God's Eye (34 page)

In fact, she could smell it, too. It smelled far away, loamy and slightly fetid, just a little off.

The leopard looked at where her hand touched its leg. Then, with no warning, it leapt out the window, seamlessly flying through the glass.

It was Katharine who was bound by earthly science. Her hands flew to the pane, but as she had been certain would be the case, they did not go through.

She was just convincing herself it was a dream when she turned and saw the mess of the covers, the crumpled spot where it had leapt, pushing off with its powerful back legs. She could still feel the jolt as it had propelled itself.

No, it had not been a dream.

Somewhere in the back of her senses, the smell tickled her memory.

When she walked into the office the next morning, Katharine discovered that though her night had been interrupted yet again, she had actually slept well.

That was almost disconcerting in and of itself. She shouldn’t sleep well, not with the things she had seen. But at least she had one thing she could grab onto. No, two. Margot would be back today. Katharine would be able to meet with her friend and tell her what she’d figured out. Second, she could see what was going on with Allistair.

He stood up to greet her as she came in the door.

“You look good today.” His words were tinged with shyness, and Katharine wasn’t surprised when she thought about it. She had rolled on the floor with him and followed him to the beach, then she had done nothing. So she didn’t know what to say. But he did. “You look like something is different. I can’t put my finger on it, but … maybe just the way you were walking.”

She smiled. He was right. “Actually, I can put my finger on it. I … realized something.” Katharine struggled for a way to say what had occurred, because, even though he had seen Mary Wayne’s shredded body, he hadn’t truly seen what was going on. She needed human terms for him, but then she latched onto something. “I broke up with my boyfriend.”

“You did?” He sounded surprised.

Well, so would Zachary when she actually said it to his face. And she had to pray that it would stick. She’d drunk too much the other night and wound up with him anyway, when she was supposedly working at not being with either of them. But she told Allistair the semi-fib anyway. “Yes, I did. He wasn’t right for me. I’m starting to see him for what he is.”

Allistair looked amazed, as though he had known all along and was stunned that Katharine had figured it out. Of course that would mean that he had thought from the start that Zachary was a cheater or an ass or … well, probably not something that would sneak into her condo and leave messages in Latin on the mirror. Maybe Allistair had sensed a general “bad egg” thing all along. Maybe that was why they’d had that staredown in the hallway on one of the very few occasions they had been close to each other.

“Katharine, wow.”

Before he could go further, she shut the door and started talking. Never mind that the whole embezzled funds investigation was over, meaning there was no legitimate excuse for closing the door. She did it anyway. “I’m really sorry about the way I treated you.”

“Don’t worry about–”

“I don’t know what I was doing with Zachary. He messed with my head. I thought everything was perfect and I …” She shrugged. There was no way to tell him what she suspected. Not Allistair.

He cocked his head to one side and looked at her with disbelief. “You really thought everything was perfect? You thought that, even though you were with me on the side? How did that even factor in with the perfect boyfriend?”

There was no good answer for that, and she told him so. But then she said what she’d been driving at from the beginning of the conversation. “I was out of line with you. And I don’t know how you feel about me now. Maybe, if you wanted, we could …” It was hard to say. Hard to apologize and offer herself up to someone she had really liked in the space of several breaths. In the end, she chickened out. “Whatever you want, I’m open.”

Then she ducked around behind her desk, offering a small half smile, half apology before she stared at the monitor and got to work. Allistair simply nodded as though he were confused and wandered slowly back to his chair. Since she didn’t know what to make of his response, Katharine chickened out again and did nothing.

Two full hours passed with Katharine training her gaze at her computer. She didn’t want to glance over at him, didn’t want to be disappointed by what she might see. But finally Allistair came around behind her desk and leaned over her, his hands on either side of hers, caging her in.

Katharine’s heart beat faster, knowing what it wanted, but not knowing what he wanted from her. His head came down, his mouth near her ear. And all she could do was wait.

His voice was low, “What did you mean when you said you were open? Did you mean like the way we were before?”

She could feel the heat of him, he was so close. Fighting not to swallow, not to take a deep breath, not to give herself away, though she feared she already had, she managed one word: “Yes.”

He straightened, and the loss of his presence from her personal space was like a blast of cold air, or maybe of reality. She had tossed him aside with no explanation before, and here she was wanting to pick up where she had cut him off. She knew his cold response was perfectly warranted.

In slow, sure steps, Allistair made his way back to his desk and sat down. He said nothing, simply began typing. He shifted folders. Made a call. And let her sit there and feel supremely foolish.

But it wasn’t long before he spoke. “Could I bring dinner to your place tonight?”

The tight bands around her chest loosened. “Yes. That would be great.”

She would have deserved it if he hadn’t asked. But she was more than glad that he had.

When he asked for the rest of the afternoon off, she granted it immediately, only asking when she could expect him.

Katharine spent the next several hours of her day feeling normal for the first time in a long while. She ate yogurt at her desk for lunch, then topped it off with a granola bar. She worked in the office by herself. And since she wasn’t tense, waiting to see what Allistair would say or do, she got a lot of work done.

She checked a paper mill in Kansas and found that there was an abnormally high incidence of a certain chemical in a nearby city’s water and that several agencies believed it to be caused by the plant. The plant denied all charges and demanded proof. Though they were making money in greater quantities each year, Katharine put the file aside and looked for another option to recommend.

