Emily had been walking for an hour. Walking and thinking. Walking and stewing.

When Twyla woke her this morning she’d been mortified. The woman hadn’t said a word about having found her passed out on the toilet, but she hadn’t really needed to. Emily could see the look of disappointment that the woman tried to hide. She knew why as well. After all, Emily was a guest in her house and she felt that Twyla would never have been so rude as to chastise Emily for her immature behavior. Nonetheless, she could see that the older woman was disssapointed in her. And after that nice, intense little talk she gave me about getting serious with Harley. What she must think of me now. I wonder if she’s changed her mind.

Emily sighed to herself for about the millionth time since she came to full wakefulness today. Could I have screwed up any bigger? She had to smile. Yeah, I could have. She remembered some of her other most embarrassing moments and realized, on the whole, this was a minor incident by comparison. Thank all the gods that at least Harley wasn’t there last night to see me make a fool of myself.

After she hurriedly washed and dressed, she gave Twyla a mumbled but sincere apology. Emily told Twyla she needed some air to clear her head and was going to take a walk for a while. Twyla told her it was a good idea but cautioned her to stay close to the house and be careful. She grabbed her wallet and jacket making sure she had her cigarettes and phone and took off.

She’d been walking toward Bramble proper and before she realized it, she had tuned on to Bender road. Still trying to get her mind around her actions last night, she wasn’t even aware of where she’d been walking. She stopped suddenly, just across the street from the Burger King to decide where she was going. Ah, damn. Why can’t I even think of a thing without complicating it with subconscious psychological questions? But the deeper question of where she was going remained anyway.

Well, for the surface answer let’s try the diner and get some coffee. I can’t believe I left without any caffeine this morning. This place is getting to me. Maybe I should just get the hell out of here. And once again, the thought of doing just that made her chest ache.

"That’s it." She said aloud. "No more soul searching today. No more deep questions. No more intro-damn-spections!" She was aware that she was shouting and glad there didn’t’ seem to be anyone on the street to hear her.

Resolving firmly not to ask herself why it made her chest hurt to think about leaving Bramble or where she was really going in her life or what the fuck she was thinking of getting so toasted last night, she made only one decision, and that was to order the coffee black and hope it was a strong.

*********************************************************************************

Harley was just finishing getting dressed. She noted idly to herself that she needed to get her laundry done. She stretched her long arms over her head and heard the satisfying pops of her vertebrae correcting their alignment.

Today, she felt pretty good. The board meeting last night had been interesting and productive. Dad and Wilson did a great job sewing up that fiber optics contract. It’s gonna be a big money maker for the family and all the people in the company. Can’t wait to get that profit sharing check this year!

After the meeting and dessert with her siblings, she was able to get out of the house without any more personal inquiries from her siblings or their wives. Even though nobody said anything, she was aware that they were aware of her feelings for the new tourist in town. She was grateful that at least her brother’s wives had the tact to restrain the guys from what would have surely been an all out inquisition.

She made it back to the station and after clearing her desk, she stripped down to her underwear and did enough sits ups, push ups and squats to make her pleasantly sore this morning and tire her out enough to sleep like a baby last night.

Well, if nothing else, by the time Emily leaves I’ll be in better shape than I’ve been since the Navy. She tried to ignore that catch in her breathing that came when she thought of the small woman gone from Bramble.

She took in a deep cleansing breath and pulled her long ponytail up and into a bun at the base of her neck. She grabbed her heavy brown leather jacket and her hat and headed back to the station.

She’d check in with Cole and then be off to UCLA Medical Center to meet with Livie and hope that Polly was awake and could be questioned.

It was either serendipity or just damned bad luck that as soon as she turned the corner onto Bender, she had to slam on the brakes to avoid running into, or more correctly, over, Emily Cutter.

Emily’s first hint that she was in danger came from the screech of brakes and the gripping of the tires on the asphalt. As expected, it startled her and she realized what almost happened, a split second later she recognized the car and the woman hurriedly exiting it.

Aw, shit! That’s all I need! Her head was still pounding from her hangover and her nerves were still shot. She was just too tired and cranky and pissed at herself not to react badly to the whole thing.

"What in the hell did you think you were doing?" Emily screamed.

"What was I doing? What were you doing? You can’t just walk out in the middle of the damned street and not expect to run the risk of being road kill. What’s wrong with you?

"Me? I wasn’t the one who came barreling around the corner at a hundred miles an hour!"

"No, you were just the one walking across the middle of the street. I should haul your ass in for jaywalking, loitering and being a public safety hazard." Harley had no idea where all this venom she was spewing came from. All she knew was that the woman in front of her could have been killed and it would have been on her head. She couldn’t even begin to deal with that and as a result, she just started venting. It wasn’t at all what she wanted to say, or do. She wanted to grab the woman to her and hold her until the pounding of her heart slowed to normal again and she wanted to tell her to be careful and not to risk herself foolishly again, but all she could do was yell at her.

The minute Harley realized who she nearly hit, her throat closed and her eyes filled and she had to swallow hard to keep from vomiting, but by the time she made it to the front of her car, Emily was yelling at her. Then for some strange reason, she couldn’t help but yell back.

"Oh, I see it now. It finally shows its head, that small town emperor syndrome. Just because you’ve got the badge and the power, doesn’t mean you can do no wrong. I guess if you want to break the law around here all you have to do is be a Ravensdown, is that it? Not even in your cop car are you? No lights, no siren! I guess everyone here knows whom not to mess with. Talk about abusing your position. It’s as they say, isn’t it? Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Emily couldn’t even recognize herself. She knew it was her voice; she just had no recollection of thinking the words she was saying. It was as though someone else owned her mouth.

The writer was staring intently at the sheriff and watched in amazement as, for the briefest moment, the look on the taller woman’s face went from rage to a hurt so profound it caused Emily’s heart to stop. Then it was gone, and so was the look of anger. A look of absolute indifference replaced it, and Emily realized then, she must have said the one thing that made the woman she was so crazy about, dismiss her completely.

She wanted to take it back. She wanted to take back the whole stupid thing and rewind her life until she once again saw who drove the car that nearly ran her down. Emily wanted a do-over more this moment than any other time in her whole selfish, supercilious, superficial life and she knew she wasn’t going to get one. She was struggling to find the words to express this to Harley when the sheriff spoke.

"Try to cross at the corner or a crosswalk next time, Ms. Cutter. I’d hate to see anything else happen to you. Excuse me." Harley said, softly.

Then she was back in her car and carefully driving around the writer who still blocked the road.

Emily pivoted, following the car’s progress down the road and found herself weeping like a baby and feeling absolutely lost.

*********************************************************************************

Harley held herself in check until after her brief visit to the office and then, halfway to the highway she had to pull over. She was shaking so hard her vision was blurred.

That Emily could think that of her…could say that to her. Not that the woman had any knowledge of what the words would mean to her, but the way the writer said them. The poisonous way she flung them out at her.

I guess that makes it easier, in a way. I really don’t know her very well and this just proves it. I was probably just pretending she was the right one for me. I’ve just been lonely too long. Maybe I need to do something about that. Then she thought of her life before Emily Cutter fell into it. A small smile gained purchase as she realized going to L.A. for a few hours might allow her to regain a bit of her self. Might allow her to stop for a second and try to get over this obsession she had for the writer. She checked her address book on her cell phone and smiled when she saw she’d had the foresight to save the number in her phone.

She quickly hit the button to dial and her grin gained another layer as she heard it answered.

"Hi. I’m glad I caught you."

The voice on the other end expressed its pleasure at being caught.

"Say, if you aren’t busy, I’m coming into L.A. in a couple of hours. As a matter of fact I’m on my way in now, and I was wondering if you might be free for a few hours later. I was hoping I could take you to dinner, if it’s not too short a notice."

After only a second’s hesitation the woman answered that she would love it. Not that Harley had any doubts. Harley wasn’t quite as vain as this attitude would suggest, but the beautiful woman she was speaking to had made it abundantly clear that she was more than willing to see Harley anytime she was available.

"Great. Why don’t I give you a call as soon as I finish my business and we can set up a time and a place to meet?"

After her affirmative response, Harley replied.

"Good. Talk to you later, Gabrielle."

She continued to smile as she put the Ford in gear. Hmn, Gabrielle. I’ve always liked that name.

********************************************************************************

Emily stood there just watching Harley’s SUV drive away and crying for minutes, until she heard someone driving a car up behind her. This time she paid attention and moved quickly to the other side of the street before it reached her. She found herself in front of the diner and went in. Before she took a seat she rushed to the ladies room and, very glad the room could accommodate only one patron at a time, locked the door.

Over and over again the writer asked herself why she‘d said what she did to Harley. Why she was determined to ruin her own chances with the woman. She stood at the sink, running the water and staring at her reflection in the mirror. For just a minute Emily didn’t recognize the person staring back at her.

She took a deep breath and realized she’d better sort herself out before she alienated anyone else. After all, so far today I’ve disappointed my hostess and hurt my… What was Harley to her? I don’t know, but I want her to be something. Maybe I need a shrink. She was pretty sure in her tours around town she’d never seen the shingle for a psychiatrist. They probably don’t need one. Everyone around here is so happy and well adjusted; they have no need for a shrink. It’s only us out-of-towners who get psychotic, I guess.

Since she couldn’t hire someone to counsel her, she started to think about whom to talk to about this. It had to be someone who knew her and it had to be someone who knew these people. Then it came to her.

She washed her face in the cold water from the tap then searched for the paper towel dispenser. That’s when she really noticed the room for the first time. It was pink and pale green. There were pictures in gold frames on the wall of peaceful landscapes and waterfalls. It had a throw rug on the floor and real flowers in a bronze vase on the toilet tank. The soap was in a pink dispenser and hanging on the wall next to it, was a towel rack with several pink folded paper guest towels over it. The whole room was so dear it was almost nauseating, but she couldn’t help but smile at it anyway. It was just so Bramble!

She kept the smile on as she took a seat at a table and waited just a moment for the young waitress, who if memory served, could be none other than Ruthie Butler, Sadie Rimshaw’s friend, to serve her. The memory of the Bramble grapevine story Harley told her made her sad. She wanted to know this young woman and all the other people Harley and Twyla had told her about. She didn’t want to be unwelcome here. She wanted to be a part of this and now she may be banished from it.

She closed her eyes and willed the tears away as she smiled weakly and asked for coffee. Ruthie smiled back and returned with it in moments.

"Anything else I can get you today?" She was cute, this young woman, small with light brown eyes and hair, cut just to her chin.

Emily wanted to say she needed help but of course she didn’t. Instead she asked if she had any pain reliever’s for a headache.

Ruthie scooted off and came back to the table with a small bottle of acetaminophen.

"You know, we’re not supposed to do this. It could be considered dispensing medicine with out a license, but I don’t think you’ll turn us in and you look like you’re hurting."

Emily smiled back and once again was on the verge of crying. She doesn’t even know me and she wants to make it better. Jesus, where have I been living that the people I know don’t even make a pretense of caring for each other!

"Nope, I promise I won’t turn you in. Thanks very much for the pills. Maybe I could have an English muffin, if you would?"

Ruthie smiled and took back the bottle closing the lid. "Sure. Coming right up."

Emily sipped her coffee. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as Twyla’s but it was fresh and strong. She took another sip then opened her phone. She had only one person she could call for help. She only hoped her own abysmal behavior hadn’t blocked this avenue for her.

