Along Came a Spider

in my body was draining into the mattress. Life was good again.
    “Let’s take a bath. Okay? Wash away the road dust,” Jezzie said.
    “That’s not dust,” I said to her. “That’s just me.”
    I got up and went into the bathroom. The tub was square and unusually large. There was a lot of gleaming white and blue tile, all mounted a foot or so higher than the rest of the bathroom. Jezzie’s fancy clothes were strewn on the floor.
    “You in a hurry?” I asked her.
    “Yep.”
    Jezzie had filled the tub to the brim. A few independent-minded soap bubbles floated up and popped against the ceiling. Wisps of steam rose steadily. The room smelled like a country garden.
    She stirred the bathwater with her fingertips. Then she came over to me. She still had the silver comb in her hair.
    “I’m a little wired,” she said.
    “I could tell. I can tell about these things.”
    “I think it might be time for a little healing.”
    We went for it. Jezzie’s hands played with the buttons on my trousers, then the zipper. Our mouths came together, lightly at first, then hard.
    Suddenly, Jezzie took me inside her as we stood beside the steamy tub. Just two or three quick strokes — then she moved away from me again. Her face, neck, and chest were flushed. For a moment, I thought something was wrong.
    I was caught by surprise — shock — pleasure — entering her, then parting so quickly. She
was
wired. Almost violent.
    “What was that all about?” I asked.
    “I’m going to have a heart attack,” Jezzie whispered. “Better figure out a story for the police.
Whew
, Alex.”
    She took my hand and pulled me into the tub. The water was warm, just right. So was everything else.
    We started to laugh. I still had my underwear on, but Pete was poking and peeking around. I pulled off the shorts.
    We maneuvered in the tub until we were facing each other. Jezzie got on top of me somehow. We were unwilling to give up any contact. Jezzie leaned way back. She braced her hands behind her head. She watched my face with curious fascination. The red on her neck and chest was getting deeper.
    Her long legs suddenly lifted straight out of the water and hooked around my head. Jezzie jerked forward a couple of times, then both of us exploded. Her body went stiff. We thrashed and moaned a lot. Waves of water splashed from the tub.
    Somehow Jezzie got her arms around me — her arms and her legs. I settled back in water just under my nose.
    Then I went under. Jezzie was on top of me. The feeling of being close to climax rushed through my body. We were both coming. I was also going to drown. I heard Jezzie yell again, a strange water-muffled sound above the surface.
    I climaxed as I was about to run out of air. I swallowed water and coughed.
    Jezzie rescued me. She pulled me up, and took my face in both her hands.
    Release. Blessed release
.
    We stayed there holding each other. Spent, as they used to say in gentler times. There was more water on the floor than in the bathtub.
    All I knew right then was that I was falling deeper and deeper in love. That much I was sure about. The rest of my life was mystery and chaos, but at least there was a lifeline. There was Jezzie.
    Around one o’clock in the morning, I had to leave to go home. That way, I would be there when the kids got up. Jezzie understood. After the trial, we were going to sort everything out a lot better. Jezzie wanted to get to know Jannie and Damon; it had to be done just right, we agreed.
    “I miss you already,” she said as I got ready to go. “Damn.
Don’t
go… I
know
you have to go.”
    She took the silver comb out of her hair and pressed it into my hand.
    I went out into the night, with her voice still in my head. At first, there was nothing but the pitch-darkness of the parking lot.
    Suddenly, two men stepped out in front of me. I automatically reached for my shoulder holster. One of them switched on a glaring light. The other had a camera aimed at my face.
    The press had found me and Jezzie.
Oh, shit
! The kidnapping was so big that everything around it was a story. It had been like that from the start.
    A young woman trailed along behind the two men. She had long, frizzy black hair. She looked like part of a movie crew from New York or L.A.
    “Detective Alex Cross?” one of the men asked. Meanwhile, his partner took several rapid shots with the camera. The flashes lit up the dark parking lot.
    “We’re from the
National Star
. We want to talk to you,