Dream Man Read online

“I’m stopping the bleeding,” he said in a hoarse voice.

  “I know. It’s almost stopped. She’s going to be all right, partner. Everything’s going to be okay.” Trammell wrapped his arms around him, easing him away from Marlie. The medics moved to take his place. “We’ll go to the hospital with her, but she’s going to be fine. I promise.”

  Dane closed his eyes and let Trammell lead him away.

  “I really do feel well enough to go home,” Marlie said the next morning. She yawned. “It’s just that I’m tired from fighting off the vision.”

  “And from loss of blood,” Dane said. “Maybe tomorrow.”

  She was propped up in bed, and except for the thickness of the bandages on top of her shoulder and at her waist, it was difficult to tell there was anything wrong with her, though to Dane’s critical eye she was still far too pale.

  He had been at the hospital with her all night. If he lived to be a hundred and fifty, he’d never forget the absolute, bone-chilling terror of those minutes when he had realized that he had been lured away, and left Marlie unprotected. It had taken him a lifetime to get back to her, and cost him another lifetime in the effort to get into the house. The hospital had been a zoo, with cops everywhere and reporters fighting to get in to talk to Marlie, and Dane had been totally unable to cope with it. All he had been able to do, once the doctors had let him get to her again, was hold her hand and try to reassure himself that she was really all right.

  Trammell had taken over; he had handled the reporters, categorically denying them access to “Marlie’s room but promising a news conference later in the morning. He had deflected Bonness and Chief Champlin away from Dane. He had called Grace, who had brought fresh clothes and toiletries for both Dane and Marlie. Dane had showered and shaved, but the haggard lines in his face revealed the toll the night had taken on him. If it hadn’t been for Trammell, he wouldn’t have made it through the night.

  Trammell had been there for most of the night, too, but he had left around dawn and just returned. He was impeccably dressed, as always, though he, too, showed the signs of a sleepless night. Grace had remained with them.

  Marlie pressed the button that moved the head of the bed to a more upright position. She truly did feel well enough to go home; the cuts were sore, and she had to be careful when she moved, but all in all she wasn’t in any undue pain. She was alive. The heavy sense of evilness that had been pressing down on her for weeks was gone. The sun seemed brighter, the air fresher.

  “I’ve told you everything that happened last night,” she said. “Now I want to know what you’ve found out this morning.”

  Dane smiled at her reassuringly normal tone. “Don’t look at me. I haven’t left this place. I don’t know anything.”

  Grace stretched out her long legs. “Yes, Alex, spill your guts.”

  Trammell propped himself against the windowsill. “We found his car about two blocks away, and ran the license plate. His name was Carroll Janes; he moved here from Pittsburgh about five months ago. Pittsburgh PD have several unsolved murders that fit the bill. We searched his apartment and found a blond wig he evidently wore all the time, except when he was killing. He worked at Danworth’s department store, in customer service. Evidently that’s how he picked his victims. If anyone gave him a hard time—bingo.”

  “That was the tie,” Dane murmured. “They all shopped at Danworth’s. I remember Jackie Sheets’s friend saying that she had been upset about a blouse that came apart, or something like that. God, it was right there in front of me. I even thought that they shopped at the same place, but that just about everyone in the city did, too.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Marlie advised tartly. “You aren’t clairvoyant, you know.” After a startled second, he chuckled. He was looking better, she decided, that stark look fading as he recovered from the shock.

  “Carroll Janes,” Grace said. “That’s a strange name for a man.”

  “No joke. That’s why we didn’t turn him up on those lists we were running. His name was crossed out because it looked like a woman’s name.” Trammell sounded disgusted at that oversight. “We don’t have much background on him yet. We may never know what made him tick. I don’t know if it even matters. A subhuman son of a bitch like that doesn’t deserve to live.”

  Marlie saw Dane flinch. He was having a harder time handling the night’s events than she was. He deeply regretted that she had been touched by such ugly violence, but in an odd way she felt stronger. She wasn’t elated that she had killed a man, but neither was she consumed by guilt. She had done what was necessary. If she had hesitated, she would be dead now. She had controlled the vision, and this time she had won. Carroll Janes was dead; Marilyn Elrod and Nadine Vinick and Jackie Sheets, and all of the other women he had killed, finally had their justice.

  Dane picked up her hand and played with her fingers, his eyes closing as he felt again the overwhelming relief that she was all right.

  Grace elbowed Trammell. “We have to go now,” she said. “I have to get ready for work.”

  “I’ll be back this afternoon,” Trammell added. “Call me if you need me before then.”

  “Okay,” Dane agreed. After they left, he walked to the door and leaned out to get the attention of the uniformed officer who stood guard there. “No visitors,” he said. “Not even the mayor. No one.”

  “I may have trouble keeping the docs out, Hollister,” the officer warned.

  “Well, maybe them. But knock first.” He closed the door and went back to Marlie’s bedside. He stroked her face, smoothed her hair.

  She reached up and touched his cheek. “I really am all right. And I’d much rather be at home than here.”

  He turned his head to kiss her fingers. “Just be patient, okay? If the doctor wants to watch you for another twentyfour hours, he must have a reason. Let me be certain you’re okay before you leave. I need that.”

  There was naked emotion in his face. Dane was wide open, not bothering to guard himself. After what he had been through, he would never again try to control his feelings for her. He had almost lost her the night before; life was too short, too uncertain, to do anything but live it to the fullest.

  His expression was serious as he smoothed her hair away from her face. “We didn’t finish getting things ironed out between us last night.”

  “No, everything got a little hectic there, didn’t it?” “Are you still mad at me?”

  A little smile curved her mouth. “No.”

  “I swear to God I didn’t string you along just to stay on top of the situation. The only thing I thought about being on top of was you.”

  She snorted. “Gosh, that’s romantic.” But the smile remained.

  “I don’t know how to be romantic. All I know is I want you, and I can’t let you go. I’ve never run into this type of situation before, so I probably messed up in the way I handled it. I wanted to take my time, see how things developed. I didn’t want to rush you, or put pressure on you while all of this other mess was going on. You had enough to worry about.”

  She bit her lip, bemused by his words. Ye gods, maybe Trammell was right; maybe Dane really was too hardheaded to know when he was in love, or that a woman would reasonably expect him to say so. She took a deep breath, conscious of how much she wanted everything to go right this time. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had been a little too cautious; maybe she needed to encourage him more.

  “Is sex all you want?” she asked, tension invading her as she waited for his answer.

  “Hell, no!” he said explosively. “Honey, tell me what you need. I can do something about it if you’ll tell me, but don’t leave me in the dark like this. What can I do to convince you of how I feel about you?”

  She drew back in the hospital bed, giving him an incredulous look. “Convince me? Dane, you’ve never told me to begin with! I don’t have any idea how you feel!”

  It was his turn to stare incredulously. “What the hell do you mean, you don’t have