Private Scandals

Dee.”
    “But it was a terrible risk. Tim was downstairs waiting.”
    “It was me. I was waiting. I used his hat and his coat, the sunglasses. I had to get Tim out of the way.”
    “How?” When he looked down, staring at their joined hands, her heart dropped. “Jeff. Is Tim dead?”
    “I didn’t do it the way I did the others.” Eager, anxious, he looked back at her, his eyes as hopeful as a child’s. “I wouldn’t have done that. Tim didn’t hurt you. But I had to get him out of the way, and fast. I liked him, too, really. So I was real quick. He didn’t suffer. I put him in the trunk of the car after—and then when I’d brought you here, I drove the car to a parking lot downtown. I left it there and I came home. To be with you.” His face crumbled when she turned hers away. “You’ve got to understand, Deanna.”
    “I’m trying to.” Oh, God. Tim. “You haven’t hurt Finn?”
    “I promised I wouldn’t. He’s had you all this time, and I’ve been waiting.”
    “I know. I know.” Instinctively she soothed. “They’re looking for me, aren’t they?”
    “They won’t find you.”
    “But they’re looking.”
    “Yes!” His voice rose as he pushed off the bed. Everything had gone perfectly up till now, he reminded himself. Perfectly. But he felt as though he were standing on the edge of a cliff, and couldn’t see the bottom. “And they’ll look and look. And then they’ll stop. And nobody will bother us. Nobody.”
    “It’s all right.” She rose, too, though her legs trembled.“You know how curious I am about everything. Always asking questions.”
    “You won’t miss being on television, Dee.” He used his sleeve to wipe a tear away. “I’m your best audience. I could listen to you for hours and hours. I do. But now I won’t have to watch a tape. Now it can be real.”
    “You want it to be real, don’t you?”
    “More than anything.”
    Her heart slammed against her ribs as she reached out to stroke his cheek. “And you want me.”
    “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.” His face twitched under her palm. “All these years, you’re all I’ve wanted. I’ve never been with another woman. Not like Pike. Not like Riley. I was waiting for you.”
    She wished she could harden her heart, but part of her wept for him. “You want to touch me.” She steeled herself and lifted his hand, placed it on her breast. “Like this.”
    “You’re soft. So soft.” There was something pathetic and terrifying about the way his hand shook against her, even as his fingers moved to caress.
    “If I let you touch me, the way you want, will you let me go outside?”
    He jerked back as though she’d burned him. Bitter betrayal welled in his throat. “You’re trying to trick me.”
    “No, Jeff.” It was all right for her desperation to show, she told herself. Let him see her weakness. “I don’t like being closed in. It frightens me. I only want to go outside for a few minutes, get some air. You want me to be happy, don’t you?”
    “It’s going to take time.” His mouth set in a stubborn line. “You’re not ready.”
    “You know how I have to keep busy, Jeff.” She stepped toward him, careful to keep her eyes fixed on his. When she slid her arms up his chest, his eyes clouded, darkened. “Sitting here like this, hour after hour, is upsetting me. I know how much you’ve done for me.” And she felt the outline of the syringe in his pocket. “I know you want us to be together.”
    “We are together.” He brought his unsteady hand back to her breast. When she didn’t flinch, he smiled. “We’ll always be together.”
    He lowered his head to kiss her. She slipped the needle from his pocket.
    “Deanna,” he murmured.
    Her sharp indrawn breath betrayed her. She twisted, fighting to plunge the needle into him as they grappled to the floor.
     
    Searching for Jeff finally brought Finn back to the bookcase. He had seen what he and Jenner had missed on their first search. The dimensions, he thought, as the spit in his mouth dried to dust. The dimensions were wrong. The bookcase couldn’t be an end wall. Couldn’t be.
    She was in there, he realized. Deanna was in there. And she wasn’t alone. He had one panicked notion of hurling himself bodily against the shelves. His body quivered with the effort of holding back. It wasn’t the way. God knew what Jeff would do to her in the time it took him to break through.
    Struggling for calm, he began to search methodically for a