True Bliss (37 page)

"Light don't work no more. Electricity's been cut off."

Bliss looked toward the other room again.

"Oil lamp," the man said, shuffling through the gloom. He hovered close to Bliss, then moved on to place himself between her and the room she couldn't see. "That Plato's got a lot to answer for. And I'm goin' to get my due. You're goin' to help me.

He couldn't make her stay. She felt a breeze behind and to her left. The door was still open.

"You gotta do what's right," Crystal's father said. "You gotta leave a married man alone. My girl ended up in an institution because of him. She's better now. But he's gotta look after us."

She took a step backward, and a ball of flame parted thin curtains covering a window over the sink.

Bliss screamed.

The curtains ignited instantly.

"Get out!" Bliss flung the door wide open. "Come on!"

Transfixed, Moore stood where he was.

"Crystal!" Bliss shouted. "Crystal, run. Now!"

The sound of shattering glass exploded in the small space. Fire burst toward the roof, shutting Bliss off from the sight of Mr. Moore's staring eyes.

Smoke filled her lungs and heat blasted her face.

There was no path to reach Moore—or the other room.

"Crystal!" All she saw was leaping flame shooting along the floor and curling up walls. "Come on! Oh, please, come on!"

She threw herself through the door, crumpled on rock-strewn ground.

Another explosion, bigger this time, shook the trailer. The roof broke open and flames shot into the sky.

Bliss shook so hard, her teeth clattered. She shook and sobbed, and drew back from the intensity of the heat.

"Help!" she cried feebly. "Help!" Help would come too late. Jim Moore would be dead. Crystal would be dead.

She turned and fled, dashed back the way she'd come with feet slipping and her throat making dry, shrieking sounds.

Twenty-six

The surface of the lake resembled pink satin.

Sebastian stood beside Bliss and watched the sun come up. International calls had kept him at Raptor for hours. He'd left a message on Bliss's machine, warning her he'd be very late, and assumed she was busy somewhere other than in the lodge. When he'd arrived back from Bellevue shortly before five in the morning, he'd confronted the unwelcome and too familiar sight of a police car parked in front of the lodge. Inside he'd found Bliss offering coffee to two police officers—one of them Ballard, naturally.

The police had looked at Sebastian, said their business was complete—for now—and left.

And Bliss had walked out of the lodge and kept on walking until she arrived at the foot of an easement leading to the edge of the lake.

Sebastian had followed, a stride behind.

She hadn't spoken to him yet.

Sebastian could wait.

A small boat slipped through the water, its engine puttering. A single occupant lounged over the tiller in a quiet world he owned for the moment.

The peeling, red limbs of a madrona tree curved overhead. Dew dripped from leathery leaves, and glittered in trembling spider webs.

Bliss crossed her arms tightly and gave a small shudder.

He tapped his knuckles together. Her hair was gathered into a rubber band. The skin on her neck was pale, and vulnerable. If he kissed her there, very softly—just rested his mouth there, and waited—she'd come into his arms.

Sebastian touched her back.

"You can't blame me for wanting to hear her side of the story." Her shoulders rose. "I'm only human."

"Bliss—"

"Now she's dead and I know it wasn't an accident. I saw the fire start. I think someone watched me. Followed me. I think they wanted me to die, too."

"Whoa." He turned her toward him. "What are you talking about?"

Dirt streaked her sweatsuit, and her face bore faint gray smudges. She said, "It'll be all over the papers soon enough."

"I'm asking you now."

"Oh, Sebastian, you're going to be so angry with me."

"I couldn't be angry with you, my love"

"Crystal called and said she wanted to set things straight. I went to meet her at her father's trailer on Cougar Mountain. While I was there someone set fire to the trailer. If I hadn't been closest to the door, I wouldn't be here. The trailer burned. It just burned and blew up and Mr. Moore and Crystal never had a chance to get out."

The information processed in laborious detail. Sebastian gathered a fistful of her sweatshirt. Dead. Crystal, dead? He ought to be glad, but he wasn't. "You arranged this meeting and you didn't tell me?"

"You wouldn't have wanted me to go."

"Damn right, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have allowed you to go."

She tried to shrug off his hand. "You can't allow or not allow me to do anything, Sebastian."

"I could probably figure out a way to stop you."

"You said you wouldn't get angry. You said I couldn't do anything to make you angry."

