“I got her keys,” Luke said. “You need me to stick around?”

“No. Park her car in the visitors’ lot and leave the keys on my desk. Thanks, Luke.”

“Relax. She’s okay.” He studied Alex, who sat with her head back and her eyes closed. “She does look like Alicia. No wonder she gave you a jolt.” Luke lifted his brows. “It appears she’s continuing to give you jolts of a different nature. Mama will be happy to hear this, except that now she’ll turn all her attention back on me.”

Daniel smiled, as Luke had intended. “No less than you deserve. Where’s Jones?”

“He’s the one talking to the valet. His partner is Harvey. He’s over there talking to the man with the blue shirt, who, from what I overheard, was the one who pushed Alex out of the way. He might have seen the driver’s face. I’m going now. See you later.”

From Officers Harvey and Jones, Daniel learned the car had been a late model, dark sedan, probably a Ford Taurus, with South Carolina plates. The driver had been young, African-American, thin, with a beard. He’d come from around the corner where he’d been waiting for an hour, according to witnesses who remembered seeing the vehicle. From that vantage point the driver could have easily seen Alex exit the Underground.

That last piece of information made Daniel the angriest. The scum had waited for her, then pounced. Had it not been for a stranger with quick reflexes, Alex might be dead. Daniel thought of the two victims, of the missing Bailey. Alex would not be next. That he promised himself. He would take care of her.

Why? she’d asked last night. Last night he had no answer. He had one now. Because she’s mine. It was a primal response and probably exceedingly premature, but… it didn’t matter. For now, she’s mine. Later… we’ll see how it goes.

He thanked the officers and the man who’d pushed her out of the way, then drove five blocks before pulling to the curb, leaning over, and kissing her with all the emotion that he’d kept in check. When he lifted his head, she sighed.

“You do that well,” she murmured.

“So do you.” And he kissed her again, longer and deeper. When he pulled away, she rolled her head to look at him, want and fear warring in her eyes.

“What do you want from me, Daniel?”

Everything, he wanted to say, but because she’d suspected his motives the night before, he didn’t. Instead he ran his thumb over her lips, felt her tremble. “I don’t know. But it won’t be anything you’re not willing and… anxious to give.”

Her smile was sad. “I see,” was all she said.

“I’m going to take you back to my office. I’ve got a press conference at two-thirty, but after that I can break away and drive you back to the bungalow.”

“I hate for you to have to do that.”

“Be quiet, Alex.” He said it mildly to take away some of the sting of his words. “I’m not sure how you connect to all this, but every instinct I have is screaming that you are.”

She flinched, a minute motion. “What?” he asked. “Alex?”

She sighed. “When I dream, I hear screams. When I get tense, like back there, I also hear them.” She glanced at him warily. “Now you think I’m crazy.”

“Hush. You’re not crazy. Besides, at least some of the screams back there were real. I heard them, too, right before I lost your call.”

“Thanks.” Her smile was self-deprecating. “I really needed to hear that.”

Last night she’d been dreaming, she’d said. Then you were there. “When you hear the screams, what do you do?”

She lifted a shoulder, looking away. “I concentrate and make them stop.”

He remembered what she’d said to the girl in the shelter. “Push them in the closet?”

“Yes.” It was an embarrassed admission.

He cupped her face and brushed his thumb across her flushed cheek. “It must take a lot of mental energy to do that. I’d be exhausted.”

“You have no idea.” Her voice grew cool. “We should go now. You have a job and I have too much to do to be sitting here feeling sorry for myself.” She lifted her chin, away from his hand. “Please.”

She was terrified. She had a right to be. Someone had tried to kill her. The knowledge left his gut tied in a knot. She wasn’t driving around on her own, not while he had breath. But he’d argue the point later. Now she looked fragile, even as her chin jutted out like that of a prizefighter looking for a fight.

Saying no more, Daniel put his car back into gear and drove.

Chapter Nine

Atlanta , Tuesday, January 30, 2:15 p.m.

He’d locked her satchel in the trunk of his car and taken her keys. Alex shifted in the chair in the GBI waiting room, trying not to be annoyed at Daniel’s heavy-handed attempts to protect her, but conscious of the minutes ticking away.

Meredith was leaving in a few hours and Alex still hadn’t visited Hope’s preschool or Bailey’s friend Sissy. Tomorrow she’d have no opportunity to search for Bailey. Not that she was getting anywhere. All she’d found was that Atlanta people loved Bailey. Dutton people hated her. And the last person to see her was Hope, who wasn’t talking.

The last place Bailey was seen was the old house. You have to go in there, Alex, she told herself. No matter what it takes. You’ve been foolish not to go before now.

Still, someone had tried to kill her today and Daniel’s warnings not to go to the Crighton place alone would not go unheeded. I’m a neurotic coward, but I’m not stupid.

But she was late. “Excuse me,” she called to Leigh, their office clerk. “Do you know how much longer Agent Vartanian will be? He has the keys to my rental car.”

“I don’t know. He had three people waiting for him when he got back and we have a press conference scheduled in a few minutes. Can I get you some water or something?”

Alex’s stomach growled at the woman’s mention of food and she remembered she’d had nothing since that morning. “Actually I’m starving. Is there a cafeteria nearby?”

“It’s closed now. Lunch was over an hour ago. But I have some cheese crackers and a few bottles of water in my desk. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.”

Alex nearly said no, but the growling in her stomach overruled her. “Thank you.”

Leigh slid the water and crackers over the counter with a smile. “Now, don’t you go telling people we only gave you bread and water, okay?”

Alex smiled back. “I promise.”

The door behind her opened and a tall, lean man wearing wire-frame glasses headed straight back to the offices without stopping. “Is Daniel back?”

“Yeah, but… Ed, wait.” Leigh stopped him. “He’s in with Chase and”-she looked over her shoulder at Alex-“a few other people. You should wait.”

“This can’t wait. I…” His words trailed. “You’re Alex Fallon,” he said, his voice odd.

Feeling like the newest addition to the zoo, Alex nodded. “Yes.”

“I’m Ed Randall. I’m with the Crime Scene Unit.” He reached over the counter to shake her hand, then noticed her bandages. “Looks like you had an accident.”

“Miss Fallon was nearly hit by a car this afternoon,” Leigh said softly, and Ed Randall’s expression abruptly changed.

“My God.” His jaw tightened. “But you’re uninjured, besides your hands, that is?”

“Yes. A fast-thinking stranger pushed me out of the way.”

Leigh twisted the top off the water bottle for Alex. “Ed, they have to be done soon. They have a press conference in less than twenty minutes. I’d really wait if I were you.”

Alex took her crackers and water back to her chair and left the two to whisper. She hadn’t recognized the man who was waiting when they came in. He was pacing when they arrived and had nearly launched himself at Daniel, demanding “answers.”

A door opened behind the counter and Daniel and his boss emerged with the pacing man and two others. The pacing man was ashen. His news had not been good then.