“You definitely have my attention.”
Meg laughed. “What more could a girl ask?” She seemed to study him for a long moment before she asked, “How have you been, Billy, really?”
No one had ever called him Billy—no one but Meg. Even when he was young, he was Will. “Tolerable.”
She shook her head. “I was surprised when I heard that you retired.”
“It was time.” He looked way, but he could feel her gaze on him. Slowly, he turned back to her. “I keep my hand in some with helping my protégés when they need it. But there are times when...” He’d never put the feeling into words because he hadn’t let himself even think it.
“When it isn’t enough?”
He nodded, realizing it was the first time he’d admitted it to himself—let alone anyone else.
The waiter brought their salads and poured them more wine. The rest of the meal passed easily. They found they had a lot in common so there were no tense silences. WT couldn’t remember a time when he’d enjoyed a meal more. Over dessert—Meg had insisted on the crème brûlée for two—they continued talking and sharing confidences like old friends.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” she asked when their plates had been cleared.
He’d planned on driving back to Whitefish—unless Shep needed him here in Bozeman. “What did you have in mind?”
* * *
AFTER SLEEPING MOST of the afternoon and night before, Charlie felt well enough the next morning to shower and dress for work. She’d convinced herself that it was the mousse that had made her sick—and that Greg had probably been as deathly ill as she had. Amanda was unstable, but surely she didn’t carry around something in her purse to make people wretch like that. No one was that crazy, were they?
“Where are you going?” Shep said when she walked into the living room. He was sitting on the couch and appeared to have been up for some time. He had his laptop open and had been reading something. She could smell coffee.
As she moved into the kitchen to get a cup, she saw that he had also made oatmeal. She hadn’t had oatmeal in years.
“I thought something bland might be best for your stomach,” he said from the other room. “You aren’t really going to work, are you?”
She poured herself a cup of coffee before turning to him. “I have to. I’m sure it was the mousse.”
“So am I.”
“I need to find out if Greg got sick as well. If he did, then...mystery solved.” Shep said nothing, but she could read him only too well. “I jumped to conclusions yesterday. It couldn’t have been Amanda. It’s too off-the-wall even for her.”
“You should have some oatmeal.”
She shook her head. “I appreciate the thought but I can’t eat a bite yet.”
Today’s newspaper was on the kitchen table, opened to the horoscope page. She quickly read hers.
Your love life going nowhere? Maybe you haven’t held the bar high enough. Let your intended rise to your level. You deserve more.
“When that coffee hits your stomach...” Shep came into the kitchen. She gave him an impatient look, and he held up both hands in surrender. “Sorry, none of my business. Let me put my boots on and I’ll follow you to work.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“Yes. I do it every day. You just don’t know I’m there. I wish you’d call me when you get off work each day.”
She groaned and headed for the door. “Shep, since I haven’t seen Lindy again, don’t you think it’s time you went home? I appreciate everything you’ve done but I really think you should—” She let out a gasp and stumbled back in horror at what lay just outside her door.
A pair of blank dark eyes stared up at her from a doll’s mutilated face. Its curly chestnut hair, once so like Charlie’s own, had been hacked into a hideous cut. The dress it wore was soiled. But what had been done to its face was what had Charlie’s stomach roiling again.
Someone had applied gruesome makeup to the doll, smearing bright red lipstick sloppily over the mouth so that it appeared to be grinning insanely.
She heard a high-pitched sound and realized it was coming from her. Shep was there in an instant, pulling her away. She saw him look from the revolting looking doll lying on her doorstep to her in confusion.
Tears filled her eyes as she gulped air and found her voice. “It was a gift from my father. A doll that looked like me. It was the one thing that Lindy knew better than to touch.”
Shep pulled her into his arms and kicked the door closed with a boot heel. He buried one hand in her hair and cradled her back with the other.
She closed her eyes, soaking in the warmth of his body. Only moments before, she’d been ready to send him away. Now, she was never more thankful that he was here for her—just as he’d been last night.
“I’m not going anywhere until I find out who is doing this,” he whispered as he kissed the top of head. “I’m going to find them, Charlie, stop them and make this end. That’s a promise.”
* * *
WHILE CHARLIE FORCED down some of the oatmeal he’d cooked, Shep took care of the doll. It was evidence, so he treated it as such, bagging it carefully for the judge. He’d called WT, concerned that it might be time to call in the police. But the judge had assured him that they couldn’t do any more at this point than what Shep was doing.
“There really hasn’t been a threat against Charlie. I’ll take the doll to the local lab,” the judge had promised. With luck, there would be fingerprints on it or something else about the doll that would put an end to this quickly.
“I feel as if Charlie’s in danger even if a threat hasn’t really been made,” he told the judge when he called again from the sidewalk just outside the apartment. His breath came out in white puffs as he brought the judge up to date on what had been going on. He talked fast, wanting to get back to Charlie as quickly as possible. He’d come out here because he hadn’t wanted her to overhear his conversation.
“I’ve sent someone to pick up the...evidence,” the judge said when Shep finished. “He should be there any minute. Keep me up to date on what is going on.”
“I’m trying not to let Charlie out of my sight, but she’s determined to go to work. You know how she was at boot camp. She hasn’t changed. Are you sure we shouldn’t let the police handle this?”
“Let’s wait and see if we get any prints off the doll. We need something more before we go to the police.”