Drawing Blood (7 page)

Avery nodded. “Yes, as long as she got a few errands out of the way. I didn’t bother to ask her what those errands were. She seemed to get the urgency. I don’t know what kept her from leaving, but it sounds like it cost her her life.”

“Wait a second.” Grasping at the proverbial straw, Holly said, “They didn’t announce the woman’s name, so we don’t know if it’s Irene O’Neill.”

Avery treated her to a withering look that had Holly reluctantly admitting, “I know, I know. What are the chances of it being someone else? What do we do now?” Holly leaned her forearms on the kitchen island and unconsciously lifted one foot then the other, taking turns raising each and warming it on the opposite calf.

“We can’t just sit around and wait to find out if it was Irene or not. Oh God.” Her eyes widened and she looked at Avery in horror. “What if it isn’t Irene, but someone else killed in her place? I’m responsible.”

Avery looked at Holly sternly and used her firmest voice, the one that always made the kids stop dead in their tracks. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not to blame any more than I am. We didn’t murder anyone. What else could we have done?”

“I could have taken the sketch to the police.”

Avery reacted with spirit. “We talked about that. They would have dismissed you immediately, especially the cops around here. I doubt there’s ever been a murder up here. They might have blamed you for it. As it is, the gossips are going to dine out on this for weeks.”

Holly had to admit her friend was right. What else could she have done? Still, that didn’t alleviate her feelings of guilt. “They’ll release the victim’s name in good time, but how do we find out now who it was? I don’t think we should wait.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Avery’s eyes gleamed.

Holly shook her head and grinned for the first time that day. “You’ve always got an idea. Call me Ethel Mertz to your Lucy Ricardo. So start s’plaining, Lucy.”

“Janice Owen. Her husband is a cop.”

“Who is Janice Owen?”

Avery waved a hand. “You know, Jeffrey’s mother? Connor’s friend Jeffrey?”

Holly nodded. She could picture Jeffrey’s mother’s face. “Does her husband work in this county?”

“Who cares? He’s a cop. If there’s been a murder, he’ll have more information than we do. I’m going to call Janice and see what she can do for us.” Avery moved to the phone.

While her friend tried to remember the phone number, Holly poured a glass of orange juice. She lifted the jug in Avery’s direction. Avery shook her head and showed her straight white teeth. Holly smiled at her iconic gesture for having just-brushed-teeth. Orange juice after toothpaste was most unpleasant.

With nothing to do while she waited for her friend to finish, Holly recalled a little of her dream the previous night. She could feel her blush start at her chest and move upward, warming as it went. Holly wondered if
 
something as natural as a blush could set her hair on fire. It sure felt like it.

Avery hung up the phone and looked at her askance. “What’s wrong, Hol?”

She only flushed deeper still. It got hotter.

“Oh, well, now you have to tell me. That’s your, this-has-something-to-do-with-sex blush.” She took Holly’s shoulders and guided her to a chair by the kitchen table. Poking her head in the pantry, she reappeared with the homemade cinnamon buns Alison had dropped off.

“This calls for fat and sugar.” She dished out a bun for Holly and one for herself and dug in with gusto. Her mouth full, she said, “Spill, kiddo.”

Holly coated an index finger with icing and licked it off. She took a deep breath, whining. “I think I want mine heated.”

Avery narrowed her eyes, picked up Holly’s cold bun and put it in the microwave for a few seconds. They waited in silence. At the ding, Avery took the bun out of the microwave and placed it in front of Holly.

She said, “This had better be good.”

There wasn’t a thing in Holly’s life that Avery didn’t know, so if she could tell anyone about her dream it was Avery. Still, the details were very personal and she glossed over a few of the more embarrassing bits. Her friend would understand. She was very good at drawing her own conclusions.

When Holly was finished, Avery looked at her with excitement. Delighted, she threw her head back and laughed. “This is great! You have to see him again!”

Holly scoffed, “Yeah, in my dreams…literally.”

Avery wasn’t deterred. “If he can do that to you in your dreams, imagine what he can do in real life.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little scary? I mean, we’re talkin’ intense.”

“No less intense than meeting him in person. Don’t try to deny it. He lit you on fire. You tried to hide it, and I let you think you’d succeeded, but I know you too well. You were shooting flames kiddo. It’s a good thing. You could use a little sexual intensity. I gotta meet this guy.”

Holly shook her head and smiled despite herself. Avery was irresistible when like this. “I don’t know how you’re going to meet him. I’m not sure I’ll ever see him again.”

“Oh, you will. Trust me, you will.” Avery sounded absolutely certain.

Feeling the need for a life preserver, Holly changed the subject. “What did Janice say?”

“She’s already on it. She’s going to call my cell as soon as she gets any info.”

“Didn’t she think it was weird you called to ask that?” Holly asked,

Avery rolled her hazel eyes. “Are you kidding? She said she’s been on the phone all morning. Everyone’s called.”

Holly took a huge bite of her cinnamon bun. “Small towns.”

Once she’d finished the calorie-laden breakfast, Holly excused herself to shower and change. Mounting the stairs, she could hear Avery on the phone talking to her husband, Stephen.

