All Night Long

felt like a brute stomping on her conspiracy theories, but he told himself that he was doing her avor, whether she realized it or not.
    “Hey.” He tucked her closer against his side. “I’m not saying you’re going off the deep end here. I was with you the other night when someone torched the Webb house, remember? I agree that somethin ery nasty is going on. I’m just not convinced yet that it has anything to do with the past.”
    “What’s your theory?”
    “Given her history of drug use, I’m starting to wonder if maybe Pamela Webb got involved with some very bad guys.”
    “Oh, jeez.” Irene shuddered. “Drug dealers?”
    “It’s one possibility. Unfortunately there are a lot more.”
    “Such as?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe someone used her addiction to try to blackmail or manipulate her.” He hesitated. “Or maybe—”
    Irene turned her head very quickly to look at him. “What are you thinking?”
    “It occurs to me that a senator’s daughter would be a very useful tool for someone who wanted acces r inside information. Pamela knew the people her father knew. She entertained his associates. Helped organize his fund-raisers. She rubbed shoulders with some of the most powerful people in the country.”
    “And she was not just beautiful, she was also sexy” Irene said quietly. “I think it’s safe to say she probably slept with some of those important people.”
    “Which opens up even more really unpleasant scenarios.”
    “Good Lord,” Irene said. “Do you think Pamela was killed and the house torched because she knew too much? That maybe someone was afraid that she would reveal embarrassing or incriminating information?”
    “I don’t know.” He held out one hand, palm up. “At the moment, I’m speculating, just like you.”
    “But what about that e-mail she sent to me? I keep coming back to that. She must have had some personal reason for contacting me after all these years.”
    “She probably knew that you had become a reporter,” he said, thinking it through.
    “If she had something to reveal to the media, she may have contacted you because she felt she could trust you.”

    She wrinkled her nose. “I work for a small-town paper. In Glaston Cove, the biggest story at the moment is the debate over whether or not the city council should approve a new dog park. After all those year f working for her father, Pamela must have had lots of major media connections. I can’t see her coming to me if she had some great scandal to reveal.”
    “Okay, let’s assume for the moment that she contacted you 1 because she had a personal reason to do so.”
    “That personal reason involved information concerning the deaths of my parents.”
    Irene folded he rms very tightly beneath her breasts. “I know it did, Luke. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
    “Maybe. Maybe not. But it does look like she might have come to Dunsley to hide out for a while, eek at least.”
    “Perhaps she felt safe here because of her long-standing connection to the town. She knew everyone,
    and everyone knew her.”
    “That may have been the plan, but when you think about it, she was alone and isolated out there at the Webb house. If someone did want to get rid of her, she sure as hell made it easy for him. I would have thought that if she was frightened, she would have wanted someone around her she could trust.”
    “Unless,” Irene said, “she didn’t trust anyone she knew. Maybe that’s the real reason she got in touc ith me. I was someone from her past that she felt she could trust.”
    “With what?” he asked simply.
    “That’s what I need to find out.”
    He said nothing, just tightened his grip on her.
    “I can’t help but notice that you are no longer trying to argue me out of my conspiracy theory,” sh aid after a while.
    “Unfortunately, it’s starting to make sense. Probably not a real good sign.”
    “You think maybe we’re both ready for a nice long vacation in a padded room?” she asked.

    “On the whole, I’d rather go to Hawaii.”
    “Me, too.” She paused. “But first I need to talk to Hoyt Egan,” she said very softly.
    “I’ve been thinking the same thing. Got a plan, if you’re interested.”
    She looked at him. “Tell me.”
    “The morning after the Old Man’s birthday party you and I could drive on into San Francisco an orner Egan. If we take him by surprise, we might get some answers out of him.”
    “I like your plan.” She nodded once,