Silver Sparks (21 page)

Feeling more settled, she pulled back. He did, too, although he still stood close, and his hands stayed on her arms. She already missed the warmth and the scent of him.

One of them should say something to break whatever this thing was that vibrated between them and caused weird little tingles in her chest. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak a soft rustling sound came from her right. Then another.

He must have heard it, too. “Are there animals in here?” he whispered.

“Maybe bats,” she said doubtfully. “But not this far in.”

They stood perfectly still, listening. Seconds later they heard it, this time a low murmur, like a far-off voice. It came from deeper in the tunnel, somewhere to their right.

His hand slid down to clasp hers. Keeping her close, he shuffled back to the flashlight and picked it up, shining it toward the far end of the cavern. They saw nothing but the boarded-up hole before the light was swallowed by the dark tunnel beyond.

Cal walked slowly forward. Maggie wasn’t sure she wanted to run into someone in the mine, but she wasn’t alone and curiosity was overcoming fear. She crept silently beside him, holding tight to his hand.

They reached the boards over the hole, an area only five or six feet in diameter. Cal started around it, then stopped at another sound. The voice was closer. Not distinct enough to tell what the man said, but enough to know he wasn’t far away.

It came from the hole.

They knelt on the gritty floor as Cal shone the light over the boards. Most were close together, but a large gap showed where two boards had rotted away and fallen into the hole. The rest shone with moisture. Maggie realized the air felt damp, too, and looked around as Cal’s flashlight explored the walls. Small rivulets of water left wet paths on the wall and snaked their way to the hole. The miners had probably only enlarged a hole or fissure that was already there, following the course of the water.

The flashlight played over the boards again and the dark gap that revealed the rough walls of the shaft below. With sudden alarm she grabbed his hand, pushing the flashlight away from the boards.

He aimed the light at her chest, not blinding her but allowing him to see her. She probably looked as shadowed and eerie as he did. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

“They might see it,” she said, pointing at the hole. She wasn’t even sure why she was being secretive. Why she didn’t yell hello and ask how the tunnel was down there. Exploring an old mine didn’t make the other people suspicious, any more than it did her and Cal.

But Cal must have felt the same caution, because he nodded and kept the light pointed up. As they stared into the hole, she noticed a faint glow lighting the bottom, creating a shiny black reflection that moved across the water. It wasn’t the narrow beam of a flashlight, and she assumed someone down there had a lantern.

More murmuring reached them, still indistinct but never varying in tone. “It sounds more like one person talking to himself,” she said.

“I think you’re right.” They listened for another minute before Cal whispered, “I don’t hear splashing sounds. I thought you said there was water at the bottom of the hole.”

“There is. Maybe it’s a small pool, and he’s near it.”

“How’d he get there?”

“I don’t know. Mines sometimes have more than one level, and more than one entrance. He must have come in through a different tunnel.”

They listened quietly a while longer. She heard a watery sound that could have been from someone dipping into the water. Then one or two quick words and nothing more. He was gone. After a few minutes of silence, Cal helped her to her feet. “Come on. Whoever he is, if he’s hiking on this mountain, I’d rather run into him outside than in here.”

But there was no sign of anyone as they hiked back to the commune. Maggie led Cal straight to the tiny jewelry studio so they could ask Pete about a possible second mine entrance. She forgot all about it as soon as they opened the door.

Amber was looking at herself in the small mirror Kate held up. “Try it on the other side,” Kate said, and Amber switched something to her other hand, holding it beside her lower lip as she studied her reflection. Maggie recognized one of the small silver pieces of jewelry the commune made for piercings and nearly choked.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

Kate looked up. “Oh, hi, sweetie. Amber’s considering a new piercing, so we’re trying to see how it might look.”

“What!” Cal took a step forward, and Maggie grabbed his hand, squeezing hard. He stopped, teeth grinding as he reevaluated. “Why do you want another piercing?” he asked. She thought he sounded quite reasonable.

