Authors: Lynsay Sands
“We saved your usual spot, Mary. Go ahead and park. Dave is getting the golf cart. He'll bring you back to register and have a drink,” she called through the window once she got close enough.
Mary nodded. “Thanks, Carol.”
“Our pleasure. See you in a minute,” she called with a big grin and turned to head back to the building. Mary watched her go, then shifted back to drive and started
forward. Carol and Dave had been saving “their spot” for them for years now. A pull-thru spot on the end, surrounded by trees, it had a lovely view of the river. They'd always parked with the door and awning side facing the other RVs, welcoming friends they'd made over the years. This year, Mary wasn't sure how she was going to explain Dante, so she pulled in with the door and awning facing the woods and the river. Basically, putting her back to the others.
Feeling guilty for it even as she parked that way, Mary glanced around, but not seeing Dave approaching yet on his golf cart, she pushed the auto button on the automatic leveling system and listened to the hum of the jacks lowering to the ground. The RV bounced a little one way, then another, then up in the front and then the back and then stopped moving and the green light came on indicating it was level. Releasing the breath she always held during this process, she turned off the engine and got up, then paused, looking for Bailey. The dog was nowhere to be seen.
Frowning, she moved to the back of the RV and knocked on the door. “Dante, is Bailey in there with you? She'll need walking, and she hasn't eaten yet, but Dave is coming to collect me to go register andâ” She paused as the door started to open, and then she merely gaped at the man.
He had gone for joggers and a T-shirt as she'd expected and yet not what she'd expected at all. He was wearing
her
joggers and T-shirt. The man had donned her favorite pair of pink jogging pants that were so tight on him they were like a second skin. They also only
reached halfway down his calves. The T-shirt fit no better. It was a white one with tiny pink and red roses all over it and the damned thing stretched tight across his shoulders and encased his chest like a stocking, a pink and white flowered stocking.
Dante should have looked ridiculous in the getup, and she was sure he probably did, but the clothes also drew the gaze to the breadth of his beautiful chest. At least it did if you could tear your eyes away from the way the tight joggers emphasized the huge bulge between his legs.
Mary closed her eyes on the sight he made, but once again found that the image appeared to be burned into her retinas and continued to dance on her eyelids.
“I shall feed and walk Bailey,” Dante offered quietly and Mary blinked her eyes open and merely shook her head. Not expecting her dead husband's clothes to still be in the RV, he'd obviously just grabbed what he thought he might squeeze into from her closet and hadn't even thought to check the closet on the other side of the bed. Mary was about to tell him that there were men's clothes there when a knock sounded at the RV door.
“Dave,” she muttered, glancing to the door in a bit of a panic. She started toward it, then paused and whirled back. “My purse . . .”
Dante must have seen it when he'd found the clothes he was wearing because he immediately turned and pulled the door open to retrieve it. Handing it to her, he patted her arm. “Relax. All is well, I will see to Bailey.”
“Right,” she muttered, rushing toward the door, and then as she opened the door, thought to call out, “Her leash is hanging on a hook in my closet.”
“Talking to the dog now, Mary?” Dave teased curiously as she started down the steps.
Mary forced a laugh and shook her head, then said, “My nephew is driving back with me.”
The lie came out so smoothly you would have thought she'd planned it out. She hadn't though; it just came to her on the spot, but she was grateful for it.
“That's nice,” Dave said, smiling as he led her to the golf cart he'd driven from the office. “I could tell you found it a bit much driving down on your own when you stopped here in the fall.”
“Yes,” Mary said quietly as she got in next to him. “It was a bit more than I expected. It's much nicer when you have someone to share the driving.”
“I can imagine,” Dave assured her as he headed the golf cart back the way he'd come. “I sure wouldn't want to run this place without Carol helping.”
Mary smiled, and then found herself glancing over her shoulder back toward the RV. She hadn't turned on the lights or let the sides out or anything. She should have done that, she supposed. It would make things easier for Dante. While there were hookups for water, sewer, and 50 amp power supplies, there were no night-lights around the RVs to give him light. He'd be feeling his way around inside.
Clucking her tongue with irritation at her thoughtlessness, she turned to face forward again and listened to Dave's cheerful chatter about how busy the winter
had been for them with all the snowbirds coming and going.
“But when you called last week and asked if you could move your booking forward, Carol worked her magic and managed to rearrange our other bookings for you,” Dave informed her.
“I appreciate that,” Mary said quietly. “But I told her I'd take anything you had available. I didn't want to put you out.”
“You didn't. She was happy to do it. You know Carol,” he added affectionately.
