Forbidden Temptation

Chapter Twelve

Daniel checked his e-mail before packing up his laptop. There were a handful of official university e-mails and a couple from his assistant, Steve.

“Did a search for Rose Browning,” the e-mail read. “Found some blogs out of her neck of the woods that mention her. Fascinating stuff. Quite a rep as a matchmaker. Hints of some mystical mojo. Can I meet her? Pretty please?”

Mystical mojo, indeed.

What he’d learned from Rose’s brother-in-law only complicated his mixed-up feelings about her. Even as she wriggled deeper under his skin, he kept discovering more reasons why letting her get any closer was nothing short of insanity.

He was a scientist. He dealt in facts, in the tangible. People in law enforcement sometimes talked about what profilers did as voodoo or magic, but he knew it was all about logic and patterns of behavior. Killers weren’t nearly as complicated as people wanted to believe. They killed out of anger or greed or jealousy, and even the superstars of the murder world, the serial killers, had knowable reasons for their murders.

If he found Orion, it wasn’t going to be the result of psychic messages. Of that, he was positive.

At the same time, he considered as he packed his car for the trip back to Rose’s, was it fair to dismiss what she had to say? She had two sisters who claimed to have some sort of psychic gift. Obviously, they’d lived in a household where magic was considered a viable explanation for actions and behaviors. Maybe Rose was using terms like true-love veils and death veils to describe her native instinct for reading people.

After all, what if he’d been raised to believe in the supernatural? Might he use mystical terms like mind reading to describe his ability to predict and explain criminal behavior?

Perhaps, what Rose ascribed to magic was nothing more than a keen understanding of human nature. An uncanny ability to recognize compatibility between sexually attracted couples. And maybe she’d seen in Orion’s victims some sort of increased probability of actions that would put them in jeopardy.

Alice Donovan had been at the bar the night she’d died, to drink and dance away the memory of a bad romantic breakup. She might have been more reckless than usual with her personal safety-something Rose would have picked up on. And Melissa’s blindness to betrayal, such as that of her cheating fiancé, might have made her more vulnerable to becoming the killer’s victim.

Rose wasn’t a liar and she wasn’t insane. Daniel knew that on the gut level. So what, if his new theory didn’t explain everything perfectly? It came close.

Maybe he could live with that.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE he called McBride.” Rose looked at her sister with dismay.

“McBride didn’t know what to think.” Lily touched her sister’s arm. “He’s heard of the man, of course, but you know he’s protective of the Browning girls. He didn’t like what Daniel seemed to be insinuating about you.”

Rose could imagine. “Daniel doesn’t believe me.”

“But you predicted four murders.” Lily looked indignant.

“Would that have been enough for McBride, at first?”

Lily sighed. “You know the answer.”

Rose pulled back the window curtain beside her, gazing out at the gathering storm clouds. “At least he’s still listening to me. Or was, until Agent Brody got hold of him.”

“I can’t believe Brody used me against you.” Lily scowled.

“I doubt Daniel put up much resistance.” Rose let the curtain drop, tears burning her throat.

“Is there something going on between you two?”

Rose looked away, reliving the feel of Daniel’s mouth against her throat. “No.”

At least, not what she’d hoped.

Lily seemed to accept her answer. “I wish you’d told me about this when you first started seeing the death veils.”

The tears welling in Rose’s eyes spilled down her cheeks. “I thought they were punishment for getting things so wrong with Dillon and Carrie. I was ashamed.”

Lily bent forward. “You can’t blame yourself for that.”

Rose fought the urge to cry on her sister’s shoulder. “I don’t want to see death anymore.”

Lily stroked her hair. “I spent years running from my visions, so I don’t have the right to lecture. But you can’t keep torturing yourself.” She dropped her hand. “Does Iris know?”

Rose nodded.

Lily’s eyes dropped, but not soon enough to hide the hurt in their golden depths.

Rose touched Lily’s hand. “I told Iris only a couple of days ago, and only because she wouldn’t leave till I confessed.”

Lily’s lips quirked. “Sounds like her.”

