The Night Is Forever

8

No way out of it. Olivia was almost certain that the morning would be incredibly awkward. She wasn’t sure why she’d done what she’d done; maybe it was the way they’d laughed together or how much they’d shared. Maybe it was simply that she’d been impressed with the man from the moment she’d seen him. Maybe it was the fact that she’d given too much of herself and her life to the Horse Farm.

It was a wonderful place. No, they weren’t a cure-all or a fix for everything that befell humanity. They didn’t cause autism to vanish; they didn’t make Down syndrome disappear. They couldn’t automatically make an addict see the light. But they did help people learn about trust, self-worth and their ability to control themselves, their own lives, within the world around them. Most important, perhaps, to believe that they could love themselves. All this because of Marcus Danby.

All of it could be ruined. And here she was, upset about being rejected when she’d made her first sexually aggressive move ever. An action she still didn’t entirely understand...

But what a nice rejection.

For a moment, mortification seized her. Did men talk? Would he call Malachi and say, “That cousin of yours is really something. She tried to hop into my bed last night.”

She didn’t think so—oh, not that men didn’t talk! She just didn’t think Dustin would be so callous.

She’d just finished brushing her hair when there was a tap on the connecting door. She opened it. Dustin was dressed and ready to go. “I figure you have to be at work,” he said.

“I do. But I have to go by the house first to take care of Sammy.”

“Of course. Sorry. I was planning on stopping at your place first, anyway. I want to see if we have footprints on your porch.” He grimaced. “You can tell I don’t have a pet.”

“You should have a pet,” she told him. “You’d be a good pet owner.”

“Pets deserve more than I can give,” he said. He glanced at his watch. “Let’s grab some coffee in the lobby and drive to your house. After that, once you get your own car, I’m still going to follow you.”

“Sounds good.”

She picked up her backpack and they walked to the lobby, where the motel offered coffee and Danishes. They each filled cups and quickly chose some food.

To her relief, their time together wasn’t awkward at all. He was completely natural. Still fun, still quick to smile, even quicker to tease her.

But when he pulled into her driveway, he sat there for a few seconds, looking over at her. It was going to get awkward then, she just knew it.

“I don’t even know how to say what I want to say, what I want you to know. I can’t tell you how much I would have loved to have been with you last night. You’re...spellbinding. That’s the only word I can think of. You must have some idea how attractive you are. More than attractive—beautiful, inside and out. And I admire what you do. But...I wouldn’t want just one night. I’d want a lot more. And we both know what it’s like when people leave—or when you have to go.”

She gazed down at her hands and then raised her eyes to meet his. “When I said thank you, I meant it. You were really decent about the...situation. You were honest—and kind. You’re a good person.” To her, there was no higher praise.

“No, no, I’m not. I spent years being bitter and wondering why I was a freak. Then I spent more years patting myself on the back for being a freak—but for dealing with it so well. I finally figured out that my...unusual skills could be of some service in the right line of... Good? Decent? I don’t know. I’m kind of hard and brash and not always socially adept. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder. But I do care about you, and—”

“I have a dog who must really need to go out by now,” she said.

He smiled, lowering his head. “Yeah. But first...”

She didn’t know what to expect when he opened the compartment between the seats. What he produced was a can that looked like it might contain hair spray.

“Pepper spray,” he told her. “Better than nothing.”

“How does it work?”

“Flip this tab. That’s it—no safety or anything. Flip the tab. Keep it on you at all times, okay?”

“That’s going to be a little tough.”

“Why?”

“I don’t carry things when I’m working. I leave my purse in the office, and I shove my phone in a jeans pocket.”

He sighed with exasperation. “I was afraid of that,” he said. “Keep the pepper spray with you, in your bag, so you have it while you’re in your car, or going to and from your car—whenever you’re out. I’ve got something else that’ll do during the day. This is the best I can manage unless you want to go to a shooting range, and that can’t be done for a while.”

“What is it?”

He reached into the console compartment again. The next thing he took out looked like lipstick.

“This one, you do have to pull the cap. It’s also pepper spray. It works just like a tiny perfume bottle. The spray is small but you can at least aim for the eyes and blind someone temporarily.”

She took it from him. “This will fit in my pocket,” she said. She’d bent close to listen to him and could feel the energy of his body, which seemed to radiate to hers. They looked at each other. She’d already been rejected once, but...

She leaned in even closer and kissed him swiftly. Felt his lips, and the vibrant aura of assurance about him. Something threatened to spring to life and she instantly pulled away—not giving him another chance to reject her. Then she opened her door to get out of the car.