“Yes,” Mary said with a smile. It would be hard to find a woman with a bigger heart than Carol had. She'd become a dear friend over the years. They both had. Which was why Mary had booked two nights here this time. She'd already decided she wasn't doing this again. The trip just wasn't the same alone. Knowing this would be the last time she made the trek back and forth, she'd wanted to have a nice last visit with this couple who had been so good to her and Joe over the years. But with Dante to worry about, Mary now wasn't sure she should stay the extra night.
“Good God, woman, what did you do? Drive thirty all the way from Padre Island?”
Mary smiled at that greeting from Carol as the petite bottle blonde pulled her into a hug the moment Dave ushered her inside the office.
“I'm sorry,” Mary said as she hugged her back. “I know it's late. You probably wanted to close shop and go relax hours ago.”
“Nonsense. We keep the store open late,” Carol said
at once, stepping back to scowl at her. “We were worried about you is all. Started thinking we maybe should call the sheriff's department and see if there was an accident on the highway or something.”
Mary grimaced at the word
accident
, but just shook her head. “I'm fine. Just slow.”
“Hmm, well you come sign in and we'll get you a nice drink to soothe your nerves from driving,” Carol said, leading her to the registration counter. “Dave, fetch her a rum and coke on ice.”
“Oh, no,” Mary protested at once. “Thank you, but I still have to hook up and put out the slide-outs and stuff.”
“Let your nephew take care of that. That's what he's here for,” Dave said lightly, moving into the office to fetch glasses.
“He doesn't know how to do any of that . . . yet,” she added when both Carol and Dave turned to peer at her in surprise. “This is his first day in the RV.”
“Oh,” Dave smiled wryly. “How's he liking it so far?”
Mary merely shrugged helplessly and turned her attention to the clipboard waiting on the countertop. It was her registration, already mostly filled out by Carol for her. Mary merely had to sign it. She did so, then pulled out her credit card and offered it, but Carol waved it away.
“You can do that when you leave, Mary. We trust you.”
Mary hesitated, but then decided it might be best to pay up front. She wasn't sure what would happen in the morning and didn't want to have to make explana
tions if they did leave early. This way, she was covered. Smiling, she shook her head and held the card out insistently, saying lightly, “I'm used to doing it at the start and I'm not getting any younger, my memory isn't as good as it used to be. Best do it now.”
Shrugging, Carol took the credit card and rang it up.
“Well, if you won't have a drink with us now, promise you'll come by for breakfast in the morning,” Dave demanded, then added, “On the house.”
“That would be nice,” Mary said and meant it. At least that way if anything happened to force her to leave early she'd have gotten in a bit of a visit with them first.
“Good,” Carol said firmly as she handed her back her credit card. “We'll hold you to that. Dave will come fetch you and your nephew if you aren't both here by eight.”
“Understood,” Mary said with a tired smile.
“Ah, honey, you're exhausted,” Carol said with concern, then glanced to her husband. “Dave, maybe you better take her back to her RV and help her hook up. She looks ready to fall over.”
Nodding, Dave grabbed a large flashlight off the counter and walked back around the counter to usher her to the door.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Carol called as they left.
Dave kept up a steady chatter about people at the campground that she knew from previous stays as he drove her back to the RV, but she noted that he kept sending worried glances her way. It made her wonder just how bad she must look. Pretty bad, she decided
when he stopped at the RV and turned to her to ask, “How's your health, sweetheart? Everything okay?”
“I'm fine,” she assured him on a weak laugh. “I'm just tired. I'll be right as rain after a good night's sleep.”
“Good, good,” Dave said, but didn't look like he believed her.
With his help, hooking up to the power, water, and sewer was quick work. Mary thanked him for his help, hugged him and promised she'd be by for breakfast in the morning, and then waved him off, before turning to peer at the door to the RV. There were no lights inside, but she wasn't terribly surprised. Dante probably didn't know where the switches were.
Sighing, Mary walked to the door, opened it and started inside, hitting the switch on the counter next to the steps as she ascended them. Letting the door close behind her, she then paused and glanced around. Dante and Bailey weren't there.
Still out for their walk, she thought. After being cooped up in the RV all day, Bailey would probably drag Dante all over the campgrounds. She just hoped Dante didn't let her chase the deer or any of the other wildlife.
Shrugging that worry away, Mary moved to the panel on the wall before the bedroom door and pushed the button for the living area slide out. The front half of the RV's left wall immediately began to slide outward, taking the dinette and couch with it. Once it was all the way out, there was a good three or four foot span of open space between the furnishings and the kitchen counter along the opposite wall. Mary then turned to
peer into the bedroom as she pressed the button for the second slide-out and watched as the wall at the head of the bed began to move out, taking the bed with it. When it stopped there was room enough to walk around the end of the bed, open the drawers, and whatnot. The cramped RV was now a more spacious little house on wheels.
