LITMIR.BIZ

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she have any other family?”

      “I think so. But not here in Houston. There might be an aunt in Florida. What did the police say?”

      “Not much. But I’m gonna go to the station this morning and find out all I can.”

      “You want me to watch her?”

      He nodded. “Until I can get social services out here.”

      The thought of Megan being surrounded by strangers, even well-meaning strangers, was unbearable. “No, please,” Hailey said. “Don’t call them. I’ll watch her.”

      “That’s fine for today, but at some point…”

      “Let’s deal with that later. After Megan has some time to get used to…” She sighed. “Poor little thing.”

      “Yeah,” he said. “It stinks.”

      “Do you have any of her things? Her clothes?”

      “There’s a pillowcase stuffed with her things back at my place. I haven’t looked in it.”

      “What do you say we do that now? I want to get her dressed, and then I’ll fix her some breakfast.”

      “You don’t have to go to work?”

      She shook her head. “I work here, out of my apartment. I design web sites.”

      Jack looked at her again, more carefully this time. She was sort of attractive, but that wasn’t what drew him to her. There was a calmness about her, a serenity, that he’d never felt from another person before. No wonder Megan had wanted to come here.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked.

      He shook his head. “We’d better go.”

      She gave him a questioning look, one that forced him to focus on her eyes. Blue, very blue. And kind. He could see where a man would go for a woman like her.

      “I’ll go dress and be right back,” she said. “There’s more coffee if you want it.”

      He nodded as she headed for her bedroom. When she was gone, his gaze moved to the girl. She seemed calm. But what did he know?

      As he waited for Hailey to return, he tapped his fingers on the tabletop, thinking about this morning. About the Taurus. Maybe it hadn’t been an HPD vehicle. It was dark. He wasn’t exactly at his mental peak. It certainly didn’t make sense. He knew most of the cops, at least from downtown. No one he knew would have done something so blatantly illegal. So if it wasn’t cops, then who? Roy had known someone was after him.

      Hailey came back, dressed in worn blue jeans and a pale blue sweater that buttoned down the front. The outfit showed off her curves very nicely. She went straight to Megan. “What do you say we go get dressed?”

      Megan looked up. “It’s bath time after Sesame Street.”

      “I see,” Hailey said. “Perhaps Mr. McCabe will let us use his bathtub.”

      Megan looked at him briefly, then back to Hailey. “I want to go home.”

      Hailey picked the girl up. “Gosh, you’re getting so big!” she said. “Pretty soon, you’ll be taller than this whole building!”

      Megan giggled.

      “We can’t go home, sweet pea,” Hailey said, her voice as soft as a feather pillow. “Not just yet.”

      Megan didn’t respond. She simply laid her head on Hailey’s shoulder.

      Jack stood up, glad he’d taken that extra pain pill. His hip hurt, but not too badly. As Hailey walked to the door, he headed for the quilt and the doll, still on the floor in front of the television.

      “Oh, wait,” she said, guessing what he was about to do. “I’ll get those.”

      “I can do it.” A quick flash of anger seared his insides. “Just take care of the kid.”

      “Sorry.”

      He hadn’t meant to be so gruff with her. But dammit, he wasn’t totally helpless. To show her, he leaned over his cane neatly and came up again with Megan’s things.

      “That didn’t hurt?” she asked.

      He shrugged. “It’s not so bad.”

      She sighed as she turned to the door. “It must be hard to be so macho all the time.”

      He grinned. “Later, if you’re nice, I’ll crush a beer can on my forehead for you.”

      “I don’t know if my girlish heart could take it.”

      He made his way slowly out the door, grateful the woman had a sense of humor. He had the feeling she’d need it.

      HAILEY PUT MEGAN DOWN beside Jack’s recliner. The room was so dark it was hard to believe it was daytime. It reminded her of a bear’s cave, albeit one with a large-screen television set as a centerpiece. There wasn’t a picture on the wall or even a plant. Old newspapers were piled up beside the couch, and empty beer bottles, three of them, sat on the small table by his chair. The place needed a good cleaning and a lot more light.

      “There’s the pillowcase,” he said, pointing to the end of the couch. “I guess you can take her back to your place, huh?”

      She smiled at him, making a decision that second. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to bathe her here.”

      Jack looked at her as if she was nuts. “Why?”

      “I’d just feel better waiting with her here. Until you get back.”

      He shrugged. “Suit yourself. The bathtub is pretty clean. There are towels in the cupboard. He turned and walked down the hall to his bedroom.

      His apartment was identical to hers, at least architecturally. But where hers was a warm nest, his was a place to hide from the world. She wondered again how he’d been hurt. And how awful it must be for a man as virile as him to be trapped in a broken body.

      She noticed a book peeking out from underneath the TV guide, and her curiosity got the better of her. She lifted the guide and saw that it was a paperback edition of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Interesting.

      Jack came back a second after she stopped snooping. He’d changed into a plain white business shirt, open at the collar, but he still wore his jeans. He also had on a leather jacket, and with his somehow dangerous face and those deep brown eyes, she felt a shock of physical awareness hit her where it counted.

      “Here,” he said. He held out a piece of paper to her. She took it but she didn’t look at it. She was too busy wondering about her reaction to him. He wasn’t her usual type. She liked kind men, calm men. Men who called their mothers on Sunday nights.

      “My pager number,” he said. “Just in case.”

      All her wayward thoughts vanished in the blink of an eye as she was brought back to the moment by a dose of cold reality. There was a killer loose. A murderer. “You don’t think…”

      “Just in case you need me to bring home some milk or something.”

      “Right,” she said, not believing him. She took Megan’s hand in hers, while Jack adjusted his jacket, and it was then she caught sight of his gun, neatly holstered against his rib cage. It shook her to realize it was a real gun, capable of killing, meant to kill. She’d never been this close to a gun before.

      “Are you going to tell her?” he asked, lowering his voice, even though Megan was right there.

      She squeezed Megan’s hand gently. “Yes. Now go on. Find out what you can. We’ll be here when you get back.”

      He looked at them one more time, then made his way to the door. She wondered how he was going to drive, but it didn’t seem prudent to bring that up. Instead, she led Megan down the hall to the bathroom, listening for the sound of the door

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