Amber apparently didn’t. She gave him a hard stare. “Because I like them.”

Cal looked at the silver ring Amber was holding up to her mouth and folded his arms. “I don’t.”

Kate gave him a bright smile. “Then we won’t offer you one. We all get to decide what to do with our own bodies, don’t we?”

Amber smiled at Kate.

Maggie grabbed Cal and left.

Chapter
Twelve

H
e grumbled about the lip ring halfway back to town. “She hasn’t done anything yet,” Maggie reminded him. “Maybe she just wants to show some independence, to let you know you can’t take over her life.”

Actually, she didn’t think there was any maybe about it. She’d felt the same way when her grandmother had tried to put sensible restrictions on her behavior—restrictions she wouldn’t have had at the commune. She’d rebelled. The only difference was, she didn’t do it by getting her lip pierced. She’d had sex with boys.

“It could be a lot worse,” she told him.

He caught the significance in her look, and shut his mouth. “I guess,” he admitted. He was quiet for some time after that. When he finally spoke, his voice had lost all its anger. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Maggie. I don’t know how to be a big brother to a sixteen-year-old girl. I want to tell her all the things she’s doing wrong, even when I know she doesn’t want to hear them. I don’t know if I can do this family thing.”

“Sure you can. Everyone feels that way about teenagers.”

“Yeah, I see a lot of those teenagers as a cop. I don’t like them.”

“And most of them turn into decent people. Amber will, too.”

His mouth pulled into a tight line. “At least I only have to keep her for two weeks. Maybe she won’t have too many new holes in her by the time I send her home.”

They were just entering Barringer’s Pass when Maggie gave in to impulse. “Pull in here,” she said as they approached Del Tanner’s.

“A bar?” He turned into the parking lot. “You want a drink?”

“Not only a bar. They also make the best burgers and sandwiches you’ve ever had. My treat, to celebrate all my big orders today.”

“I am hungry,” he admitted.

“Me, too. I worked up an appetite on that hike.”

His mouth twitched with a half smile and she knew he was thinking of one specific way they’d worked up an appetite. A million butterflies battered themselves against her stomach. Between the sexy smiles and the tender hugs, he kept her more off balance than she’d ever felt with a man.

She covered it up with a grand entrance, raising her voice to yell hello to Del when she spotted him across the room.

The middle-aged man looked up and grinned. “Hey Maggie! Have a seat, I’ll be right with you.”

“No rush.” Grabbing one of the small laminated menus, she led Cal to the bar. It was early for supper and most of the stools were open. Leaning sideways to see the menu as Cal read, she began to point out her favorites.

“Did you find the burgers? The Silver Miner’s Deluxe is my fave . . . what the hell?” She stared at the menu, which no longer offered the Silver Miner’s Deluxe. It had the Rafe De Luca Special.

“Del!”

Across the room, Del lifted a hand, letting her know he’d be right there.

“I take it you weren’t always a sandwich?” Cal asked.

“Me?” She grabbed the menu and looked where he pointed.
The Maggie Larkin Hot Plate.
Her eyes narrowed at the line beneath it:
Caution: This is one hot dish!

She barely saw Del arrive through the red haze in her eyes.

“Maggie! Long time no see!”

She spun the menu around to face him, and pointed. “What’s this?”

Del’s laugh wasn’t even a little self-conscious. “You like our new selection? Pretty clever, if I do say so myself.”

“A hot dish?” she growled.

“Sizzling!” He took a good look at Cal. “Hey, you must be the mystery man!”

“Cal Drummond.” He appeared to be fighting back amusement as he stuck out his hand.

“You oughta try the Mystery Man Burger with my special mystery sauce. A real kick-ass burger, like it says.”

“God damn it, Del.”

He gave her shoulder a friendly swipe. “Hey, it’s good business, kiddo. Just like they do in New York City. I went there once and had a sandwich named for Michael Douglas. Figured you deserve your own sandwich, too, now you’re famous.”

“But I don’t want to be famous.”

