Night's Landing Page 13

  “All the time. Rob and I used to catch them when we were kids, but Granny Dunnemore told us to leave them alone. None of the snakes will bother you if you don’t bother them. It’s when they’re startled or feel threatened that they bite.”

  He smiled. “I’ll try not to startle or threaten any snakes.”

  She didn’t smile back, seemed barely aware that he’d spoken. “Even most cottonmouth bites aren’t fatal.” She stared into the water, as if she were looking for snakes. “Thank you for coming down here. It was a decent thing to do. I know I must have sounded awful on the phone this morning. I’m sure I overreacted to something.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  She shook her head. “I have to show you.”

  But she didn’t want to show him. Nate could see her reluctance in her body language. Tight, closed, afraid. Showing him meant that the “something” that had prompted her to call him was real.

  She dropped her arms to her sides and pushed past him with sudden energy, almost knocking him into the river.

  He followed her back to the house, into a country-style living room with quilts and afghans in odd colors piled onto overstuffed furniture and shelves bearing an eclectic collection of books, including scholarly works and what had to be every mystery Rex Stout and Agatha Christie had ever written.

  “Wait here,” she said, her tone more tired than commanding, and retreated back to the kitchen.

  Nate debated going after her, but decided to do as she’d asked. He stood in front of the stone fireplace, noting a wedding picture on the mantel. The parents, Stuart and Betsy Dunnemore. He was handsome, she was beautiful—startlingly beautiful. And very obviously much younger.

  Sarah returned with an envelope and a sheet of paper that she laid on the marble-topped coffee table. “Here. I’ve already touched them, so they have my fingerprints on them.”

  Nate took in the words in a single glance.

  If I can get to your brother, I can get to you.

  “Jesus Christ,” he said under his breath.

  She seemed almost relieved at his reaction. “I didn’t know what to do. It was in with a bunch of cards and letters, some of them kind of nutty.” She sank onto a chair and took a breath. “It’s amazing what some people will stoop to. I don’t want to take any chances, but I don’t want to send you all on a wild-goose chase, either.”

  “This was in your mail?”

  “Ethan piled it on the kitchen table, unopened. It was here when I arrived. I opened it this morning.” She leaned forward and stared at the paper, her cheeks pale, but she seemed calmer now that she’d told him about it. “After I called you, I checked all the phones for bugs. I don’t even know what one looks like, and I imagine there are ways for someone to tap a phone line that I’d never find.”

  “Sarah.”

  “I couldn’t make myself tell you on the phone. I was really spooked. I let my thinking run wild.”

  She was upset, uncertain, a capable, intelligent woman not used to being out of her element—not used to having to trust someone, count on someone, besides herself.

  But Nate knew there was more. Something else.

  She twisted her hands together, working one of her delicate rings up to her knuckle, then back down again. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

  “None of us does.”

  “Rob, my parents. If something happens to them because of something I did or didn’t do…” She trailed off, not finishing.

  “Your parents are still in Amsterdam.”

  She nodded, taking in a small breath. “I know. I called them, too. I didn’t tell them about the note.” She stopped abruptly and lifted her eyes to him. “I really don’t like being afraid, you know.”

  Nate sat on the edge of the couch and folded his hands. His head ached now, too. But his thinking was clear, sharp. After he’d left her last night, he’d thought about finding her collapsing in Central Park—thought about her body language and how similar it was to when he’d caught her following him to Sister Maria’s.

  Sarah Dunnemore wasn’t a bad liar. But she wasn’t a good one, either.

  “What happened in Central Park?” he asked her.

  She almost slid off her chair. “What? Rob—” She took a breath. “You know what happened. You were there. It’s where you and Rob were shot.”

  “To you. What happened to you in Central Park? Why did you almost pass out?” He settled back on the couch. “Don’t tell me it was the ‘twin thing.’ That won’t wash twice.”

  “Nothing happened, at least, nothing that relates to the note.”

