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into the night, but putting thought into action proved impossible. No matter how much she wanted to
leave, she was bound by an inertia she couldn t seem to fight. All she could do was... sit.
Then Raintree stood, and, abruptly, she found herself standing, too, levered upward by some impulse
she didn t understand. She just knew that if he was standing, she would stand. She was too mentally
exhausted to come up with any reason that made more sense.
His face was so black with soot that only the whites of his eyes showed, so she figured she must look
pretty much the same. Great. That meant she didn t have much chance of being able to slip away
unnoticed. He took a cloth someone offered him and swiped it over his sooty face, which didn t do much
good. Soot was oily; anything other than soap just sort of moved it around.
Determination in his stride, he moved toward a small clump of policemen, three uniforms and two
plainclothes. Vague alarm rose in Lorna. Was he going to turn her in? Without any proof? She
desperately wanted to hang back, but, instead, she found herself docilely following him.
Why was she doing this? Why wasn t she leaving? She struggled with the questions, trying to get her
brain to function. He hadn t even glanced in her direction; he wouldn t have any idea where she d gone if
she dropped back now and sort of blended in with the crowd as much as she could blend in anywhere,
covered with soot the way she was. But others also showed the effects of the smoke; some of the casino
employees, for instance, and the players. She probably could have slipped away, if she felt capable of
making the effort.
Why was her brain so sluggish? On a very superficial level, her thought processes seemed to be normal,
but below that was nothing but sludge. There was something important she should remember, something
that briefly surfaced just long enough to cause a niggle of worry, then disappeared like a wisp of smoke.
She frowned, trying to pull the memory out, but the effort only intensified the pain in her head, and she
stopped.
Raintree approached the two plainclothes cops and introduced himself. Lorna tried to make herself
inconspicuous, which might be a losing cause considering how she looked, plus the fact that she was
standing only a few feet away. They all eyed her with the mixture of suspicion and curiosity cops just
seemed to have. Her heart started pounding. What would she do if Raintree accused her of cheating?
Run? Look at him as if he were an idiot? Maybeshe was the idiot, standing there like a sacrificial lamb.
The image galvanized her as nothing else had. She wouldnot be a willing victim. She tried to take a step
away, but for some reason the action seemed beyond her. All she wanted to do was stay with him.
Stay with me.
The words resonated through her tired brain, making her head ache. Wearily, she rubbed her forehead,
wondering where she d heard the words and why they mattered.
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 Where were you when the fire started, Mr. Raintree? one of the detectives asked. He and the other
detective had introduced themselves, but their names had flown out of Lorna s head as soon as she d
heard them.
 In my office, talking to Ms. Clay. He indicated Lorna without really looking in her direction, as if he
knew just where she was standing.
They looked at her more sharply now; then the detective who had been talking to Raintree said,  My
partner will take her statement while I m taking yours, so we can save time.
Sure, Lorna thought sarcastically. She had some beachfront property here in Reno she wanted to sell,
too. The detectives wanted to separate her from Raintree so she couldn t hear what he said and they
couldn t coordinate their statements. If a business was going down the tubes, sometimes the owner tried
to minimize losses by burning it down and collecting on the insurance policy. The other detective stepped
to her side. Raintree glanced at her over his shoulder.  Don t go far. I don t want to lose you in this
crowd.
What was he up to? she wondered. He d made it sound as if they were in a relationship or something.
But when the detective said,  Let s walk over here, Lorna obediently walked beside him for about
twenty feet, then abruptly stopped as if she couldn t take one step more.
 Here, she said, surprised at how raspy and weak her voice was. She had coughed some, sure, but her
voice sounded as if she d been hacking for days. She was barely audible over all the noise from the fire
engines.
 Sure. The detective looked around, casually positioning himself so that Lorna had to stand with her
back to Raintree.  I m Detective Harvey. Your name is... 
 Lorna Clay. At least she remembered her name this time, though for a horrible split second she hadn t
been certain. She rubbed her forehead again, wishing this confounded headache would go away.
 Do you live here?
 For the moment. I haven t decided if I ll stay. She knew she wouldn t. She never stayed in one place
for very long. A few months, six at the most, and she moved on. He asked for her address, and she
rattled it off. If he ran a check on her, he would find the most grievous thing against her was a speeding
ticket she d received three years ago. She d paid the fine without argument; no problem there. So long as
Raintree didn t bring a charge of cheating against her, she was fine. She wanted to look over her shoulder
at him but knew better than to appear nervous or, even worse, as if she were checking with him on what
answers to give.
 Where were you when the fire started?
He d just heard Raintree, when asked the identical question, say he d been with her, but that was how
cops operated.  I don t know when the fire started, she said, a tad irritably.  I was in Mr. Raintree s
office when the alarm sounded.
 What time was that?
 I don t have a watch on. I don t know. I wouldn t have thought to check the time, anyway. Fire scares
the bejesus out of me.
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One corner of his mouth twitched a little, but he disciplined it. He had a nice, lived-in sort of face, a little
droopy at the jowls, wrinkly around the eyes.  That s okay. We can get the time from the security
system. How long had you been with Mr. Raintree when the alarm sounded? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]