“Can’t fight public opinion, Maggie. The people say you’re famous, you’re famous.”

She looked at Cal. He leaned close. “I believe it’s meant to be a compliment,” he murmured.

“’Course it’s a compliment!” Del said. “What do you say I fix you two a couple burgers on the house? You’ve more than earned it, the way my business has picked up.”

She sighed. “Fine. Just not the Rafe burger.”

“Ten minutes,” he promised happily. “Hey, Cassie, get these two something to drink, would ya?”

He left to see about the burgers and Maggie turned a helpless look on Cal. “I’m not sure if I should be horrified or embarrassed.”

“Like you told me, things could be worse.”

“How?”

He turned the menu around. “You could be this one.”

She looked.
The Bodyguard Club Sandwich. A huge pile of meat that packs a real punch!

“Now, that I like.”

He stopped at a drugstore on the way to her house. When he came back out, he opened the box as soon as he got in the truck. “I haven’t carried a condom in my wallet in years, but I’m putting one in it right now.”

“Do you have room for two?”

He gave her a heated look. “I’ll toss out the money.”

She smiled all the way home. The man was definitely getting an invitation to spend the night, and she was sure he wouldn’t refuse. Let the media hordes see his truck parked in her driveway overnight. Everyone already considered Cal her boyfriend, so it wouldn’t be a news flash.

Once they were inside, he asked for a tour of the house, starting with the bedroom. It turned out to be a short tour.

He didn’t rush. He undressed her, leisurely exploring each part of her he exposed. She never knew that a kiss on her wrist or behind her knee could feel so erotic, or that she could want a man so much that just the feel of his naked body against hers could bring her to the brink of orgasm. He stretched out on top of her, pinning her hands to the bed as he kissed her mouth and nibbled at her neck. Between them, his erection teased her, making her strain upward, nearly begging him to relieve the aching lust he built inside her. But he took his time, driving her to the edge of madness before he finally eased into her in one long, slow slide. She exploded before he could even move, crying out as her body convulsed around his.

When she could breathe normally again, she laughed. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait.”

“It’s okay.” He moved slowly, watching her.

“I . . . Oh. Mmm.” Her spent body was recovering rapidly, and turned out to be not so spent after all. “Cal?”

“What?”

“Don’t stop doing that.”

“Wasn’t planning to.”

Neither was she, not until his breathing became as ragged as hers had and his eyes as feverish with need. When they finally did, she took him with her into a body-clenching, soul-rocking release.

They lay entangled for some time afterward. She hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but when she opened her eyes again the bedside clock read 2:36 a.m. and her arm was numb. She rolled over. The bedroom was dark but light poured in from the hallway and the living room beyond, where they’d left the lamps on. She should probably turn them off. She could also get a snack while she was up. As she debated the idea, Cal mumbled in his sleep and looped his arm around her, spooning her against his warm body. She sighed contentedly and changed her mind about getting up.

Waking up with Cal felt normal, which was saying a lot—even when she’d had a regular sex life she’d never allowed men to sleep over. She didn’t like to encourage their territorial instincts. But rolling over to Cal’s kisses felt as natural as if she’d done it for years, although she was certain she’d never had a morning shower as invigorating as the one she took with him.

He even seemed to belong in her kitchen. Their movements felt choreographed as she selected cereal boxes, milk, and juice, turning to find he’d set out bowls, spoons, and glasses. She smiled to herself and sat down to eat.

Cal dug into his cereal as he asked, “What do you have planned for today?”

“I have to be at the store. I have brickmasons coming this morning, and the carpenter in the afternoon. How about you?”

“I thought I’d try to get some time with that police sergeant we talked to—what’s his name?”

“Sergeant Todd?”

“Right. He seemed open to considering Rafe as a suspect, and I’d like to go over Tara’s and Rachel’s case files with him, if he’ll let me. Might find something that was missed if we go at it from a new perspective.”

She nodded. “Want to meet for dinner?”

“Sounds good.”