She waited for the phone to be answered and when on the third ring it was, she inhaled deeply and spoke. "Hey, Stephanie, it’s me, Emily. I need to talk to someone and I don’t have anywhere else to turn?"

"Emily are you in trouble? What’s wrong?" Stephanie sounded so agitated that Emily was quick to reassure her.

"I’m fine. I’m all right. Well, I’m not all right but I’m not in trouble I just did something and I think I shouldn’t have." She sighed heavily. "Wait, I know I shouldn’t have but I don’t really know what it was I did and I don’t know why I did it."

Stephanie took a few seconds to try to figure that out. "Okay. You’ve lost me. Maybe you should start at the beginning."

"Uhm, okay, but that could take a while. When will you be free today? I could call back then or are you booked all day?"

"Wha— Oh! I see. Emily I’m not at the office, I’m still in Bramble."

"Huh?"

"I decided to take another day or two and just had all my calls forwarded to my cell. Where are you? I’ll come get you and we’ll talk."

"Oh, no, I don’t want to take any of your time away from Savvy. We can talk some other ti— "

"Stop. She’s not here. She had to go back to UCLA. She has a pop quiz scheduled for this afternoon and it gives her too much pure fun to miss torturing her poor students. She’s driving back up tonight and we’ll drive back down tomorrow night."

"Well, okay, then. Listen. I just ordered something at the diner in town and as soon as I’ve eaten I’ll head on over to your place."

"I can come get you. Savvy took the Mercedes but there’s this hot little red Jag sitting in my driveway that I could always use…"

"NO! No you don’t! Not my baby." She whined. "If I can’t drive it, no one else can either."

Stephanie could almost see the pout come over Emily’s face as she spoke the words. She was going to suggest the sheriff’s taxi service when Emily cut in.

"I need to walk a bit to clear my head and put in to order what I want to say. Just don’t go anywhere and I promise to be there in less than an hour."

Steph agreed and after hanging up, her muffin arrived. She thanked Ruthie and dug in, determined to find a way out of the mess she’d blundered into…with Stephanie’s help, she hoped.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod." Stephanie covered her face with both hands and stood. She began to pace slowly back and forth from the couch to the window. It scared Emily to death.

After finishing half of her English muffin, Emily left the diner and made her way to her publisher’s house.

Only mildly aware of the riot of fall colors beginning to populate the woods around her, she just kept putting one foot in front of the other until she found herself outside the front door of number 16, Old Orchard Road.

She knew it was too soon. She hadn’t formulated how she was going to tell Steph what happened. She suddenly felt so clumsy. It wasn’t her body, even though the cast made her feel lopsided and a little helpless. She felt clumsy in her thoughts, her words. Emily just had no frame of reference for her feelings and had no idea of how to talk about them.

After a few minutes just standing there, lost in her own head, she’d leaned over and inadvertently hit the doorbell. She was out of time.

After seating Emily on the couch in front of the fire, giving her a cup of Earl Grey with sugar and milk, and telling her to put her feet up, Stephanie waited.

Figuring it was best to tell it all, Emily started from the moment she’d met Harley the first evening she arrived. Emily had just taken the last sip of her tea and finished relating what she’d said to the sheriff before she took off, when Stephanie gasped and shook her head. Next thing the writer knew, she was watching Stephanie pace, becoming more and more upset.

"What is it? Steph, what is it? What did I do?" Emily fidgeted in her seat.

With a final, "Oh, my God," Stephanie returned to sit across from her and finally looked up.

"Emily, girl, I’ve never known anyone who could shoot themselves in the foot with more precision than you. Of all the things you might have said to Harley that had to be the hollow point bullet right through her heart."

Stephanie’s face and tone were so serious that Emily was left reeling. Suddenly, it felt as though she’d been hit in the gut. She’d never in her life felt so empty…so bereft. The tears started before she could stop them.

Stephanie handed her a tissue and took a breath to start talking.

"Harley decided to go into law when she was only a kid. She’d seen a story on television about a woman with several children who’d been taken advantage of by most of the people she’d met all her life. Finally, at the age of thirty she was bankrupt, being evicted, and the courts were threatening to take her kids away until a lawyer heard about her problems and stepped in. The upshot of the story was that the attorney was able to show the court that this woman was a fit mother, get her rotten ex husband, another attorney, disbarred and arrested for his dirty dealing, forced the court to require he pay her alimony and child support, sued her landlord and once and for all, got justice for a young, good hearted, woman who had no idea she’d been deceived and manipulated by people who had more power than she.

It changed Harley. She was outraged to learn that there were people out there who would use their wealth or positions of power to dispossess, degrade, or deny other people their rights and happiness."

Stephanie took a deep breath and Emily watched as the pride for the publisher’s cousin and best friend shown all over Stephanie’s face.

"She never wavered from her goal after that day. She went ahead and made it her mission in life to fight for the people who didn’t have a chance against powerful people who used their positions to diminish or destroy those without."

Stephanie slowly walked to the glass door and looked outside as she tried to finish her thought. "I can’t tell you all of the story, mainly because I don’t know it. I’d have to say, by Harley’s own admission, I’m her best friend, and even I don’t know it all. As far as I know, no one does but Harley. Let me just tell you what I can." She paused to think of a way to say it. "Did you know that Harley graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale, Law School? Or that she was her class Valedictorian? Or that she attended all her years there on a full scholarship?"

Emily’s mouth fell open and all she could do was shake her head.

"Well, she did. Now, knowing all that, where do you think she should be practicing law?"

"Uh…uhm, anywhere she wants?"

"Right. She had her choice of a junior partnership in every one of the most prestigious firms in the country, but, as you know, she’s here. She’s right here in Bramble. But she didn’t come home to practice law directly from college. She spent a couple of years in the Navy as a JAG officer, and let me tell you, they were thrilled to have her." She smiled ruefully. "Or at least they were for a while. She really wanted to do something about the whole issue of inequality of opportunity for the women in the service and felt she had to be on the inside to fix that. She also really wanted to spend sometime seeing more of the world than her hometown.

When she was in Officer Training School, she met a woman. I don’t even know what her name was. The few times we spoke or she wrote, she just told me she’d wait to tell me about her when she could bring her home. As it turned out she never did. As I understand it, after OTS, the Navy sent Harley to San Diego and her friend was sent to Norfolk. I’m not sure what her friend did in the Navy, but whatever it was, it was on board a ship and almost immediately after they both arrived at their bases, this woman’s ship was deployed.

I know they kept in touch by e-mail and snail mail but they couldn’t arrange to see each other in person for several months. When they finally could manage it, it wasn’t for long enough to make a trip back to Bramble and I know each time they got together, it wasn’t for longer than a day or so every few months. Even so, they were, by all accounts, just crazy about each other and had made plans to try to get stationed as close to each other as possible as soon as the navy would allow it.

By the time Harley entered her second year of service, something happened. Once again, I don’t know what exactly, but it seems there was a change of command on the ship this woman was assigned to and the new person who became her boss had it in for her. From what I understand he did some very wrong and dangerous things that put her life and career in jeopardy. Harley wanted her friend to go to the Captain and have him disciplined, but her friend insisted that with the old "boy’s school" mentality the Navy had, that even if she won, she’d be labeled as a troublemaker and a non-team player, and her chances for advancement would be gone. Anyway, as a result of his misusing his authority he issued an order she felt she had to abide by and somehow, it got her killed."

"Oh, no." Emily gripped the tissue in her hand and shook her head.

Stephanie nodded. "Knowing what her friend had had to put up with while under his command, Harley immediately doubted the official report of the incident. I don’t know whether they blamed it on her friend or equipment failure, but Harley felt from the beginning it was criminal negligence and abuse of office at best or murder at worst, and her friend’s supervisor had used his position to cover it up. Harley didn’t buy it." Stephanie smirked. "I’m sure, as you know by now, that Harley has a very charismatic personality. She’s really larger than life sometimes and real hard to ignore, so when she wanted some help to check it out, she didn’t lack for volunteers.

It took a while but Harley, with the help of some friends, eventually found out that Harley’s friends CO was her own stepbrother and he had indeed been out to get rid of her. Here’s where I get kind of more lost than before. I guess somehow she got the story out and would have had him charged with murder, but the guy was connected really well and they managed to get her to drop it. She agreed, but made her own deal as to his disposition. He was thrown out of the navy; that much I know. Also, she somehow got to resign her commission with an honorable discharge and full benefits even though she had another four years to serve.

Stephanie ran her hands through her hair and stared outside the window. "She was never the same after that. She came home briefly and then went up north." The publisher finally turned and made her way back to the couch. "She was really…broken, for a while. The woman I grew up with was such an optimist. When bad stuff happened to her, she just rolled with it and never lost hope. The woman who came home was…she was just…cautious, more serious, less joyful." Stephanie leaned back on the couch. "Like I said, I don’t know all that happened, but whatever it was, I hated it…for her."

Emily leaned back too. She laid her head on the back of the couch and stared up at the ceiling, trying to take it all in. She was seeing again the look of hurt on the Sheriff’s face when the writer had spewed out those thoughtless, mean spirited words.

Harley was working on her third cup of cafeteria coffee. She grimaced at the sour taste. Who knew you could be a snob about something as commonplace as coffee. She knew she was spoiled though. Once she had her mother’s magic brew, everything else with the name coffee might as well come from a vending machine.

Livie, Polly’s daughter had just left. They’d waited in Polly’s room or in the intensive care waiting room for hours, but so far, the elderly woman had not regained consciousness.

Livie was as calm as she could be when Harley questioned her, but she just couldn’t think of a thing to help her. Her mother hadn’t mentioned anything or anyone that she was having trouble with. Polly did mention that many things at the house had been giving her some problems, but Livie put them down to the age of the property. She told the sheriff she was sure if her mother felt that someone had done something deliberately she would have told her, or reported it to the sheriff. The only thing Livie knew for sure was that Livie had been making some progress lately in her attempts to get her mother to put the place up for sale and move out to Florida to live with her and her husband.

Livie finally left to get a nap at her hotel with her last words to the sheriff being, "Maybe she’ll listen to me now and make the move. If she doesn’t I just might have to get nasty."

Livie had smiled and Harley knew it was just the words of a loving daughter who missed her mother and worried about her living, all alone, three thousand miles away. Harley wished her good luck and told her to give the sheriff a call when Polly finally came to.

Harley finally stopped torturing herself with the awful brew in the Styrofoam cup and decided she needed to get up and get her mind off the case. She made her way out to her SUV and thought about what to do with Gabrielle that night. It had been a long time since she’d been in L.A. for any reason other than business, which was just fine with her. She hated this city. At last, giving in to her own ignorance, she called the blonde and asked her to choose a place for dinner.

Less than an hour later Harley watched the sun set from the living room window of her father’s Brentwood apartment, wrapped in a bath sheet and sipping a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. She tried to decide what to wear for her date. She didn’t have many things at the apartment from which to choose. She’d only been in the place when either she was flying out or in from LAX or, on those few rare occasions she had to spend the night in L.A. on business.

As apartments go, it was very nice. Of course it had to be. Her father and Wilson conducted a great deal of business from this suite. That was the purpose of it. It was large, very well decorated and impressive as all hell to his clients and business associates. It had only four bedrooms and most of the time they were used as guest quarters for out of town business associates, but it took up both of the sixth and seventh floors of the building and was opulent in the extreme.

The entire place had been decorated in ultra modern furnishings and, even though she knew it wasn’t fitting for her father’s personality in any way, he appeared, to those who didn’t know him well, to fit into its chrome, glass and leather accoutrements as though born to it. The only guest room in the place that was off limits to strangers was Harley’s own. Her father made that decision when he realized that often his baby girl had to spend the night in this very dangerous town and insisted on a safe place for her to do that.

Nonetheless, she still had very few things of her own in residence and that was the problem just now. Gabrielle had insisted on doing the driving and was picking her up in less than hour for dinner. Harley wasn’t sure what appropriate dress for their destination was.

After taking her last sip of wine and watching the sun sink below the horizon, she turned from the window and switched on the pole lamp next to it. Then, drawing the curtains for privacy, she ascended the stairs to her room. Harley picked up the phone and asked information for the number of the restaurant. She called, asking about menu prices and getting a feel for the place. As she spoke she dropped her towel, and opened her closet. Deciding that her choices for something appropriate came down to a pantsuit or a cocktail dress, she chose the pantsuit.

She liked Gabrielle and wanted to get to know her better, but she didn’t want to give her the impression she was dressing to entice. The cocktail dress was a slip of gray silk with spaghetti straps. She felt sure that choice would say more to Gabrielle then Harley wanted it to. The navy blue, pinstripe pantsuit would better serve her purpose.

Just as Harley finished putting on her necklace and earrings and was just pulling her hair off her face with some tortoise shell combs, the phone buzzed. "Hello."

"Hi. It’s me." The voice was light and enthusiastic. It was one of the first things Harley noticed about Gabrielle. She always sounded like life was showing her a good time.

The sheriff let her own smile loose and it came out in her response. "Great. Come on up to the sixth floor. I’ll buzz you in."

By the time Harley closed her drawers and closet, turned off the lights and made it downstairs to the foyer, the front door bell was ringing. She opened it to a tall, very beautiful, brown-eyed, blonde. Gabrielle was smiling at her wearing a very short, very low cut, very tight, red silk dress.

Harley smiled as she brought her hand back to ask her guest inside for a drink, but she was thinking, Uh oh!

********************************************************************

Emily got herself together enough to remember her manners and called Twyla to let her know where Emily was and to tell her she would be staying with Stephanie for dinner.

Emily sat at the kitchen table absent mindedly tearing lettuce into bite size pieces and trying to think of the best way to apologize to Harley.

Stephanie had just finished talking on the phone to Savvy who was due to arrive at any moment. She was beating the mashed potatoes and thinking about her writer’s predicament. It was hard to decide what to do. Her loyalties would always be with Harley, but Emily was the best writer in her house and she really liked her, she always had, but at the same time, she was hurting for Harley. Stephanie knew that Emily didn’t mean to hurt her as she had, but she knew, too, that her cousin was much more sensitive than most people gave her credit for. Just because you’re a smart, strong and independent woman, didn’t mean you felt things less.

With Harley, it was truer than with most others. Her youth was riddled with painful moments. It seemed that each time she trusted her more tender feelings to someone, they used her vulnerability against her.

Stephanie was hoping Savvy could help. She and Harley had a very unusual relationship. From the moment they met it was as if they’d known each other forever. They just clicked and it sometimes seemed they spoke to each other in shorthand.

The first few times Stephanie witnessed it, it made her feel a little left out, but then she saw it for what it was. Her lover and her best friend just connected. When she realized how valuable that was, especially after Harley gave her some insight as to her lover’s feelings when they fought, she never again felt slighted. It was really a gift. Stephanie knew if she and Savvy argued it was Harley who could help her find a way to resolve it.

Could she do less for Harley? Stephanie wanted Harley to be happy. She wanted her to find that someone who would, for once, really appreciate and love her cousin for all the wonderful things she was. Was Emily the one? Should she try to help? Was it even any of her business? And, how did Harley feel about the writer?

Just then the door opened and the tall, slender form of her lover came in.

"Laissez le bon temps roule! I am here!" Savvy’s long legs took her from the kitchen door to the cook in no time at all and, before her partner had time to prepare, Stephanie was bent over the professor’s right arm and kissed intensely.

Emily couldn’t help the broad grin on her face. In all the years she’d known the pretty brunette she had never seen her this uninhibited. It was a joy to watch. They were so obviously in love with each other. When the kiss finally ended, Stephanie confirmed that.

"I love you, you ragin, Cajun, fool." She kissed her taller partner on the nose and smiled. "Now, you’d better let me up before I forget about the roast in the oven and take you off to the bedroom to teach you a lesson."

"Mais, non, mon petit chou. First you must feed me, for I have braved the cursed 101 freeway to make my way to you and am weary and weak of limb from my travails." She pouted and sighed, dropping her head in a display of bad overacting the likes of which Emily hadn’t seen since junior high. It was adorable.

Stephanie must have thought so too, as she tweaked her lover’s nose, and hugged her hard. "Well, since you fought so hard to make it to your true love, I guess the least I can do is feed you." She pushed her away gently. "Now, go change and pour yourself a drink, and Emily and I will put the food on the table."

The tall woman made her way to door of the kitchen as Stephanie added. "And sweetheart, don’t quit your day job and go for that part in the new Spielberg movie."

Savvy just laughed gently as she left.

Emily found herself once again, for the umpteenth time since she came to this accursed town, on the brink of tears. If she had to admit it out loud, she knew these tears were totally self-serving. They were there because of self-pity and nothing else. She was so envious of her publisher and Savvy and the way they loved each other. It felt like an animal was chewing at her heart.

Emily wanted what they had and when she thought about having it, she realized she wanted it with Harley. And only Harley. Always. Now that she faced that truth, she just had to find a way to convince the sheriff it was a good idea, too.

As Emily’s inherent stubbornness and determination came to the fore, her tears dried up and she started to smile for real for the first time since she walked through Steph’s door. Whatever it takes, Harley. I’ll either wear you down or wear you out, but I’ll take you any way I can get you. You don’t know it yet, but you’re mine!

Stephanie sat the sliced roast on the table and was about to ask Emily if she wanted a drink, when she noticed the look on the writer’s face. She’d seen that look before and it troubled her a little. It was the look the writer always got when that stubborn streak of hers kicked in. That wasn’t always a bad thing, but she wasn’t sure what it meant in terms of her cousin. What she did know was that whatever the small blonde had on her mind, there was no deterring her.

Emily only had two speeds. Full speed ahead and dead stop. She wasn’t sure at all which one to root for. Stephanie hoped for once, her impetuous friend and client had thought this one through. If she didn’t, Stephanie knew it wouldn’t matter that Emily brought in more business than any other writer in her house. She’d cut her loose in a minute if she hurt Harley.

Dinner turned out better than Harley expected. She was a little leery of what Gabrielle had on her mind after showing up in that touch-me, feel-me, red silk dress, but now, dinner was over and they were sipping coffee and talking like old friends. It felt good.

She’d found the woman more interesting than she expected. It was a little hard to judge exactly how much she might have in common with an underwear model, but so far, they’d had no rough patches in their conversational road and the woman seemed to hold her own in most every subject.

Harley was really beginning to relax and enjoy Gabrielle’s company when the waiter came by to drop off the check. She halfway anticipated having to argue over who would pay, but her date just sat there and watched as Harley laid her credit card on the tray.

"Thank you for dinner, Harley; I’ve really enjoyed your company."

"It was fun. I’m glad you were free, and thank you, by the way for choosing this place. The food was very good." The atmosphere was very nice as well, elegant, quiet and there was very little noisy chatter from tables close by. She smiled at her tablemate as well as the waiter when he came by to process her payment.

"I’m glad you enjoyed it." Her chestnut eyes were warm and glowed in the candlelight.

Harley very clearly received the invitation from those eyes for a more intimate evening, but, that just wasn’t what she was looking for. It never was, and in addition, she realized that this woman really had shown her a very good time tonight. She wanted to know her better. She had some very vivid memories of Valerie and what had happened when she was persuaded to move into a physical relationship too soon. Reluctantly, she decided to bring the evening to a close.

The waiter returned and thanked them for their patronage. Harley pocketed her card. "I did, very much, but now I think I’m going to have to end our evening. I have to leave early in the morning for home and get some work done." She let her face reflect her genuine gratitude and her regret and then, quickly, before she could talk herself out of it, she continued. "Uhm, perhaps I could talk you into coming to see me in my hometown in the near future."

Gabrielle leaned forward and smiled brightly. "I’d love to. Bramble sounds like a wonderful place. I so enjoyed your stories about the people and town, and I’d like to meet your family." She took the last sip of her water as she started to rise. Harley rose with her and they headed toward the exit. "When would like to arrange it? I’ll make sure to clear my schedule for you."

Harley was touched that Gabrielle would go to that kind of trouble for her, but really hadn’t bargained on making concrete plans just now. Still, Harley had asked her and didn’t want Gabrielle to think she was just putting her off.

As they made their way to the car, Harley decided to just go for it. "Well, my youngest brother’s birthday is this weekend. We always have a party for any of the family birthdays. My folks make a point of throwing themed parties. I think it’s a kind of rebellion for my mother. She was raised in Boston with a very rigid, conservative upbringing and since she left home she’s made it a point to cut loose. Anyway, the party is Saturday and this year’s theme is the Wild West." She grinned and cocked her head. "I know it might sound silly, but we all have a really good time laughing at each others costumes and mom makes some of the best Tex/Mex food in the state." She stopped before getting into Gabrielle’s car and looked at her over the roof. "I guarantee you’ll have fun."

Gabrielle laughed. "It sure sounds like it. I wouldn’t miss it."

Harley just nodded and got in. As she was buckling her seat belt a vivid image of Emily laughing caught her off guard and it shook her. She remained mostly silent all the way to her father’s apartment, hoping she’d done the right thing by inviting Gabrielle to Bramble, but feeling in her heart that she probably hadn’t.

*********************************************************************************

Dinner was over at Stephanie’s house, and though the meal had been good, it wasn’t settling in Emily’s stomach too well.

When, midway through the meal, Emily had bitten the bullet and asked Stephanie for help in trying to make it up to Harley, she realized that Savvy was completely in the dark. Emily allowed Steph to fill Savvy in on all that had been discussed between them before the professor came home. After Stehanie related the problem Emily was surprised when Steph deferred immediately to Savvy’s judgment of her cousins reaction and how best to proceed. From all Steph said, she and Harley were the best of friends, and it seemed very odd indeed that Stephanie should ask for her lover’s advice about the publisher’s cousin. Though surprised, Emily didn’t question it. If Stephanie thought Savvy could help, that was good enough for her.

Hearing the words Savvy had to say wasn’t easy, though. The gentle, southern accent was charming, but the truths were hard.

"Emily, Emily, Emily. What were you thinking, girl? Or maybe it wasn’t Emily do’in the talken, hmn? Maybe it was that well known celebrity author, Ms. Shasta Cutter out there cutting some small town girl down to size, you tink?"

Emily didn’t answer. She couldn’t. In many ways what Savvy said made a lot of sense. She was just feeling fidgety, ornery and hung over this morning and when it happened, instead of pushing it down and being civil, she threw a tantrum.

"What you need to do, Ms. Emily, is be honest with her. Just be yourself with her. She’ll see through anything else and it’ll hurt her. She doesn’t deserve that. She needs to see that you’re sincere and you’re trying to make amends."

