Chapter 15
sHORTLY BEFORE sunrise, Rick convinced Alex to put Alistair back in his jar. Rick was better, thank you very much, and he didn’t need a big, hairy spider to bite him yet a third time.
“I’m not sure the doctor will agree with you.” Alex sat at the foot of the bed. Ivy, snoring softly, lay curled in her lap. “When I said good-bye to him at the door a few minutes ago, he seemed quite impressed with Alistair. He asked if he could have one of his offspring if Vera ever finds him an appropriate mate.”
“How romantic.” Rick shifted his shoulders against the pillow. “Would you mind helping me sit up?”
“Just a minute.” Alex carried Ivy to the chair and gently laid her on the cushion.
Snore.
Alex went to Rick’s side. She reached over him, slid her right arm beneath his shoulders, and lifted him toward her. She plumped the pillow behind him. “How’s that?”
His eyes, his face, his lips were so close to hers that all she could think about was their kiss. The one she’d deceived Edna with. The one that hadn’t meant anything. Had it? She stood.
“So you love me?” he said.
Alex bit her lip. “I had to do—say—something to convince Edna to save you, didn’t I?”
“You convinced me.”
Alex looked at him. In the hours after Louis had brought the police—Louis had heard her screams and overheard some of her and Edna’s confrontation from outside the door—and after Alistair had saved Rick’s life, Alex had thought back on all Rick had said to her and done in the last day-and-a-half. A tiny place inside her hoped he really did want to come back to her, but the greatest part of her feared it wasn’t true—that Rick would, in the end, leave her again. “I’ll admit to the part about you being my best friend, but I also know you might not have been in your right mind when we talked in the kitchen. I suppose what I’m saying is, I know how important your work is to you, and I’m not holding you to—to the idea that we could start again, that we could be friends the way we used to be.”
Rick shifted taller against his pillow. “I meant what I said, Alex. Yes, my work is important to me, but so are you. And so is Mary. I’m determined you and I will work this out.”
She swallowed. Five years of marriage had taught her people did not change easily. “It might be too late for us.”
“I don’t believe it.” He motioned to the jar with Alistair inside. “At any rate, I’m willing to take the risk.”
Alex looked at Rick. Rick looked at her.
“You do realize Ivy might be the key,” he said.
“To what?”
“Finding Mary’s murderer. Maybe whoever it was left traces when he took her. That’s what you are hoping to find with those mushrooms, isn’t it? Physical traces? Perhaps Ivy can bring out emotional ones.”
Alex licked her lips. “I wish that was possible, but Ivy’s already been at every site. The yard where you last saw Mary and down by the river where the police found her body. Ivy didn’t glow.”
“Somewhere else then.”
“Perhaps.” Alex looked away from him and headed for the door. She’d reflect on that idea later, but for now she needed to collect Joe Pye weeds. Warmth and movement had returned to Rick’s legs, but his chill had turned to a fever; he needed Joe Pye tea.
“You’ll be back?” Rick’s voice tilted upward in the way he knew both provoked and challenged her.
Alex clenched the doorknob. Friendly wickedness rushed through her. The best way to confront one of Rick’s taunts had always been to tease him back with something strong enough to stop his thoughts. “Soon,” she said. “But with something else that bites.”
”Not another spider?”
She slowly faced him. Then, holding his gaze with the same unwavering look he’d given her several times over the last couple of days, she walked back to his side and gently kissed him on the forehead. “You’ll have to wait and see,” she whispered.
His mouth dropped open, and she, smiling, turned and left the room.
End
If you enjoyed To Sleep No More, please write a review. Thank you.
For more Dalton & Dalton Mysteries, visit https://www.kathleenmarks.com
***
About Kathleen Marks
Kathleen Marks is a pen name for Ronda Hinrichsen (https://rondahinrichsen.com/home.html), author of romantic suspense and speculative novels as well as the Heroes of the Highest Order (https://rondahinrichsen.com/heroes-of-the-highest-order.html) chapter book series. She loves history and frequently travels throughout the world with her husband in search of intriguing settings, characters, and stories. To learn more about Kathleen Marks, visit her website at https://www.kathleenmarks.com.
***
Speculative Novels by this Author
Trapped
When Emi Warrin wakes one night to find a thief in her mother’s home, she has no idea the intruder has planted a trap—a mysterious letter that will change her life forever. Lured to the Austrian Alps with Daniel, the man she loves, Emi is thrown into a perilous, mafia-like world of feuding families and a devastating curse that spans generations. As the Firstborn She—the only firstborn female in hundreds of years—only Emi can free her family from the curse that will soon afflict her as well. But for Emi to break the curse, she must delve into her family’s dark past, and she must gain the trust of those who would use her for their own evil designs.
As Emi struggles to understand her destiny as the Firstborn She, she learns everything isn’t as it seems and all choices have consequences. Can Emi break the curse before it’s too late?
***
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends