Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

dilated a mere fraction, enough to give her fear away. "Georgetown."
    He narrowed his eyes in thought. Could Donner have attended Georgetown and it never showed up in her bio? He didn't think so. Holly was lying about that. He knew it as well as he knew his own name. He also knew that whatever her connection was with Erica Donner made Holly nervous. But it wasn't time to challenge her yet. If he pushed for the truth now, he could be sacrificing the chance to get bigger truths later.
    Being reminded that she was a liar who could be involved in something deadly helped him control his desire enough to let her leave his company... and made him more determined than ever to uncover her secrets.
    * * *
    April forced herself to wait until Sunday evening before taking action. She had called Holly's apartment Saturday afternoon and evening, then called her cell phone twice on Sunday, all without a return call. Finally, she placed a call to Bobbi.
    "Hello?"
    The strong tone of the voice put April on alert. "Roberta?"
    "Yes. How are you, April?"
    "I'm fine, but I need to speak to Bobbi."
    "I'm sorry. That's not possible right now."
    It was difficult to deal with the Roberta personality face to face, over the phone was nearly impossible. April strengthened her own voice to one of supreme authority. "How long has Bobbi been away?"
    "About a week, maybe a little more."
    April deduced that the personality change probably occurred after their group meeting. "What have you done, Roberta?"
    She paused long enough for April's tension to mount. "Nothing."
    "You and I both know that's probably not true. Otherwise, Bobbi would be back. What did you tell her employer?"
    The voice lost a good deal of its confidence. "She has a bad case of strep throat. She couldn't call in for herself."
    "Listen to me, Roberta, you and I will have a long talk about this the next time we get together, but Bobbi has to come back now. She needs to report to work, and I need her to do an important favor for all of us."
    "I could do it," Roberta countered a bit testily.
    "Bobbi is better suited for this," April stated firmly. "Now let me talk to her." There was another momentary pause on the line, during which April could almost visualize the transfer of control.
    "Hello?"
    "Bobbi, it's April. Are you all right?"
    Bobbi took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm just a little tired."
    "What's the last thing you remember?"
    "I, uh, I'm not sure. We were all meeting at the hotel, and I went back to my office and... I'm sorry, April. She was too strong this time."
    "It's all right, Bobbi. We'll talk about it some more the next time we're together. The important thing is that you're back and I want you to work very hard on staying in control. Okay?" When Bobbi didn't answer right away, April used her most sympathetic voice to say, "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Bobbi. You've made incredible progress, but I warned you that there would still be times when the pressure might get too great. If it starts again, I want you to call me right away. Don't try to handle it yourself for a while."
    "All right."
    "Good girl." Knowing that Roberta never allowed Bobbi to see or hear what was going on when she was in control, April brought her up to date about the Ziegler murder and Holly Kaufman's acceptance of the Frampton assignment.
    "I would like you to give Holly a call at work tomorrow and suggest you get together for lunch. One of us needs to stay very close to her for the time being. I can't be there, and I think she'd be more apt to accept you as a friend than Rachel."
    "Do you think she's going to cause problems?" Bobbi asked fearfully.
    "No, no. Not at all. It's just a precaution because of the murder investigation."
    "All right then. I'll keep an eye on her."
    * * *
    Holly had the old dream that night, only this time, instead of turning to find Tim Ziegler or a monster beside her, she saw David's face. At the point when she normally awoke covered in perspiration, he grinned at her and she nestled into his arms. Threads of the dream were still with her when the real David's travel alarm clock went off on the other side of the camper.
    Friends! What an insane notion. What happened last night was proof that there was too much sexual attraction between them for a simple friendship. Twice he had shown that he could banish her common sense with nothing more than his kisses. Twice he had shown more control than she.
    Last night she would have made love... No. Philip made love. With