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Jaht of the streetlah she tried to resist, he slipped his arainst hith, Ja until you see I’m not like those other men?"

She so badly wanted to believe him, yet knew she couldn’t Too ain

Still, when he lowered hisher arms around his neck, she yielded to his kiss His lips arentleness made her knees weak and her heart race

When he released her, she was surprised she was still upright

"I’ll be waiting for you," he said "I’ll be here when you’re ready I’ue but couldn’t

He touched her cheek again, then left her standing alone in the Pink Poodle parking lot

Twenty-Seven

If he didn’t know that Faith’s tires had been slashed teeks ago and that her houessed that anything untoward had happened at 204 Rosewood Lane But the harassment had been intermittent from the moment she’d moved in Troy was at a loss to explain why Faith had been singled out She wasn’t the kind of person who made enemies; anyone who met Faith was immediately drawn to her He hated the fact that neither he nor his deputies had been able to determine as responsible

He stood in front of the house, recalling thehe’d come to talk to Grace Sherman

Dan had disappeared and at that point no one knew the tragic truth--that his lifelong depression over an incident in Vietnam had driven him to suicide Troy had vivid memories of that visit and the one a year later, when he’d co Grace the news that Dan’s body had been found

Sandy had been alive when Dan Sher Troy had told her about the case She’d lost much of her ability to communicate verbally by then, but her expressive eyes had revealed her syhed He was surprised by how often he thought of Sandy He wished he could talk to her now She’d always been a good listener and while it s for another woman with her, he sensed that if Sandy had known Faith, they would’ve been friends

Catching hiuard, the front door opened and Faith stepped onto the porch, standing in the afternoon drizzle Spring had officially begun a week ago, and as the old saying went, March showers brought April flowers Or was it April showers that brought May flowers? In either case, it was still a winter sky, bleak and gray, although the days were noticeably longer

"Troy," Faith called, her ar here?"

Grinning, Troy walked up the pathway to the house "Just checking toyou check on me quite a bit"

Troy didn’t deny it It’d become habit to drive by at least once a day and soh he didn’t want Faith to kno often "I keep turning up like a bad penny, right?"

Faith smiled, and her lovely face seemed even lovelier "Do you feel like a cup of decaf coffee?"

One thing he wouldn’t do, and that was refuse to spend time with Faith He loved her He knew she loved him, too For the most part they’d worked out their differences but the situation between theh they’d known each other practically their entire lives, the setbacks of the past year had nearly destroyed any pro relationship

He followed Faith into the house and saw that she’d been knitting The television was on the twenty-four-hour news channel, and the aro wafted toward him Whatever it was s "There’s so on your mind," she said matter-of-factly "But I know that whatever it is doesn’t have anything to do with ht on both counts, and her ability to read him so easily reminded him of Sandy Despite his lawman’s poker face, Sandy could always tell when he was disturbed by a case, and now it seemed Faith shared that trait

She sat across from him "Can you talk about it?" she asked

He shook his head This was information he couldn’t share A visit froiven hi cases Even now, Troy wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, especially since it involved someone he kneell

"I wish I could…but I can’t"

"It doesn’tway of hers

He held his coffee with both hands, letting the heat chase away the chill of late afternoon "How’d you know so was onand gazed into the flickering light of the fireplace "I’m not sure"

Troy stared into his coffee "That’s not true, Faith"

She laughed "How do you know?"

"Touché" It would be so easy to sit with Faith for the rest of the evening Who was he kidding? He’d like nothing better than to be with her for the rest of his life A contentment that had escaped him all afternoon settled over hiers ni the yarn "You have a ‘tell"

"A ‘tell’?"

"Yes," she said, brightening "I’ve been watching that poker show on TV I don’t kno I got started, but now I’m hooked"

"And a ‘tell’ is?" He knew very hat it meant, but he wanted to hear her definition of it--and, even more, what she felt his "tell" was

Faith’s response was enthusiastic "You’ve noticed that a lot of poker players wear dark glasses? The reason, according to the commentators, is that other players can read their eyes and know if they’re bluffing or not I saw one player who shuffled his chips every tiood hand I could tell he had decent cards by his body language"

"In other words, you can read me the saly