Heart of the Raven(3)

"Could be."

She closed her notebook. He handed her an envelope with a check for the  retainer she'd told him on the phone that ARC would require. They walked  downstairs in silence.

At the front door she stopped. "Are you in love with her?"

Like he believed in love anymore? "No."

"Yet you would've married her."

He'd already said as much. He felt no need to explain himself.

"There's something I need you to do," Cassie said, her tone businesslike  but her eyes gentle. "The investigation may take a turn or reach a  point where you will have to leave the house, maybe to go with me  somewhere or even to go alone if Eva calls and needs you. You need to  get your mind in a place where you can do that."                       
       
           



       

"I already have." He would do anything for his child. Anything.  Including fighting Eva for custody, something he wouldn't have done  before. She obviously wasn't fit to be a mother. "What can I do in the  meantime?"

"Let me get things rolling first. Sometimes these kinds of things solve  themselves fairly fast. If you think of anything else that might be  important, give me a call."

She held out her hand. He took it automatically, one businessperson to  another, concluding a deal. He started to let go, but she tightened her  hold.

He got caught in the unwavering intensity of her eyes.

"I will find your child," she said with conviction.

His throat closed. He barely stopped himself from yanking her into his arms in gratitude.

He believed her.





Two




It didn't take Cassie long at her computer that afternoon to come up  with Eva's date of birth, social security number, current address and  previous address. The rest would take more digging. She expected that  the interview with the roommate, Darcy, would yield the most concrete  information-unless Eva had been as secretive with Darcy as she'd been  with Heath.

Cassie hit the print key then pushed away from her desk and stretched,  loosening her shoulder muscles. While her documents and notes printed,  she would call Eva's obstetrician. She picked up the phone, started to  punch in the numbers, then stopped the call before it went through and  dialed Heath instead.

"It's Cassie Miranda," she said when he answered.

"You have news?"

She heard expectation in his voice and was sorry not to be able to give  him good news. She didn't know much about Eva yet, but Cassie knew this  much-people who used children were the lowest form of humanity. "I'm  sorry, no. I'm about to call her OB's office and pretend I'm her. Does  she have an accent?"

A few beats passed. She figured he was dealing with the disappointment of no news. "No accent," he said finally.

"Any distinctive speech patterns? Does she say 'you know' a lot? Or 'like'? Anything like that?"

"She giggles."

Cassie cringed. "A lot?"

"Yes. Even more when she's nervous."

Great. "Can you give me an example?"

Silence, then, "Right. That's something I would do."

She smiled at his sarcasm. "I think I would've liked to hear you try."  She looked at Eva's photo when he said nothing further, trying to  picture the two of them together. They didn't fit. She was a  girl-next-door type, with red hair and freckles, and he seemed worldly,  even in his grief for the son he lost and the yet-to-be-born child now  missing.

And he's a hermit, don't forget. Not exactly your ordinary sophisticate.

"Any other ideas come to you?" she asked.

"She likes to shop."

Cassie grinned. She was getting used to his interesting way of offering  information, direct and vague at the same time. "Any place in  particular?"

"She likes a bargain. Said she's never paid full price for anything and she never would."

"She likes a bargain as in thrift stores-or the semiannual sale at Nordstrom?"

"Both, I would guess. And consignment shops. She'd found one that sold only maternity clothes."

"Can't be too many of those in the city." She grabbed her phone book  from her credenza and placed it on her desktop. "Thanks. I'll check it  out."

As soon as she hung up she called the doctor's office, knowing she was  cutting it close to quitting time. She drummed her pen on the desk as  the voice menu prompted her with choices to make, then she chose option  three, which had to do with making appointments.

"Hi," she said when an actual human being came on the line. "This is Eva  Brooks. I've done the silliest thing." That was as close to a giggle as  she was going to get. "I lost the card showing my next appointment. Can  you tell me when I'm supposed to come in, please?"

"Brooks, did you say?"

"Yes. Eva."

Cassie heard the distinctive sound of keystrokes on a keyboard.

"You're Dr. Sorenson's patient?"

"Yes." Did she sound cheerful enough? Innocent enough? Please don't make me giggle.

"Do you go by a different first name?"

Cassie knew she didn't have to pursue it. Another of Eva's deceits. Was  she really even pregnant? Was it all a scheme to squeeze money out of  Heath? Prey on his vulnerabilities?

"I'm sorry. Did you say Sorenson?" Cassie asked. "I wasn't paying attention. I dialed wrong. My mistake."                       
       
           



       

She dropped the receiver into the cradle and stared sightlessly at the phone.

"Cass?"

She roused herself as James Paladin rapped his knuckles on her desk.  Like her, he'd been hired as an investigator nine months ago when the  L.A.-based ARC Security & Investigations opened its branch office in  San Francisco.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." She straightened, paid attention. "Yeah. You need something, Jamey?"

"To brainstorm the Kobieski case, if you've got time."

She looked at her watch-five o'clock exactly. She didn't want to tell  Heath over the phone. He'd had enough heartache already. She could at  least soften the blow in person. But the commute traffic from San  Francisco across the bridge would be horrendous now. If she waited an  hour or two …

"Sure," she said. "I've got time."



From a downstairs bedroom Heath watched Cassie walk from her car toward  his house, her strides purposeful. She'd called a few minutes ago, as  she was driving across the bridge, alerting him she was coming, an  unnecessary thoughtfulness since he never went anywhere and she knew it.

What had she found out? Something important or she would've told him over the phone. Something good, he hoped.

He tried to turn off his appreciation of her as a woman, but he  couldn't. She was beautiful, pure and simple. And unaware of it. If she  used makeup at all, it was minimal. She pulled her hair back into a  simple braid. No fuss, no muss. Her body was athletic and curvy, a  one-two punch to a man who'd recently convinced himself that celibacy  should be the only path for him from now on, but who obviously wasn't  capable of such a sacrifice.

Aside from her spectacular face and body she had a mind that appealed, too. And she didn't giggle.

The doorbell rang. He hadn't meant to make her wait, but he'd been  distracted by thoughts of her-didn't want to be, but he was. This time,  however, he would control his response, even though her passion-filled  promise that she would find his baby was as seductive as her physical  being.

He set the little white teddy bear he'd been holding onto a nearby  rocking chair and headed into the foyer. He opened the door, hope in his  heart.

All hope fled when he looked in her eyes. "Tell me," he said.

"Can we sit?" she asked.

"Tell me."

Her mouth tightened. "Are you sure she's pregnant?"

Not dead. Not dead, or she would've said so right away. Relief rushed  through him like three straight shots of bourbon, hot and dizzying.  "Yes."

"Positive?"

"Why?"

"Because Dr. Sorenson's office says she wasn't a patient. How do you know for sure she was pregnant?"

"I felt the baby move."

"I don't mean to question you on this, but-"

"She let me put my hand on her abdomen many times while she visited.  Sometimes she lifted her blouse enough that I could watch the baby move  inside her. I've been through a pregnancy before, Cassie."

She propped her fists on her hips and looked at the floor, blowing out a  breath. "I thought she'd been toying with you. Playing you for-" She  stopped.

"A fool? A sucker?" he finished.

She shook her head. "A decent, but vulnerable man. One with money."

He let the words linger for a few seconds.

"What's the next step?" he asked, ignoring the implications of what she'd said. "You can't call every doctor in the city."