Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 25

There was something forlorn in her voice, and not for the first time he

had a sense of how hard this was for her. It was his turn to say, "I'm sorry."

Faith shook her head but didn't otherwise reply, and when she looked

past him, the reflection of the fire made her eyes look vividly alive.

Green eyes, not blue.

Red hair instead of blond. Slender fragility instead of athletic grace.

The intelligence was much the same, the occasional dry humor, but

physically- Realizing where his thoughts had wandered, Kane felt ashock. He stared at Faith, conscious of his heart beating faster, of anemotion that was part longing and part guilt, and something else hedared not examine too closely.

"Kane?" She was looking back at him, puzzlement turning into awareness.

One of her hands began to lift as if to reach out to him, but then she

clasped both of them tightly together in her lap. The neat red nails gleamed darkly.

Red nails.

Kane turned from the fireplace and from her, crossed the room to the

piano, and sat down on the bench. "Don't let me keep you up." His voice

was much harsher than he had intended.

He had played no more than a few quiet notes when Faith rose from the couch with a murmured good-night and retreated to the bed- room.

Kane continued to play but wholly by rote. He wanted to go after her.

But he couldn't.

He couldn't.

... Faith woke to bright morning sunlight slanting through the drapesand the sound of the piano being played softly. She had left her bedroomdoor ajar for no reason she wanted to explain to herself, and each timeshe had awakened in the night she had heard the quiet notes.

She wondered if he even realized he had played the same song over andover again.

She rose and got ready to face the day. And him.

Showered and dressed, she nerved herself to walk out into the livingroom and say good morning in a steady voice.

Kane stopped playing but didn't move from the bench. "Good morning." Hisvoice was as steady as hers, damp hair and fresh clothing evidence thathe had showered recently, but she didn't know whether or not he hadslept.

"I guess there's nothing new from Daniels?"

"No. But he should be here any minute."

Faith nodded, then retreated to the kitchen and poured a gla.s.s of orangejuice. She wasn't particularly thirsty but needed a moment to collectherself.

Something had changed.

She didn't know how it had happened or why, but at some point lastnight Kane had looked at her, really looked at her. For the first time,she thought, he had seen her clearly as something other than a means toan end. And once he had done that ... No. She would not think about it.

But he's thinking about it. He's been thinking about it all night.

She slowly went back out to the living room. "I wish-"

"You wish what?" Kane's voice was almost controlled enough to hide theunderlying note of strain.

He doesn't have to hurt like this. Tell him- Faith tried to concentrate,but the voice had vanished like a soap bubble. Slowly, she said, "I wishI'd had those years of practice Bishop talked about. I wish I couldconcentrate, or focus, or do whatever it takes to make sense of this."

She set her gla.s.s on a nearby table. "I'm sorry, Kane. I wanted to be ofsome help, but-"

"You have helped, believe me." He got up and stepped around the end ofthe piano so they faced each other.

"Have I?" She had to ask, even though every instinct warned her she wasrisking too much too soon. "Or have I just ... complicated thesituation? "

Kane took a step closer, as though pulled against his will. His handlifted to her cheek, but froze before it touched her.

Faith was suddenly conscious of her heart thud- ding, her breathingquickening-and of that suspended hand. Last night at the warehouse shehad been unable to touch him because he'd been utterly unreachable. Thistime, she thought, he stopped just short of touching her because hesuspected it would cause him pain.

"I won't," she murmured.

"You won't what?" He took another step, and his hand gently cupped hercheek.

"I won't hurt you." She wanted to close her eyes and press herself tohim, to rub herself against him.

She could barely breathe.

"That's a strange thing to say." He sounded puzzled, but his eyes wereon her mouth, darkening, growing intent, watching as his thumb brushedacross her bottom lip slowly.

"It's important," she whispered, not knowing why it was. "Please believeme. I won't-"

"I don't care," Kane said, and kissed her.

Faith felt herself melt against him, her mouth opening to him, her soulopening to him. For the first time since coming out of the coma, she wascompletely and joyously sure of who she was and where she belonged.

The doorbell was so loud in the early-morning quiet that it jerked themapart.

Kane was frowning a little and his voice was husky when he said,"Probably Tim. I'd better ... "Yes, of course," Faith managed to say.

He seemed about to touch her again, then swore under his breath andturned away.

Feeling suspended between joy and disappointment, and an odd sense thatshe had been a heartbeat away from understanding something that wasdesperately important, Faith watched him walk to the foyer and openthe front door.