  “Sarah, you’re a smart woman. I’m sure you’re a hell of an archaeologist, not that I’d be able to judge. It’s not my area of expertise, like law enforcement isn’t yours.”

  She was silent, still twisting one of her rings.

  “You’re feeling isolated,” he said, “and you don’t need to.”

  “I don’t want to send you all off on some wild-goose chase. If I tell you what happened, which was nothing, you’ll investigate.” She shook her head. “No, it’s crazy.”

  “Guess what, Dr. Dunnemore. You don’t get to decide.”

  That brought her up short. “All right. Fair enough. I’ll let that be your job.”

  He smiled, trying to take some of the edge off his demeanor. But his arm hurt, and he still had an image of the two of them on the blanket. “That is my job.”

  She didn’t relax. “I saw a man I thought I recognized. He was up on the street, on Central Park South, looking down into the park.”

  “Recognized him from where?”

  She hesitated. “Amsterdam.”

  Hell.

  Nate didn’t speak. He wanted her to do the talking.

  “I’m sure it was just my mind playing tricks on me. He reminded me of a man I saw at the Rijksmuseum. We were all there—my parents, Rob, me.” Sarah jumped up abruptly, turning away from him and gazing out a window onto the porch, down to the river. “I was on my own. Waiting for my mother, actually. Rob and my father were off looking at the Delftware. It’s a huge museum—we limited ourselves to the Dutch collection.”

  “Where was your mother?”

  “Viewing Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. It’s an incredible painting—it’s in its own rotunda. I was in an adjoining gallery. I don’t even remember what I was looking at. Earlier Dutch works, I believe. This man approached me, and we chatted for a minute or two about the paintings, the museum. He was friendly. French, I think. My parents know so many people, I assumed it was one of their friends or acquaintances.”

  “Did you ask them about him?”

  “No. It didn’t occur to me. It’s not as if he said outright that he knew them.”

  “Describe him.”

  She didn’t hesitate. “About five-ten, angular features, dark hair that’s long in front. Nate, he can’t be the same man as the one I saw at the park. It’d been a long, stressful day. I couldn’t swear—”

  “What was he wearing?”

  “Black leather jacket and black turtleneck. So was the man at the park. That must be what made me think I recognized him.”

  “Rob didn’t see the man who approached you at the museum?”

  “I don’t know how he could have.”

  She turned from the window, her arms crossed on her chest, a way, Nate thought, for her to keep him from seeing that her hands were still shaking. She was a woman accustomed to staying in control. She wouldn’t want him to see just how the events of the past few days had rocked her. “You’re going to tell Agent Collins, aren’t you?” Her tone was cool now, almost resigned. “About both the letter and the man in the park.”

  “Damn straight.”

  She nodded and let her arms drop to her side. No shaking hands now. “I wasn’t holding back on you. I was convinced—I am convinced the man isn’t the same man I ran into at the museum. Even if it is, so what? It doesn’t mean he had anything to do with the shooting. It could just be one of those
weird coincidences. If I hadn’t gotten the letter…” She didn’t finish.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of whatever’s going on.”

  “Maybe it’s nothing.” She tried to smile. “I should show you my letter from the psychic.”

  Nate got to his feet, feeling the silence of the place, the isolation on this quiet stretch of river. Obviously Rob hadn’t expected his sister to come home to a threatening letter.

  It was postmarked the day of the shooting. Whoever sent it hadn’t wasted any time.

  “What goes on prune cake?” Nate asked.

  Sarah seemed to have no idea what he was talking about. “What?”

  “Frosting.” He wanted to pull her out of her spinning thoughts, just as his uncle had done with him with his talk of his orange eggs. “Does it have a frosting, or do you eat it plain like gingerbread?”

  “It has a caramel glaze. You put it on when the cake’s still warm.”

  He could hear the southern roots in her words, a soft lilt that seemed to match the breeze off the river. “You can probably finish making it before the FBI gets here. I’ll call Joe Collins in New York and find out what he wants to do.”