Savvy watched as the blonde digested that and for a brief moment saw clearly what Emily’s problem with that advice was.

Savatheda deliberately gentled her voice. "Do you know who you are, Emily?" Savvy reached across the table and put her hand over the writer’s where it clutched her water glass.

Emily once again remained quiet. Stephanie noticed how unusual that was for the writer but didn’t say anything to her. "Well, let’s clean up here and head to the living room. Emily you just go sit down and I’ll make us some coffee."

Emily did as she was told and sat numbly, running over the words Savvy said to her; the same words she’d asked herself everyday since coming to Bramble, through her mind. Who are you? What are you? What do you stand for? What makes you feel and react? What makes you cry? What makes you glad? What do you want? Who do you want? Now that one, she was certain she could answer. She really did want Harley and she wanted her for a long time. No quick fling with this one. She knew she’d like to have, maybe even love to have, all of her, but she knew too, she’d settle for what she could get. The writer knew Harley was that rare a commodity that even having a little of her, was worth a lot.

Now she just had to get up her nerve and apologize…and then she had to learn somehow to behave herself. That would be the tough one, she was sure.

Determining that what she had to do was never going to get easier and that in addition, she was missing Harley a lot, she picked up the phone and dialed the Sheriff’s office.

"Sheriff’s office."

"Hi, Cole. It’s Emily, may I talk to Harley, please."

She heard the squeak from his chair as he leaned back. "No can do, Emily. Harley’s still down in L.A, and won’t be back in town till tomorrow. Any thing I can do for you?"

Emily bit her upper lip and felt the misery of not only missing the sheriff, but of missing out on being with her to investigate the case. She remembered the sheriff telling her father at dinner the other night that she felt sure the attack on Polly Pechter was connected to the one on Emily and she felt bad all over again when she realized the woman hadn’t included her in her trip south. Especially since she felt if this morning had gone better, she might now be in L.A. with Harley. Spending the night!

Coming out of her thoughts, she said. "Uhm, no that’s okay. Nothing that can’t wait. Thanks, anyway."

She was about to say her goodnights when Cole interrupted. "Hey, Emily how about you coming over to our house tomorrow night for that dinner I promised you? Sally and I would really like to have you over."

She just shook her head and smiled. There it was again. That damned Bramble charm. "I’d love to Cole. What time is good for you? What can I bring?"

"Don’t bring a thing but yourself and I’ll pick you up around six, you just let me know where you’re going to be. Call me at the station and let me know and you’ll get door to door service."

She could tell just by his tone of voice that he was smiling and she had to smile back. "It’s a date. Good night Cole."

"Night, Emily."

She’d only just replaced the phone on the charger when Savvy and Stephanie walked into the living room.

As Stephanie set her cup of coffee in front her, Savvy asked. "So, did you two work it out?"

The tall black woman leaned back on the love seat and put her feet up under her as she made room for her lover to lean back into her.

"No, she’s not there. Evidently she went down to L.A. and is spending the night. Cole says she’s due back tomorrow." She took a sip from her mug. "Maybe that’s a good thing. It’ll give us both a little time to get past this mornings nastiness and maybe give me time to try to find the words to say."

As she glanced up from her cup, she noticed the small furrow on Stephanie’s brow and the exchange of questioning looks she shared with her lover.

"What?"

Steph shook her head. "I don’t know really. It’s just odd, that’s all. I know for a fact that Harley loathes Los Angeles and she avoids it as much as she can. The only time she’s ever there is for business, then she makes it a point to get out of town as fast as possible. I just wonder what could have been so important as to make her spend the night." She leaned back against her partner and held her cup in both hands as she took a sip. "It’s just not like her. I’ve known her to have to attend family business parties down there and leave to drive home at three in the morning."

Emily didn’t know enough about the woman to add any comments so she just sat there sipping her coffee and stewing over the abnormality, trying to convince herself that the woman was only there for the sake of the investigation. But her stomach, that had only just stopped feeling pinched from their conversation at dinner, started to seize up again and she was having difficulty believing it.

Later, after Steph gave her a ride back to the Ravensdown home she immediately went in and apologized, as sincerely as she knew how, to Twyla for her behavior last night and her state of being this morning.

Of course, the gracious woman told her it was nothing and not to worry about it, and after a hug good night, dropped her off at her room.

It took until after one that morning before she finally drifted to sleep.

*****************************************************************************

Emily spent the early part of Tuesday with Twyla running errands and the late afternoon writing. Her muse was sitting on her lap, it seemed, and she had a devil of a time finding a place to stop in time to get ready for dinner with Cole and his family.

As soon as he picked her up, he began to regale her with animal stories. By the time they arrived, she was trying hard to keep the names of all the animals she was going to meet straight. Every once in a while she’d hear a brief account of his sons or Sally in conjunction with the critters and at least there, she had a face to go with the names.

Cole and Sally’s home could have been a cover for a farming magazine, including the wide front porch and the red barn. There was an herb garden growing on the side of the house that extended to what she found out later was the steps to the kitchen door.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, she heard the yips and yowls of several animals, as well as the clattering of lots of paws and claws. As the sounds got closer to the door she began to back up. She didn’t have anything against animals, she just wasn’t used to having this many of them converge on her en masse.

In seconds a kneeling, smiling, Cole was surrounded by furred things. The mass was moving and wriggling too fast for her to see them all, but she guessed it contained six or seven cats of various colors and ages, some with short hair and some long and one she recognized as a pure bred Abyssinian. They mewed and meowed and rubbed up against him competing to see who would be allowed on his lap or they twined endlessly around his legs.

The dogs were easier to see for the most part. She noted at least three mixed breed mutts showing traces of breeds such as Lab, Collie and Shepherd, a Scottie terrier, two Beagles and a tiny, mostly hairless mixed something that might have rat as an ancestor. She smiled at that one. As small as it was, it had a lot of tenacity and managed to scoot in under the rest of them until it stood on its little back legs with both paws on Cole’s thigh.

While still smiling at the fur ball trying to drown the deputy in attention, the sound of large paws making their way down the hall got everyone’s attention. The dogs and cats started to wander off and Cole stood as a dark gray mastiff rounded the corner, stood still and howled.

Then there was silence as if waiting for something. The waiting ended when the prettiest kitten Emily had ever seen walked delicately through the legs of the giant dog and turned just enough to look up at him. The mastiff bent his head and touched noses with her for a moment then she elegantly made her way to the bottom step of the staircase where she ascended, turned and sat. Her head was up, her front paws held her up regally, and her magnificent striped tail was brought around her body in a move so beautiful Busby Berkeley might have choreographed it.

Emily was aware of the big dog now sitting at Cole’s feet while he patted him on the head and spoke to him, but her attention was on the lovely cat just opposite her.

They stared at each other and for the first time in her life, Emily found herself wanting to be a pet owner. The longer she looked the more she realized this wasn’t a kitten. She was just small. Petite would be more appropriate. Her fur was longish and fluffy. It looked incredibly soft and delicate, with stripes in varying shades of gray, beige, white and black. Her face and legs seemed sculpted and fine boned. She had pure white fur from just under her chin in a diamond shape down her chest and her paws were white as well. Her nose was black and her stripes seemed to highlight her vivid green eyes as though a make up artist had done them. Emily was enchanted.

The very ladylike feline cocked her head to one side and opened her mouth. The tiniest sound came out and the mastiff left Cole instantly to go to her. They touched noses once again and then the large dog lay down on the floor just beneath her. She stood and stretched closing her eyes and flexing from nose to fluffy tail, then proceeded to walk across the dog’s back, and across the foyer to Emily’s feet, placing each foot as though it were glass.

Without even thinking, Emily went to her knees and waited while the elegant little feline stepped up into her lap and rubbed her face against the writer’s cheek.

It was a salient moment. Emily knew it and didn’t understand it, but felt it nonetheless. She began to pet the cat, now curled on her lap and smiled hard at the deep purr she heard. Then she looked up and saw the astonished faces of Cole, his wife Sally and their sons.

"What?" She asked, but in her heart she knew.

Emily washed her hands and couldn’t help but smile at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. She’d learned a lot about cats and dogs she never knew before. She found that she really had very little knowledge about breeds and that her ideas about the pets she’d seen engulfing Cole had been, in some cases, completely wrong.

All during dinner Sally had been the storyteller and the tall blonde’s theme for the evening were the pet’s names and how they were acquired. Emily’s cheeks hurt from all the laughter as she learned the origins of the beasties and the clever way the family found to name them.

The two beagles; she’d at least gotten a few of the breeds right; a brother and sister were Legal and Bailey. It took her a few seconds to get that one, but she had to laugh when she did. Legal Beagle and Beagle Bailey. How cute! The Scottie terrier was named Doohan, after the actor who played Scotty on Star Trek. The cats had all been given one-syllable common names, Sally said, because they had so many of them at one time, it was just simpler. So they had Joe, Frank, Ted, Bess, Sue, John, Tim and Ann. Well, all except her cat. That wasn’t precisely accurate. It wasn’t really her cat, but ever since the little feline sat on her lap and purred, she began to think of her that way.

And that was a major complication, as Sally related the story.

"What about the mastiff?" Emily asked Sally.

"Technically the breed is Great Dane. Mastiff is an archaic term that could signify a number of breeds including Bull Mastiff which looks more like a bulldog." Cole interjected.

Emily was surprised until she thought it over. The only dogs she was really familiar with were the "purse" dogs or show dogs her friends had. She could tell you anything you wanted to know about Pomeranians, Pekinese, Poodles or Lhasa Apso’s but the only large dogs she knew about were the guard dogs at her friend’s estates and thankfully, she’d only seen those from a distance. She didn’t even know Great Dane’s could be such a beautiful shade of gunmetal gray.

"And he’s Harley’s dog, not ours." Sally continued.

"Then why is he living here?"

"Ah, now therein lies a tale." Sally sat down her fork and began her story. "Harley fell in love with him as soon as she saw him. He was the runt of the litter out of Champion Serenity and Prince Charlie. The only blue in the litter, but Sam and Maryjane Jacoby were known for their Brindle’s and wasn’t sure they could sell him as a blue and thought he might change color or mottle by adulthood, so when Harley asked for him, they let her have Prince Potemkin for half price."

Emily was confused by the time Cole interrupted to say, "They messed up, that’s one of the finest true blues I’ve ever seen.

After they explained they were talking about coat colors and types within breeds, she felt better. Then the story got very interesting.

"Around five months ago, Harley had to go out of town for a couple of weeks and left Prince Potemkin with us. The day after she left, Sadie Rimshaw brought us in a kitten she’d found by the side of the road. She was so little and so sick we felt for sure we’d lose her. From the moment that little lady was brought home from the clinic, Prince wouldn’t leave her side." She took a sip of her water and brushed her dark blonde bangs away from her hazel eyes.

"It was touch and go there for a few days. She must have been abandoned because she was too young to have left her mother and we had to bottle-feed her to get her through. Anyway, by the time she was up and doing fine, those two critters had bonded so thoroughly you couldn’t separate them with a spatula. When Harley got back, Prince refused to go with her. She tried to take the kitten with her too, but the cat treated her just like the rest of us, and that little one wouldn’t have anything to do with her. Until today, no one had ever been able to get close to her but Prince."

Emily shook her head. "I don’t think I understand what you’re saying."

