Page 76 of Ten Beach Road

He swallowed. She actually watched the excruciatingly slow movement of his Adam’s apple.

“You can’t shut off the water until I’m done. I need to use this bathroom. Iwilluse this bathroom.”

“There’s a Port-O-Let outside, Miz Grant,” he said, trying not to show his fear. “You could . . .”

“No,” she assured him. “I most definitely could not.”

She got a tighter grip on his shirt and pulled his face up to hers. She was vaguely aware that someone had come up behind him. “You will not even think about turning off that water for the next thirty minutes. If you make one move toward the water line, I’ll come and find you. And it won’t be pretty.”

Robby blanched; his face turned white. That was when she heard Joe Giraldi’s voice. “It’s not worth your life, boy,” he said quietly. “You definitely don’t want to stand between a desperate woman and hertoilette.” He said it in the French manner and with an annoyingly taunting smile in his voice.

A red haze formed in front of Nikki’s eyes. “What are you,” she asked Giraldi, never taking her eyes off the nervous plumber, “a hostage negotiator?”

“Only if I need to be.” Giraldi took her hand and pried Robby’s T-shirt out of it. She could feel his gaze locked on her; hers remained on Robby.

“Why don’t you go on downstairs and I’ll let you know when it’s safe to turn off the water?” Giraldi said to Robby in the same “let’s not get anyone killed” tone. “Go on,” he said when the young man didn’t move. “I’ll give you the all-clear when it’s safe.”

Robby hotfooted it downstairs. Nikki and Giraldi stood face-to-face. Or in their case, face to chest. She tried not to think about how she looked or what she might smell like.

“Is he even a real plumber?” she demanded. “Or have you had some FBI trainee screwing around with our pipes? Because I think that would make what I’m thinking about justifiable homicide.”

“Robby’s the real deal,” Giraldi said in that same calm, infuriating voice. “I’m just ‘assisting’ him today. If you behave yourself you may have a second bathroom up and running soon.”

“You’ve just been playing with us, haven’t you? It’s some sort of bizarre bathroom deprivation technique. I bet all the guys in the trench coats and dark sunglasses got a big chuckle out of that!”

He smiled. “Maybe a few grins, but the plumbing issues are real. Definitely not our doing.”

She took a deep breath trying to calm herself, but there was no real calm to be found.

“I just wanted to talk to you, and I didn’t want it to look suspicious in case your brother’s watching,” Giraldi continued.

“Malcolm?” she asked. “You think Malcolm’s close enough to see us?” She laughed somewhat hysterically even as she wondered if that could be true.

“It’s unlikely,” he conceded, “but possible.”

“And how many different work people do you think you can pretend to be before someone else notices? You’ve been a cable guy, a fisherman-turned-mover, and now a plumber. How many jobs you don’t know how to perform can you possibly use as cover?”

“Oh, I know how to do all those things,” he said. “They just don’t happen to be what I do for a living.”

She leaned in to him, not because she was drawn to, but because she wanted to crowd him in the way his mere existence crowded her. She looked him right in the eyes, the dark intelligent ones, and wished he were older or far younger. Or uglier. He was way too good-looking for someone so dangerous. Agent Joe Giraldi was like her very own personal Venus flytrap.

“We know you’ve been trying to reach him,” he said, stepping neither back nor forward.

“Then you also know he hasn’t responded. And probably never will.”

His look sharpened, and she wondered again if he knew about the message Malcolm had sent. Not that it had proven particularly helpful or clarified anything.

“Look, there are a lot of people at the agency who think you’re in this with him.”

“Does that include you?”

He looked like he didn’t want to answer.

“Does it?”

She could see him considering his answer. Finally he said, “You’re still a ‘subject of interest,’ but I think you’ve been duped like everybody else. I think he’s an ungrateful bastard given everything you did for him. But our forensic accountant and financial analyst are tracking the money, and there’s an arrest warrant at NCIC and Interpol. It’s just a matter of time before we catch up with him. I’d like to see you end up on the right side of this mess.”

“Is that a warning?” she asked even as she realized she was standing far too close. She was relieved when he dropped back a step and leaned against the wall.

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