She sighed. “What do you mean, why do I drive this car?”
Eric turned his steady gray eyes on Allie, the same eyes she knew had rarely left her the whole time she’d been interviewing Maggie Rankin and her daughter. The eyes that had watched with an eerie concentration that both puzzled and unsettled her.
“Why don’t you drive a bigger car, one with more power?”
The voice washed over Allie, its unaccented firmness disturbing her. It reminded her of something, or someone. She laughed nervously.
“This is what I can afford. Besides, I’m a columnist, not a race car driver. I just need something that will get me around.”
“It’s not safe.”
The light changed. Allie accelerated, then glanced at Erik. What an odd thing for someone who was basically a stranger to say. Especially a man she’d bet her pay check was not only under thirty-five, but unencumbered by anything resembling a wife or children. He sounded like her late
Tata
and
Mama
, or her older sister. They’d have liked her to drive a Cadillac or a Lincoln. Or even better, an armored tank.
She shook her head. “Safe? No car is all that safe. The trick is not to get into an accident, period.” She remembered that Nate had said Erik intended to lease a car. “So what kind of car are you getting?”
“A Jaguar.”
Allie laughed again to cover the bitterness rising in her throat.
Cody drove a Corvette
. Was a sleek, expensive car some kind of symbol of fast, devil-may-care men? Men who lied and cheated?
Men who didn’t care whom they hurt, or how often? Somehow they always seemed to be able to afford an expensive set of wheels.
“A Jag?” she said, unable to keep the sarcasm from her voice. “Why aren’t I surprised? I guess that’s all part of the image, the cool, sexy photographer and his—”
The car phone’s sharp ring cut her off. She picked it up, then switched it to the speaker phone. Nate’s gravely voice filled the interior of the car. “Is that you, Allie?”
“No, Nate, it’s someone else driving around in my car. What do you want?”
“Uh, Allie, I know this is a bit out of your way, but I’d like you to stop in at Cody’s on the way back to the office. He still isn’t in, and he’s not answering the phone either.”
Flooded by bitter memories, Allie didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Static filled the air.
“Allie? Allie, I know you’re there. And I’m sorry to have to ask you this. I know, well, I know about you and Cody. I know the engagement’s off. But you’re the only one I know who’s got a key to his apartment. And I really am starting to worry.
Maybe he’s really sick. Maybe he’s had an accident. You know it’s not like him to just not show up.”
Allie remained silent, fighting back the hurt and humiliation spawned by the far too fresh memory of the last time she’d walked in on Cody unannounced. She didn’t want to set foot in his apartment ever again.
Finally, aware that Nate was waiting, she swallowed and forced out an answer. “Oh, all right. I can probably get there in about fifteen minutes.”
“Atta girl. I knew you’d do it. You and Erik head over there now. I don’t have any other assignments for Erik today anyway.”
Allie ended the call, then turned right at the first cross street. She gritted her teeth, forcing aside her reluctance. Maybe Nate was right.
Maybe Cody was too sick to answer the phone.
“It won’t kill me to check on him,” she mumbled.
“Pardon?” Erik looked at her quizzically.
Allie grimaced. For a moment, wrapped up in her own misery, she’d forgotten he was there.
She sighed. “Well, at least our little search and rescue mission will give you a chance to see the ritzier side of Chicago, Erik. We should be in the Gold Coast area in a few minutes.”
Allie yanked the Honda to a screeching halt in a No Parking zone directly in front of a grand, three-story mansion on a street just off North Astor. Erik hadn’t paid much attention to Earth architecture since his arrival, but the well-kept building and its gracious neighbors appeared to be remnants of an older era.
“Cody lives here?” he asked, unable to completely suppress his admiration. As a result of pollution and intermittent wars, most edifices in his native Zalia and indeed, in the whole of Zura, were built underground. Any above-ground buildings were low, mud-colored, and without windows. As they should be, he reminded himself.
“Oh, not the whole thing.” Allie turned off the ignition. She took a deep breath, as if she were trying to calm herself. “He’s got money, but not that much. A lot of these old buildings were renovated and partitioned into high-priced condos a few years ago. Cody’s got one on the top floor.”
