Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

sister, Jill."
    "Jill? No kidding. Let her in."
    The officer stepped aside to let Holly enter. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw David striding toward her, looking extremely healthy except for the white mound of bandages taped onto the left side of his head.
    "Honey, you were told not to—" He halted the moment he saw Holly and his welcoming grin turned to a sneer of contempt so quickly that she turned around to see if someone else had entered the room behind her.
    "Thank you, Officer," he said, then waited until the door was closed again before speaking to Holly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
    She had been worried sick, had run herself into the ground trying to get to him and he barked at her as if she were his worst enemy. "I—I heard you were critically wounded in a shoot-out. David, I don't understand. I thought you might be dying." She set her bag on the floor and crossed her arms over her stomach, as if that could stop it from churning.
    "Oh? And I guess I'm supposed to believe you came flying to my side because you really cared one way or the other?"
    Wrinkling her forehead in confusion, Holly wondered if his head injury had altered his mind in some way. "David, please, you're frightening me."
    "You can cut the act, lady. I know exactly what you're here for. I realize it took me awhile, but then you are one hell of a distraction."
    He turned his back on her, walked to a chair behind a desk in the corner, sat down and started tapping away on his laptop computer. If he had suffered brain damage, would he have been able to arrange for a private hospital room to be partially converted into an office so that he could keep writing while he recuperated? Something was very wrong here.
    "You may as well leave," he said without taking his eyes off the screen. "You can find out whatever you want to know by reading my story... just like everybody else. And, by the way, a favor for old times' sake—please don't spread around the fact that I'm alive and well just yet."
    As if walking on eggshells, she crossed the room to him. "I didn't come this far to be sent away like a naughty child. At least tell me why you're acting like this."
    He stopped typing and glared up at her, but didn't move. "Fine. I'll spell it out. I received some very enlightening information a few hours ago. Let's see how many clues you need to guess what I found out. Dominion University."
    Holly's chest rose with the sharp intake of her breath.
    David's voice was mocking as he praised her. "Aah. Not bad. Only one clue. In case you're interested, some of the other clues were twenty and twenty-one years ago, Cheryl Wallace, Erica Donner, Rachel Greenley, Timothy Ziegler, Billy O'Day, and last but not least, Jerry Frampton." He smirked at her and pointed to the chair on the other side of the desk. "You'd better sit down before you fall down. You look worse than I feel."
    She did as he suggested rather than running out the door as she was tempted to do. "I wanted to explain before you left, but you—"
    "Don't give me that shit," he snarled, slamming his hand on the desk. Wincing, he placed his hand over his injury as if the impact had run straight up his arm to his head. "We were together the whole fucking weekend before I left. How much more time did you need?"
    "David, please. When I heard about O'Day being killed, I panicked. I know I should have told you everything right then and there, but I wasn't thinking clearly. And then Bobbi was at my apartment, waiting for me when you left, and—"
    "Bobbi?"
    "Yes, she—Oh, god, David, I wanted to call you, but you never gave me your number, nor did I have your address to go see you in person. I left two urgent messages at your office." She knew her eyes were filling with moisture and she looked away to keep him from seeing.
    He was too angry to believe the desperate sincerity in her voice. When he'd called in to his editor that afternoon, he'd gotten his messages. One was from Valerie asking if he needed anything more than she'd sent him in her email, an email which he'd never seen until that morning. Two were from Holly, but there was no urgency mentioned, so he had just assumed she wanted to talk—until he reviewed the information Valerie had uncovered and realized that what Holly really wanted was an update.
    "Forget the tears, Holly. It's too easy for you to sit there and tell me how you were going to tell me everything, after I already figured part of it out on my own."
    She leaned forward,