armoire, it looked like something out of a set for a Civil War movie.
No wait—they called it something else down here. The War of Northern Aggression.
“You have a private bathroom,” Janet said, opening another door. Like the kitchen, it was very modern with a huge soaking tub, a separate shower, and a large pedestal sink.
A wave of fatigue hit Morgan with a body blow, and she swayed on her feet.
Janet gave her a sympathetic look. “You must be exhausted, child. Get a good night’s rest, and we’ll see you in the morning.”
Suddenly, Morgan remembered what she was wearing. Gesturing toward the cast-off robe, she said, “I . . . I don’t have anything else to put on.”
“I’m sure Andre can get your suitcase from the car in the morning. I hope you don’t mind sticking with what you have for now.”
Morgan did mind. But she only said, “No, that’s fine.”
After the housekeeper left her alone, she washed her swamp- soaked underwear in the sink, then hung it over a towel bar before taking the fastest shower on record. She was swaying on her feet by the time she got out, toweled off, and used the hair dryer she found on one of the shelves.
She’d left the robe hanging on the back of the door, and the idea of putting it back on brought a strange, tingling sensation to her skin. But it was either that or go to bed naked, and she certainly wasn’t going to do that in a strange house where her host had disappeared and wild animals prowled the grounds outside. What did you do if there was a fire, she wondered? Run outside and take your chances in the zoo?
The image made her giggle. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. She’d lived through a hell of a day, and she knew that she was close to the edge of hysteria. She needed to sleep, and maybe she would feel better in the morning.
Snatching up the robe, she pulled it on and redid the buttons with clumsy fingers. She was in bad shape. Worse than any time she could remember in recent memory. She had never thought that she was afraid of the dark. But in this unfamiliar place, she wanted to be able to see where she was if she woke in the night. So, she left the bathroom light on, then closed the door almost all the way until only a shaft of light knifed into the room.
Satisfied that the light wasn’t too bright to keep her up, she hurried across the room to the bed.
While she’d been in the bathroom, Janet had turned back the lacy spread, revealing a light blanket and crisp white sheets.
Gratefully, Morgan climbed between them, made the pillows comfortable under her neck, and closed her eyes.
On edge, she lay in the darkness, staring at the canopy above her head, feeling like she’d stepped out of her old life and into another world where she had no idea what to expect from one moment to the next. It was important to think about Trevor. After he’d been killed, her grief had been like barbed wire twisting in her guts. The pain had dulled over time. But she still missed him. She still knew that she’d never feel the same about any other man.
In the darkness, she called up scenes from their life together. She’d brought Trevor to meet Mom and Dad. She’d always known that her churchgoing parents were protective of her. But Trevor knew how to win them over. He and Dad had gone fishing together. They’d puttered around in the garage working on Dad’s prize 1958 Thunderbird. Trevor knew how to charm her father—and her mother, too. Every time Mom set a dish in front of him, he’d extravagantly praised her cooking. And he’d bought her candy and flowers as though she were the one he was courting.
She smiled, remembering how well he got along with people. How smart he’d been. How much fun. How he hadn’t had any of that male chauvinism that infected so many men in the intelligence services.
They’d talked about getting out of the spook business and opening their own security company. They’d talked about children, but she’d known deep down that wasn’t really what Trevor wanted. He was too much of an adventurer, while she’d secretly longed to put down roots. After he’d died, she’d thought that if she’d had his child, she wouldn’t have lost everything.
Remembering Trevor helped ground her. She was in a