his wallet out of his pocket. "It could be a lot worse. He could have asked me to go as a chaperone. I'd much rather pay. A weekend with Wildman and dozens of hyper, screaming teenagers is not my idea of fun."
"I hear you. Still, thank you so much for doing this. I don't know Zac, but I know Brenda will really appreciate it."
The door opened and Geanie announced herself with a squeal of excitement. She ran to Joseph and gave him a quick kiss.
"Lunch?" he asked.
"Yes, please. Cindy, do you mind?"
"Go for it. I'll take my lunch break when you get back."
Geanie and Joseph left hand in hand and Cindy smiled at the sight. The two of them were good together and she was beginning to wonder if it might not be the real thing.
Not that she would know the real thing if it bit her. After the failed attempt at dating after Thanksgiving she was beginning to wonder if she just had too much of a problem opening up and trusting. She could never be herself on a date without worrying about how she could get hurt.
Because there was always a way you could get hurt.
Her cell rang and she fished it out of her purse in the drawer just before it went to voicemail.
"Hello?"
"Hi, it's Jeremiah."
"How are you feeling today?" she asked.
"Glad to be alive and in one piece. A little sore and stiff, but otherwise fine. I am taking the day off."
"I'm glad to hear it. Do you need me to bring anything over?"
He laughed.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I'm fine, really. What did the detective have to say last night?"
"They're pretty sure Dr. Tanner was dead when he hit you; there were no skid marks on the road."
"I could have told them that. Come to think of it, I believe I did."
"Apparently yours wasn't the only accident they were investigating yesterday."
"Oh, what was the other?"
"An environmentalist burned to death after handcuffing himself to a tree in a planned burn zone."
"Strange."
"I thought so, too." She paused, hoping he would say something more on the topic.
She was disappointed when he finally said, "I need to go and get some sleep."
"Oh, okay."
"Have a good day."
"You, too," she said, hanging up. She felt disappointed and she asked herself why. Was it because she wanted to talk to him more about the accidents or because she just wanted to talk to him more? She blushed at the thought.
Leave it to me to find yet another way I could get hurt.
3
CINDY WAS TIRED WHEN SHE GOT HOME. NO SOONER HAD SHE THROWN her purse and keys on the table than the phone rang. She briefly debated letting it go to voicemail, then finally picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Cindy, it's Gerald Wilson. I made it into town and I wanted to confirm our interview for tomorrow afternoon."
"Yes, absolutely."
"Does two still work?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful. I'm staying at the Courtyard."
"I'll meet you in the lobby at two."
"Excellent. I'm looking forward to it."
She hung up and felt a flutter of nerves and excitement. She'd almost forgotten that tomorrow was the day she was being interviewed for a book about her role in stopping the Passion Week Killer the previous Easter. Gerald Wilson was writing a book about crime, myths, and legends in the area. He had contacted her a couple of months before to set up the interview.
Feeling a bit better she grabbed some orange juice and contemplated her options for the evening while drinking it. Before she could make a decision the phone rang again. It was her mom.
"Hi, Mom."
"Hi, honey. How are you?"
"Good, I'm being interviewed by that writer tomorrow for the crime book."
"How nice. Remind me to send you the latest stack of articles on your brother. There was a fabulous one in Travel and Leisure and another one in National Geographic."
"Great," Cindy said, beginning to feel the frustration settle in. Would it kill her mom to acknowledge her accomplishments? "So, why did you call?" she asked.
"I just wanted to make sure you were going to be watching your brother's television special tonight. He's bungee jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge live."
Cindy cringed and felt a cold knot settle in the pit of her stomach. "Why, why would he do something like that?" she whispered to herself.
"It's all a promotion for that new show of his."
"Isn't that illegal?"
"Honey, he's a star. Besides, his network takes care of all that kind of thing."
"But he's jumping . . . over water . . ."
"Yes, isn't it exciting?"
Cindy closed her eyes. Her mother was crazy. That was the only explanation for why she could condone Kyle's reckless behavior.
Her mother continued talking but Cindy stopped listening.She walked into the bedroom with the phone still pressed to her ear and pulled the darts out of Kyle's face. She took careful aim and then realized that throwing the dart at his picture wasn't going to make the terrible feeling inside her go away.
"Mom, I have to go," she interrupted.
"Oh, okay, dear. Just make sure you watch."
"Uh-huh."
As soon as she had hung up she grabbed her purse and keys and left. Twenty minutes later she was sitting in the pub ordering a corned beef sandwich and eyeing the dartboard.
Two large guys were playing a game of darts and she watched while waiting for her opportunity. The older guy was winning, nailing the center of the bull's-eye almost every time.
The pub was more crowded than it ever was at lunch when she usually went. On the walls and on the tables were little shamrock signs reminding patrons
