Falling Awake

all right?”
    Her expression said she was not pleased, but she nodded. “Okay.” She headed for the bedroom. “I’ll get the things I’ll need to change for the reception.”
    He reached out and caught her wrist when she went past him.
    “Thanks,” he said quietly.
    Her eyes softened. “Promise me you’ll be careful today.”
    Breakfast with a woman was not the only novelty he was experiencing with Isabel, he thought. Having someone worry about him like this was new, too.
    “Promise,” he said.
    t he fog that had rolled in during the night was still clinging to the old highway when they drove into town a short time later.
    “I need to get some things from my room,” he told Isabel. “The inn is on this side of town. I’ll pick up my stuff and then take you to your office at Kyler.”
    “Sure.”
    The parking lot of the Seacrest Inn was almost empty. He stopped the Maserati in a space near the entrance, got out and reached back inside for his briefcase.
    It struck him as he walked around the rear of the car that Isabel might have a few qualms about being seen with him at suchan early hour. The implication that they had spent the night together at some location other than the inn would be fairly obvious to even the dimmest front desk clerk.
    Before he could ask her if she wanted to wait outside, she had her door open and her seat belt unlatched. She did not look like she was at all worried about what the desk clerk would think, he noticed. That made him feel good for some reason. He took her arm. Together they walked into the lobby.
    The clerk, whose name tag read “Jared,” did give them an interested look when they came through the glass doors but he merely nodded politely at Isabel before he spoke.
    “Good morning, Mr. Cutler,” Jared said cheerfully. “Your business associate arrived late last night. I put him in the room across the hall from yours, as he requested.”
    Ellis felt Isabel’s sudden tension. He squeezed her elbow lightly in silent warning.
    “Thanks,” he said to Jared. “Appreciate it.”
    “No problem,” Jared said.
    Ellis guided Isabel to the stairs. She waited until they were on the second floor before she asked any questions.
    “What business associate?” She was definitely worried now.
    “Not Scargill.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because he’s too well trained to make the mistake of asking for me in person in a small hotel like this, let alone pretend that he’s a business associate.”
    “One of those ex-prisoners he’s been using?”

    “I don’t think so. If I’m right, this guy’s another amateur, like you.” He opened the briefcase and reached inside for the pistol. “But we old pros prefer not to take chances.”
    She looked at the gun with somber eyes but said nothing.
    He released her arm. “Wait here until I make sure.”
    He walked to the door directly across from his own, stood just out of range of the peephole, the pistol alongside his leg, and rapped sharply.
    “Room service,” he declared.
    He heard footsteps inside the room and knew that the occupant was attempting to get a look at him through the peephole. Then he heard the chain lock being released.
    The door opened.
    “But I didn’t order—” Dave Ralston began. Then he got a good look at Ellis. His mouth fell open.
    “Relax,” Ellis said, moving into the room before Dave could recover from his shock. “It’s complimentary.”
    Dave stared at the gun. Fear made his mouth tremble a little. But he faced Ellis with rage and defiance.
    “Are you going to kill me the way you did my sister?” he asked.
    “I hate questions like that.” Ellis put the pistol back into the briefcase. “There’s no good answer.”

31
    i sabel’s first reaction was enormous relief. Ellis had been right, the man in the room was not Scargill or one of the ex-cons. Then she saw the anger and uncertainty in Dave Ralston’s face and her heart went out to him.
    “Ellis told me about Katherine,” she said gently. “I’m so sorry, Dave.”
    He sat rigidly in the chair at the small desk. When she had entered the room a moment ago, she got the impression that he planned to stick with the name-rank-and-serial-number approach to the formalities. But the mention of his sister’s name made him flinch. He stared hard at Ellis, who was lounging against the wall.
    Ellis returned the stare from behind the impenetrable shield of his dark glasses.
    “Yes, I know you suspect that Ellis might have killed