A Bite to Remember Page 0,34

find Tiny there alone. Vincent and Marguerite had left ten minutes earlier to make the rounds of the clubs.

Jackie had spent quite a while discussing the implications of this letter with Tiny. It was a change in pattern. The previous letters had all been dated the day after each event took place, taunting Vincent after each occurrence. This one seemed to imply a threat of something to come. It had Jackie worried and she knew Tiny was worried too, but they didn't know what they should be worried about. They had no idea what the saboteur's plans were.

After discussing it for quite a while, Tiny had suggested a walk around the perimeter of Vincent's estate. Jackie knew it was just an excuse to work off a little of the tension and anxiety the letter had caused in them both. She didn't really expect to find anything of interest as they followed the high brick wall that ran around Vincent's property.

"I doubt a higher fence or electric wire would do much good," she said now. "Immortals can jump higher than us, but who knows how much higher?"

"Hmm." Tiny eyed the wall with consideration. "And no doubt they can climb trees too. There are lots of those on both sides of the wall."

Jackie nodded. "The real security is the motion sensor cameras and alarms on the house itself. Hopefully those will help."

Tiny grunted agreement and they fell silent. When he spoke again it was to change the subject. "Marguerite is an interesting woman. She cares about Vincent a lot."

"Oh?"

"She seems to thinks he's lonely," Tiny added and Jackie glanced at him with a start of surprise.

"Lonely?"

"Yes. Marguerite thinks he's losing interest in life. He takes on acting roles less and less often, and she thinks he's spending more time at home. Marguerite says she doesn't think he's been feeding enough either, that she'd noticed he'd lost weight when she saw him in New York."

Jackie had spent enough time around immortals to know that boredom was their worst enemy. When they lost the passion for life and fed less and became reclusive, it could lead to indifference and depression, then self-destructive behavior. She didn't like the idea that Vincent might be sinking into depression.

Her thoughts scattered as Tiny suddenly took her arm to turn her to the left. Jackie glanced around to find they'd reached the gate at the driveway and he was urging her up toward the house.

The lights on the ground floor were shining brightly, but Vincent and Marguerite hadn't yet returned. Jackie wasn't pleased that he was away from the safety of the house just now, she had a feeling things were going to start happening soon.

"You've got that hinky feeling," Tiny commented.

Jackie smiled faintly at the term they'd coined for her sense that something was about to happen. "It's showing, is it?"

"You're about ready to crawl out of your own skin with tension. That's usually a good sign that you've got that hinky feeling."

She nodded and blew her breath out on a sigh. "I do and the walk hasn't helped ease it much."

"Why don't you go for a swim?" Tiny suggested.

"Maybe I will," Jackie murmured.

"In the pool or ocean?" he asked. While the house was on prime oceanfront property, there was also a heated outdoor pool. Excess in Hollywood.

"The pool," she decided. Excess or not, Jackie had seen Jaws on television at an impressionable age. She wouldn't be able to relax in the ocean if she was scanning the horizon for shark fins and jumping every time some poor fish brushed against her.

"If you're swimming in the pool, I'll join you."

"You saw Jaws as a kid too, huh?" Jackie asked with amusement.

"Oh yeah. Wouldn't go in the local pool for a week afterwards."

They chuckled together as they entered the house, then parted to go to their rooms and change, agreeing to meet at the pool. Jackie made quick work of stripping her clothes and donning her red one-piece swimsuit. She returned downstairs and went into the kitchen to find she'd beat Tiny back.

Pausing at the security panel, Jackie punched in the code to release the kitchen door so that their opening it wouldn't set off the alarms. She then stepped out onto the patio only to hesitate.

The air was still warm from the day's heat, but it was dark night outside and she briefly debated whether to turn the pool lights on. In the end, Jackie decided the light shining from the kitchen windows lit up the area well