"Simply this. Since the Empress got back on her feet, she won’t let anyone touch her. By the same token she has never initiated contact with anyone else. And I do mean anyone, we’ve tried every member of the family, young and old as well as a number of the townsfolk and she just scoots out of the way or hisses at them when they approach her. Even Cole here had no luck, and I’ve never seen an animal that didn’t like him. That’s kind of how she got her name. Tiffany, J.D. and Christi’s second daughter, was just smitten with the little thing and when she couldn’t coax the cat into letting Tiffany pet her she said, "Well, who do you think you are anyway, Catherine the Great?" and the name seemed to fit. So now she’s the Empress, Catherine the Great and YOU are the only one she’s ever let touch her."

For some reason that made Emily feel as good as the day her first book hit the top ten list. She couldn’t help from preening a little inside. Then she managed to listen to the rest of Sally’s story.

"It’s been kind of tough of on Harley though. She and Prince just adore each other and he misses her sometimes so much he just whines and howls for hours. When she does drop by to see him they are all over each other and it’s heartrending to see him watch her get in her car and leave. He just makes a loop from the driveway to the Empress and back again, likes he’s torn between staying or leaving. He doesn’t want Harley to leave without him, but he won’t leave the Empress and the Empress refuses to leave with Harley. We’ve even put the Empress in a carrier and had Harley take them all back to her place, but the minute the Empress gets a chance; she’s out of there and ends up back here, and so does Prince. We’re all at a loss to figure out how to fix this. Harley and Prince want to be together but for some reason, he won’t leave the Empress and she won’t stay at Harley’s."

She dried her hands and went to the living room where Sally was waiting with coffee. As she sat on the couch in the well-used room, Sally told her that Cole was putting all the kids to bed…animals first and then the boys.

Emily had just taken her first sip of coffee when she felt delicate paws on her shoulder and then her lap was once again full of soft fur, purring like a well oiled motor and a pretty feline face was rubbing her cheek.

She smiled and petted the regal little cat and smiled again as Sally laughed.

"Well, Emily I don’t know what you have, but it’s definitely what she’s been waiting for."

Just then Prince Potemkin wandered in, briefly laid his handsome head on her thigh and touched his nose to the cats then lay down at her feet.

Emily laughed. "I don’t know either, but it feels great. She’s so soft and pretty." She looked at the cat that seemed fixated on her. "Yes, you are. You’re such a pretty lady." A very lady like meow was her answer and then a tiny paw touched her cheek. Emily’s smile got so large she felt her cheeks aching, and then once again, the cat rubbed itself up against her chest, turned in a circle and then lay down and fell asleep but the purring didn’t stop.

Cole came in just as the Empress settled down, smiled and shook his head.

"Looks like you’ve got yourself a cat there, Emily."

"Yeah," she said softly, "It sure looks that way."

The front door swung open and even before she could see who it was, the voice gave it away. "Yo, permission to come aboard."

At once, Prince got to his feet, yipped and scrambled to his mistress who bent to tussle with him affectionately.

"Hey, Harley, you missed dinner but can I get you some coffee?" Sally said, as she rose to pour her a cup.

"Sure." She entered the room fully with Prince at her heels, wagging his tail. She started to remove her jacket before she saw the blonde sitting on the couch. If she’d seen her before she answered, she might have declined, but now she was stuck.

She pulled herself together and broke free of the green-eyed gaze she’d locked into enough to remember her manners. "Hi, Emily."

"Hi, Harley." Emily said, quietly.

Then there was a sullen silence that Cole had never felt between these two people. It was weird since the moment he’d seen them together they had treated each other so…he wasn’t sure of the word. They just seemed to be familiar with each other right away and happy about it. There had been other silences, awkward at times, but not miserable. He wanted this strange silence to end but not being a people person, he wasn’t sure how to go about it and then he got an idea.

"Hey Harley, look who the Empress adopted."

It wasn’t until that moment that the sheriff took note of the feline sleeping on the writer’s lap. Then her eyes got huge. Almost accusingly she asked, "How did that happen?"

Emily noticed the tone but let it go. It wasn’t her fault that the cat liked her but since she still owed Harley one, well, maybe several for her appalling behavior the other morning she kept her thoughts to herself and just shrugged.

Cole answered for her. "It was the damndest thing you ever saw. We just came in the door this evening and I was greeting the beasts when all of a sudden, in comes Potemkin and Catherine the Great and next thing you know, the Empress just walks over to Emily here, crawls up on her lap and nuzzles her cheek. Then, as though she’d done it a thousand times, she just curls up on her lap and goes to sleep."

"Uhm, uh. Wow." The myriad implications of that hadn’t escaped Harley’s mind though she was doubtful Emily had a grasp on it.

She was wrong. Emily had put the pieces together, although it took her until the moment Harley walked in to see the big picture, she suddenly realized what a position it put her in. As long as she had the Empress, she had Prince Potemkin, too. There was a lot to be said for extortion. She was careful not to let her interior smile show on her face. Besides, timing is everything.

Sally came to Harley’s rescue by asking about Polly’s condition and after a brief moment to shake herself free of the threat she felt at Emily’s new pet(s) she answered with a brief rundown of all that she hadn’t accomplished in L.A. It was only for the ladies benefit, as she and Cole had gone over it earlier at the station.

"That’s a shame about Polly; still I guess no news is good news just now, considering her age and all. Well, if you couldn’t talk to her and Livie couldn’t help, what kept you down there over night? I know how you hate that place." Sally smiled at her. She’d always thought the woman’s aversion to the city of Angels was silly. Well, she did until she moved to Bramble.

"Uhm," Suddenly, Harley was embarrassed and more. Suddenly to have to say out loud in front of Emily that she had a date was scary. She didn’t have a choice though. She knew Sally would keep at it till she answered. She’d always been that way since they shared a dorm room at college. Sally was one of the handful of female friends she had who could get her to talk. Sometimes, like now, she just hated that. "I, ah, I had a date." She made sure to look directly at Sally and tried very hard not to look at the small blonde writer on the couch, but her eyes wouldn’t listen to her head and for just a second, she saw the look of hurt in spill over in Emily’s green eyes. She knew it wasn’t logical. She and the blonde had no real relationship and they left each other just yesterday on very bad terms, but that didn’t stop her from feeling a wash of guilt over seeing the writer’s pain.

Clearly, this surprised both Cole and Sally, but Sally made a valiant effort not to let it show.

"So, how was it? Was it anyone we know?"

Harley looked directly away from Emily and tried to reply as matter of factly as possible.

"It was nice. Uhm, no, you’ve never met her."

"Oh."

Suddenly there was that silence again. Cole decided to change the subject. "Anything come up at the station after I left for dinner?"

Harley was grateful for the subject change. Her feelings were confusing her and she hated being confused. "Yeah. Gunny called and confirmed what we thought. All the prints at Stephanie’s place were Rita’s, Emily’s, Mom’s, Steph’s, Savvy’s or mine." She blew out a breath. "Nothing new there. The knife was common enough to have come from any number of sporting goods or department stores so that’s a dead end. I finally got a hold of Ches and he told me Polly had called him to repair the fence. The thing he did think was odd was that she asked him to pick up some bolt locks for her front and back doors and put those in as well."

By the expression on the faces of both Sally and Cole, she figured this was something out of the ordinary. Not where I live it isn’t. I know women who have bolt locks on their bedroom doors. Emily had to ask. "So, she was afraid of something then?"

"That seems likely." Harley answered. "I talked to Paris, too. She said Valerie left early. She was gone sometime after dark Saturday night. Paris also said she thought that she saw her car in Bramble on Thursday."

"I take it that’s unusual, as well?" Emily asked.

"Yeah." Harley nodded. "She always gets here on Friday evening and takes off for L.A. late Sunday evening. Paris said when they met with her Saturday afternoon to go over plans for the renovation budget, she was very distracted and unusually tractable." She laughed. "She said she and Dani used it to their advantage and got her to sign off on the new equipment purchases that included buying them through her company at a sixty percent discount. Said Valerie didn’t even bat an eye, then she took off without a word to anyone just after dinner."

"Sounds like she was running from something, doesn’t it?" Emily said.

"Yeah, it does. Speaking of Valerie, any word from Naomi on her private parties?"

Suddenly it was as if they were the only two people in the room. It was like Sally and Cole had disappeared and the sheriff and the writer were working the case alone. If Cole minded being usurped as a fellow officer of the law or Sally minded being ignored as the hostess, neither showed it. As a matter of fact, they were both fascinated by the dynamic they were watching between the two women.

"Hell! I forgot to call him." She looked at her watch. "I’ve got his number on my cell, but I left it at your folk’s house." She looked at Cole and was about to ask him to take her there when Cole beat her to it.

"Well, since I’m off for the night, I’m sure Harley wouldn’t mind driving you home." He got up and made it clear that was the end of the discussion. Sally just grinned. She’d seen the brief look of fear as it flashed across the face of both the women and silently applauded her sometimes-clueless husband. Whatever had happened to make these too obviously smitten women keep each other at a distance, Sally only hoped would be talked out and over by the time they got there.

Harley had been out maneuvered and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She was stuck with the writer at least as long as it took her to drive across town to the Ravensdown house.

Emily realized she too had no choice. As much as she wanted to have a few minutes to apologize to the Sheriff, she still felt nervous about it. Especially in light of the fact that Harley went out on a date while she was gone. Emily was half glad to have this chance to be alone with her, and the other half was scared that maybe she really had blown her chance with the tall beauty once and for all.

Emily started to get up when she realized she still had the Empress on her lap. She smiled and stroked the soft fur. "I’m sorry, your majesty. I have to be going now." She really was sorry. She didn’t want to leave the little cat behind. The blonde carefully moved the cat from her lap and tried to lay her on the couch, but the cat woke up and stood, stretching luxuriously. Emily just rubbed her head and scratched her lightly under her chin as she turned to her host and hostess.

"Thanks for inviting me over. Dinner was great and I loved the animal stories." She started to walk slowly toward the door with Sally. "If you don’t mind, I’d love to borrow some of them for my book. I promise to give you credit."

Sally just laughed and wrapped her arm around her. "No credit is necessary. Use what you like and I had a great time having you."

She said good night to Cole and stepped outside following Harley. It wasn’t until she got to the car door that she realized there was a soft, furry body twining itself around her ankles. A tiny meow and an upturned face met her as she looked down.

"Hey, there. What are you doing out here? I have to go now."

Harley tried hard not to let the insipid cuteness of the scene affect her, but wasn’t having much luck. Particularly as Prince Potemkin was clearly very agitated by the small cat’s behavior.

Emily and Cole both tried to get the cat to go in the house and twice she slipped out between their feet before he could manage to close the screen door. The fifth attempt to leave was stopped by a very small cat, climbing five feet up the screen door and yowling nonstop. That was all Emily could take and she ran back to the house to sooth her new friend.

Finally Cole gave them the news that Harley had been afraid of all evening.

"Emily, it looks like you’ve adopted yourself a cat. You might as well take her with you, because she’s not going to be any kind of happy here without you."

Emily just looked at him, wide eyed.

"Of course that means, you’ll have to take Prince, too, but that just can’t be helped."

"Buh, but wait. I can’t have a cat. I mean, I don’t live here and I’m staying with Josh and Twyla. I can’t just bring a cat and dog back to their house and besides, Prince is Harley’s dog. I can’t take him away from her."

He just looked at her like she’d spit up a fur-ball. "Why not?"

"Uh...wha, buh.." Emily sputtered.