Oddly, she was hurting more than she had last evening. But, of course, he was right. If they got involved, where could they go with it?

“Wait up,” Dustin said, exiting the car and running behind her. He stepped in front, blocking her as they reached the porch. “Someone’s been here,” he said.

She glanced around him at the porch. The dirt she’d left yesterday had been disturbed. He moved ahead of her gingerly, hunkering down to study the prints in the dirt. She bent down to look. “There’s not enough to get a clear impression. But I’d say a man in boots—probably a size twelve or thirteen.”

“That could be Aaron, Mason, Sydney or Drew,” Olivia said. “Or half the men in the area. It’s horse country, farm country—cow country, too. Everyone wears boots.”

He nodded. “But who gained the most from Marcus’s death?”

“Well,” she replied unhappily, “Aaron.”

He stood up and smiled grimly at her. “That means Aaron might have been here. On the other hand, the fact that he benefited from the will doesn’t prove anything. So...it could equally be someone else. And whoever it was may well have come here to hurt you.”

“So we haven’t got anywhere?”

“No. But it’s a good thing you’re getting an alarm put in tomorrow,” he said.

“I have to let Sammy out and feed him.”

He stepped aside, and she started to open the door, inserting the key. She gave him a questioning look before she turned it, despite Sammy’s frantic barking.

He raised his voice. “We already know that whoever came here wears gloves,” he said. “This person wouldn’t have known if you were here or at Marcus’s house, but probably tried both.”

“So, if someone asks where I was last night, what do I say?” Olivia asked.

“My guess is that no one will ask because no one’s going to admit he was hunting you down.” Dustin shrugged. “Or if someone does ask—and there is, of course, a slight chance that your visitor was legitimate—you can say you were going back and forth between the two places. That’s not even a lie. You were at both houses last night.”

Olivia opened the door. Sammy greeted her as if she’d been gone an eternity. “Hey, boy! It was just overnight,” she murmured.

Either Sammy didn’t know it was Dustin’s idea they not spend the previous night there or he was so happy to see anyone human that he leaped up on Dustin in a frenzied greeting. “Down, boy, down, and I’ll scratch ya good, I promise.” Dustin kept his promise, and Sammy barked happily, then headed for the door.

“Does he need a leash?”

“No, not really, but—” Olivia broke off, remembering that the dog had recently been injured. “One of us should be out with him. He’ll just run around and then head to his spot at the side of the house.”

“I’ve got him,” Dustin said. Olivia set her bag down. She hurried into the kitchen to refill the dog’s food and water, then changed her mind. Sammy was coming to work with her. The camping trip was tonight, and she’d leave him at the Farm with Sydney.

She ran upstairs and packed fresh clothes, then exchanged the regular shoes she’d been wearing for her boots. When she hurried down, Dustin and Sammy were back inside. “He’s coming with us today,” she told Dustin.

“Okay.” They went out again, Dustin starting for his car, and Olivia for hers. He made an abrupt turn.

“What’s your schedule today?” he asked.

“Two groups in the morning. A couple of hours with a patient—but only in the pasture—this afternoon. A group meeting with Mariah and the kids coming on the camping trip at five. And then we all head out.” She hesitated. “Are you going to be around during the day?”

“I have some business to deal with, so I’ll need a few hours this morning. Nothing’s going to happen to you while you’re with the groups. I should be back by about noon. First, though, I’m going to see that you get there safely, and please keep that pepper spray handy.”

She waved, and Sammy jumped into the car. “You can hang around the horses but you have to behave, okay, Sammy?”

Sammy gave a pleased whine, obviously grateful that he wasn’t being left home again.

He could call it professional interest. Or curiosity. Either way, Dustin wasn’t really worried about getting into the morgue.

And, in fact, it wasn’t difficult. He flashed his badge. The handsome middle-aged woman at the reception desk accepted his credentials without question and told him she’d page Dr. Wilson. A moment later, he came out and shook Dustin’s hand.

Dustin told the most plausible story he could, which was—in the midst of his lie—the truth.

“I’m attending the Horse Farm, doing a few sessions there. It’s a vacation with some therapy thrown in. I’ve been on some rough cases lately,” he told Wilson.

Wilson shook his head. “I worked L.A. for a while and wound up doing autopsies on some of the victims of a serial killer—a sexual sadist. I can see where you guys might need a break now and then.” Wilson seemed trustworthy and solid. He was probably in his late fifties, lean, with white hair that was thinning and tufted on top. “Come on into my office,” he invited.

