Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

in your taped testimony. Is there anything else I should know?"
    Holly felt her cheeks pinken and knew that answered the question as well as words would. "We... got involved... for a while. But it's over." A light knock spared her from further explanation.
    Diane waved Holly away from the door as she opened it, checked the corridor then let David and Agent Reese into the apartment.
    David swayed a bit as he entered. Holly thought he looked like death warmed over. The last time she had seen him look this bad was—"Dear god, David. Don't you have any sense at all? How stupid can you get? Wasn't your head hurting bad enough from being shot? You had to drink yourself into a stupor too?" She turned her frustration on Reese. "And you couldn't stop him? I thought the FBI was supposed to be protecting him!" Reese opened his mouth but Holly turned her attention back on David before he could speak. "Just go sit down! I'll get the coffee and aspirins."
    Diane glanced curiously at Reese as Holly headed for the kitchen.
    With a lopsided grin, David answered her unspoken question. "Sympathy isn't one of Holly's strong suits." He made his way over to the couch and groaned as he stretched out with his head propped up on the cushioned arm.
    Holly returned just as Diane was offering David the pillow she'd used last night. Setting the mug of black coffee and open bottle of aspirins on the coffee table in front of him, she said, "Don't pamper him, Diane. He's not nearly as helpless as he appears."
    David rolled to his side and took a sip of coffee. "So, the lady's still wearing her war paint." He rolled back onto the pillow with his eyes closed.
    "David! What are you doing here?"
    "Had news for you," he mumbled without opening his eyes. "Made Quick promise... let me... tell you."
    Holly waited for more but the soft snore emanating from his open mouth was all she got. He'd passed out! "Do you know what he was talking about?" she asked Reese impatiently.
    There was a visible yet silent exchange between the two agents before Reese spoke.
    "I swear I tried to stop him from drinking but—"
    Holly stopped him with a wave of her hand. "I know. He's terrified of flying. Just tell me what was so important that he left the safety of the guarded hospital room and got on a plane?"
    "He was adamant about delivering the news to you personally. Said he owed you that much. It was all we could do to slow him down so we could make arrangements—"
    "For god's sake! What news?"
    "The maintenance lady not only remembered you, she recalled the name of the book. You're in the clear."
    Holly felt like crying and impulsively hugged the agent. "Thank you. Thank everyone."
    "Thank Wells," Reese countered as she stepped back into her normally reserved posture.
    "Excuse me?"
    "When he heard what was going on with you up here, he managed to slip out of the hospital and went searching for the maintenance woman on his own. Had us going nuts for a couple hours 'til he came back. Turns out she was off for the next couple of days. It may have been awhile before our people could have tracked her down with everything else they had in the works."
    "David did that? For me?" Holly's voice was filled with wonder.
    "Like I said, he insisted he owed you a favor."
    Holly was stunned. As Reese continued to fill Diane in on what it took to keep David protected, Holly plopped down in a chair and stared at David. Why had he gone looking for the woman? For her? Or for a story? But if it was for a story, he could have let someone else tell her the results. And he certainly hadn't needed to get on a plane when it wasn't absolutely necessary. If he had wanted to tell her personally, he could have managed that over the phone.
    Then she remembered his quirk about calling. It made no sense, but he definitely had a thing about using the phone with her. She didn't count the one time he had called since it hadn't involved an actual conversation. A flutter crossed her stomach the moment she allowed herself to remember it. On the other hand, any hang-up he had about the telephone couldn't be as serious as his fear of flying.
    She didn't want to jump to any conclusions. He could have a perfectly logical reason for what he'd done. His actions did not necessarily imply that he'd forgiven her or that he cared. Besides, she hadn't forgiven him and wasn't sure she ever could.
    Diane and Reese invited her to pass the time with them over a game of cards at her kitchen table but she declined. She