Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

were already in, and part of the main vegetable gardens. The houses were on the property, but they were all in bad shape. We remodeled ourselves and extended the garden. Last year we put in two greenhouses, a fairly large one for vegetables and one much smaller for flowers. The farm has really done well and produced for us.”
    It was the most forthcoming she’d been about her life, and he heard the pride in her voice. She loved the farm.
    “Who did the work on the houses?”
    “We did. All of us. We started with Lexi’s house. She needed to feel safe. It was important that she had a home, a place that was hers. Judith, she’s our artist, is amazing with a hammer. Between Judith, Lissa and Airiana, we were able to do just about everything ourselves. And Judith helped each of us decorate.”
    He looked around Rikki’s house. His first thought was that not much decorating had taken place, but then he realized he was wrong. Judith, whoever she was, knew Rikki’s need for simplicity. The walls were done in cool water tones, producing a soothing atmosphere for her. And her bathroom had been a work of art. The few pictures in the house were watercolors, depicting rain over grass or rain in the trees. Judith “saw” Rikki and designed the interior to suit her needs. He had no doubt she would see right through him and made up his mind to avoid her.
    “How did you all meet?”
    Rikki’s fingers continued to tap a beat along her thigh. He could hear the rain respond through the open window, drumming at the roof, following the beat of her fingers.
    “We met through grief counseling. It was sort of my last-ditch effort to save myself. I was fairly certain I was a sociopath or something, at least in my sleep. I didn’t really want to keep living. But then I heard Lexi’s story, and Judith’s, as well as the others’, and they didn’t make me feel so alone.
    They believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself.”
    He was silent, digesting what she told him. “Rikki. Is that why you took me in? I’m not like you, honey. You didn’t start those fires. I’ve killed 88

    men. I see the images in my head. I don’t know why, but I’m not the nice man you’ve got in your head.”
    “I don’t think you’re a nice man,” she protested.
    Her vehemence made him smile all over again. “Good. I don’t want you to be disappointed when we find out who I am.”
    “You really don’t know?”
    “Don’t feel sorry for me, Rikki,” he cautioned. “I’m glad I don’t know.
    Spending time with you has been cleansing. I feel free. I know that probably sounds crazy, but I don’t want to look at who I was, not with the things I’m seeing. How could I have ten names? I don’t know what’s real and what’s made up. But I do know that every memory contains violence. Staying right here with you, lying here listening to the rain with you, I feel at peace. I shouldn’t but I do, and I’m going to enjoy it while I have the chance. Who knows? Tomorrow a cop or someone wanting me dead might show up at your door.”
    “They won’t, you know,” she offered, turning her body slightly toward his.
    She should have turned away from him. If she had any sense, his honesty should have shaken her, but Rikki didn’t react like most people. Her eyes were steady on his.
    “If anyone is looking for you, Lev, they’ll think you died in the ocean.
    Everyone was gone yesterday morning. The harbor was deserted when I went out. Only Ralph was there when I came back. Ralph noticed you, but he never saw your face.”
    At the mention of Ralph noticing him, Lev’s mind kicked into overdrive, rapidly calculating the benefits of finding Ralph and disposing of him before he could reveal Rikki hadn’t been alone. It was an automatic reaction more than a conscious one, and that told him a lot about himself.
    Killing was a way of life. Killing was an option for removing obstacles in his path. What kind of man thought that way? Rikki had thought of herself as a sociopath because she didn’t know whether or not she started fires, but she played in the rain, made water dance and composed symphonies with it.
    He contemplated killing.
    To avoid her eyes, he covered his own with his arm. She saw into him and the last thing he wanted was for her to see him as he really was.
    “What’s wrong?”
    He shook his head. “Go to sleep, Rikki. I’ll know if someone tries to come near the house.”
    Her fingers brushed his mouth. He felt the jolt