“I was going to call you this weekend to see if I could come visit, but everything…fell apart.” An unexpected ache bloomed in Rose’s chest.

“I’m so sorry about your friend. Last night must have been hell. Have you even had any sleep yet?”

“A little.” Rose glanced at the kitchen clock. “Lily, it’s almost three. Who’s picking up Casey from school?”

“McBride. I’m yours for the night if you need me.”

“I’m fine. Your daughter needs you at home.”

Emotion flickered in Lily’s eyes. “My daughter.”

Rose smiled. “Still going well?”

Lily nodded. “She goes to a therapist a couple of times a month, to make sure she’s adjusting, but I swear, she has everything worked out in her head already. It’s amazing, considering what her life was like after the abduction.”

“Poor Mrs. Grainger,” Rose murmured, thinking of the disturbed woman who’d kidnapped Casey when the child was only three. “Losing her own child and then losing her mind.”

“She was Casey’s mother for six years. No matter how sick she was, she must have done a few things right for Casey to have been able to adjust so well. Casey still misses her.”

Tears prickled in Rose’s eyes. “Poor baby.”

“I think it helps that she and Abby Walters are going to the same school now. Casey still takes Abby under her wing. I think it makes her feel in control.”

Rose sighed. In control-she’d felt that way once. It was time to feel in control again. She’d call security companies first thing in the morning to see about getting an alarm system installed. She’d just have to pinch pennies to afford it.

Thinking of alarm systems reminded her of Jesse Phillips and the discussion she’d had with Frank Carter that morning. She doubted the police had checked his alibis for the nights in question yet. They were probably still tracking down Mark Phagan’s movements from the night before.

She was tired of feeling helpless, afraid to venture from her own house alone for fear of becoming a victim, thanks to the mysterious messages she’d received. If she stayed at home all the time, she couldn’t even use the one tool at her disposal: The death veils that, at least, gave her fair warning of who the killer would next strike. She couldn’t live like this.

There had to be something she could do besides hide.

Lily leaned toward her. “If you need me to stay with you, I really do think Casey’ll be okay with her daddy for one night.”

“I’ll be fine.” She looked up at her sister. “But before you go, I could use your help with something.”

DANIEL SPENT THE DRIVE from the Chinese restaurant to Rose’s house on the phone with his assistant, going over the research he wanted Steve to do for him over the weekend. “I need as much background as you can find on Mark Allen Phagan, born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and currently a lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama, and a man in his early thirties named Jesse Phillips,” he said as he pulled into the alley behind Rose’s house. “Only info I have on Phillips is a current place of employment-Professional Security Systems in Birmingham.”

“Got it,” Steve said. “Anything else?”

Daniel stared at the empty parking spot where Rose’s Chevrolet had been earlier that afternoon. “That’s it, for now.” He rang off quickly, tucking the phone in his breast pocket.

Parking, he grabbed the bag of Chinese food and walked around the house, hoping Rose’s car was there.

But the car in the driveway wasn’t hers.

Tamping down his rising alarm, he tried the doorbell. No answer. He knocked on the door hard enough to sting his knuckles. “Rose?”

Still no reply.

The back door was locked, as well. He pulled out his phone to call her cell phone and noticed the voice mail message indicator. He retrieved the message and found himself listening to Rose Browning’s terse voice.

“Daniel, it’s Rose. I’ve changed my mind. You can’t stay here. I’m heading out on an errand, but I’ll be home by five at the latest if you want to call.”

His heart thumped against his ribs. An errand? Was she insane? He dialed her cell-phone number. Her voice-mail message picked up immediately.

Damn it!

Anxiety overtook anger as he waited for the beep. “Rose, it’s Daniel. What’s going on? Call when you get this message.”

He ended the call and leaned against the door frame, his pulse racing. What if she’d made the call under duress? Her voice had sounded odd. Strained and tight.

He pressed his forehead against the door, muttering a low curse-at himself for not taking her with him to the motel, at her for leaving the house when he’d told her to stay put.

Tamping down his rising fear, he sank onto the wrought iron bench by the back door and tried to figure out what to do next.

