Raffaelo squinted into the blackness of the cave. “How far does it go back?”
She laughed. “No idea. We did think about investigating, but we were too chicken. Anyway, I wanted to show you this because he wanted to know where I had grown up.”
Raffaelo nodded. He went to stand at the edge of the cave, looking out over the ocean. Inca studied him, still trying to find some familiarity in his personality—he seemed too different from Tommaso.
Raffaelo turned, saw her smiling and took a seat beside her.
“Inca, I …” He stopped, and she noticed with surprise that he seemed nervous. He took a deep breath in. “Inca, I know I can seem … different. I don’t make friends easily. I have always preferred my own company. But I hope that is about to change.”
She returned his smile. “I hope so too. Come on, let’s go down to the beach.”
He followedher down to the beach, watching the way her hips swayed gently and the almost childlike exuberance of her gait when they reached the sand. Inside him, he felt a rare emotion: admiration. Helikedthis woman, he realized, and that disconcerted him. For once in his life, Raffaelo Winter considered that his relationship with this particular woman could be different. She could be to him what no other woman had ever been.
Afriend.
Olly cameto see her later. “Still no news on the DNA, I’m afraid.”
He made a fuss of Boomer. “That’s a nice gift, a great idea. Of course, I’d feel better if you got your firearms’ license and bought a gun.”
Inca shook her head. “No way. Not going to happen.”
Olly studied her. “Inca … this is real. Women are dying; young women are being butchered. God help me, I won’t let that happen to you or anyone else I know. But you have to help me out here. Don’t do anything reckless; don’t go out on your own at night.”
Inca gave a hiss of frustration. “Olly, have you any idea what women have to go through every day because a manmightkill us? I’m not curtailing my life.”
“Then let’s just hopehedoesn’t curtail your life.”
He'd seenher out with her friends, drinking, laughing. Her engagement party. He'd come upon her in her bedroom, trying on her wedding dress. She'd been drinking cheap white wine and twirling in front of the mirror. Princess for the day. Then, as he stepped into her eye-line, the fear.
She hadn't screamed, just a widening of the eyes. He'd picked up her glass, put the tablet in, the cheap Rohypnol from the scrawny dead-eyed dealer in Belltown, made her drink it. The liquid spilling over her lips, she had obeyed, shaking, tears pouring down her face. The horror of it all worked quicker than the drug. She'd passed out. He had lain her gently on the bed waiting. As she stirred, he had gripped the knife firmly and plunged it into her abdomen, his hand clamped across her mouth as she screamed at last. Blood had spattered across the intricate lace.
Turned pink.
Inca was fallingasleep in the armchair. She had tried to keep awake for the movie but kept missing huge chunks of it. She hadn’t slept well since Olly’s warning and now she was exhausted. She had settled Boomer into her life and now she sat with the dog on her couch, wondering if she should just close her eyes and sleep.
The credits were rolling when Boomer started barking. He skittered to the front door and scratched at it. Inca, dopey from sleep, didn’t think. She pulled it open and Boomer ran out.
“What the hell are you doing?” Hunter yelled at her.
She was awake then. Hunter strode up to her, his face contorted with anger. Boomer had disappeared. She shook herself.
“Hunter, what…?”
“I could have been anybody. You just open the door?”
She was shocked. Hunter had never even raised his voice to anyone as far she knew, and for certain not to her, but he was red with anger now. He came up to her and grabbed her shoulders.
“Inca, I could have been anybody. Someone who’d want to hurt you. You don’t just open the door like that. Not on your own.”
“Hunter, calm down. I’m sorry; I didn’t think. “
He drew in a deep breath and she was shaken to see tears in his eyes.
“Hunter, I’m sorry. Come in for a minute.”
He looked behind him, scanning the street. He whistled, and Boomer came bounding out of the darkness, his tail wagging. He waited until the dog was in the house before nodding at Inca and stepping through the door. Inca shut the door and locked it to keep Hunter happy. She followed him back to the kitchen.
“Hunter, are you okay?” She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer for him. He took it.