Relaxing a little, Mary turned on the water heater, and flipped on some lights, then moved to the coffee machine to make herself a cup. She set out a Keurig cup and a mug for Dante as well, but didn't make it. She doubted he'd appreciate cold coffee. He might even prefer a cold drink.
After setting her coffee on the table, Mary retrieved her sandwich from the front dashboard where it still sat. She had just picked up the plate, and had started to turn back toward the table when she spotted her phone. Dante had obviously put it back in its holder before taking Bailey out, she thought and snatched that up as well. She carried both items to the table and slid onto one of the dinette's booth seats to eat.
Even after having sat out for half an hour or so, the sandwich was as good as it had first looked and Mary found herself gobbling it down. It seemed like no time before she finished the first half, and that's about the time that she began to realize how much she'd needed to eat. It was almost nine now, which meant it had been almost nine hours since lunch. Her brain had obviously needed the nutrients, because it was suddenly thinking more clearly than it had since she'd run over Dante. The day's events ran through her head like a film and she
began to get more and more uncomfortable as it went. She had a complete stranger traveling with her, one who was slightly delusional and possibly dangerous.
Where was he going to sleep tonight?
And how well was she going to sleep with him in the RV with her?
Mary sat back at the table with a frown, and then her gaze dropped to the phone and she recalled the calls he'd made. Three of them in all, she thought. Picking up the phone, she opened it to the recent calls page and peered at the number he'd called.
The area code was 416. It had seemed familiar when he'd first spoken it to her, but now it suddenly clicked in. Toronto, she thought. Her daughter lived there and had that area code. FBI based in Canada? Mary's mouth tightened and she tapped the number, making the phone redial it.
M
ary pressed the phone to her ear and listened to it ring, then stilled when a ring was prematurely silenced and a male voice snapped, “Speak Dante.”
Biting her lip, she glanced toward the open window and then cleared her throat and asked, “Who am I speaking to?”
When silence came to her through the phone, she recalled what Dante had said earlier and asked, “Is this Lucian?”
“Yes,” he said finally, his voice wary but edged with concern. He asked sharply, “Did Dante's kidnappers recapture him?”
Mary's eyes widened slightly. When she'd realized it was a Toronto area code, she'd thought for sure everything Dante had said was lies or delusions, but it seemed that part, at least, was true.
“Hello?” the man snapped after a moment.
Realizing she hadn't answered him, Mary cleared her throat and said, “No.”
“He's hurt then?” the man asked next, his voice sharp.
Mary hesitated, and then sighed and said, “I think so.”
“You
think
so? What the hell do you mean you thinkâ?”
“I ran over him with my RV,” Mary rushed out, interrupting his caustic words. “And I think he may have taken some damage to his head.”
Silence came down the line at her in response and Mary frowned and continued, “Look, he told me he's working for a task force looking into a case where several young people have been disappearing from bars in the San Antonio area.”
“Yes,” came the calm response this time when she paused and Mary frowned uncertainly.
“That's true?”
“Yes,” Lucian said again.
Mary sat back in her seat. So that hadn't been some sort of delusion of Dante's. He really had been kidnapped while trying to find out who was kidnapping these unknown people in San Antonio, she thought, then frowned with confusion and said, “But you're in Canada. Why would a task force looking into kidnappings in Texas be based in Canada?”
There was a pause and then he said simply, “It's an international case.”
Mary waited for further explanations. For him to tell her that both the Feds and the Canadians were working the case together, that perhaps Canadians were
amongst those who had gone missing, but he didn't say anything.
Sighing her frustration, she shook her head, and then said, “Okay, so he really is helping out this task force, and he really was kidnapped and escaped his kidnappers. But the kid thinks he can control minds.”
“He told you that?” Lucian snapped, his voice so sharp and hard, Mary actually pulled the phone away from her face a bit.
She peered at the broken glass of the phone face, her eyebrows rising slightly. That had certainly got a reaction. Putting the phone back to her ear, she said, “Yes, he told me that. Crazy huh?”
There was another silence and then the man cursed on the other end of the phone and muttered, “He shouldn't have told you that . . . and he wouldn't have told you that unless . . .” Despite the fact that he'd spoken aloud, Mary suspected he'd been talking to himself. She doubted he even realized she'd heard what he said, but then his voice grew louder and he suddenly asked, “What else did he tell you?”