ROSE PULLED INTO a parking space in front of a squat brick-and-steel storefront on Seventh Avenue. The sign on the front wall read, Professional Security Systems.

“Doesn’t your prime suspect work here?” Lily asked.

Rose nodded.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“I can’t sit around and wait to read about the next victim.” Rose unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door.

Lily met her on the sidewalk. “How is coming here supposed to help?”

“If Jesse Phillips is the killer, then odds are, he’s at least considering killing some of the women he works with. If so, I’ll see a death veil and I’ll know who the next victim is.”

“And do what? Warn her?” Lily shot Rose a pointed look.

“I’ll figure it out as I go.”

“That’s a recipe for disaster,” Lily warned.

“What’s the worst that can happen?” Rose countered. “I get a brochure on their services and I go home. No harm done.” Rose didn’t feel quite as sanguine as she sounded, but she preferred action to inertia, and taking a look around Jesse Phillips’ workplace seemed relatively safe. She pushed through the front door and stopped short.

Covering the face of the receptionist was a shimmering death veil.

“Do you see something?” Lily whispered.

Rose nodded.

Another woman stepped into the reception area, carrying a slim stack of file folders. A death veil flickered over her features, as well.

“Ms. Browning?”

A man’s voice close by jarred her nerves. She jerked toward the sound, trying to hide her growing alarm.

Jesse Phillips stood a few feet away, his gaze fixed on her. A tremor rattled through her, and she took a defensive step back before she registered the fact that Jesse wasn’t alone. Frank Carter stood to his right, gripping Jesse’s upper arm in his tight grip. A second man, obviously another detective, gripped his other arm.

Rose cleared her throat. “Detective Carter.”

Frank released Jesse’s arm and stepped closer. His voice was low and intense. “You’re seeing something.”

Rose glanced at her sister. A faint death veil shimmered over her features, as well. Rose’s stomach clenched into a knot.

“What is it?” Lily asked, touching Rose’s arm.

“Every woman here is wearing a death veil,” Rose murmured. “Including you.”

Lily’s eyes widened with alarm.

Rose pulled a powder compact from her purse. Holding her breath, she checked her reflection in the mirror.

It was there. Fainter than the others, but unmistakable.

She looked up and saw four sets of eyes staring at her. She focused on Jesse Phillips, trying to read his expression. Another shudder moved through her, making her hand shake.

She slapped the compact closed. “Let’s get out of here.”

Frank caught her elbow as she started toward the door. “You see more than one at a time?”

“Not usually,” she admitted. “I did at the neighborhood meeting. And now. The last time, they faded away.”

“How do you explain it?” Frank asked, his brow furrowed.

The other detective and Jesse Phillips moved past them, heading out the door. Rose waited before answering Frank. “I don’t know. Maybe he gets excited after a kill. Can’t decide who’s next, so he imagines killing them all.” Rose jerked her elbow from Frank’s grasp and fled outside. She filled her burning lungs with cool October air.

Lily caught up with her. “Rose?”

Rose closed her eyes, afraid to look at her sister. Please let it fade, she thought.

“Look at me.” Lily’s voice shook.

Rose opened her eyes. Lily’s face was clear. She almost wilted. “It’s gone.”

Lily released a huff of breath.

Frank approached, brow furrowed. “You still see anything?”

Rose glanced at her car window. Her reflection stared back, now free of the death veil. “No. All clear now.”

Frank nodded slowly, his expression still troubled. “We have to take Phillips in for questioning. Are you sure you’re going to be okay getting home?”

“I’ll be fine,” Rose assured him. She nodded toward Phillips, who gazed at them, a scowl on his face, as the other detective nudged him into the backseat of the sedan. “You think he’s a viable suspect?”

“There are things in his background we want to clear up.” Frank’s expression was guarded. “If I have more questions for you, I’ll be in touch.” He turned and walked toward the sedan.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Lily asked as they got in the car. “You still look a little shaken.”

Rose waved off Lily’s concern. “I’m good, really. The death veils must mean Jesse’s the killer, don’t you think?”