Sally decided she needed to interject some rationality into the conversation, since it was obvious her critter-loving husband wasn’t seeing the problem here.

"Emily, dear. It really is the best solution. Empress obviously wants to be with you and she’d be most unhappy here if we made her stay. Prince won’t leave her so he’ll have to go with you, but this just may be the answer we’ve been looking for. It could be that once Prince realizes that the Empress has an owner to take care of her, he’ll be able to stop being her champion and things can go back to normal for him and Harley."

Emily shook her head. "But what about Josh and Twyla? I can’t just.."

"Yes, you can." Harley interjected evenly. Emily turned to face her and for the first time all evening saw a real smile and a softening of the lines of her face when the sheriff looked at her. "The folks wont’ mind, they love pets. The only reason they don’t have one now is that Bear, Dad’s Irish Setter, died only three months ago and he’s still grieving his loss. They’ll be fine with it."

Emily thought it over for a few seconds. "All right, but what about Stephanie?"

Harley furrowed her brow. "What about her?"

"Well, since she left last night for L.A. I was planning on moving back there tomorrow. Do you think she’ll mind if I bring a dog and cat with me? I mean, I can’t just presume she’ll be okay with it and I can’t stay at your parent’s house any longer. I’ve imposed on them enough."

Harley had several problems with Emily’s last statement. The first was that she didn’t’ want Prince Potemkin to live at Stephanie’s. Steph had no back fencing and even though she was training Prince as she had the time, she couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t take off after some wildlife and get hit by a car. The second was, she agreed, that it was kind of presumptuous to assume that her cousin and her lover wouldn’t have a problem with finding the lingering residue of cat hair in their get away house. The third and most important problem was that she was very uncomfortable with having Emily staying at Steph’s house by herself. It had already been broken into once. She still didn’t know what the motivation for the attack on Emily was and it bothered her a great deal to think of the woman living in that house alone, again.

A solution to her dilemma came to her mind instantly, but she tried very hard to find a way around that. It took her brilliant mind two seconds to realize that it really was the best solution and she should just get over herself if it made her uncomfortable.

"I have a solution. Just get in the car with the Empress. I’ll get her food and litter box from Cole and put Prince in the back seat." Before Emily had a chance to ask about it, Harley took her elbow and led her to the SUV, opened the door and sat her down. She belted her in as the blonde was still holding the cat, and closed the door before Emily could say another word.

Emily just sat there with her mouth slightly open and a few minutes later, the doors to her left opened and closed. Prince was now in the backseat with a large bag next to him and Harley was buckling herself in.

The sheriff was glad for the activity required to start the car and gladder still that the writer hadn’t asked her any questions. Yet. Cole seemed to know right away what her solution to the problem was and though he said nothing, he couldn’t stop the knowing smile. Harley just grunted at him and told him to get the stuff for the cat and hurry it up. Sally put her arm around her and said, "It’s all for the best. You’ll see."

Harley still needed a minute or two to formulate the words she needed to convince the blonde that her idea was ‘for the best’ as Sally said, so she hit the button and turned on the radio hoping for a few seconds distraction.

It worked, but for a reason Harley could not have known. Emily had been watching the set jaw and look of distress on the other woman’s face. She was again reminded of the terrible way she’d treated her in the street yesterday and realized now was the time to admit her fault. As soon as the radio came on, she heard Sting singing. The words of the song hit her in the conscience and reminded her of what she needed to say to the woman sitting next to her.

Emily leaned forward and turned the music down low. Then she sat and licked her lips, watching the darkness out of the windshield. She kept stroking the sleeping cat as she began.

"Harley, I owe you an apology and I hope you can accept it. Sunday morning when we, uhm, ran into each other." She had to smile a bit as the words came to her. "I, well, I behaved like a brat. I was hung over, embarrassed to have been caught jaywalking, especially by my friend the sheriff, disappointed in myself for the stupid things I’d done the night before and I hadn’t had my coffee yet." She turned her head to see if Harley was cutting her any slack. When she saw the expression on the sheriff’s face hadn’t changed, she smiled a little sadly and went on. Her tone was low and rang with an aching sadness, but also with a good deal of real humility.

"None of that in any way excuses my behavior or diminishes the hurtful things I said to you. I can only tell you that I didn’t mean a single one of them and I am deeply, deeply, sorry if I hurt your feelings. That is, sincerely, the last thing I ever want to do."

Harley learned early that you couldn’t be an attorney without getting a feel for when someone is telling you a lie or the truth, and you can’t get to be a good attorney without knowing the truth when you heard it. Harley was a very good attorney. As such, she knew that everything Emily just said was honest and heartfelt…which pissed her off. It was going to make the whole situation they were about to find themselves in very difficult if they were to go back to, well…what they were before. Before Emily hurt her feelings, before they were both on the verge of being more.

Harley wanted to just tell Emily to forget it and that she forgave her and still be able to keep her distance emotionally, but now, that just wasn’t going to happen. Damn.

Harley finally cleared her throat and decided she had to say something and part of that was to admit her own part of the blame for their argument. "You weren’t the only the only one behaving badly. I came off as some kind of lunatic, yelling at you like that. Of course, I forgive you, if you’ll forgive me? I am sorry I so badly over reacted. I just got so scared when I saw what almos…" Well, damn, Harley. You couldn’t quit while you were ahead? Did you have to just drop that out there, too? She almost tried to clean it up with some comment about how bad it would look if the sheriff ran down a pedestrian, but she decided it was out there already and Emily was too smart not to see it for the attempt at diversion it would be. She just shut up.

Emily could only murmur, "Of course I forgive you, although there is really no need. You were just reacting the way anyone would under the circumstances." But she knew it wasn’t true. She heard what Harley almost said and what that said about the woman’s feelings for her, but to save the sheriff the embarrassment, she tried to gloss over it with a little white lie.

Harley was a very, very good attorney though, and didn’t miss the fib when she heard it. She just nodded her head and made the turn up the road to her parent’s house. The damage had been done and she’d have to live with it.

Harley turned off the ignition and turned toward Emily, trying once again to form the words to explain her ‘solution’ to Emily’s pet dilemma. Knowing the woman’s independent nature and her previous reaction to being relocated the Sheriff knew diplomacy and perhaps even deceit might be required. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

"Uhm, listen, the solution I was referring to earlier…it’s, uhm, well, you’re right. I think it would be rude to assume that having the animals at Steph’s place would be okay. I also realize that you feel you may be imposing on Mom and Dad, although I’d bet money they’d disagree with that, but that’s not the point. I know it would make you feel awkward and that would ruin your stay here so I do have a solution for you."

Harley ran her fingers through the back of her hair and glanced at the dash. Taking a breath she dived in again. "How about if you stay at my place?" She saw the woman’s surprise and could read the objection in her eyes so she quickly followed up with her reasoning. "Just hear me out. I’ll be playing sheriff for the rest of the month so I’ll hardly ever be there. The place will be empty so you won’t be imposing on my personal space. It’s Prince’s home too, and all of his things are there as well as a doggy door, so you won’t be required to get out of bed at five in the morning to let him out. The back yard has a huge fence so I’ll be assured he won’t get out and become road kill." She took another quick breath and continued. "In addition, since we still haven’t found the person who broke into Steph’s place and don’t know the motivation behind it, we can’t be sure the target of it wasn’t you. My place has a state of the art alarm system and between it and Prince you couldn’t be safer in federal custody."

She waited a moment as Emily took it all in, and watched carefully for her reaction. After a moment when it looked as though the writer might have thought of another objection to the arrangement, Harley hurried to play what she hoped was her trump card.

"Besides, I’d consider it a personal favor. If you stayed at Steph’s I’d be worried day and night. I know I wouldn’t get any work done on this case. I’d be checking up on you 24/7. This way I know you’d be safe."

Emily’s initial reaction to the invitation was elation. This would get her closer to the woman, but then her trepidation kicked in. She didn’t want to be isolated out there and not have any contact with the sheriff except when she came home to change clothes. That was why she wanted so much to object. Somehow she felt like she was being gotten out of the way, but when Harley had asked her to stay as a favor, she figured she really owed it to her. She wasn’t going to give in though, without a concession or two.

"Alright, I can see the logic in it and even though it’s not what I would have preferred" at least not the reason I would have liked to have been asked to move in with you "I do see your point. However, I would like a couple of things in exchange for my cooperation."

Harley nodded for her to go on. After all, in her business, negotiations were the rule, not the exception.

"First, I’d like to know if I can still help out on this case."

Harley only needed a moment to dwell on that and remembering the writer’s gifts and insights so far, quickly concluded it couldn’t hurt.

"Sure. We can do that."

"Good. Secondly," Emily hesitated. Was this the right time to press her on this? Am I ready for a possible rejection? She didn’t know if she was or not, but so far, anything less then absolute honesty with this women had gotten her into trouble. She figured she had very little to lose. Her words were spoken quietly but they dropped on Harley like golf ball sized hail. "I want to know why you’ve been avoiding me since I kissed you."

She tried to put on her best face as she waited for Harley’s answer, curious and compassionate, but not fearful. She didn’t know if she succeeded or not.

Harley was trying very hard not to look as though she’d been sucker- punched. She wasn’t sure what to say to her. Her first instinct was to deny it. Plausible deniability. It could work. She could claim she hadn’t been avoiding her, just very busy on the case, but for some reason that disturbed her. She didn’t know the small woman before her well, but she did know she didn’t want to be the person to hurt her, and she thought too, Emily was astute enough to see the lie for what it was. That just left her the truth, but she wasn’t sure she could say that out loud, at least not all of it. She’d just sound too pathetic.

Deciding on giving her as much truth as her sudden lack of courage allowed, she answered.

"I didn’t want to avoid you. I just thought that maybe we were getting ahead of ourselves." She cleared her throat and looked down briefly before continuing. "I won’t deny how attracted I am to you, but I don’t make it a habit of acting on my attraction until I’ve gotten to know someone very well." She took in another breath. "You and I, we’ve only really known each other a few days. For me, that’s just not enough time to become, well,… intimate."

Emily swallowed hard. She’d been hoping for this very answer and now that she’d gotten it, it went a long way toward allowing her to hope for a future with the beautiful lawyer. A little voice told her this wasn’t all of what was holding Harley back from acting on their obvious mutual feelings, but she felt she could work with this.

"I understand." She considered what to say and decided bare faced honesty instead of subtlety was more her, at least the her she was since she’d been in this little town. "I’d like to say I’m sorry for just grabbing you and planting one on you like that, but, in all honesty, I can’t. I mean, I am sorry if it upset or disturbed you and if in the long run, it causes you to distance yourself from me, I’ll be very sorry. But I have to say I enjoyed that kiss more than several hundred of my most favorite experiences all put together." She looked down at the cat on her lap, because she just couldn’t keep looking at those eyes she found so confounding. "Next time, if there is a next time, I’ll wait for you to let me know." She peeked up finally and looked at Harley. She tried not to look at her eyes and instead found herself locked onto her lips. "Is that okay with you?"

Ah, damn. Could she be more adorable? What do I say now? More than several hundred, huh? Well, I can’t deny that. I felt the same way, and I am soooo attracted to her. To everything about her. Then her thoughts turned to the basis of the problem she had with the little blonde being in her life. I just wish there was some future for us. "Yeah, it is." She straightened up and removed her seat belt. "Well, let’s get you packed up here and then, we can get the rest of your stuff from Stephanie’s so you can settle in. Okay?"