In the bedroom, Holly slipped on her terry cloth robe and searched for her slippers. She found them on the other side of the bed. Picking up the sheet of paper that rested on the fluffy white things, she sunk to the bed in shock.

Finding her voice, she hollered for her friend.

“Avery! Get up here!”

She could hear the kitchen stool crash to the floor as Avery took off at a run. The woman was truly amazing. She must have taken the stairs three at a time. Holly glanced down at her friend’s long muscular legs and amended her estimate. With those legs, Avery could take the stairs four at a time.

Without saying a word, Holly passed the drawing to her barely breathless friend who sank to the bed beside her. “Oh my God. Is that him?”

Holly nodded. Some time during the night, she had drawn the upper half of a naked, Stryker Cain. The savage likeness was uncanny.

Avery said, “Wow. He’s certainly hot…I’ll bet he’s inspired more than one sex dream…but, Holly, what’s with all the blood? It
is
blood, isn’t it?”

She nodded slowly, staring at the drawing in Avery’s hand. It was an almost perfect image of the man she’d met in the grocery store except for two things. He wore no shirt and blood dripped from the mouth of the man in her sketch. It slid down his chin, pooled in the hollow of his collarbone and stained his chest. Again, Holly was grateful there hadn’t been color pencils handy.

“You did this in your sleep?”

“I must have.”

“So I guess you really can claim you’re such a natural artist you can do it in your sleep.”

Holly raised an eyebrow at her. “That was lame.”

Avery shrugged. “Yeah, sorry. It’s the stress.”

“I can’t recall ever sketching in my sleep before. At least I’ve never found a drawing on my pillow in the morning, but I’ve awakened from a dream and grabbed a pencil to draw what I’d seen.” She shook her head and touched a hand to her temple where a headache pounded. She nodded at the paper. “What the hell is this? He’s covered in blood. His mouth is full of it.”

“Let’s not overreact here. It’s just a drawing.”

“But you and I both know my automatic drawings depict the future. They’re never just drawings.”

Avery sighed. “Yes, I know all about them, but have you ever had a dream like the one you had last night?”

Holly laughed without humor. “Trust me, I would have told you if I did.”

Avery smiled back at her gently. “Glad to hear it. Well, then, we’re in new territory here. You don’t know how you respond to such an erotic and realistic dream. You’ve only had one. This could be your libido talking and not the future.”

She wanted to believe what her friend was telling her, but Holly felt skeptical.

Avery hammered home her point. “You said that in your dream last night you felt like you’d been turned into liquid.” She gave Holly a hopeful look. “Well, maybe that’s what you drew. Maybe that’s not blood at all. It’s you!”

“So Stryker Cain is going to drink me?” Holly couldn’t help but see the humor in her friend’s suggestion.

“Yeah, well, some men can consume a woman.” She offered up a pathetic look.

Holly laughed. “Man, are you off your game. That was lame too. Did you finish your cinnamon bun?”

Avery shook her head, feigning shame. “No. You interrupted me.”

“Oh, okay. That explains it. Your sugar must be low,” Holly said with a smile. She sobered for a second and pointed to the sketch, forcing the conversation back on topic. “I think we have to go on the assumption that this is blood. I’m not willing to ignore a portent just because it casts doubts on a man I find attractive. A man I don’t even know.”

Avery nodded her reluctant agreement. “Okay, but you have to still keep an open mind. He might be completely harmless.”

Holly rolled her eyes and waved the drawing in her optimistic friend’s face. “Yeah, wish me luck with that.”

Avery took the sketch from her hands and looked down at it. “You’re going to need it. What a waste, if he’s the villain in all this.”

“Avery, he’s drinking blood!”

“I can see that, but it doesn’t necessarily mean real blood. Maybe the O positive symbolizes how he’s going to make you feel? That’s what happened in the dream right? He made you feel liquid.”

Holly reluctantly agreed.

Avery said, “Just promise me you won’t sabotage this attraction you feel. Don’t smother it before it gets a chance to breathe.” She narrowed her eyes. “You do that, you know.”

Holly shrugged. “So you’ve told me.”

“Well, it’s about time you listened. Don’t jump to conclusions about him. I’m not prepared to plunk a black hat on his head just yet.” She made shooing motions with her hand. “Go on, take your shower. While you’re doing that, I’m going to eat my cinnamon bun and look up this Stryker Cain.”

* * * *

Holly sighed with relief when the warm water hit her chilled toes. Standing under the shower head, she closed her eyes and let the warmth soothe her. The water did its job for a moment until Holly remembered the liquid feeling she’d experienced in her dream. It had melted her very bones. Her heart started to pound as she recalled the dream and the man. The water sliding down her body felt like a caress, his caress. It felt so sensuous, so wonderful, she wanted to purr. Holly tilted her head back, closed her eyes and indulged herself for just a second. A second turned into minutes. She had no idea how long she stood there. Finally dragging herself out of her sensual daydream, she opened her eyes and started. Vision clouded, she wiped the water from her eyes with impatient fingers. Her sight restored, Holly gasped with astonishment. There he was. Stryker Cain and his glorious body stood not six inches away, the shower’s mist swirling around him.