“Could be,” Lily agreed.

Rose pulled up the alley behind her house. “Maybe they’ll get a search warrant for his house and they’ll find something.”

“You think he kills them at his own house?”

“He must kill them somewhere-Daniel says nobody’s found a murder scene yet, just the dump sites.”

As if her mention of Daniel conjured him up, she spotted his Jeep parked where her car normally sat. And the man himself sat on the wrought iron bench on her back patio, a large plastic bag lying on the concrete next to him.

Rose sighed and shut off the car. “Great.”

“Daniel, I presume?” Lily murmured.

“I told him not to come.”

“Well, he didn’t get the message.” Lily opened her door.

Daniel stood as they approached. “Didn’t get your message until I was already here.”

“I’m sorry you had to come all this way.”

His eyes narrowed slightly before he turned to Lily and gave a nod. “Daniel Hartman. You must be one of the sisters.”

Lily smiled. “Lily. You spoke to my husband earlier.”

Daniel’s expression shifted as he put the pieces together. “Should have known he’d rat me out.”

“What did you expect?” Rose asked.

“A little slack wouldn’t have hurt,” he replied.

Rose ignored his response and unlocked the back door.

“Since I’m already here, can I put dinner in the refrigerator before it goes bad?” Daniel asked.

Rose waved at the refrigerator, slapped her cell phone down on the counter and headed out of the kitchen.

Lily followed her to the living room. “Brr. That’s one cold shoulder you’re sporting there.”

“You think I’m being harsh?”

Lily shrugged. “Not for me to say.”

Daniel joined them a moment later, his expression neutral. Rose couldn’t tell if he even gave a damn. “I think the food should be okay. Your sister can have my part.”

“Actually,” Lily said, “I’d better head home.”

Rose forced herself not to coax her sister to stay longer. Lily had better things to do than to play referee. She walked Lily to the front door. “Be careful driving home.”

“Lock your doors,” Daniel added gruffly.

Rose slanted a look at him. His expression was serious.

“I will,” Lily assured him. She squeezed Rose’s hand and headed down the porch steps to her car.

Rose watched her until she was on the road. As she stepped back to close the door, she came up flush against Daniel’s body.

“Do you have any idea what I thought when I got here and found you gone?” he rasped, his voice low and barely controlled. The smell of him-masculine, feral-filled her lungs as she took a shaky breath. “You want to punish me, find a different way.”

She whirled to face him. He was impossibly close, his stormy eyes blazing with emotions, most of them volatile and dark. “You think I was trying to punish you?”

His expression hardened. “Weren’t you?”

“I was following a lead of my own.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re a detective now?”

She took a step back and ended up flattened against the door. “You expect me to sit home and play damsel in distress?”

“I expect you to do whatever’s necessary to stay alive.” He pushed forward, trapping her against the door. “A killer is sending you messages. You fit the profile of his victims.”

The memory of the faint death veil over her reflection set off a low tremor in her knees. “I know that.”

He caught her shoulders in his hands, his fingers digging into her flesh. “Then, act like it!”

She jerked her chin up. “If you wanted to know something about me and my sisters, why didn’t you just ask? Did you think I’d lie to you?”

His lips trembled apart with a shaky breath, his gaze flickering down to her mouth. Silence descended, heavy with unspoken words. A tight ache settled in the middle of Rose’s chest, trapping her breath.

He moved closer. The air heated between them, thick with tension. “Why didn’t you tell me about the true-love veils?”

She fought to breathe, surprised by how much it hurt to hear him speak of her lost gift in tones of such obvious skepticism. She licked her lips. “They’re gone now. What difference would it make?”

“Maybe they’d have helped me understand you better.”

She clenched her jaw. “And maybe knowing about Tina would have made me understand you a little better.”

He jerked back, his eyes narrowing to slits. “Tina?”

His reaction surprised her. “Your former fiancée?”

His chest rose and fell rapidly before he lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Who told you about Tina?”

“Detective Carter.”

Daniel’s mouth tightened to a thin line.