When Dustin was seated in front of him, he asked, “What can I do for you, Agent Blake?”

“I’ll get right to the point. I’m interested in Marcus Danby. I’ve become aware of some, shall we say, dubious circumstances concerning the way he died. What can you tell me?”

“Mr. Danby was buried four days after his death, you know.”

“Four days? It was about eight, wasn’t it, before you let the police have the results of the autopsy?”

Wilson nodded. “I was holding off. Not stalling, mind you, but holding off. I was waiting on a few of the tests I had done because, frankly, I didn’t want the truth out there. Trust me—every move I made was within the law. But I have to say, it broke my heart to release that report. I sent a nephew out to do some sessions at the Horse Farm. Changed his life. Well, I guess the whole rehab thing I got him into had a lot to do with it, but the Horse Farm gave him a new direction. He’s still working with horses. He bought into a hack ranch in the area. Anyway, I had a lot of respect for Marcus Danby.”

“So how did he take the drugs?” Dustin asked.

“It was easy to find. Needle mark right in the crook of his arm.”

“But there was no drug paraphernalia found near him. And it appeared to be a first-time event for Marcus? I heard that he’d been clean for decades.”

The medical examiner nodded again. “No collapsed veins, nothing to indicate he’d relapsed at any point before. Just the one needle mark.”

“And no needles anywhere around him.”

“I work on the human body, Agent Blake. The police are responsible for finding evidence. I can only tell you that Marcus Danby did receive a lethal dose of heroin that caused his heart to fail.”

“No alcohol in his system, or some kind of pain relaxer or antianxiety pill that might have made him want to go further?” Dustin noted that Dr. Wilson had said “received” rather than “shot up” or any other term.

“Nothing. Just heroin.”

Dustin leaned forward. “Do you really believe the man killed himself—accidentally or otherwise?”

“I just look at facts, Agent Blake,” Wilson said.

“Well, thank you for your time. I really have no official standing here, you know,” Dustin told him, getting to his feet.

“No problem.” Wilson rose, too, and Dustin turned to leave.

“Odd, though,” Wilson said in a low voice. Dustin immediately turned back. “Suppose a man who’d been clean for over twenty years suddenly decided he couldn’t take the pressure anymore, that he had to feel the high one more time... Suppose that happened. He was off by himself. He could’ve had a stash in the woods. But...if it were me, I would’ve shot up between the toes, done it somewhere hard to find. That way—if I wasn’t planning on killing myself, and I don’t think Marcus was—it would be much harder for anyone to see.” He paused. “Addicts know about these things, these little tricks.”

Dustin studied the medical examiner for a moment. “Thanks again for your time,” he said. “This has been very informative.”

“Don’t mention it. I don’t even remember that you were here.”

Matt Dougal, Sean Modine, Nick Stevens, Joey Walters and Brent Lockwood were scheduled to be in Olivia’s early group that morning. They’d be staying all day, helping out at the stables and joining Mariah’s tour and campout that night. Olivia was gratified to be working with everyone in this group.

When the boys from Parsonage House had first started doing group with Brent, they’d giggled behind the young man’s back, making fun of his Down syndrome. Brent had quickly proven how adept he could be with horses; he’d shown them nothing but unconditional acceptance and had beaten the heck out of them in a game of Pictionary following a session.

They’d learned a lot from working with Brent. She believed Brent had learned to be himself, discovering that he could have fun with others—and his parents had learned that they didn’t need to be everywhere with him, protecting him.

As Brent had once told the boys, “I know you’ll like me or you won’t. But if you don’t accept me the way I am, well, I may have Down syndrome, but that means you’re the ones who have a mental handicap.”

Olivia remembered the day he’d said that. Sean had grinned and given him a punch on the shoulder. “I guess we have to like to you ’cause we’re cool dudes—and so are you.”

Arriving at the office, Olivia went to her desk in the long room behind Aaron’s office, where the therapists kept their notes and records. Mason was at his desk, working away at his computer. “Hey,” he said, not looking up.

“Hi, Mason.” She set her purse under her desk and opened her own computer. She needed to finish some notes on Matt. She didn’t intend to embellish anything, but she wanted his father to know how well he’d been doing in his interactions with others at the Horse Farm. He’d been a withdrawn, sullen kid at first.

She’d just started when Mason got up and walked around to her desk, perching on the edge.

“So where were you last night?”

“Pardon?”

“Checking out the new digs? Personally, I like the house you already have better. So, what do you think you’ll do with Marcus’s place?”