For an instant, seeing Bishop and Richardson standing there, she allowedherself to hope.

just for an instant.

Then Bishop spoke, his voice hard with control.

"I'm sorry, Kane. They've found Dinah."

CHAPTER NINE.

"She wanted to be cremated." Kane stood staring out the apartmentwindow, through the recently installed blinds. "She wasn'tclaustrophobic in the conventional sense, but she told me once thatshe'd always had an absolute horror of being trapped in a small s.p.a.ce,especially ... underground. I don't know why.

Something in her childhood, I suppose."

Richardson watched him the way an expert watched a ticking bomb; withoutfear, but with the certain knowledgee that the next second could bringdestruction. "It'll be a while yet, Kane. The M E.'s office has had abusy week, and they're backed up.

They might get it done in a week, but the lab is so far behind that thetoxicology report will take at least three or four."

just in time for Christmas, Faith thought.

She sat, silent and still, on the couch where she could see Kane. Shethought of the refrigerated storage drawers at the morgue andshuddered. Which was worse? she wondered miserably. That chilledwaiting, or the stainless steel table and sharp scalpels that would comeeventually?

Not that Dinah would be aware of either, of course. She was out of pain now.

"They did a preliminary exam?" Bishop asked in the flat, almostdisinterested voice that might have convinced a stranger he felt nothingabout the matter.

"The usual one, at the scene," Richardson replied.

"Given where she was found, the M E. says establishing time of deathwill be even more tricky than usual, but his initial estimate isthirty-six to forty-eight hours, maybe longer."

Dinah's body had been discovered by two city workers searching anabandoned, condemned apartment building for the source of a water leak.

They had found the leak in the dark, dank bas.e.m.e.nt, which smelled ofmold and ancient earth and the refuse of people who had stopped caringlong before they had left the place. There in that grave of a building,where a pipe had rusted through and water gushed out, one of the men,more curious than his partner, had opened a barred door to an airtights.p.a.ce originally constructed as a bomb shelter.

The tiny concrete room hadn't protected Dinah in life, but the coldtemperature and dry airless conditions had, in a sense, shielded her,delaying decomposition of the body that had been so maimed and savagedin its final days.

"You'll need a positive identification." Kane turned suddenly from thewindow, a last flicker of hope showing in his eyes.

Reluctantly, the detective shook his head. "Her prints are on file, andthe dental records are good. I checked both myself. It's Dinah, Kane.

There's no mistake. "

"I want to see her."

"No," Richardson said. "You don't."

"i-"

Bishop interrupted, deliberately Faith thought, to say, "Is there an.o.bvious cause of death?"

"Didn't find one in the preliminary exam. No gunshot or knife wound, orblow to the head severe enough to kill. The M E. thinks she probablybled to death, partly from internal injuries. Or if she was alive whenthey put her in that airtight room, she could have-could havesuffocated." Richardson paused, cleared his throat, then went onstolidly.

"There was severe bruising of the body, possibly caused by a fall butmore likely deliberately inflicted. Broken bones, including several ribs,one of which probably punctured a lung. And both wrists were cut deeplyby the wire they used to restrain her."

"Was she raped?" Kane asked, a harsh note creeping into his voice.

"We'll know after the autopsy."

Kane turned back to stare out the window once again.

Faith saw Bishop send Richardson a quick, questioning look, saw thedetective nod almost imperceptibly, and a wave of sickness washedover her.

Richardson was sure of the rape even if he wasn't willing to tell Kane.

Tim Daniels, who had been silent until then, asked, "Anything where shewas found that might help us catch the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who did it?"

"Very little at the scene, though we did get a few fibers from herclothing. The forensics tab should be able to tell us more in a day ortwo, if there's anything to tell. We've got people canva.s.sing the areain case anybody saw or heard anything suspicious in the last few days,but I'm not expecting results. That area is pretty deserted, and anybodywho was around would have been carefully minding his own business."

Faith spoke up for the first time, asking quietly, "What about the dogbites?"

Richardson frowned. "How did you know she'd been bitten by a dog @ "

"She dreamed it," Kane said.

Faith winced at the bitter note in his voice but didn't blame him for his hostility. A lot of help her "dreams" had been; last night and eventhis morning, she had believed Dinah was still alive. She knew only toowell her belief had encouraged Kane's, had convinced him they could findDinah alive if not unharmed.

"What else did you dream?" Richardson asked, with none of the skepticismshe'd expected.