“He told me you were once engaged to his sister.” Rose dropped her gaze. “He said I look like her.”

Daniel wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward him. “He’s wrong,” he said, and slanted his mouth over hers.

Her head spinning from the unexpected assault on her senses, she dug her fingers into his shoulders just to stay upright as his tongue found hers, demanding a response. There was little gentleness in his touch, only hunger and fiery need.

“You’re nothing like her,” he murmured against her mouth, his hand sliding over her breast, blazing a trail of fire.

A twisting sensation curled through her chest. “Daniel-”

He nipped at her jaw. “Where’d you go this afternoon?”

She slid her hand under his jacket, plucking at his shirt. “Don’t change the subject.”

“No, tell me. What was so important that you couldn’t wait for me to return?” He ran his tongue over the curve of her collarbone, sparking little explosions in the base of her spine.

“I went to the security company where Jesse Phillips works.”

Daniel stepped back and gazed down at her. “What?”

She shook her head, not wanting him to stop. “Daniel, please-” She pulled his head down and kissed him.

For a moment, he returned the kiss, his lips pliant against hers. But too soon he put his hands on her shoulders and held her away. “Why, in hell, would you go there by yourself?”

Rose stepped away from him, needing distance if she was going to be able to hold up her end of what was obviously turning into an interrogation. She couldn’t think with him so close, the heat of his body swamping her with need.

She crossed to the archway into the living room, leaning against the wall. “I wasn’t by myself. I was with my sister.”

“Yeah, she’s got bodyguard written all over her.” He shook his head. “What if Phillips is the killer?”

“I think he is.” She told him about the visit to the security company, leaving out nothing.

His gaze darkened. “You saw a death veil on yourself?”

“On Lily, too.” The memory sent ice through her veins. “But they went away.”

He shook his head, retreating to the wall.

“They went away,” Rose repeated, taking a step toward him.

He looked at her, bleak humor in his eyes. “That would mean more if I believed in them.”

She caught his hand, surprised to find it shaking. “Daniel, what is it?”

“You want to know why I didn’t marry Tina?” His voice came out like sandpaper.

She nodded, her breath freezing in her chest.

He held her gaze, his eyes searching hers. “Three days before the wedding, I told her I didn’t want to get married.”

Rose released a soft hiss of breath, caught flat-footed by such a mundane answer. “I see.”

He shook his head. “No, you don’t. It was the night of my bachelor party. I had a lot to drink as it was, and there were some women at the bar…”

Rose shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. She took a couple of steps sideways, moving away.

Daniel caught her arm. “My friends thought I should sow my last oats. I told them I couldn’t. I was about to get married.” He exhaled, his shoulders beginning to slump. “They ragged on me. Said I was already henpecked.”

Men, Rose thought, not charitably.

“It made me angry. I felt…trapped.” His lips curved in a humorless smile. “Cold feet.”

“So you gave in to temptation?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Because you loved Tina?”

He turned his gaze to her, his brow creasing as if nobody had thought to ask that question before. “I guess, I did, on some level, or I’d never have asked her to marry me. But I didn’t love her enough to make it last. That’s what I realized that night. So I went to talk to her.”

Rose closed her eyes, filled with pity for Tina. “She must have been crushed.”

“That was the odd thing,” he said softly. “She wasn’t so much hurt as furious. I think that was the moment when I knew, for sure, I was right to break it off.”

“Because she was angry?” Rose stiffened with indignation for the girl. “Don’t you think she had a right?”

“Of course,” Daniel answered. “But her anger was about the wedding, not the engagement. She wanted her big, beautiful fairy-tale wedding and I was screwing it all up.”

Rose couldn’t believe that was the girl’s only concern. “Maybe that’s what she said at the time, but I’m sure-”

“I’m not,” Daniel said. “I’m not sure she loved me nearly as much as she loved the idea of being married. I’ve wondered about that for thirteen years.”

“Why didn’t you just ask her about it later?”

He turned slowly to meet her gaze. “Because when she ran away from me that night, it was the last time I ever saw her alive.”