“Mason, I haven’t even begun to think about it.”

“I don’t think everyone’s happy the house went to you,” he said, grinning.

“We’re therapists, Mason. We’re not supposed to be gossips!”

“Yeah, yeah.” His grin was even wider now. “We’re human.” He glanced around, then bent low to whisper to her. “I think Aaron was planning to go and talk to you about the house last night.”

“Aaron can talk to me about the house anytime he wants. I was just as stunned as everyone else, and I’m not surprised he feels the same way.”

“He wants to talk in private.” Mason raised one shoulder in a careless shrug. “Actually, Aaron seemed okay about it. But guess who might just have it in for you?”

“Mason! Stop it.”

“Sandra,” he told her, leaning closer still. “I was eavesdropping. Well, I really couldn’t help it. They didn’t know I was still here. She said it was too bad you hadn’t taken up drugs and OD’d.”

He straightened suddenly. They’d both heard footsteps. But then Mason seemed to relax; it was just Mariah. “I’m so excited,” she said. “Everyone’s coming tonight! Except for Sydney—he says we never should leave the whole place entirely deserted. It was one thing for Marcus’s funeral, but that was only for a few hours and we were close by. So—” she counted off the names on her fingers “—it’ll be Brent, Sean, Matt, Nick, Joey, Drew, you guys, plus Aaron and Sandra. Oh, Liv, pitch in with me on the stories, will you?”

“Sure, if you want,” Olivia said.

Mariah shrugged. “Oh—I forgot. And the cool FBI agent. He seems to have a thing for you, Olivia.”

“I’m just his therapist!”

Mariah nudged Mason and they both laughed.

“Therapists are human, Olivia. I already told you that. Right, Mariah? Hey, you think every therapist out there lives a perfect life? Come on, you won’t be this guy’s therapist forever.”

“Are you telling me you haven’t even thought about sleeping with him?” Mariah asked.

Olivia frowned but didn’t respond.

“Don’t worry, I’ve learned to live with rejection. I know you’re not sleeping with me. But, seriously, you want to turn into some old maid? You’ve got to sleep with someone,” Mason said.

Olivia groaned and let her forehead fall onto her desk. “Please, guys, could we have a little decorum here?”

Mariah punched Mason again. “Yeah, get up. Mama Cheever’s on the way. I could tell the click, click, click of that woman’s boots anywhere.”

The two of them stood quickly, going to their separate desks. Olivia returned her attention to her notes. Sandra poked her head in. “The boys are here, Olivia. Sydney has them stashing their gear for the day. They’ll be ready as soon as you are.”

“Just finishing a report on Matt, for his dad.”

Sandra frowned. “You’ll let me see it before you send it?”

“If you wish.”

“We need to be very careful these days, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I’m being very objective here, Sandra—not exaggerating Matt’s accomplishments, but not minimizing the truth, either.”

“People will believe in us or not, Sandra,” Mariah said. “We can’t sugarcoat everything and we can’t constantly be vigilant about what we say. We just have to move forward. And the rest of us...well, we weren’t addicts so we can’t fall back.”

“Some people think that former addicts are the best therapists. They know where their charges are coming from,” Mason put in.

Sandra sighed. “We’re here to help everyone who comes to us deal with their personal issues through equine therapy. Not all our guests are addicts! Brent’s not, for God’s sake! We’re much more than you’re implying we are.” She turned briskly to Olivia. “I’d like to see the report. Aaron wants me to approve everything before it goes out.”

Olivia punched a key on her computer. She smiled sweetly. “On its way to you now, Sandra.”

As she walked toward the front door, she realized that the floor was dirty. She paused, looking down. It appeared to be the same fine dirt she’d dusted on her porch before leaving with Dustin the night before.

She bent down to touch it. As she did, Aaron came out of his office. He beamed at her. “Morning, sunshine.”

She straightened. “Good morning, Aaron.”

“I have to talk to you later, if that’s okay.”

“Of course. Anything in particular?”

“I want to rent Marcus’s house from you.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, you’ll talk? Or, okay, you’ll rent me the house?”

“Both. I didn’t expect to get the house, Aaron. You know that.”

“It’s okay, Liv. Marcus really loved you.”

“And you, Aaron.”

“He left me everything I need,” Aaron told her.

As she began to leave, she was certain that she heard someone snicker behind her back.

When she turned around, Sandra was watching her, arms crossed. When she noticed Olivia’s scrutiny, she acted as though she’d been waiting for Aaron, immediately asking him a question about schedules.