When Margot called and asked if they could grab a coffee while she had a break, Katharine offered a hasty yes and cleared out for the day. Lisa looked at her a bit funny as she left, but there was nothing to say. She had been prompt every single day before these last few months had kicked in. She had stayed late, had done just enough financial research into a corporation to recommend it or not–exactly what was asked of her. She had been nothing but a model employee. Now, Lisa looked about ready to run an intervention. And she would’ve had good cause. Drugs looked like a good fit for Katharine’s behavior. Sadly, drugs would have been an easier option to deal with.

The weather was beautiful, so she and Margot walked with their coffee drinks, which was probably a good thing, given the topic they landed on once they covered the details of Margot’s visit with her mother and father. Katharine wouldn’t have changed the subject, but she didn’t have much choice.

“Something happened. Tell me,” Margot finally broached the necessary subject.

She gave Margot all the details she had, right down to the shapes of Zachary’s bruises. Shaking her head, Katharine asked, “Do you think that’s really what’s going on? Some demon is chasing me? Or did we make up something to explain a prank we couldn’t understand?”

Somehow her friend seemed to understand. “You can’t just explain it all away as a prank. That’s been the whole problem since this started, if what you told me is true.”

“Yeah.” Taking a long sip of her coffee, Katharine asked what she’d wanted to all along. “Do you think it will just go away now? I’ve identified the problem. I’m cutting myself off from him, I …” There wasn’t much more to say.

“Who knows? I think we just wait.” Margot shrugged and let it go at that.

But Katharine worried. What if it wanted something? It had proven that it could get into her apartment. The marks on her arms had proven that it could not just get in, but get to
her.
Would it just quit?

And, more importantly, what would she do if it didn’t?

But she drank her coffee and changed the subject again. Margot would help if and when there was a need, and Katharine would cross that bridge when she got to it.

When Margot went back to run the evening shift at the library, Katharine headed off to her condo, then bolted herself into the unit. Then, feeling particularly brave, she squared her shoulders and inspected the carpet. After all, there was no ready explanation to give Allistair about that. Luckily, the carpet was clean.

She showered and primped, a little giddy at the thought of having him over. He was as much a drug to her as Zachary had been, but she felt safe with him now, in a way that she hadn’t felt in the last several months.

He arrived as planned, looking relaxed in jeans and a T-shirt and bearing grocery bags.

Katharine watched as he produced chicken breasts, asparagus, and mushrooms. He had a small bag of flour and a carton of six eggs. Several clear plastic containers held fresh herbs. He loaded several additional items into her fridge before she could see what they were. She imagined the refrigerator was probably as startled as she was; she didn’t think it had ever held actual ingredients.

He talked excitedly while he expertly chopped and seasoned the chicken. She offered to help, but when she admitted she had no usable kitchen skills other than opening wine, he produced a bottle of pinot gris from another bag and had her do the honors.

“It’s already chilled.” She was surprised. Somehow he had thought of everything.

“Of course, that’s the way it … tastes best.” A shrug dismissed the joy he was displaying. “I love food.”

It didn’t show. She tried to think back to the times they had eaten together, but nothing had foretold this. So she poured him a glass of the wine and leaned back against the counter offering conversation, really the only thing she could provide in a kitchen.

An hour later a covered baking dish holding dumplings, chicken, and many of the other ingredients he had brought was slid into the oven to bake. He offered her crackers and some cheese spread he swore by to tide her over while it baked.

He looked like a kid in a candy shop.

There was something about the way he was acting–the words slipped out before she thought about it. “Are we celebrating something?”

Immediately, she wished she could take it back. Instead, she braced herself for a deserved comment that they were in fact celebrating the end of her being a bitch to him.

Allistair smiled and said it in a much nicer way. “Yes. I never thought Zachary was right for you.” He clinked his glass against hers. “This is to open eyes. And second chances.”

When she smiled, she felt it clear through herself. It was no longer just a facial movement, but an expression of how she really felt. This time, he took her wine glass away and said before he kissed her, “All’s fair in love and war.”

They ate the sumptuous food he’d made, both of them practically moaning out loud at the taste. She had no idea he was such a good cook.

He laughed with her, freer than she’d seen him before. But then again, she’d only ever led him on as a cheap side deal to her acknowledged boyfriend.

When she kissed him hard and pulled him toward the bedroom, she thought for a moment that he might say no, but he quickly gave in. In a heartbeat, he became the lover she remembered from before, telling her how silky her hair was, how soft her skin felt.

She could be free with him, she told herself. And so she didn’t hesitate to ask him to stay with her.

“I’ll stay as long as I can.” Allistair looked into her eyes and seemed to see the shadow of fear that was creeping in as time alone loomed over her.

Still, she let herself fall deep asleep in his arms, in her own bed.

Later, she awoke slowly, the dark surrounding her but the smell of him still permeating the sheets. Naked and warm, she was sure he must have just left the bed. With a smile, she rolled over and buried her nose in the sheets. They were new sheets she had pulled from the back of the closet in an attempt to remove Zachary in human ways.

Her lips tugged into a well-sated half-smile, and she curled back into the warm spot in the bed and waited. But she didn’t hear anything. No running water, no sounds of someone stealing milk or leftovers from the kitchen.

Slowly, Katharine became aware of someone else in the room. In the corner, in the part that was shadowed. Had he sat at her desk and watched her sleep? There was something endearing about that idea. But still she wanted him with her.