Mary tilted her head, her gaze on the second half of the sandwich the fingers of her free hand were picking at.
“Nothing. What else should he have told me?” she asked quietly.
The question was met with silence again.
Sitting up a little straighter, Mary tightened her grip on the phone and said, “Surely you aren't suggesting that Dante really can read and control people's minds?”
Rather than answer the man asked, “Why are you helping him?”
Mary paused, nonplussed by the question, but after a moment, said, “Because I ran him over.”
“So, out of guilt,” he suggested.
“No,” she said quickly and then grimaced. “Well, maybe a little because of guilt. But also because he just needs help. I mean he's being chased by kidnappers and he was bare arsed, and I could hardly leave him at the truck stop naked like that. Not that I actually wanted to help him to begin with,” she admitted honestly, aware that she was babbling, “but it was that or let him steal my RV, and no one is stealing my RV.”
“Commandeering.”
“What?” she asked with bewilderment.
“Dante would not have stolen your RV. He would have commandeered it for the purposes of aiding in the investigation. We would have seen to it that it was returned with compensation for its use.”
“Right,” she said dryly. Taking it was taking it no matter whether you called it stealing or commandeering. It still would have left her high and dry in the middle of Texas with no way home.
“So,” Lucian said slowly, “You haven't felt any sort of . . . er . . . compulsion to help? It was just out of the goodness of your heart?”
“Compulsion?” Mary asked, eyes narrowing. “You mean like mind control?
Silence was again her answer.
“Surely you aren't suggesting he really can control minds?” she asked with a nervous laugh.
“Apparently not yours or we would not be having this conversation,” he said dryly.
“
What?
” she squawked.
A sigh slid through the phone and he said, “He should not have revealed his special skills. This is all highly top secret and not for public knowledge. Where is he? Not there I presume or he would not have let you make this call.”
“Let me?” she growled. “Mister, this is my phone. And I'm an adult. Nobody gets to tell me what I can or can't do anymore.”
“Sadly, I have to tell you that is not true and inform you that should you repeat anything Dante has revealed to you to anyone, anyone at all, the ramifications for you would be rather unpleasant.”
Mary stilled and pulled the phone back to peer at it again. Was that a threat? Putting the phone back to her face, she snapped, “Did you just threaten me?”
“I do not threaten,” he assured her. “I am merely making you aware of your precarious position. The knowledge you have is dangerous and I will do whatever is necessary to ensure it spreads no further.”
His voice was so cold and matter of fact it was hard not to believe every word he said, and Mary began to worry what that “whatever is necessary” might extend to. Arrest? Her disappearing? Death?
“Judging from the change in your breathing, I gather you understand me. Good. Have Dante call when he returns from whatever task he is performing.”
It took Mary a moment to realize that the silence that followed this time was because he'd ended the call without bothering to say good-bye or otherwise indi
cate he was done with the conversation. Lowering the phone, she stared at it briefly, noting that her hand was shaking, and then tossed it onto the table as if it were a snake she'd suddenly found in her hand.
Mary watched it slide across the table's smooth surface, but did nothing to stop it when it slid off the opposite edge onto the bench seat across from her. In fact, she felt a little better once it was out of sight.
Shifting her gaze to her sandwich, she stared at it briefly, then stood and carried the plate over to dump the uneaten half of her supper into the garbage under the sink. Mary then set the plate in the sink and turned to survey the RV. Her gaze slid around, but then settled on the couch. It was a long couch, presently with an arm across the first of the three sections of the couch. Mary moved to it, grabbed the arm and pulled it toward her. A lower section of couch immediately slid out to turn the couch into an L shape. Mary then shifted in front of this new section and caught the canvas handle sticking out of the top. She tugged it up and back, lifting the seat out of the base and up into position. She then slid the front of the remaining two panels out and set the pillows in place, turning it into a bed that was actually a little bigger than the one in the bedroom.
Mary wasn't sure it would be long enough for Dante to sleep in without curling up a bit, but it was the best she could do for him, and it was bigger than the actual bed she slept in, so she turned and went into the bedroom to fetch sheets, pillows and a blanket. They were stored in the base of the built-in bed. Mary bent, caught
the wooden top of the bed base and lifted it. It rose like the lid of a chest, mattress and all. A handy feature she'd always appreciated.
She quickly collected what she needed, then set them on the side of the couch-bed before turning back to push the mattress back down into place, closing the chest-like storage space. Aware that Dante should return soon, Mary was quick about making up the bed. She'd just finished putting the last pillow in place when the RV door opened.
