Rarities Unlimited 04 - The Color of Death

one of them. It was time to cut the losses and change to a new game.
    “Peyton?” she said, turning around.
    He stopped in the act of closing his hotel room door.
    “Breakfast tomorrow?” she asked. “Eight o’clock.”
    “Sure thing, honey,” he said, smiling widely. “Your room or mine?”
    “Yours. You get better service than I do.”

Chapter 67
    Glendale
    Monday
    7:30 A.M .
    Kate woke up stiff and yet content at the same time. She didn’t know whose bed she was in, but it was as warm as it was cramped. Then she heard Sam breathing, felt him all around her except for her back, which was pressed hard up against the old couch she kept in the workroom for those times when she was too tired to care about where she slept.
    She opened her eyes. The world was a blur with brilliant blue sapphires at the center.
    “You awake?” Sam asked.
    She blinked. His face was so close to hers she couldn’t focus. “Looks like it. How about you?”
    “Working on it.”
    “You’re working, period. I can feel the vibes.”
    “Just thinking,” Sam said.
    “That’s what most of your work is. Thinking. So…whatcha thinking?”
    “That Peyton Hall and Sharon Sizemore eat dinner together a lot.”
    Kate tried not to yawn. “Old news. Years old.”
    “So the affair’s over?”
    “No. It’s just old news. Peyton has a well-earned reputation as a hound. He’s married, has a long-term mistress—that’s Sharon—has had two- or three-week flings all along the way, and he regularly does the one-night dance with bar girls and dumb secretaries.”
    “Nice guy,” Sam said.
    “Your irony light better be on.”
    He smiled. “It is. So, do you think he and Sharon talk much about business?”
    “Probably. After five or six years together, what else—” Abruptly, Kate went silent. “Peyton Hall? You think he’s the one?”
    “I think we take another look at him. Real close. If we find a solid connection to Kirby or White or anything military, then we have something to go with.”
    “What about Sizemore?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You really don’t think he’s guilty, do you?”
    Sam sighed. “I’d love to nail his arrogant ass to the wall, but not for something he didn’t do. Before we arrest him, I have to look at every other possibility. I don’t want to ruin someone just because I can’t stand being in the same room with him.”
    “Someone in Sizemore’s company has to be passing along information. You think it’s Sharon?”
    “I don’t know. She’s been stupid about men before, but leaking information goes way beyond stupid. It’s called being an accomplice. Hell, maybe Ms. Tibble did the nasty with Peyton and wants to do it again, so she passes out tidbits.”
    Kate snickered. “How do we start?”
    “I want to take another look at Peyton’s bank accounts. Wouldn’t hurt to look at Hall Jewelry either.”
    “Back to hacking, huh?”
    “Yeah.” He put himself nose-to-nose with her. “Coffee?”
    “You asking me to make it?”
    “I sure am.”
    “You’ll owe me,” she warned.
    “I love it when you go all dominatrix with me.” He pulled back enough that she could see his grin.
    She tried not to laugh, then gave up when he kissed her nose and walked naked to the bathroom. She really was going to miss this early morning intimacy, having something to think about besides work, having someone to laugh with, to touch, to talk with, to….
    Does he feel the same way?
    With an impatient sound she stood up and went to make coffee. The kitchen floor felt cold under her bare feet. When she bumped into the refrigerator, its smooth chill made her jump back. Being butt naked had some disadvantages.
    While the coffee cooked, she went to her bedroom, which was still mostly torn up. Bed moved. Carpet gone—Sam had done that after the cops left. She couldn’t bear looking at it. Even with the carpet out, she still wasn’t happy. Quickly, she pulled on underwear, grit-stained jeans, and a blue work shirt that had been bleached so often that the only real color left was pale cream. She left the bedroom in a rush, wondering if she would ever be comfortable in that place again.
    Sam was sitting at the keyboard with the cell phone tucked between his ear and left shoulder. He’d put on jeans, period. The rest of him was naked and wonderfully tempting. Whatever he did to keep himself in shape showed in the fluid shift and bunch of muscles each time he moved. His fingers raced over the keyboard