"Sure." The smiles were real on the faces on both sides of the seat, but only one held any hope in it.

It didn’t take long. She said heartfelt thanks to Josh and Twyla for putting up with her and they in turn, told her she was more than welcome anytime.

Just before they left Twyla remembered to tell Emily about the party for Hobie and inform her of the theme. She said if Emily had any problems with it to let her know. It sounded like great fun. She was preoccupied planning her costume for the party as Harley drove them over to Old Orchard Road, so she didn’t see the look of consternation on the Sheriff’s face.

The party had obviously slipped Harley’s mind.

Somehow, Harley managed to get to Stephanie’s without an accident or making a wrong turn, although she had no conscious memory of driving there. Suddenly she realized she had turned into the driveway and the Explorer was simply idling, as she stared at the closed garage door in front of her.

Emily hadn’t been paying attention to Harley and her preoccupation until they arrived at Stephanie’s and…they just sat there. She glanced over at Harley only to see her staring, mindlessly at the closed garage door. She wished she knew the woman well enough to have an inkling of what had her concentrating so hard. It kind of made her mad that she didn’t almost as though she should have known what the woman was thinking so hard about, but she didn’t, and it galled her. She was about to speak when Harley seemed to come to herself and realize what was going on.

Clearing her throat, the Sheriff said. "We’re here." Well, duh! That was brilliant, stupid. Of course we’re here. She knows that. She’s here too. Quickly sucking in cold air as she exited the SUV, she made her way around to open Emily’s door for her. She could have predicted exactly what the woman would say. It’s precisely what she would have said if the situation were reversed.

"Harley, are you alright?"

Several minutes later, after a mumbled response of "just thinking" got Harley off the hook, they were just finishing up as Harley told Emily to get in the car while she finished boxing up the perishables left in Stephanie’s refrigerator.

Emily took a stroll down the driveway to let the chilly clear night seep in to her. The writer found the silence and the scent of the turning leaves in the air alien and cathartic.

She’d never been one to enjoy the outside much. Not that she’d had a lot of experience with it. ‘Outside’ where she lived usually meant public parks or beaches. Dirty, crowded, dangerous places, they were. She truly was a city girl, but she had memories of camping trips with her parents when she was very young, and though not very clear, she could remember the ambiance of them.

The night, this night, made her think of them. Just a snatch of memory of a campfire and warm flannel shirts and down jackets, hot cocoa and her Dad’s arms holding her in his lap. She remembered stars like the ones she looked at now. The kind you never see above an L.A. high rise.

Before she realized it, she was half a block from the house and staring in wonder at the woods to her left and right, and how dark it could be without street lights. That thought brought with it a chill and she turned to head back to Stephanie’s place.

She hadn’t gone more than six feet when she heard the roar of an engine coming up behind her. Ahead of her, she saw Harley for a split second as she pushed out the door carrying the last box. Emily turned toward the sound coming up loud behind her and instinctively pushed off to her right toward the woods. Unfortunately, her shoes slipped on the wet pile of autumn leaves and she began to do the splits just as she saw the car make a hard U-turn and saw the tail end coming straight at her, as it too skidded on the road.

It hit her in the middle of her chest with the edge of the rear fender as she was still trying to stay upright and succeeded in throwing her back a couple of feet till she landed flat on her back. Then once again she was looking at the stars as she heard the car accelerate hard and take off.

All she could think of as she laid there was that she wondered if there was some kind of training course you could take here that allowed you to live, uninjured, in Bramble, and if they’d let you in to take it if you didn’t have permanent residence status.

Then suddenly the stars were gone and Harley was there.

"Are you alright? Just stay still. Don’t move. Let me call Hobie." The sheriff leaned back and started to reach for the phone at her waist.

For some reason, Emily just couldn’t get her mouth to work. In her head she thought the words she was to speak sounded just fine, it however, never came out of her mouth the way she planned it.

"Ebetsa ca. Oy, don."

Harley froze and just stared at her. "What?"

"Sokre. Ahm, soke."

"Emily, Hon, I can’t understand you. Just hang on and stay still till I get Hobie out here." She once again started to grab for her cell phone.

Emily managed to at least have full use of her larger muscles and stopped Harley’s arm as she reached. She opened her mouth and with a deep inhalation, tried once again to make herself understood.

"Ammokee." Again. "I’m okwy." Shaking her head in self disgust as the same concerned furrow appeared over her own brow, as the one she was seeing on Harley’s face above her. She tried one last time, willing her mouth to speak clearly.

"I’m odkay. Oaakkay. Fine." She nodded her head to the sheriff willing her to believe her.

Harley continued to look worried and shaking her own head at the small blonde said. "I’m not so sure about that. Please just let me call…"

"Stop!"

Getting her good arm under her, Emily managed to sit up with Harley’s help.

She took a deep breath and realized her chest felt a little bruised but nothing was seriously damaged. As she opened her mouth to speak however, she realized she was still having trouble getting her mouth to say what her brain dictated.

"Suhbvie."

"Huh?" Once again Harley went to grab for her phone, and once again Emily grabbed her arm. This time she pointed down the road in the direction the car that hit her had headed.

"EEEEker!"

"Emily, sweetheart, you really are hurt here. I have to call Hobie; you just aren’t making any sense."

Before she could put her words into action, Emily grabbed her shoulder and shook her, while shaking her own head in the negative. The writer pulled in a huge breath of air and brought her face as close as she could to the very worried sheriff’s.

"EEEE CAR! YOU KNOW, an SUV! Excursion, Envoy, Explorer, Escalade, Expedition, Eclipse, Escape! It was Black, new, shiny, no license plate, no tail lights." Finally running out of air, she sucked in another lungful and screamed. "WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO GET IT. THAT SON OF A BITCH TRIED TO KILL ME!"

If you had put a loaded Glock to her head just then or even years later, Harley would never be able to explain why she simply grabbed the blonde in her arms, hugged her tight and burst into gales of laughter. Maybe it was relief that the small writer was really okay. Maybe she was just overwhelmed by all she had on her mind. Maybe it was a psychotic break. Whatever it was, she couldn’t control it and she couldn’t make her self stop doing it.

Emily, at first shocked and a little offended at her supposed savior’s behavior, quickly realized the whole surreal-ness of the scene and her ridiculous reaction to it. What was Harley supposed to do? Leave her sitting in the middle of the road and jump on her trusty steed to go after some long gone, anonymous black truck in the back woods in the dark?

Emily just let out a relieved breath that she really was fine and held on to the brunette while she laughed. Soon she joined in. There really wasn’t much else to do!

Besides, it felt great to be here. Safe and warm in those strong arms, surrounded by the once again elusive scent that she still couldn’t identify, but was conclusively Harley.

Finally, Harley calmed enough to ask once again if Emily was really all right.

After Emily assured her that she was, they made their shaky way back to the house and Harley went over to the yard, where she’d thrown down the box of food she’d been carrying as soon as she heard the car rev its engine and realized Emily wasn’t in her SUV.

Emily just leaned against the Explorer and crossed her arms, watching the sheriff as she inspected the contents of the open box under the porch light.

"So, any casualties?" The blonde asked.

Harley sighed, "Fraid so. The eggs are toast."

As that hung in the air, it started small. Just snickers at first. Then it grew. Slowly both of them slid down to the grass. Before they knew it, they were both rolling on the ground in hysterical laughter.

Somehow, they managed to come together, sitting semi upright, side by side when they finally exhausted themselves.

"Oh, boy." Emily breathed softly. "I really needed that."

One more snicker and then Harley replied. "Yeah, me too. I can’t even remember when I’ve laughed as much as I have tonight." She exhaled hard. "It felt great." She turned her head and just looked at the mildly disheveled lady she was leaning against. That was probably what did it The green eyes looked a little gray in the vague light, but they were sparkling and deep, open and inviting. She couldn’t stop it. No thought, just action and before she knew it, Harley moved the few inches necessary and kissed her. Again.

Sitting was good. Good because this time, when they both felt those feelings again they didn’t have to worry about falling. At least they didn’t worry about falling far.

Harley found herself so absorbed in the rapture she experienced kissing Emily, she wasn’t aware of anything else until she felt herself running out of air as her breathing increased. When, finally she opened her eyes and broke the kiss she found herself leaning over a supine blonde whose back was flat on the grass.

Emily still had her eyes closed and a small smile graced her lips as she ran the feeling of the kiss she’d just shared over and over again in her mind. It was every bit as fine and exciting as the first one but better because it was Harley who had started it this time.

Harley was thinking about that too. What is it with me? What is it about her? I never act like this! I just got through telling her it’s too soon for this and then I all but attack her on the front lawn. She found herself reluctant to move. She liked having Emily this close. She really liked looking at her and even more, she had really, really liked kissing her. What in the hell am I going to do? This can’t keep happening. Her mind knew it; she just had the hardest time making her body respond to that.

Finally, she willed her arms and legs to function and weakly managed to sit up facing away from the author.

That loss of body heat was what made Emily open her eyes. Seeing Harley sitting next to her and staring into space made her nervous. She sat up herself and ran a hand through the back of her hair trying to come to terms with the contradictions between the Sheriff’s words and her deeds.

She opened her mouth to speak when Harley put a hand on her knee and spoke first.

"I know what you’re thinking and I’m pretty sure you’re confused about, well, everything. I know too, I have no right to ask this of you but, please, I’d consider it a great personal favor if you didn’t. Ask, I mean." She hung her head and looked at her bent knees. In a small voice that sounded a little sad she continued. "I meant what I said before, and I still do. However, I did kiss you and I meant that too. Sort of. I have no memory of consciously choosing to do it, but, well, I didn’t just trip and fall on your lips." Emily couldn’t help but giggle a little at that. On the one hand she felt sad for Harley. She could see even in the low light from the porch how confused she was. But the way her forehead seemed to furrow added another dimension to that, like she was disappointed in herself. Emily felt bad for that, but at the same time, she was still happy and very aroused by that kiss. She is so very good at that!

It was the giggle that brought Harley out of her own head. It was a little funny, she had to agree. And I sounded so serious about it. After all it was just a kiss. Yeah, right, like hurricane Andrew was just a little breeze. Well, this is getting me nowhere fast, I think I’m gonna have to break down and talk to Mom. She cleared her throat and finally turned to look at Emily. Now that is one beautiful face. Enough! "Could we please, just not talk about this anymore for a while?"

It was against Emily’s nature to ‘not talk’ about anything. Words were what she did, in private, in public and by occupation, so she found herself surprised when she heard her own voice quietly respond, "Okay."

Harley’s face broke into an expression of relief so profound it was almost pathetic. Emily was glad she’d said the right thing, especially when Harley wrapped her arms around her and hugged her close.

Emily missed those arms immediately when Harley jumped up and grabbed the last box. She finally got herself up as the sheriff loaded it into the SUV and spoke to her dog.

They were quiet again on the way to Harley’s place, but this quiet was very much different than the one before. This one was once again comfortable and peaceful.

**********************

It was almost midnight when they finally got all of Emily’s things put away at Harley’s. They had taken a break then and Harley showed her what and how much to feed Prince. The author had felt ridiculous asking, but since she’d never had a pet, she also needed to ask about the care and feeding of her cat. The tall woman just smiled and answered her questions, leading her to the hall nearest the back door where she set up the littler box. She placed the Empress’s food and water dish across the hall from Prince Potempkin’s, then got her jacket from the back of the couch.