Bailey was the first to enter, bounding in, practically vibrating with excitement. The dog immediately leapt up on the couch-bed to cross to her and lick her face.
“Yes, yes, I'm happy to see you too,” Mary murmured, catching the dog's head between her hands and massaging her behind the ears as she pressed a kiss between her eyes. “Now,” she said, releasing her, “get off Dante's bed. He doesn't want to be sleeping in dog fur.”
Bailey gave Mary's arm a swipe with her tongue, then bounded to the floor and jumped immediately up onto the bed in the bedroom where she curled into a ball and lay down, apparently all ready to go to sleep.
Mary raised her eyebrows. “What? You don't want supper?”
“I fed her before we went for a walk,” Dante said quietly.
Mary turned back to the room to peer at Dante and noted that while the RV usually seemed large with the slide-outs open, his presence seemed to fill all that extra space now and make it smaller. Honestly, he was a mountain of a man, a big pink and white mountain.
It wasn't just that he was six feet eight, but he was as wide as a football player with padding on. Realizing she was staring, Mary dropped her gaze, and found herself looking at her phone on the dinette booth seat. Eyes widening, she blurted, “You're supposed to call Lucian.”
“He called?” Dante asked with obvious relief, turning toward the driver's seat behind him, no doubt looking for the phone he'd placed back in its holder.
“It's on the dinette seat,” she told him, and then admitted, “And no, he didn't call. I called him.”
Dante had turned to grab the phone off the seat beside him. Straightening with it in hand, he raised his eyebrows. “You called him?”
Mary nodded apologetically.
“Why?” he asked softly.
Mary grimaced, her gaze shifting away from him, but then drawn irresistibly back. Sighing, she shrugged helplessly and admitted, “Because I thought you were a crackpot.”
His mouth dropped open at her honesty and she smiled wryly.
“Well, you were claiming you could read and control minds,” she said as if that should explain her reasoning, but realizing that since he apparently could read and control minds, that wasn't as convincing a reason as she'd first thought. Grimacing, she said, “I've never heard of anyone being able to do that in real life. It made me start to doubt everything else you'd told me.”
“So you called Lucian?” he asked solemnly. “Why did you not call the mortal police?”
Mary blinked at the term. Mortal police? Who the hell called the police mortal police?
“Mary?” he asked. “Why did you not just dial 911?”
She hesitated and then shrugged helplessly. “I didn't want to get you in trouble, so I thought I'd just see who you called and find out what I could and go from there.”
“I see,” he murmured, and then added softly, “Thank you for that.”
Mary shifted uncomfortably and then straightened her shoulders and gestured to the phone. “You should call him back.”
“Yes,” Dante glanced down at the phone. “I need to find out if they got Tomasso out. Excuse me.”
Turning, he stepped down to the door, opened it and slipped outside.
The RV suddenly seemed to have a lot more room again, and a lot more air too. Mary took in a deep breath, feeling like it was the first she'd drawn in since he'd entered, then turned to slip into the bedroom and close the door. She'd had a long day, and quite enough of her guest for now. She needed her own space and sleep.
She moved around the end of the bed, petting Bailey in passing, and then slipped into the bathroom. Her robe and the old T-shirt she wore as a nightgown hung from a hook beside the door. Mary left them there for now and unlatched the lock on the shower door that was to prevent it sliding around while the RV was in motion. Leaning in then, she turned on the taps to start the shower, then turned to collect a towel, shampoo, soap and a washcloth from the cupboard. The water
was already warm by the time she accomplished that, and Mary stripped and stepped into the shower. She was usually quick about showers in the RV, but not tonight. Tonight she stood under the warm, soothing spray until it had washed all her tension away.
When she finally got out, Mary dried herself and pulled on the T-shirt she'd been wearing to bed. It was one of her husband's old T-shirts. While not as big as Dante, he'd been a good-sized man, six feet with nice shoulders. His T-shirt was big enough on her that it reached almost to her knees. She brushed her teeth and hair, and then turned to open the door. It was as she flicked off the bathroom light that her gaze landed on her husband's closet. Mary peered at it silently, then glanced to the bedroom door.
She doubted very much if her clothes were comfortable for Dante. He didn't seem to mind their femininity, but surely with their being so tight he'd have trouble sleeping? Besides, while he didn't seem to mind wearing pink pants and flowered T-shirts, she really didn't want to explain it to her friends. One look would be enough for them to know they were hers.
Hopefully it had been too dark out for anyone to really see what he was wearing when he took Bailey for her walk, she thought with a frown, and then opened her husband's closet door to consider the items inside. She then opened the top drawer beneath it to check out its contents as well.