Hallowed Bones (21 page)

"Mollie's making mine," I said a little smugly.

"Sometimes, Sarah Booth, you do take the cake." She leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Would you mind if I joined you and Cece for brunch?"

"I'd love it."

Court of Two
Sisters was the place Cece had chosen. I went down the narrow hallway and was led to a seat in the courtyard. It was a beautiful place, if touristy. I ordered a Bloody Mary as I waited for Tinkie and Cece to join me.

Someone slipped warm hands over my eyes, and I heard Cece's voice at my ear. "Surprise, dahling."

"Take your paws off my face," I said a little grumpily, "you're smearing my mascara."

"Sarah Booth."

The voice was low and male and sexy. I put my hands up and felt the hands on my face. They were large hands, masculine hands. I whirled around and looked up to see Hamilton Garrett V smiling down at me.

"
Hamilton
?" I felt as if I'd fallen into a dream. He was the handsomest man I'd ever seen. With his dark hair and green eyes, he was better than a movie star. I felt a blush color my face as I remembered, in vivid detail, the hours of lovemaking we'd shared.

"You're blushing," he whispered in my ear. His lips brushed my cheek and sent shivers down me. "What are you thinking about?"

"Just remember, Sarah Booth, he's my date," Cece said, settling down at the table and signaling a waiter. "Sit down,
Hamilton
, every woman in this place is staring at you."

And they were. Especially me. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He'd been the subject of my first case, and for several weeks I'd believed he was a mother-killer. Of course, that hadn't kept me from falling into the sack with him. And my only regret had been that he'd returned to his home in
Europe
rather than stay in Zinnia and continue sinning with me.

"Did they deliver the flowers?" he asked, unfolding my napkin and putting it in my lap.

"The flowers! You sent them! To me! I thought they'd been delivered to the wrong room."

"Sarah Booth," Cece hissed, "you make it sound like you never get flowers. I've just been telling
Hamilton
how every single man in Zinnia has been courting you." I felt the pointed toe of her stylish boot bite into my shin.

"That's right. I get flowers all the time." I'd rather lie than let Cece kick me to death. "What are you doing in the States?" Turning the conversation to
Hamilton
was my only defense.

"I came to see you," he said. "I realized that I'd never drag you out of the cotton fields to visit me, so I came home."

"For how long?" My heart was beating fast.

"A week."

I wanted to ask, "And then?" but I didn't. Sometimes it's best not to know the future.

"I want to spend as much time with you as your case allows," he said, his gaze holding mine. "I'll take every spare moment you have."

"
Hamilton
is my date for the ball, but he can dance with you some," Cece said. She put in an order for two more Bloody Marys. "Make that three," I said. "Tinkie's--"

"Tinkie!"
Hamilton
said, rising. "How good to see you."

She sailed across the room and took a seat at the table. When she looked at me, her eyes were bright with happiness. "Sometimes God sends good things, Sarah Booth. You should never despair."

I was about to answer her when my cell phone rang. Everyone at the table was watching me as I answered it.

Coleman's voice was clear. "Sarah Booth, I've rounded up Coot and I think he'll talk to you. There's something you should hear. He thinks Lillith was murdered." There was a pause as he waited for me to respond. "Sarah Booth, when are you coming home?"

18

"Tomorrow morning,"
I
said to
Coleman
on
the phone, never
breaking eye contact with
Hamilton
. I fought to keep my face blank.

"I'll be glad to see you," Coleman answered. "Call me when you get in."

He hung up and I held the cell phone to my ear another few seconds. I'd been reduced from delighted to conflicted. In
Hamilton
's absence, Coleman had entered my heart. But he was a married man. Now
Hamilton
was back, at least for a week. I wasn't certain what I felt.

"Sarah Booth, are you okay?" Tinkie was staring at me.

"I'm fine. Coleman got me an appointment with Coot. He believes Lillith Lucas was murdered."

"Murdered?" Cece and Hamilton echoed. I'd successfully thrown the two of them off the scent of my fluctuating heart, but Tinkie wasn't so easily diverted. She stared at me with cool speculation.

"When's the appointment?" she asked.

"Tomorrow."

"Is Coleman going with you to talk to Coot?" She was as persistent as Sweetie Pie after a roast.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow when I go home," I said.

"I just remembered, I left my earrings at home. Since I have to go get them, I'll talk to Coot and save you a trip to Zinnia," Tinkie said quickly. "I'll pick up your dress, too. Tomorrow is Friday. Just one day to go before the ball."

I didn't want to argue. In fact, I didn't want to think about tomorrow. I had enough trouble with today. My fantasy,
Hamilton
, was sitting across the table from me, trying to figure out the currents that passed among the women.

"What do you have going now?"
Hamilton
asked me.

I looked at Tinkie and she nodded. "Relax awhile, Sarah Booth. Oscar won't be here until six. I'll check in with Doreen and then follow up on a few leads."

They were pushing me into
Hamilton
's arms, and though my womb said yes, yes, yes, my heart was a bit more reluctant.
Hamilton
had been a fantasy for so long, I didn't know if I wanted him to become real. There was too much danger of serious disappointment.

Instead of answering
Hamilton
's question, I diverted their attention by filling them in on everything I'd discovered at J.J. and Janey Crenshaw's home. I hadn't really gone into the details in front of Doreen.

