Неизвестный - 2. Beyond The Breakwater

After their last visit with Wendy, Reese had gently tried suggesting that Tory suspend her workouts until after the baby was born, but Tory had merely smiled and said that the physical exercise was good for her. Reese was always careful not to choose techniques that involved shoulder lifts or throws, but still, every defense in ju jitsu finished with a take down to the floor. And every time a student took her lover to the mat, no matter how carefully, Reese’s heart lurched. The first time Tory bowed to Bri in invitation to practice, Reese quickly crossed the mat to intercept them.

Reese bowed, dismissing Bri, and indicated to Tory to perform the technique with her instead. When Tory threw a punch, Reese blocked, pivoted, and smoothly guided her lover to the floor. As Reese cradled Tory’s elbow between her knees and applied force on her wrist, effectively pinning her, she leaned forward slightly over Tory’s supine form and murmured, “Everything okay?”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Be careful with Bri. She’s very strong.”

“I will be.” For the briefest instant, Tory smiled directly into Reese’s eyes and murmured faintly, “I’m fine, sweetheart.”

Reese nodded briefly, her gaze a caress, and moved away.

At the end of class, Reese approached Bri, who was carefully folding her gi jacket and brown obi. “It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s great to be here.” Bri glanced almost shyly at Reese and said, “Can I talk to you later?”

“Sure.” Reese glanced at the clock. “It’s about breakfast time. I was going to take Tory to Cafe Heaven. Want to come along?”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to…get in the way.”

Reese laughed. “It’s just breakfast, Bri.”

“Well…”

“Come on, Bri,” Tory said as she joined them. “I heard that. You’re coming, and that’s all there is to it. You can leave your motorcycle here, and we’ll bring you back after breakfast to pick it up.”

The tiny restaurant was situated just up the street from where Bri had met Ashley the night before. It had only a dozen or so tables and was always crowded, but luckily it took only a few moments for them to be seated. Even more fortunately, the waitress recognized them as regulars, so it took only another minute to place their orders.

“So how is the new guy working out?” Bri asked Tory as she finished a large glass of orange juice in three big gulps. “What’s his name?”

“Dan Riley,” Tory said neutrally. “He’s only been here one day.”

“Is he just here for the summer?” Bri inquired innocently as she reached for the basket of bread. She didn’t notice that both Reese and Tory looked uncomfortable.

“That was the plan,” Tory replied.

“So,” Reese interjected casually as she peppered her omelet, “how was your night?”

“Uh…it was…fine.”

“Much activity in town?”

“It was crowded right around closing time, but after that it emptied out pretty quickly.”

“Uh-huh. Not much going on after 1:30 or so.” Reese raised an eyebrow and regarded Bri steadily.

“Well,” Bri said after a second. She’d been wanting to discuss the encounter with Reese, because it still bothered her, and she couldn’t quite work out why. Well, she wanted to tell Reese about most of it, anyhow. “I met Ashley Walker, and we talked about the case for a while.”

Reese stiffened almost imperceptibly. “You talked about the case?”

“Not about the case, exactly. Well, I mean, she wanted to talk about the case. “

“I’ll bet she did,” Reese muttered.

“Who, by the way, is Ashley Walker?” Tory looked from one to the other and tried to figure out what, precisely, was going on.

Aware that they were in a public place, Bri lowered her voice and leaned across the small table close to Tory. “She’s a private detective who’s working for an insurance company.”

“I see. This is about the fire, I take it?”

“Yeah.”

“What did the two of you discuss?” Reese’s eyes were steady on Bri’s face, her voice flat.

“We didn’t discuss anything,” Bri said with a faint hint of disgust. “She was fishing for information about our investigation. I was hoping she’d tell me something. So we both came away with no satisfaction.”

“Does that tell you anything?” Reese speared a strawberry with her fork and waited. You’re good at this, kiddo. Let’s see what your instincts are like.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Bri replied pensively, her eggs and linguica forgotten. “If she was trying to find out what we knew, then there must be something to know. More than just a fire. It’s only been a couple of days, and no one would expect us to have much on it yet. She was trying to see if we had information on something else.”

“Uh-huh.” Reese moved on to the bananas. “Like what?”

“Like…” Bri hitched her shoulders, worried about looking dumb. “Like another fire?”

“Mmm. Could be.”

Tory leaned back in her chair, enjoying the Socratic exchange. She’d seen Reese work dozens of time. But she’d never seen her quite like this. Usually, when Reese was in the field, she was in command mode. She issued orders, then expected them to be followed without question. She rarely explained, because she saw no need to do so. She had been bred and raised in a military family, where the power was clearly delineated and the authority unquestioningly accepted. Watching her lead Bri through this algorithm of deductive reasoning showed her a fascinating side of her partner that she had never before observed. Suddenly, she had an image of Reese with their child, patiently teaching him or her how to think about the world. To her absolute chagrin, she felt her eyes fill with tears. Oh my God, this pregnancy is doing the strangest things to me.

Reese glanced sharply at Tory, feeling her lover grow tight against her side. “Tor?” she murmured. “What’s wrong?”

Tory shook her head and smiled wanly. “Nothing, sweetheart.”

