting on it," Sam said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.
Corin hadn't been able to sleep, but he didn't feel tired. Frustration gnawed at him. Where had she been? She would have told him, he thought. Sometimes, most of the time, he didn't like her at all, but sometimes she could be nice. If she had been feeling nice, she would have told him.