"Sounds a little punitive," Tinkie said. "I don't know why some people want a religion that's founded on suffering."

"Tinkie, could you call the Crenshaws and check on Adam's widow, Kiley? Find out if there's an heir."

"Will do," Tinkie said. "On the condition that you and Hamilton enjoy the day. It's gorgeous. Maybe Doreen will read tarot cards for you. She's in the Square until six."

"Perfect,"
Hamilton
said, though I wasn't as eager. I knew my past and I didn't want a glimpse of the future. I had too much potential for a major screwup.

"I have to go buy shoes," Cece said, rising. "I don't have a thing to wear to the ball."

She only had a thousand pairs.

"I'm off, too," Tinkie piped up.

They were gone before I could protest. I'd been set up. But when I looked across the table at
Hamilton
, I couldn't say I was upset about it. For the past year I'd trained myself not to think about him. He was the man who was out of reach--across the
Atlantic Ocean
. He'd been the first man in my life in a long time when I'd moved home. I'd never expected to see him again.

"Thanks for the flowers," I said, filling the silence, which was loaded with little pings of sexual desire. "They're lovely, and only a little extreme."

"What
is
your favorite flower?" he asked. While his lips spoke those words, his eyes asked a much different question.

"It's hard to say." My voice, at least, was composed. "Roses, lilies, gladiolus, I love them all. But I guess my favorite flower is the black-eyed Susan."

"The wildflowers that grow along the ditches?"

I smiled. "That's the one."

"No hothouse orchid for you, Sarah Booth."

"Too stifling." We didn't need a hothouse; we were creating global warming right where we sat. People at the tables around us were staring and whispering. And we hadn't even held hands.

When the waitress stopped by, he ordered another round of drinks. "I've thought about you so often, but you're even lovelier than I remembered."

"Thank you,
Hamilton
." I lowered my gaze, unable to look at him for long. I still thought he might vanish or evaporate, as fantasies were wont to do. "How's
Paris
?"

"Beautiful. My work there is absorbing."

"What, exactly, is your work?" I knew he was in business, but I had no specifics except that it involved money.

"I find funding for an organization that searches for missing people."

"Runaways?"

"Political refugees."

"In war zones?" I didn't bother to hide my surprise. I was astounded. I'd always assumed he was a banker or a broker or something in a towering office building with lots of glass.

"Sometimes." A smile touched the corners of his mouth. "Don't make me into a glamorous adventurer. I'm the moneyman. I pull the funds together, nothing more."

"Does your organization ever hunt wealthy people?"

"Sometimes. When they've been taken by a political faction.
Italy
was a hot spot for that at one time. Now it's
Central America
. And to be honest, it's most often people so poor they don't have money for food."

My mother had joined the Peace Corps. She was a ruthless dogooder who believed in action, agitation, and standing up for the underdog.

"Why are you smiling?" His finger teased the corner of my mouth. His touch thrilled me, but I had begun to see that
Hamilton
was a lot more than a fantasy.

"My mother would have liked you."

"My father talked about her on a regular basis. He admired her. He said she was a woman who spoke her mind with passion and intelligence." He gathered my hand and held it between his warm ones. "I've missed you. In fact, there were days when I thought I'd have to get on a plane and come home."

"Someone told me that there are telephones in
Paris
." I said it with wide-eyed innocence.

He laughed. "A call would only have made it worse. My life is very busy. I work long hours, sometimes without rest. When I would go home at night, exhausted, I would find myself lying awake in bed, thinking about you. If I'd heard your voice, it would have been much, much worse."

"Not for me." I squeezed his hand. "Why didn't you come home?"

He sighed. "My work is consuming. There's so much to be done, and money sources are drying up in this bad economy. If I can't find the funding, people die."

One didn't just hop on a plane for a lark and leave a prisoner to be tortured and killed. Damn. It would have been so much easier if
Hamilton
had been the banker I'd imagined. Oscar didn't have such conflicts of interest.

"But you're here now." Much to my conflicted delight.

"I'm working on a deal. There are a number of extremely wealthy exiled El Salvadoran families here. I came to personally tap into their pockets. I'm harder to resist in person."

That I had no doubt of.

"But I wanted to see you. I would have driven to Zinnia had you not been here for the ball."

"You called Cece instead of me. Why?"

"I wanted to see if you'd married or taken some strange vow of celibacy." He laughed. "Really, I didn't want to interfere if you had a relationship going."

"And Cece said . . . ?" She'd obviously kept her mouth shut about Coleman.

"That you were thriving in your business and head over heels in suitors, none of them serious. Would you care for another drink? Something to eat?" he asked.

"No, I'm not hungry." My stomach was so knotted with anticipation and shock that I couldn't have swallowed a peanut.

"Shall we go?"

"Where?" I asked.

"Wherever you'd like." He stepped around the table and smoothly pulled my chair out. "Just be warned, Sarah Booth, that I've come to take you back to
Paris
with me. I can't stay here, but I can't leave you. My intentions are on the table."

The flame of desire that had been tamped down by our serious conversation burst back to life.

We walked demurely out of the restaurant and into the street.
Hamilton
hailed a taxi and we both got in it as if we were going to church, but the cabbie eyed us in the rearview mirror and grinned. "Where to?"