He retraced his steps back to her. “Is the honeymoon over?”
“I could ask you the same.”
“Why would you?”
“Because I suspect you’re having an affair with Elaine.” There, she’d said it.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“That’s what every cheating partner says when accused.”
“You’re being preposterous. I am not sleeping with Elaine. Good God.”
His denial didn’t prompt her to back down or withdraw the allegation. She held his self-righteous glare.
Sounding frustrated, he said, “I’m not having an affair, but you’re right. We need to get back on an even keel. A change of scenery would do us good. I’ll come with you to Atlanta.”
“Come with me?”
“Is that such an outrageous notion?”
“No, not at all. You’re always welcome to come along, but you rarely do. I can’t remember the last time you did.”
“I’ve read about this place, and it does sound special. It poached a superstar chef away from a New York restaurant. We’ll have each other to ourselves. No Elaine chattering a mile a minute. No bothersome neighbor,” he said shooting a glance out the back window. “I don’t see a downside to us enjoying time to ourselves.”
The downside was that she would prefer to spend those several days alone. She needed time to think about the implications of her doctor’s visit this morning and to reflect on the destabilizing events that had taken place since Sunday when she’d gone yachting on the Laney Belle and met Drex Easton.
She also needed to isolate a reason for the vague uneasiness that had plagued her for several months now. A premonition of doom was her constant companion, and that was a complete turnaround from the optimist outlook she’d always had. She’d arrived at no explanation for this gradual but inexorable reversal, but if the erosion of her marriage was the cause, that was reason enough to spend quality time with Jasper and try to get them back on track.
She smiled up at him. “That sounds lovely.”
“Make the reservation.”
“When do you want to go?”
He stroked her cheek, pushed back a strand of her hair, and curled his hand around her throat. “Tomorrow.”
Chapter 16
Long after Jasper’s final word, “Tomorrow,” Drex sat, staring through the darkness at nothing. Like a prizefighter who’d received a knockout jab and had made a hard landing, it took a while for him to come around.
But when at last he did, it was with a jolt of furious energy. He whipped off the headset, picked up his cell phone, and placed a call.
Gif answered sleepily. “I didn’t think you were speaking to me.”
“Where are you staying?”
Gif gave him the name of the motel.
“What room?”
“You’re coming now?”
“As soon as I can get there.”
“Has something happened?”
“It’s them.”
“It’s them?” He sounded wide awake now. “How do you know?”
“The bug. I was listening. Heard a lot.”
Gif processed that. “You said ‘them.’ Her, too?”
Drex unlocked his jaw enough to say, “Her, too.”
He dressed in darkness, added the surveillance equipment to the duffel bag, and took it with him. He felt his way down the staircase, then scurried along the far side of the garage to the back. Peering around the rear corner of the building, he halfway expected to see Jasper charging across the lawn after him as before.
He watched and waited, remaining so still he could feel the blood pumping through his veins, hear his heartbeat thudding against his eardrums. Supercharged by adrenaline and anger, remaining motionless was torture. But he stayed as he was for five long minutes. The Ford house remained dark.
“Sleep tight,” he whispered as he slipped into the darkness.
He picked his way through the green belt that buffered the Arnott property from the street behind it. It was a moonless night. The atmosphere was laden with humidity. A light mist felt like cobwebs against his face. When he reached the street, he struck out at a dead run and covered the mile to the nearest convenience store in under six minutes.
There, mindful of security cameras, he pulled the hood of his windbreaker over his head, shuffled up to the counter, and asked the cashier if he could use his phone to call for a taxi. “My battery’s drained.” Never looking up from his hot rod magazine, the guy slid his cell phone across the counter.
It took twice as long for the taxi to get to the convenience store as it did to cover the distance to the motel. Drex asked to be dropped off at an apartment complex across the freeway from it. He paid the driver in cash, waited for him to get out