On Fire(11)

He grinned.

"I'm a big boy."

"I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about me."

"Think I'd do something to embarrass you?"

She didn't answer.

"You aren't on this thing officially, are you?"

"Nope. Sleeping on a futon in your apartment isn't part of my job description."

"What if I promise to call you if I hear from Emile?"

"Okay."

"Do you have a cell phone in this car?"

He gave her the number.

"Thank you." He assumed she meant for not pressing his case about the  penguins, which was a misreading of the situation on her part.

"This'll work out. I know it will. Emile's probably just checking out puffin nests."

Straker gave her an hour to get settled. He parked in her spot in the  garage, bought a cup of coffee from a sidewalk vendor and sat by the  stone fountain. The coffee was hot and strong, and he sipped it slowly  as he avoided pigeons and tried not to let his thoughts run full speed  ahead of him. One thought came to him crystal clear, impossible to  ignore.

Riley St. Joe was trouble. She always had been. He had the scar on his forehead to prove it.

Four -^Q )^~

Iviley holed up in her small, cluttered office and worked all morning.

After her long weekend, she had plenty to do. She tried not to think  about Emile or Straker. Emile worried her. Straker simply annoyed her.

He always had. He took pleasure in it. The shock of having him roll off  her couch that morning had nearly done her in. The dark stubble on his  jaw, the unbuttoned shirt. He was earthy, masculine and relentless.

Forewarned, she told herself, is forearmed. She needed to remember that  nothing ever penetrated John Straker's hard shell enough to reach his  soul, not two bullets, not a dead body on the rocks. It was Sam  Cassain's body she'd found. She shut her eyes, the faint beginnings of a  headache pressing against her temples. Sam was dead, Emile was  missing--and Straker? She didn't know what Straker was up to. It might  have made more sense to keep him where she could see him, but she had  nowhere to tuck an FBI agent.

Her father poked his head into her office.

"Busy?"

She smiled.

"Just pretending."

If anyone fit the stereotype of the hyper focused scientist, Riley  thought, it was Richard St. Joe. He was tall and thin like Sig, but with  none of her sense of style. He was oblivious to his typically ragged  appearance. Today he had on jeans, a navy thermal shirt and water  sandals with thick socks. His scruffy beard was grayer than she  remembered. He hadn't been aboard the Encounter when it caught fire and  sank last year. Instead he'd been aboard a university research ship,  conducting a seminar on right whales, when the first distress calls came  in. He'd had to wait hours before he learned that his daughter and  father- in-law had survived.

"Your mother called--she told me about Sam." He looked as if he'd been  fighting off panic, irritation, trying to figure out how to confront an  adult daughter and colleague.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to see Emile?"

"I didn't think of it."

"You didn't have to sneak off. I know he's your grandfather. It's not as if I'd forbid you to see him."

"But you can caution me against it," she said, knowing that was exactly what he'd have done.

Richard pushed his bony hands through his salt- and-pepper hair as if he'd like to pull out every strand.

"Only because I think he's become insanely reckless and selfish.

Sam--you can't think there's no connection between his death and Emile.

There must be." He almost trembled with exasperation.

"My God!"

"I'm trying not to jump to any conclusions."

"I'm not talking about conclusions, I'm talking about logic." But he  checked his raging emotions and softened, giving her a quick hug.

"Thank God you're all right. Let's hope the worst is over for you. At  this point I don't give a damn anymore about Emile, but you..." He  tousled her hair as if she were seven.

"I care about you, kid. I'm sorry you had to go through what you did."

"At least I didn't know it was Sam. If I had..." She shuddered, leaving it at that.

"I know. Let's hope the police make quick work of this. Riley, you know I  have no desire to see anything more happen to Emile" -- "It's okay.  Dad. I understand. He shouldn't have taken off the way he did."                       
       
           



       

"Yeah. Keep me posted, will you?"

She promised she would. Her father, her mother, Sig. Emile. In their own  way, they were a family, and they cared about each other. As tough as  her parents were on Emile, Riley knew it pained them to see what they  believed had become of him. And it frustrated them that she disagreed  with their assessment. She was the only one who still refused to believe  Emile Labreque had become a dangerous disgrace to his work, his  reputation and himself.

Not two minutes after her father left, her extension rang.

"Don't you have your own secretary?"

Straker.

"Where are you?"

"I'm on break."

"From what?"

"I'm learning how to feed sharks."

"What?" "I signed up for the volunteer-training program for people with  PTSD. Abigail Granger happened to be in the volunteer office when I  stopped by. I understand this program was her idea. Get them to connect  with nature, toss a few fish to the sharks and they feel better about  what they've been through. She walked me through the paperwork."

"You're shameless. There's a hot poker in hell with your name on it, I  swear. That program is for people with a serious psychological  disorder."

"I went to an island for six months. I connected with nature. I feel better."

Riley gripped the receiver so hard her hand hurt.

"You went to an island for six months because you can't get along with anyone."

"I've made friends with a couple of Vietnam vets this morning. Now,  they've got real demons to fight. I didn't want to lie to them, so I  told them the score. They liked it when I told them you had a Beanie  Baby sitting on your computer. You have quite the tiger- lady  reputation."

"You're the most obnoxious man on the planet. You conned Abigail."

"Nope. I told her I'm shadowing you because I don't trust you to mind  your own business and I needed a cover story, and she showed me to the  sharks."

"You did not."

He laughed.

"I hate you, Straker."

"You hold that thought. You staying in for lunch?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Okay, I'll find out on my own" -- "Yes! Yes, I'm staying in for lunch."  She hated him, hated him, hated him. But his laugh still resonated, low  and deep. He was a very dangerous man.

"You?"

"Abigail's bringing us clam chowder."

He hung up, and Riley had to pry her fingers off the receiver.

She raced down to the volunteer office, where, indeed, Abigail Granger had ordered clam chowder lunches for her volunteers.

"Would you like some?" she asked.

"We always order extra."

Riley smiled stiffly. "No, thanks. I was just checking out a rumor."

Straker was there. He hadn't lied. Abigail wasn't the sort who'd see  through him. She was thirty-nine, fair-haired and fine boned, with  striking blue eyes and a well-honed sense of style and grace. She never  griped about anyone or anything, although she was divorced and the  mother of two teenage boys away at school.

Like Bennett Granger, her deceased father, she wasn't a scientist, but  her dedication to the Boston Center for Oceanographic Studies was total.  She'd taken his place on the board of directors. If she wanted to fall  for John Straker's phony sob story, she could.

"I heard about your terrible ordeal this weekend," Abigail said.

"I'm so sorry. How are you doing?"

From her tone Riley guessed she hadn't heard that the body had been  identified as Sam Cassain. Abigail had never said what she believed  happened to the Encounter. Matthew Granger--her brother and Riley's  brother-in-law--was the one who knew. Emile was responsible, period,  never mind that he'd been like a second father to Bennett's two  children, showing them how to tie knots and sing to the periwinkles.

His downfall had left a void in their lives, too, even if Abigail repressed it and Matt raged against it.

Riley decided she didn't really want to tell Abigail it was Sam's body she'd found.

"I'm okay."

Abigail frowned. Her expensive navy suit, although simple, looked out of  place amid the stripped-down furnishings of the volunteer office.

The center had a policy of putting its funds into research, public  displays and facilities that benefited its marine and aquatic  population--not into plush furnishings for staff and volunteers. "I  understand you were visiting Emile."