  She nodded, her breathing shallow, then started for the kitchen. She paused in the hall doorway and glanced back at him. “I’m glad you’re here.” Then a quick smile, a welcome flash in her eyes. “I think.”

  Nate glanced at the note.

  I’ll know if you talk.

  Wait.

  She’d waited—she’d waited to tell him.

  Everyone assumed the answers to the sniper attack were in New York, embedded somewhere in what he and Rob did for a living. Nate was no longer so sure. He had a feeling they could be here, in Night’s Landing, in the lives of a well-known, progressive southern family who happened to be friends and neighbors to the president of the United States.

  He dreaded making the call to Joe Collins in New York.

  And Rob—what to tell him about his sister’s letter?

  Nothing, Nate decided. At least not until he knew more.

  He could smell the prune cake baking, filling the house with warmth and the scent of cinnamon. Cozy, homey smells. She’d imposed normalcy onto herself as a way to cope. He pictured Sarah racing around that morning, pulling apart phones, trying to talk herself into believing the note didn’t mean anything, that she’d been right about the man in Central Park, after all, and he was no one.

  Maybe she had a point. Maybe the wide coverage of the shooting and something about the Dunnemores themselves had brought out the head cases.

  But Nate didn’t think so.

  Sixteen

  It was late afternoon before all the federal law enforcement types left—except for Nate. He obviously had no immediate plans to go anywhere. Sarah retreated to the kitchen and made the caramel glaze for the prune cake, pouring it between the layers and on the top while it was still hot. She hadn’t had time to really cook in months. Now it helped her control her racing thoughts, center her as she considered her options. And the old-fashioned southern recipes helped her feel more rooted and less isolated, as if she could draw on her grandmother’s strength.

  She’d taken the FBI agents, the deputy marshals and the one guy who was probably Secret Service but never said so through her house, answered all their questions and offered them iced sweet tea punch, which they’d refused. She held her temper and her tears and her nerves.

  She thought she’d done all right, but now, in the immediate aftermath of their search, she wished she’d simply thrown the note into the garbage.

  The agents had whisked it away.

  They’d told her nothing. No theories, no assessments, no hint of what they thought of the anonymous note.

  Nate had kept his distance. After the last car pulled out of the driveway, he drifted out to the front porch. Sarah had a feeling he wasn’t going to be on an evening flight back to New York.

  She didn’t know what to do with him besides feed him prune cake.

  She set it to cool on a pink Depression-glass plate and washed her hands, then dialed the hospital.

  Her brother was awake. He could talk to her.

  “Joe Collins just left here,” he said, sounding tired but agitated. “Christ, Sarah. What the hell’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just going off the deep end.”

  “The letter’s for real.” He took in what sounded like a painful breath. “You didn’t make it up. The guy in Amsterdam—I’m no help. I didn’t see him. I’m still fogged in from the meds, but I’d remember.”

  “It was probably just a regular guy in Amsterdam and a regular guy in New York and all the adrenaline—” She sighed, sinking against the counter. “Rob, it’s been an awful few days. I haven’t been at the top of my game. I didn’t get a close enough look at the man in the park to be positive it was the same guy. If I hadn’t gotten the letter, I’d never have mentioned him. Part of me still wishes I hadn’t.”

  “I’m sorry, Sarah. If I hadn’t got shot—”

  “Don’t go there.”

  “Why don’t you go back to Scotland for a week or so? Hang out with your friends. Buy me a kilt.”

  She shook her head as if he could see her. “I can’t. Not now. Rob—”

  “I don’t remember the shooting. I don’t even remember calling you. I just remember hoping Nate wouldn’t die because of me.”

  “Maybe you were dreaming on the operating table.”

  “No, Sarah. I was the shooter’s target.”

  “But why? Because of your work?” She hesitated, focusing on the old kitchen, every corner of it familiar to her, although she hadn’t lived here in years. “Or because you’re a Dunnemore?”