"I was wrong. I'm goddamn enraged, you little idiot. And scared out of my wits. Shit, I could have lost you."

"Don't swear at me."

"I'll swear"—he breathed long and deep—"You could have died."

"Yes, I know. I already told you I think I'm supposed to be dead."

"You went because you still don't trust me."

She shook her head vehemently. "That's not it. I heard the remorse in Crystal's voice and I wanted to do what she asked."

"And you wanted to find out more about what happened."

"Yes! All right, yes. I did want to find out more. I still don't understand, and you haven't told me everything."

He felt stripped, as if his nerves were open to the wind. "I told you everything you needed to know. Most importantly, that I didn't rape Crystal. I've never raped any woman—I never could."

"I believe you."

"Gee, thanks."

Bliss pushed past him and started uphill. "Sarcasm is ugly. It doesn't suit anyone. It doesn't suit you."

He walked after her. He didn't have to hurry to keep up. The swinging of her arms and her furious breathing sapped her energy, and slowed her pace.

The easement flanked Bliss's property. Before they reached the top she veered to the right, between fuchsia bushes loaded with tiny red blossoms, and broke into a run toward the back of the lodge.

She made it inside the kitchen only seconds before Sebastian. They both stopped at the sight of Bobby Crow, barefoot and still in pajamas. With Spike at his side, he hovered in the doorway to the rest of the building. The boy and the dog made a rag-tag, anxious-eyed pair.

"Bobby," Bliss said, hurrying to gather him into a hug. "What are you doing here?" The dog growled at her.

"They're going to fill up the hole today, aren't they?"

When Bliss didn't immediately respond, Sebastian said, "Yes. This morning."

Bobby pointed across the room. "See?"

Sebastian looked, but didn't see anything unusual.

"It's gone," Bobby said. "Liberty gave it to you and Bliss for a present. He took it and threw it down the hole. He made Liberty cry."

"The fish," Bliss said, going to where the piece of pottery had been on the counter. "Why would he do something so mean?"

Sebastian dropped to his haunches in front of Bobby. "Hey, buddy, shouldn't you still be in bed?"

"There was a police car here. It brought Auntie Bliss home."

"Yeah." He held the boy's arms. "You love your Auntie Bliss, don't you?"

Bobby's nod was solemn. "Vic did it last night—after Auntie Bliss's mom left—and Auntie Bliss. Mom and Auntie Fab said they were sorry for Auntie Bliss. I was coming over to see her, but she'd left."

Sebastian let Bobby take his time telling his story. Bliss poured a glass of milk and gave it to him.

Bobby took a swallow. "First I thought it was Mom coming after me. I thought she saw me leave and come here. I hid." He grinned sheepishly. "I was gonna jump out at her. She hates it when I do that."

Neither Bliss nor Sebastian commented, but he saw her faint smile.

"It wasn't Mom, it was Vic—and Liberty. She was crying then, too."

"That's rotten," Sebastian said, out of his depth. "Grown-ups can be pretty mean, Bobby."

"I wanna get Liberty's fish back."

Sebastian met Bliss's gaze over the boy's head. "That's a deep hole, buddy. Dangerous. That's why it's being filled. Anything that's down there, is down there."

"Not far. I could almost get it."

Again Sebastian looked at Bliss.

"Bobby," she said, and he heard the sick fright in her voice. "You went inside the wire? You looked down there."

"Vic pulled up the stakes. They were loose afterward. But I stayed on my tummy." He held up a red, rubber flashlight. "You can't see the bottom."

"No," Bliss said, her mouth trembling. "It makes a turn— they think."

"I saw Liberty's fish. I thought I could have got it—if I was a bit bigger. The pieces. We could stick 'em together. Auntie Fab did that with the turkey plate. You didn't even know."

"No," Bliss said wryly. "I didn't know the turkey plate had been broken. We'll think of a way to make Liberty feel better. Forget the fish."

Sebastian bobbed to his feet. "Okay if I use your flashlight, Bobby?"

The boy gave it to him at once.

"You're not going near that hole!" Bliss stood in front of the door to the terrace. "Either of you. Not ever."

"You don't get to allow me to do anything," Sebastian said softly. "But I'll lie on my tummy." He grinned at Bliss. She didn't grin back.

