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"Holiday?"
"Fourth of July." While the caffeine pumped through his
system, he topped off his mug. "Fireworks, potato salad,
marching bands."
"Oh." She had a flash of a little girl sitting on a woman's lap as
lights exploded in the night sky. "Of course. You'll be taking the
weekend off. You must have plans."
"Yeah, I got plans. I plan for us to toddle into the office about
midmorning. I can show you the ropes. Won't be able to do
much legwork today, with everything shut down, but we can
start putting things in order."
"I don't want you to give up your weekend. I'd be happy to go
in and straighten up your office, and you could "
"Bailey. I'm in this with you."
She set her mug down, linked her hands. "Why?"
"Because it feels right to me. The way I see it, what you can't
figure out in your head, you do on instinct." Those sea-mist eyes
roamed over her face, then met hers. "I like to think there's a
reason you picked me. For both of us."
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ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"I'm surprised you can say that, after the way I acted last
evening. For all we know, I go out cruising bars every night and
pick up strange men."
He chuckled into his mug. Better to laugh, he'd decided, than to
groan. "Bailey, the way a single glass of wine affects you, I
doubt you spent much time in bars. I've never seen anyone get
bombed quite that fast."
"I don't think that's anything to be proud of."
Her voice had turned stiff and cool, and it made him want to
grin again.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of either. And you didn't pick a
strange man, you picked me." The amusement in his eyes
flicked off. "We both know it was personal, with or without the
alcohol."
"Then why didn't you& take advantage?"
"Because that's just what it would have been. I don't mind
having the advantage, but I'm not interested in taking it. Want
breakfast?"
She shook her head, waited until he'd gotten out a box of cereal
and a bowl. "I appreciate your restraint."
"Do you?"
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ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"Not entirely."
"Good." He felt the muscles of his ego expand and flex as he
got milk out of the refrigerator. He poured it on, then added
enough sugar to have Bailey's eyes widening.
"That can't be healthy."
"I live for risk." He ate standing up. "Later I thought we'd drive
downtown, walk around with the tourists. You may see
something that jogs your memory."
"All right." She hesitated, then took a chair. "I don't know
anything about your work, really, your usual clientele. But it
seems to me you're taking all of this completely in stride."
"I love a mystery." Then he shrugged and shoveled in more
cereal. "You're my first amnesia case, if that's what you mean.
My usual is insurance fraud and domestic work. It has its
moments."
"Have you been an investigator very long?"
"Four years. Five, if you count the year I trained as an operative
with Guardian. They're a big security firm here in D.C. Real
suit-and-tie stuff. I like working on my own better."
"Have you ever& had to shoot at someone?"
"No. Too bad, really, because I'm a damn good shot." He
caught her gnawing her lip and shook his head. "Relax, Bailey.
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ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Cops and P.I.s catch the bad guys all the time without drawing
their weapon. I've taken a few punches, given a few, but mostly
it's just legwork, repetition and making calls. Your problem's
just another puzzle. It's just a matter of finding all the pieces and
fitting them together."
She hoped he was right, hoped it could be just that simple, that
ordinary, that logical. "I had another dream. There were two
women. I knew them, I'm sure of it." When he pulled out a chair
and sat across from her, she told him what she remembered.
"It sounds like you were in the desert," he said when she fell
silent. "Arizona, maybe New Mexico."
"I don't know. But I wasn't afraid. I was happy, really happy.
Until the storm came."
"There were three stones, you're sure of that?"
"Yes, almost identical, but not quite. I had them, and they were
so beautiful, so extraordinary. But I couldn't keep them together.
That was very important." She sighed. "I don't know how much
was real and how much was jumbled and symbolic, the way
dreams are."
"If one stone's real, there may be two more." He took her hand.
"If one woman's real, there may be two more. We just have to
find them."
It was after ten when they walked into his office. The cramped
and dingy work space struck her as more than odd now that
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ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
she'd seen how he lived. But she listened carefully as he tried to
explain how to work the computer to type up his notes, how he
thought the filing should be done, how to handle the phone and
intercom systems.
When he left her alone to close himself in his office, Bailey
surveyed the area. The philodendron lay on its side, spilling dirt.
There was broken glass, sticky splotches from old coffee, and
enough dust to shovel.
Typing would just have to wait, she decided. No one could
possibly concentrate in such a mess.
From behind his desk, Cade used the phone to do his initial
legwork. He tracked down his travel agent and, on the pretext of
planning a vacation, asked her to locate any desert area where
rock-hounding was permitted. He told her he was exploring a
new hobby.
From his research the night before, he'd learned quite a bit
about the hobby of unearthing crystals and gems. The way
Bailey had described her dream, he was certain that was just
what she'd been up to.
Maybe she was from out west, or maybe she'd just visited there.
Either way, it was another road to explore.
He considered calling in a gem expert to examine the diamond.
But on the off chance that Bailey had indeed come into its
possession by illegal means, he didn't want to risk it.
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ABC Amber LIT Converter http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
He took the photographs he'd snapped the night before of the
diamond and spread them out on his desk. Just how much would
a gemologist be able to tell from pictures? he wondered.
It might be worth a try. Tuesday, when businesses were open
again, he mused, he might take that road, as well.
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