Olivia hurried over to the stables and the paddocks. She could see that the boys were already there, talking with Drew, who held Trickster, ready to go out.

Brent turned and saw her. “Livia!” he cried, coming toward her. The other boys looked her way and smiled, too, calling out to her.

“Trickster! We’re taking Trickster today!” Brent said, giving her a hug.

As she walked to join the group, Sean was telling Matt, “I told you it was Bruce Willis in that old movie.”

“I wasn’t sure,” Drew told the boys apologetically. “I can look it up on the computer while you guys are on your ride.”

“If Brent says so, then I believe it,” Matt said. He ruffled Brent’s hair. “He’s our resident expert.”

Brent grinned at Olivia happily. He was shorter than the other boys, but he was on a good diet and in darned good shape.

“I’m a resident expert!” he told Olivia.

“So you are,” Olivia said, smiling at the other boys.

She remembered why she loved what she did so much.

From the morgue Dustin drove out to the Horse Farm, but he didn’t pull into the drive.

He passed the farm and parked along the side of the road. He was on adjoining land that bordered the trails; he assumed it belonged to a local farmer—he saw dairy cows behind fences, grazing and letting out a chorus of moos now and then.

He walked around the far side of the fence, heading into the forest.

Walking trails were plentiful and they were actually something of a maze. But once he reached the first riding trail, the path was cleaner and broader. He moved quickly, listening and watching all the while.

It was a good brisk walk but eventually he reached the copse where they’d seen the deer and her fawn the day before. He searched through the trees, which was way more than a one-man job, but he wanted to get in at least a cursory inspection.

That wasn’t the real reason he had come.

He was convinced that he wasn’t going to find a stash of drugs or drug paraphernalia.

There were no hollows in any of the trees he searched. He walked on, determined, looking harder.

Something had whizzed through the trees.

Joey had heard it. Olivia’s horse had reared.

What?

It sure as hell hadn’t been a bee. Or a bird.

It was hard to remember exactly where they’d been, hard to imagine the exact trajectory. He calculated and recalculated. In the end he moved deeper into the woods, through the trees themselves, ignoring the trails.

Still nothing.

Tired, frustrated, he leaned against one of the trees.

And then he saw it.

It was tiny, so tiny it was barely visible. The little bit of feathering was what had caught his attention. When he went to retrieve it—carefully, using his handkerchief—the feathers detached and all he drew from the tree was the tiny point of something that looked like a needle.

He studied the point, wrapped it and, trying not to move his feet, hunkered down.

It took forever, sifting through the leaves and bracken on the forest floor. Then he found it—a delicate cluster of feathers.

Though small, they would have helped direct the tiny needlelike object.

It was a dart. It had been aimed at Olivia—or her horse.

He began to leave, but hesitated, pulling out his knife to cut away the section of bark it had struck. He got out the handkerchief and very carefully rewrapped all the tiny pieces of his find.

Then he started back through the forest.

So a dart had come whistling through the woods.

It was too small to be deadly...unless a toxin of some kind had been placed on the tip. He hurried back to his car and checked his watch. Still early; Olivia would be with her group.

He drove back to the morgue. He would’ve preferred to send the specimen to the Krewe lab, but he didn’t want to take the time. And sometimes a man had to go on gut instinct.

Wilson was surprised to see him again but listened earnestly. He promised results on lab tests as soon as humanly possible.

To his extreme bad luck, he ran into Deputy Sheriff Frank Vine as he was leaving.

“Agent Blake,” Vine said, eyes narrowing as he studied him.

“Hello, Deputy.”

“What kind of therapy are you having at the morgue?”

“Oh, I just stopped by to ask about Marcus—how he’d injected the heroin.”

“You think we don’t know what we’re doing out here?” Vine demanded.

“I never suggested such a thing. You didn’t really give me an answer when I asked, that’s all.”

“Well, you’ve got your answer now. And you have no jurisdiction out here. We really do know what we’re doing, Agent Blake.”

“Yes, sir,” Dustin said.

Vine stared at him, obviously still irritated. He walked past Dustin, stopped and came back, wagging a finger at him. “You stay out of our business, Blake. You’re not here to police my officers. I’ll call your superiors, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Dustin said again. “I’m on my way.” He smiled and strolled out to his car.

He prayed that his gut had been right and Wilson wouldn’t betray him.

Then he drove as quickly as he could—watching the speed limit—to the Horse Farm.

God knew he didn’t want Vine arresting him for a traffic violation!