Allie opened the door, her expression a mask of unconcern. “I’ll just zip in and be back in a minute. You wait here.”
“No.” Erik slipped out his side and faced her over the top of the car. He had observed her distress over Nate’s request she check on Cody.
He was curious about the reasons for it, as well as her present forced air of unconcern. Besides, he needed to keep her with him, to observe her while he formulated a strategy to convince her she belonged with him. That was all, he told himself, even as his gaze dipped to the shadowed cleft between her breasts revealed by the mint-colored vest she wore over a matching knit skirt.
Allie made a face, then shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Abruptly she turned and strode through the wrought iron arbor guarding the entrance to the lawn and the house. Erik’s gaze followed the smooth curve of her hips under the skirt, the slim legs obviously used to a workout. He liked the confident way she walked, all of it tied together with an enticing feminine sway he’d never given much thought to before.
The observation, and an unexpected surge of pleasure, gave him pause. Until now, he had regarded this aspect of his destiny as an inescapable duty, something that must be done regardless of his wishes. An achievement that would assure his place within the Zalian elite once and for all. The possibility that he might actually derive some physical pleasure from it was a novel, and not unappealing, idea.
He hurried after her, catching up in time to wrest the heavy leaded glass door from her grasp.
She ignored him and proceeded to a small directory panel protected by Plexiglas. She punched a button and waited.
“Cody?” Her voice cracked. She frowned and cleared her throat. “Are you there? Cody?” When only silence met her question, she jabbed the button again. “Cody, if you’re there, it’s Allie. Just in case you’ve got someone or something to hide, I’ll give you a warning. I’ll be up in thirty seconds.”
With one of the keys on her chain, she opened the glass door into a gleaming lobby. She walked through it without a second glance, ignoring the elevators and heading for an imposing oak staircase. “It’s faster,” she said, not bothering to look back at Erik. “You can take the elevator if you want.”
Erik caught up with her in several strides, and kept abreast as she raced up the stairs. When she reached the richly-carpeted hallway of the top floor, she proceeded to the closest of two doors.
The staccato rap of her knuckles broke the silence. “Cody? Cody?”
She fumbled till she found the right key. “What a waste of time,” she grumbled. She stuck the key in the lock, turned it and flung the door open.
Erik followed her into the room, then stopped abruptly. Every available surface in the large, sunny room was littered with discarded clothes, newspapers, books, dirty dishes and half-f ashtrays. Two black leather couches were strung with clothing and books that spilled over onto the golden hardwood floor and dribbled towards a kitchenette. The room, which under normal circumstances might have been inviting, smelled of smoke, flat beer and spoiling food.
Instinctually, Erik recoiled. The mess offended his strong Zalian sense of order and undermined any respect he might have held for Cody.
Allie, however, didn’t give the mess a second glance. She picked her way around the books and the papers towards one of two doors on the far walls. She was almost there when she stopped and detoured to a glass coffee table whose top was obscured with books and dishes.
She retrieved two crystal glasses, one still half full. Deliberately she held the empty one up to the light. The color drained from her face and her features seemed to crumple in pain.
Erik glanced from Allie to the glass. Even from several feet away he could see the rich, mauve lipstick marks on the edge of the glass.
Suddenly a vivid image of the memory flooding Allie’s mind flashed into his head. It took him aback; he winced with surprise. For one brief but painfully clear moment he saw what she saw, felt what she felt. Her giddy pleasure as she quietly opened her fiancé’s door in preparation for a surprise visit. The jolt of shock when her gaze struck Cody and an attractive brunette, half-dressed and tangled together on the couch. The hurt and betrayal in the fleeting moment before she turned and fled.
Erik shook his head to dispel the intense images, and the incredible human emotions assaulting him, setting him off balance, and filling him with a sense of sympathy he’d never experienced before. By Zalian standards, his telepathic powers were weak and rarely worked without intense concentration on his part. Why had they suddenly focused so sharply on Allie?
He looked back at Allie in time to see the tears filling her eyes. She blinked hard and bit her lip, the two glasses suspended shakily in her hands.