Damn, even their conversations sounded like they’d done this forever. She couldn’t understand it—men didn’t mesh well with her life. Everything just felt so darn middle-class, middle-American
normal
.

He took a sip of juice. “Let’s go back to Del Tanner’s. I want to try the Maggie Larkin Hot Plate.”

She rolled her eyes. Maybe not everything.

She prepared to feel less comfortable about being with him that evening, in case her mind was floundering in a sex-induced haze. Instead, she found herself suggesting they stop by his cabin to pick up a few changes of clothes.

His lopsided smile made her heart do little flips. “I was hoping you’d say that. But you can still ask me to leave if you feel like I’m crowding you.”

She was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen.

She gritted her teeth as they approached her house, preparing for another dash past the media, except the reporters weren’t there. Maggie looked up and down her street and in her neighbors’ driveways as they turned in. No vans with satellite dishes on their roofs. No reporters.

“Where did everyone go?” she asked.

“No idea. Must be swarming after Rafe.”

“Good. He can keep them.” Part of her wondered what Rafe might be doing or saying to attract every available news team, but she wasn’t going to let it ruin her night.

An odd tingle started deep in her chest as she watched Cal carry his small duffel into her house. She decided it was a good tingle. And after making room for his things in her dresser and bathroom, and making love with him in her bed, she decided
normal
might be a good thing.

They made popcorn and turned on the TV. Maggie leaned against Cal’s shoulder, lazy and happy, thinking about how good the right kind of
tired
could feel. She barely stirred when Cal’s phone rang.

He took the call, listened, then hung up seconds later. He turned to her with a perplexed look. “Rick says something’s going down at the Alpine Sky and we’d better get up there right away. He said a couple cop cars are parked out front and they’ve been questioning employees.”

Maggie scrunched her brow in confusion, but before she could respond, her own phone rang from the coffee table. She looked at the readout then held Cal’s gaze as she picked up the call. “Hi, Zoe.”

Her sister’s voice was a harsh whisper in her ear. “Maggie, I think something terrible has happened.”

She wouldn’t have thought she had any adrenaline left, but at the panic in Zoe’s voice, a tiny jolt of fear shot through her. “What is it?”

“A girl is missing. Someone who was partying here the night before last. Maggie, Rafe was here then, too. He was with her.”

All the way there, Maggie kept thinking about how easily it could have been Amber. If they hadn’t pulled her out when they did, if they hadn’t made sure she was tucked away where Rafe couldn’t get to her, they might be experiencing a whole different level of terror right now.

She turned up the truck’s heater, though she was shivering from more than the frigid night air. “Maybe we’re jumping to conclusions,” she said, wanting to believe it. “Rafe isn’t stupid. He knows you’re looking into Tara’s and Rachel’s disappearances. He wouldn’t dare kill another girl now, would he?”

“Stupid has nothing to do with it, Maggie. If he killed another girl, it was an impulsive act, a result of losing his temper. It depends on whether someone made him angry enough to lose control.”

Her heart sank. “We did.”

It came out small and weak, but he turned sharply, and she repeated it. “We made him that angry. He saw us when we left the bar with Amber. He looked right at me, and realized Amber was with us. I think he would have killed me on the spot if he could have.”

He shook his head. “That would be premeditated. That’s not his style. I meant if the girl made him angry.” In the low light from the dashboard, she saw him clench his jaw. “Unless he’s changed his pattern.”

She shot an alarmed look at him. “Could he?”

“If he develops a taste for murder.” He squeezed her hand, kept it. “He wouldn’t be the first.”

The Alpine Sky was ablaze with lights. Not the late-night glow of discreetly placed lamps, but the harsh glare of floodlights. They’d found the missing media convoy.

Five news vans lined the curving entrance, ceding prime curb space only to the two police cruisers near the door. Two more vans with satellite dishes sprouting from their roofs sat in the parking lot, along with three SUVs covered with the call letters and slogans of their various network, cable, and radio stations.