Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [129]
“Thank you,” she whispered as the tears flowed more quickly. “Oh, thank you.”
She hugged the flowers closer.
“My father planted that lilac for my mother the year they were married,” she told him, her tears now flooding her face. “I was so afraid it had been destroyed. That my house . . .”
“Your house is going to be as good as new.” Adam leaned over the side of the bed and brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “Jess Webb is out there with the guy from the insurance company, and someone . . . I forget her name . . . is going to look at your antiques.”
“Karen Hill,” Kendra said, sniffing, annoyed that her nose was beginning to run.
“Yes, that was it. She’s going to meet with Jess and the adjuster today and see what needs to be done. So there’s nothing to worry about. The kitchen took the brunt of the fire.”
“Because I forgot to turn off the pancakes.”
“Pancakes?” Adam frowned.
“It’s a long story,” she said, her voice almost faded away completely.
“You can tell me later,” Adam said, taking the chair by her bed, “we have all the time in the world.”
“John’s not making you go back to Virginia today?”
“I’m not leaving,” he told her, and she opened her eyes just the tiniest bit. “The last time you needed someone, I wasn’t there for you. I waited too long to come back. I’m not making the same mistake again. This time, I’m not going anywhere. There is nothing that could make me leave Smith’s Forge now.”
She smiled and closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
“That might make things a bit awkward,” said a voice behind him.
Adam turned to see John Mancini leaning against the doorjamb.
“What would make things awkward?”
“Well, you sticking around here while she’s in North Carolina. I’d have thought you’d want to be with her, but hey, that’s just me.”
“John, what are you talking about?”
“She didn’t tell you? I offered her a job. No more freelancing. When she’s not in the field, sketching, she’ll be lecturing at the Academy. She’s a superb investigator, always asks the right questions. And I’ve never met anyone who has a better talent for homing in on physical descriptions.”
“She’s going to be working for the Bureau?”
“Yes. The doctors all said she could leave in a few days, and since she doesn’t have a house to go back to right now, I thought I’d send her down to Nags Head. We’ve been asked to assist on a series of child abductions. Miranda Cahill’s already on her way down. She couldn’t wait to get back to work, so I thought we should accommodate her.”
“Do you think either of them—Kendra or Miranda—can handle working so soon, after everything that’s happened?”
“As I said, Miranda is restless. And of course Kendra can’t draw anything just yet, but the doctors all feel her hands and fingers will be good as new with therapy. And I think with her ability to pry descriptions out of witnesses, I can send another artist along to do the actual sketching if I have to. I have someone in mind, he might learn from the experience of working with her. It’ll be interesting to see how that works, don’t you think? And she can get the therapy she needs for her hands down there, there’s a good clinic.”
Adam merely nodded, and tried not to frown.
“Now, when you get down there, the first person I want you to speak with is . . .”
“When I get down there?”
“Sure. Someone has to be in charge. You’re senior on the team, aren’t you? Now, come on downstairs to the cafeteria and we’ll grab some lunch, and I’ll fill you in on this case.” John’s voice dropped. “It’s pretty nasty.”
“They’ve all been nasty lately,” Adam said without thinking. “It’s been a nasty couple of weeks.”
“It’s the nature of the job, Adam.”
“Is Will Fletcher assigned to this investigation?” Adam’s fists visibly clenched.
“No.” John was not oblivious to the tension. “I need him in West Virginia right now. Besides, I wanted to give him a little breathing room. He blames himself, you know, for what happened to Kendra.”
“As well he should. If he hadn’t left her there alone with Zach—if he’d had the presence