Page 97 of The Bride Wore White

And collapsed. The pistol landed on the gravel beside her.

Prudence heard the engine of a powerful car roaring down the drive. She did not look away from Ella’s unmoving form. The world seemed to have frozen around her.

Jack leaped out of the Packard and ran toward her.

“Prudence,” he said. “It’s all right. It’s over.”

She turned and went into his arms. He held her close and tight.

Luther went forward and crouched beside the fallen woman. Hetouched Ella’s throat and looked at Prudence as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“She’s alive,” he said. “Unconscious, but alive.”

“Good,” Prudence whispered. “That’s good. Thank you.”

She pressed her face into Jack’s shoulder. She was vaguely aware of him scooping her up and carrying her toward the Packard, and then she dropped into a deep sleep.

Chapter 51

She surfaced on the tide of a dark sea and instinctively tried to swim to an unseen shore. She had to keep moving. If she stopped to tread water, she would be sucked down into the depths. But she could not move. She was frozen, trapped, in the waves.

“Prudence, wake up. You’re dreaming again. You are all right.”

Jack’s steady, reassuring voice brought her out of the last remnants of the nightmare.

She opened her eyes to a heavily shadowed room. Jack was standing beside the bed, a cup of tea in one hand. The thin line of daylight at the edges of the closed curtains told her that it was not yet night. She bolted upright, a fresh flash of panic crackling across her senses.

“How long was I out?” she gasped.

“You were never unconscious, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He put the tea down on the nightstand. “You were asleep. There’s a significant difference.”

“You’re sure?”

“I had the hotel call a doctor to examine you. She said you were fine, just exhausted. You actually woke up a little while she was here. You told her to go away because you wanted to sleep.”

A fragment of memory returned—a comfortably rounded woman in a severe business suit and carrying a satchel bending over her, speaking to her in a firm voice.Prudence Ryland, can you hear me?

Prudence relaxed a little. “Yes, I remember now.” She reached for the cup and took an invigorating sip. “This tastes very, very good.”

“I’m going to miss room service after we check out.”

“So will I.” She really did not want to think about leaving the hotel, but not because she would miss room service. Checking out would signal the closing of the investigation. She would go back to the lonely apartment in Adelina Beach, and Jack would find a place to rent here in Burning Cove while he finishedThe Wingate Crime Treeand decided whether or not to rebuild. She pushed thoughts of the future aside. “What happened to Ella Dover?”

“She’s in the hospital, alive and unhurt as far as the doctors can determine, but she appears to have suffered a nervous breakdown.” Jack’s tone was neutral. So was his expression. Just a man reporting the facts. “I’m told she’s delusional. Insists you destroyed her paranormal senses. Seems to think you’re some sort of psychic vampire.”

“A psychic vampire.” Prudence closed her eyes.

“Like I said, she’s delusional.”

Prudence opened her eyes and stared at him. “What if she’s right?”

Jack got a thoughtful expression and sat down on the side of the bed. “If she’s right, my life is going to get even more interesting than it is now, and that’s saying something.”

“Damn it, Jack, I’m serious.”

“So am I. I think you were right. We do have the basis for theperfect relationship. A psychic vampire who reads dreams and a psychic consultant who reads crime scenes. What could possibly go wrong?”

“You told me you never ask that question because something can always go wrong.”

---