"Come on, Bobby. Let's go fishing."

Two people had burned to death because of her. She'd almost died with them. And Sebastian was shining a flashlight down a terrible hole, looking for a broken fish she hadn't wanted in the first place. Could the world just stand still for a moment— please?

The entire barbed-wire barricade had been moved, and the concrete cover moved to one side. True to his word, Sebastian stretched out on his stomach, his head and arms out of sight. Bobby copied the man, but only his eyes cleared the rim of the hole. Spike tilted her head and whined.

Sebastian inched forward.

"Stop it!" Bliss ordered. She scrambled to sit astride his waist. "Come back now."

His left hand withdrew and he swiped at her. His voice echoed upward, "Get back. Stay back. I can see the thing."

"Liberty can make another fish, Sebastian. This is stupid."

"I don't think so." His shoulders eased over the edge.

Bliss clutched his shirt. "You're going to fall. Stop it! Bobby, get away from here." She pulled him to his feet and pushed him behind her. "We're interfering in a relationship. We can't fix it."

Sebastian grunted. He scooted backward and sat up. "It's there. Hit the side and rolled into a crevice. There's a million jagged rocks around the sides. God, you'd be torn to death before you got very far down."

Bliss clamped a hand over her heart.

"The clay she used is really thick. It only broke in half. Must have hit just right."

"It'll never be the same," she told him, plucking at his sleeve. "Come on. I'll talk to Liberty, make her feel better. I'll ask her to make me another one."

Sebastian wasn't listening. He picked up one of the stakes intended to secure the barbed wire to the ground, and grunted when he doubled himself into the hole again.

"Don't you go any nearer," Bliss ordered when she saw Bobby drop to his knees.

"I wanna see."

"Go back to bed before Polly misses you."

"She won't. She sings in the morning. Today's her 'dition."

How could she have forgotten that both Polly and Fab had appointments at Raptor today?

"You gotta hold this light for me." Sebastian's voice echoed. "Lean across me. Don't try to put your head down—there isn't room. Reach along my arm and take the flashlight."

Bliss didn't hesitate. The sooner she did what he wanted, the sooner she'd get his whole body back where she wanted it. She stretched out over Sebastian and sank her arm into the hole. He pressed the flashlight into her groping fingers.

He flexed and strained beneath her. Bliss rested her cheek on his shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Move beside me," he called. "Keep the light down here but don't touch me."

Reluctantly, she did as he asked. More and more of Sebastian disappeared.

The effort was futile, but Bliss hooked her free hand into the waistband of his jeans. She heard the grinding noise of pebbles sinking into dirt beneath some weight but couldn't turn her head.

An engine roared nearby, then died.

Metal scraped.

Heavy footsteps approached. A pair of hard hands grasped Bliss's waist and lifted her easily to her feet.

She looked into Vic's gray eyes. He took the flashlight from her. "You go on back to the lodge," he said. "Bobby, too. I'll help Sebastian."

"I'll help Sebastian," Vic's voice said above him.

Sebastian's head and upper body hung into the chute. Without the flashlight, with only the aid of weak, early sunshine, he saw the pointed edges of rocks protruding from all sides, but nothing more.

Instinct made him gain firm hold with both hands. He drove his toes more firmly into the gravelly earth around the hole and began to work his way back up.

The flashlight beam cut past him, pooled on the broken pottery fish. Sebastian held his breath, then called, "Hi, Vic. I'm coming up," and prayed he sounded a hell of a lot more relaxed than he felt.

"Geez," Vic said. "That's what I was hoping for. Liberty's really angry with me. You can get the fish, can't you? Maybe if I hold your legs."

Sebastian heard Bliss say, "No, Vic. Come on, Sebastian!"

"I feel like hell for upsetting Liberty," Vic said. "She pissed

me off. I thought she was making a play for you, Plato. Jealousy does weird things to you."

"The only man she sees is you, Vic," Sebastian said, listening to his words bounce around the shaft, fly upward, fade out below. "I think we'd better let this go."

"You're there," Vic said. "A few more inches and you'll have it. Don't worry. I've got you."

The man's arm locked around Sebastian's thighs. A strong arm that lifted until Sebastian's toes left the ground. Lifted. Lifted. A few more inches and he'd be doing a handstand inside a crumbling tunnel to nowhere—nowhere he wanted to go.