  “There’s never been anything dangerous about being a Dunnemore.”

  “You’re right. Crazy, maybe, but not dangerous.” She could feel the weight of his depression, his fear that he was responsible for what was happening—and his disgust with his inability to do anything about it. “I’ve been thinking. What if all this has nothing to do with you? What if I picked up an enemy in Scotland? Maybe the guy in Amsterdam and then in Central Park was following me.”

  “Come on, Sarah. You don’t have enemies. Maybe the ghost of some bones you dug up haunt you, but otherwise—no way.”

  She’d known her theory would perk him up. “I don’t deal much in bones.”

  “I’m fading,” he said. “Nurses had me up today. God, I’m so weak. I thought you’d be better off in Night’s Landing. Out of the fray. Now, I don’t know. Nate…make sure he knows you’re tougher than you look.”

  “There’s still time for him to fly back to New York tonight.”

  “Dream on. Hang in there, okay?”

  “You, too.”

  The kitchen seemed quiet and still after she hung up. She cut the prune cake in two chunks and wrapped half, carefully placing it in the freezer in anticipation of Rob’s return home, then headed out through the back door. She was restless, her head spinning.

  She found herself on the narrow trail to the Poe house. It wound along the river, on the edge of the woods of cedar trees, limestone pits and small caves, a route she’d taken hundreds of times since she was a child.

  Within five steps, Nate fell in behind her.

  Sarah almost smiled. “I knew I wouldn’t get far without you.”

  “Rob’s right. You are tougher than you look.”

  His words registered, and she whipped around at him, furious. “You eavesdropped on my conversation with my brother?”

  “Picked up the extension on the porch. Piece of cake.”

  “Damn it, don’t I have any privacy?”

  “Not when the same guy who shot me could be after you.”

  “No one’s after me,” she said, picking up her pace, pushing aside low tree branches on the damp path. The river oozed below her on her left. The path would take her higher, onto impressive limestone bluffs.

  “I didn’t listen to the entire convers
ation. That help?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “I’m going for a walk.”

  And without any warning—without even breathing—he caught one arm around her waist and drew her to him.

  She gulped in a breath. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m thinking about kissing you. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days now.”

  “You’ve only known me a couple of days.”

  “Plenty long enough to think about kissing you.”

  His mouth found hers, and she didn’t resist, didn’t even consider it—she shut her eyes and felt the softness of his lips, the coolness of the breeze against her bare arms. She remembered his injured arm and grabbed the other one instead, holding him tightly as his mouth opened to hers, his arm dropping lower, drawing her more firmly against him. He was all hard muscle and bone, not an easy man, not the sort she’d ever imagined herself wanting to kiss. Well, wanting to, maybe. He was sexy, the kind of sexy she’d been taught to resist. Didn’t need to be taught to resist.

  Only when he set her down did she realize he’d lifted her off her feet.

  She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through her hair. “Well. I guess that excuses you for eavesdropping.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  “We should head back. You have time to make an evening flight—”

  “I checked out the upstairs while you were frosting the prune cake. I think I’ll take the blue room.” He motioned up the path with one hand. “Lead the way.”

  “I had a feeling I wasn’t getting rid of you tonight. We used to get bats in the blue room.”

  He grinned at her. “I’m not afraid of bats.”

  “You’ve got flour on your jacket.” She brushed at the spot with her fingertips. “That would never do for a marshal, would it? Against all your dress codes, I imagine. Did I hurt your arm?”

  His eyes went very dark, smoldering dark. “Sarah…”

  She caught her breath. “Yes. I should lead the way.”

  The Poe home was an 1868 brick Greek Revival set on three acres of yard and gardens high on a bluff above the Cumberland River. Nate remembered seeing pictures of it when Wes Poe was campaigning for the White House. On the walk over, along the river, Sarah had explained that the house was a state and national historic site, not only because of her pal the president, but because of its own unique history and near pristine condition.