Shakespeares Counselor Page 0,57

moment.

"What about telling Tamsin?" I asked.

Claude rubbed a finger over the surface of his badge. "Lily, you go home and rest up," he said finally. "That isn't your responsibility. I'm sorry it's mine, but I guess it is. It's someone I employed who's watching her."

"But not illegally," I said, having thought it over. "He stays on his property. He doesn't trespass. He's just. .. observing Tamsin's life. From a safe distance."

"He doesn't communicate with her or try to scare her?" Claude asked, thinking it through.

"No. He just watches and waits for something else to happen to her." I couldn't help it; I shuddered.

"Maybe I should just tell her husband, that Cliff."

"Cliff Eggers, martial medical transcriptionist? I don't think that'd do a lot of good."

"Me, either." Claude reflected for a moment. "Well, Lily, I'm sure Jack will track me down and beat me up if you don't go home to rest."

For whatever reasons, he wanted me to go. There was nothing else I could say or do. I just had to wait, and watch the consequences coming at me. Nothing I could do would stop what was going to happen. I had sworn to myself that I would never again feel helpless in this life; to that end, I had trained myself and remained vigilant. But now, all over again, I was a victim.

I felt very tired. I returned the towel to the receptionist on my way out, and when I got home I was happy to get in a shower, get even wetter, and then put on some dry clothes. I sat in my reclining love seat, began rescreening one of the movies I'd rented, and without a premonitory blink I fell asleep.

Someone had hold of me, and I wrenched my arm away.

"What? Stop!" I mumbled, heavy with sleep.

"Lily! Lily! Wake up!"

"Jack? What are you doing here?" I focused on him with a little difficulty. I wasn't used to napping, and I found it disagreed with me.

"I got a phone call," he said, his voice clipped and hard. "Telling me I better get back fast, that you were in trouble."

"Who would have said that?"

"Someone who didn't want to leave a name."

"I'm okay," I said, a little muddled about all this, but still pretty sure I was basically all right. "I just fell asleep when I left Claude's office. You won't... you're going to be really mad when I tell you what's happened."

"It must have been something, to make you sleep through karate class," Jack said. I peered past him at the clock. It was seven thirty. I'd been asleep about two hours, I realized with a great deal of astonishment. I could count the naps I'd taken as an adult on the fingers of one hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," I said. "Let me go clean up a little. My mouth is gummy. I can't believe I feel asleep."

When I came back from the bathroom I was sure I was awake, and I knew I felt much better. I'd washed my face, brushed my teeth, and combed my hair. Jack looked calmer, but he was angry now, the false phone call having upset him badly.

"Did you try calling me before you rushed back from Little Rock?" That would have left the puzzle of who had called him, but relieved his anxiety.

Jack looked guilty. "Once."

"No answer."

"No."

"Did you try my cell phone?"

"Yes."

I took it from the table and looked at it. I'd never turned it on that day. "Okay, let me tell you where I was." I could hardly upbraid Jack because he had rushed back to Shakespeare under the impression I was in deep trouble, either physically or emotionally. "I was at the police station."

Jack's dark brows arched up. "Really?" He was determined not to overreact, now.

"Yes. I was there because of the new patrolman."

"The red-haired guy?" There wasn't much Jack didn't notice.

"The very one. It turns out he's Gerry McClanahan, all right, but he's also the true-crime writer Gibson Banks."

"Oh, no." Jack had been standing by the window looking out at the darkness of the cloudy night. Now he came and sat beside me on the love seat. He closed his eyes for a second as he assessed the damage this would do us. When he opened them, he looked like he was facing a firing squad. "God, Lily. This is going to be so bad. All over again."

"He's not after us. We're only an interesting sidelight to him, something he just happened on. Serendipity." I could not stop