The tears disturbed Erik even more than the quickly fading images. Where had he seen that kind of sadness before? No one cried on Zura, and certainly not in Zalia. No one that is, except . . .”
He crushed the thought, and the uncertainty it always provoked. All his life he’d had to fight doubt, a weakness he suspected resulted from his mixed parentage. But now was not the time for doubts. There was only room for single-minded concentration on achieving every aspect of the destiny foretold for him at age twelve. It was destiny or disaster. The choice was clear.
He watched as Allie replaced the glasses, tears now under control. She straightened and continued to the far door. She opened it and looked in.
With a few steps, Erik reached her side. He stood close enough to smell the alluring, fresh scent that wafted from her pulse and tangled in her reddish-gold locks. Close enough to see that she was trembling.
“He’s not here,” he said. For reasons he did not understand, he wanted to stem her distress. But, he realized, he didn’t have a clue how to go about it. Mutely he reached for her.
“I can see that,” she snapped, stepping away before he could touch her.
“What a mess,” she muttered as she stepped into the bedroom. Erik had to agree as he surveyed the unmade bed, the piles of crushed bedding, the glasses, ashtrays and crumb-covered plates littering the room.
Allie snatched a T-shirt from the floor and tossed it onto the bed. As she straightened, he caught the glitter of tears in her eyes once more.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, then stopped with a shock.
Had he just had the distinctly non-Zalian desire to strangle this Cody character? To avenge what he’d gleaned from the city editor and from his limited knowledge of Earth social customs had been despicable treatment of Allie? The man might be a top-flight investigative reporter, but his personal behavior lacked the integrity Erik considered essential.
Erik shuddered and pulled himself tightly in check. He couldn’t let Earth’s emotional climate affect him. He might be compelled to marry an Earthling; he might occasionally be forced to feel what she felt; but it didn’t mean he had to
become
one. He had struggled too hard to live up to his Zalian heritage.
He averted his gaze from Allie’s stricken face and cleared his throat. “C’mon, let’s go. There’s no point staying here.”
Allie sniffed, then shook her head. “In a minute. I’d better check the closet and his dresser. See if his laptop computer is here, his watch, maybe his loafers. I know Cody. He’d never go away for any length of time without his laptop.”
She slid open the double closet door. The laptop was there, open but turned off, and sitting on a shelf that looked as if it doubled as a desk.
Her gaze fell to the floor and a half dozen pairs of shoes, carefully lined up in neat contrast to the rest of the room.
She shut the door, then knelt to look under the bed. When she stood up again, the tears had been banished from her eyes. “Well, wherever he is, he’s wearing his loafers,” she said. Her gaze fell to the night table. “His watch too. And nobody’s broken into his apartment or anything like that.”
She moved across to the unshuttered window and looked out. “His car’s not in the space in the back either.”
She frowned, then worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “But still, it’s not like him to just not show up at work.”
She paused for a moment, then muttered, “On the other hand, who am I to say what he might or might not do? What do I know? How well did I ever know him?”
“Maybe he was called out of town. You know, on an urgent family matter,” Erik offered blandly.
“Maybe he’s even back at work. Besides, I want to get back and get this film developed.”
Allie sighed, and kicked the foot of the bed.
“Yeah, you’re right. Who knows where he is?
Nate’s a worrier, anyway. Cody will probably show up anytime now.”
Erik put his hand at Allie’s waist and steered her out of the bedroom, and then out of the apartment. Some feeling he couldn’t identify and didn’t want to understand boiled just below the surface. All he knew for sure was that he didn’t like the worry Allie had shown for Cody, or how much Cody had hurt her.
He’d thought Cody’s disappearance would work in his favor, clearing the way for a campaign of seduction.
But maybe he’d been wrong. Was this another area where Intergalactic Research had failed to prepare him for the illogical behavior of humans?
Had he once again failed to fully understand the strange reactions and emotions of an Earthling?
Allie stared in disbelief at the black and white prints spread across her desk. There were only six of them— that was all Erik had taken earlier this afternoon—but every one was perfect. It was as if she’d told him exactly what she wanted and he’d produced it to order.