By the time Tory composed herself, she caught only the tail end of the conversation. “It’s a holiday weekend,” Tory pointed out, suddenly feeling much more herself. “I imagine you’ll have a hard time tracking people down, if it’s anything like it is around here. You hardly have anyone in the office, and the ones who are there don’t seem to know a lot about what’s going on.”

Grinning, Reese ran her fingers lightly down Tory’s forearm and squeezed her hand. “Well, our guy Lewis knows a lot more about it now than he did last night. The next time you call, I’ve got a feeling you’ll be getting priority treatment.”

“Good.” Tory bumped her shoulder softly into Reese’s. “And rightly so, too.”

The three of them laughed and finished breakfast, speaking no more of medicine or law enforcement.

On Wednesday morning as Reese and Tory were both preparing for work, Tory asked casually, “So, did Bri find anything out from her computer searches about the fire in town?”

Reese was halfway through tying a precision knot in her tie and waited to finish before answering. “Not yet. I think today will probably be more productive. You’re right. We had a hard time connecting with anyone the last couple of days, especially with all the traffic leaving the Cape after the holiday. Everyone was in the field.”

“What’s this investigator like?”

“I can’t say for sure. She seemed confident, and the fact that she picked Bri to question also suggests that she’s clever.”

“Because Bri is a beginner, and she thought Bri was a likely source of information?”

Reese nodded. “I’m sure she knew she wouldn’t get anything from me.”

“It could be she was just using it as an excuse to see Bri socially, you know. Did she look like the type who might be interested?”

“I didn’t really notice.”

Tory smiled fondly. “How lucky for me. Describe her for me.”

“I thought that didn’t work,” Reese protested. “Besides, wouldn’t you have to see her to get…you know, some kind of vibe or something?”

“Talk about old wives’ tales.” Tory laughed out loud. “Just tell me about the way she looked and what she said when the three of you first met.”

Reese complied as Tory listened intently. When she finished, Tory shook her head knowingly. “Just what Bri needs is another woman interested in her. She sounds cute, too.”

“I don’t know.” Reese shrugged and clipped her badge to her left breast pocket. “I guess so.”

“Do you think there’s an arsonist at work?”

Surprised by the sudden change in topic, Reese turned from the mirror and regarded her lover. “I don’t have any evidence to suggest that.”

Tory sat on the edge of the bed and patted the place next to her. “Sit down for a minute.”

Immediately, Reese moved to her side and took her hand. “What is it?”

“We haven’t talked about this very much,” Tory began carefully, holding Reese’s left hand in hers. Absently, she turned the wedding band on her lover’s ring finger. “You know I wouldn’t change anything about you, don’t you?”

“Tor,” Reese breathed. She turned her head and kissed the tip of Tory’s shoulder, which at the moment was exposed where the night shirt she still wore had fallen down her arm. “What is it, love?”

“I’m not sure what it is exactly. I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy making me a little sensitive or the fact that…” She swallowed and waited a beat to make sure her voice was steady. “Or the fact that you almost died less than three months ago.”

“Ah, love, it’s over now.” Reese turned fully and drew Tory into her arms, cradling her as she rested her chin against the top of her head. “I don’t want you to worry.”

“That’s just it. I do worry. I’ve always worried a little about you getting hurt—I don’t think anyone whose lover does what you do for a living doesn’t. If you’ll recall, sweetheart, it was a gunshot wound that finally brought us together.”

“Tor—”

“My point is, Reese, that you do have a dangerous job. It would scare me under any circumstances, but now…” again, she drew a shaky breath. “I keep thinking how important you are. You’re everything to me. I wouldn’t want to live without you. But now, it’s even more important that you’re safe, because there’s going to be another life depending upon you.”

Reese’s chest tightened, and she drew Tory near. “I’ll be careful. I promise. You don’t have to worry about that, Tor. My family means more to me than anything in the world. I won’t do anything to risk it.”

Swiftly, Tory wrapped both arms around Reese’s waist and pressed against her, needing to feel her. Needing to know the solid reassurance of her unwavering presence. “I love you so much.”

“And you can count on it,” Reese whispered.

“Good, because I do.”

“Don’t we have a doctor’s visit coming up this week?” Reese asked gently.

“You don’t need to come with me every time.”

“What about your blood pressure?” Reese tried not to ask her about it very often, but it was on her mind every day.

Tory sighed. “There’s still a persistent elevation, but nothing approaching critical.”

“I’m going with you.” Reese tried hard to sound unconcerned, but her insides turned to ice.

“Reese—”

“I’m going with you. Friday, right?”

Tory threaded her arms around Reese’s neck and kissed her. Amazingly, as her breasts and stomach brushed against Reese’s hard body, she felt a swell of arousal. She kissed her longer than she had meant to, because Reese’s lips were soft and full and her mouth was so warm. The strong hands moving the length of her back and gently rubbing the muscles below the swell of her hips urged her blood to run faster and her muscles to tense. When she reached the point that she knew she needed to stop or go forward until she had satisfied her rapidly escalating desire, Tory pulled her mouth away. Gasping shallowly, she murmured, “Can you be late?”