Realizing that Harley was going to leave, Emily scrambled to find something to delay her. They were having such a good time, and even though her arm and the bruise on her chest were aching a good deal, Emily just wasn’t ready for the sheriff to leave yet.

"Oh, yeah, uhm, wait, let me check my cell messages to see if Naomi called yet." She hurried to her bag on the coffee table and bent down to open it. She must have turned just the wrong way because she couldn’t stifle the gasp of pain that flew out of her mouth.

Harley was beside in a moment and forced her to sit down on the couch, taking her bag from her hand and letting it drop on the table.

"Alright, that’s enough. I’m getting Hobie over here or you over to him. You can’t tell me you aren’t in pain." The sheriff’s face was set and determined and once again she grabbed for her cell phone.

Once again, Emily stopped her. "Really, Harley, I don’t need a doctor. It’s just a bruise, I’m sure. My ribs don’t hurt and it doesn’t hurt to breathe like cracked or broken ribs would. I just need to take a dose of my pain pills and a hot bath and I’ll be fine." Harley still looked skeptical, so Emily rushed to reassure her. "Look if you help me to draw a bath you can see for yourself it’s really nothing more than a bruise."

The sheriff wanted to insist but Emily had gone along with her request earlier so she felt it was only fair to return the favor. "Alright, let’s get you in the tub and see how it looks."

Emily smiled and went to grab her bag once again, but this time Harley got there first. She smiled and handed it over and Emily smiled in return.

Grabbing her pill bottle, she got up from the couch and started to the staircase only to have Harley take her by the arm and help her along. The smaller woman knew it wasn’t necessary but she wasn’t about to push away the gift of being closer to the sheriff.

As soon as they reached the bedroom, Harley sat her on the bed and went into the bathroom to start the water running.

Emily pushed her shoes off and bent to take off her socks. When she bent wrong again this time she managed to stifle the groan of pain. Rethinking her actions she crossed first one leg and then the other on the opposite knee and took off her socks that way, grateful that she hadn’t made enough noise to attract Harley’s attention. She stood and dropped her pants, stepping out of them as well as her panties then sat to remove the over long twill sweater.

She remembered then about her cast and decided to just do what she could until Harley arrived to help. She got her left arm out of the sleeve and reached back to unclip her bra then untied the sling on her right arm. Just as she bent forward to try to get the sweater off over her head, she heard Harley enter the room.

Harley had to stifle a laugh at the site. There was a spume of strawberry blonde hair floating out of the neck of a sweater that looked like it had eaten Emily alive. Her left arm was out of sight under it, her right at a very odd angle trying to find a way into it, and her body was doing gymnastics trying to get it off.

"Here, let me help with that." She said, and bent to help maneuver Emily’s cast through the sleeve. As soon as it disappeared, a relieved Emily pushed the sweater and bra off and sat back, blowing the hair from her forehead. Her face was pink from exertion, but not nearly as red as Harley’s, who stood with her mouth open, breathing hard in front of a fully nude Emily.

Harley felt frozen. She was breathing hard but couldn’t seem to pull any air into her lungs and she couldn’t seem to close her eyes. It felt like she stood there staring for hours before she reacted. "Ohhhh, great Mother. You’re naked!"

Emily had noticed the stare and realized Harley’s predicament. One half of her was happy at the reaction because she knew by the look on Harley’s face she very much liked what she was seeing. The other half felt embarrassed, she really hadn’t thought it through, this whole taking her clothes off in front of the sheriff thing. For the first time in forever, getting naked in front of another woman wasn’t planned out and intended to be a prelude to sex. She couldn’t for the life of her understand how she could have forgotten that taking her clothes off in front of Harley meant being naked in front of Harley. She was just going to take a bath, right?

"Well, yeah. I do that when I’m going to bathe, ya know. Get naked and get into the water to wash. It’s a popular concept and many people do it like that. I mean, I’ve never met anyone personally who takes a bath in their clothes." She knew she was babbling but she had to say something. It was the only thing that kept her from trying cover up her more salient features. The urge to do just that was great, but her mind supplied the idea that the whole thing was way too junior high school for an adult woman to do. So, she just twitched and waited for Harley’s reaction.

The color on Harley’s face deepened a full shade when she realized just how stupid her remark had been. Of course, she was naked; she was going to take a bath. "Uh, I ah, I know it’s just that well, there you are all naked and I mean, who takes off their panties before they take off their sweater? It’s just you know, kind of odd like and out of order and… uhm, never mind I’m just a babbling idiot, forget I’m here and just wait a minute." Having made a fool of herself for the second time this evening, all Harley could focus on was making Emily NOT naked as soon as possible.

She rushed over to her closet and grabbed her robe, returned and threw it over Emily’s shoulder. "I’d just be ever so grateful if you would just put that on, like right now, if you would, uhm, please." She turned and ran into the bathroom mumbling about overflowing tubs and naked blondes.

Emily had to cover her mouth and try hard not to allow the giggles to be heard. It had her very amused that this strong, confidant, Sheriff who was a lawyer of all things, became utterly inarticulate when confronted with her nude body. It made her think, too. Is she really that shy? Is she that inexperienced? If… no, no, WHEN we do get around to finally doing the nasty, am I gonna lead the dance? Everything about that felt wrong, not only that; she was pretty sure she wanted things much less…reserved. Pondering that, she slipped on the crimson kimono and smiled again at that Harley-scent permeating it.

Harley leaned on the sink and puffed out her cheeks, then released the air in one big whoosh. Her mind kept replaying the naked picture of the beautiful blonde in her head and the loop got faster and faster. She finally had to have a good talk with herself. Alrighty, now. She’s beautiful. You knew that all along, right? So just get over it and get her in the tub and get the hell out of here. She took in another deep breath just to steady herself when she remembered something else about that vision.

She turned and strode purposefully back into the bedroom, looked Emily right in the eye and said, "Take it off!"

The writer’s eyes got big and confusion was apparent in her expression. Just a moment ago she was stumbling like a schoolboy and now she’s telling me to take it off? "Huh?"

"You heard me, drop the robe." By now she was standing in front of Emily with her hands on her hips. One look at that face and Emily knew Harley meant what she said.

Confused but compliant, Emily dutifully dropped the robe off her shoulders and stood up.

Harley took another step forward and said, "That is not just a bruise. THAT is a major contusion! THAT should be seen by a doctor."

Emily looked down to where Harley was pointing and really noticed for the first time, the florid red and purple bruise covering most of the center and left side of her chest. She had to admit it did look really bad, but she knew it looked worse than it felt.

"Honest, Sheriff, it’s not that bad, it’s just a,…well, a bruise."

Harley tilted her head a little and her face showed how much of an understatement that seemed to her. "It’s a lot more than a bruise. It’s…it’s, well, it’s an injury!"

"Look, Harley, I know it looks pretty bad.."

"BAD, it looks like a topographical map of Wisconsin!"

Emily looked down at her chest. "Wisconsin? How do you figure that? It’s nowhere near the shape of Wisconsin. It looks more like Tennessee if anything, it…"

"No, no, no, you’re looking at it upside down, and besides, you couldn’t see anything south of Madison without" She gestured with her hands in a cupping motion at chest level and lifted. "uhm, well, lifting them up or.." She noticed Emily about to do just that and her voice started to trail off in wonder. "uhn, looking, ah, looking in the, ah, mirror."

Suddenly the Sheriff became aware of herself standing there watching Emily fondle her breast and had to once again, speak rather harshly to herself. Since she wanted this obvious distraction to stop at once, she spoke out loud for both of their benefits.

"Okay, then, well, that is neither here nor there. So why don’t you just take that bath and I’ll go down and fix you something to eat so you can take your pill." She shook her head and then nodded. "Yeah, that’s a good idea."

She turned and headed for the door with her eyes looking at the carpet all the way. "That’s right. You bathe and I’ll just, I’ll just go make food and that will be good cause you need to eat to take your, uhm, …"

Emily heard the door shut and it was only then she realized what she was doing and how it had affected the tall beautiful sheriff. She dropped her hand and smiled when, just then, she heard a hard bang on the door. She almost got up to see if anything had happened to Harley when she realized the sheriff was most likely holding herself up on the outside of the bedroom door. That kept the smile on her face all the way into the bathroom.

On the other side of the bedroom door, Harley was practicing a breathing technique to help her clear her mind. When she felt able to walk without her knees giving out, she made her way to the kitchen.

As she cut some fresh fruit into a bowl, warmed a croissant in the microwave and stirred up a quick yogurt dressing, she finally gave thought to how and why Emily had such a profound effect on her.

Profound and disturbing. My libido hasn’t been this stirred up since I found out I liked girls and started to consider the possibilities. She shook her head. Not since…and the thought stopped her cold. No, not even with her did I feel like this. She stopped cold at the thought. I loved her! I loved her so much. But…even she didn’t do this to me. I was never out of control with her. What does it all mean?

Deciding the thought was too disturbing and she was too messed up to think it through tonight, she filed the question away for later and made her way back upstairs. She left the food on the night stand and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Emily. Are you going to be alright in there? I mean, uh, getting out and all.." She trailed off praying hard that Emily wouldn’t need any more help. The thought of her naked and wet was making her a little lightheaded. Again.

Emily gave it a moment’s thought and realized how much fun she could have by saying no, but remembering the Sheriff’s earlier panic, she relented. "I'll be fine, thanks."

"Ah, that’s good. I left you some food on the nightstand and your pills and some tea are there too, so I’ll just be going now. I’ll leave the bedroom door open for the Empress and turn off the lights, set the alarm and lock up as I leave. Call me if you need anything, alright?"

"Sure." Emily sighed knowing a strategic retreat when she heard it, and couldn’t help the tone of disappointment that colored her voice. "Night, Harley, and thanks."

"Uhm, no problem. Good night."

The Sheriff made sure the house was secure, locked up and then sat for several minutes in her car with the window rolled down. She took deep breaths and tried very had to wipe the image of a naked blonde from her mind.

As she started the car, she resigned herself to another long night of exercises and self abuse.

"I am surrounded by IDIOTS!" Darla’s voice had gotten progressively louder as she screeched her last word, then she threw the cell phone across the room. It shattered against the wall into chunks of varying sizes. It wasn’t enough, so she threw her glass as well.

The shattering sound of her best crystal stemware brought the Mistress of the house running in from the office in time to see the remnants of her Baccarat snifter tinkling down the wall of her parlor in a cascade of Cognac.

Mistress Merry was of a mind to let Mistress Dee know how she felt about her behavior and call Louis to show her the door.

Though it was true that Ms. Dee was a very good client who paid and tipped well, she wasn’t about to put up with any more foolishness in her house. She was about to speak, filling her lungs to begin berating the woman when she looked into the blonde’s face and swiftly changed her mind.

She hadn’t survived this long in her business by not knowing when to hold her tongue. It galled her to do it, but she knew from experience that if she followed through, she would surely die. There was madness in the woman’s eyes. She’d seen it before and this madness was the killing kind.

The madam was usually happy to provide the crazy woman with the means to her ends; she just wasn’t inclined to include herself as a target.

Ms. Dee had been ‘in a mood’ when she’d arrived Sunday night and it wasn’t her normal mood. Though for ‘normal’ in any form, you’d have to go someplace else.

Her house and its inhabitants, below ground level, catered to the other-than-normal desires of the human animal. Here, if you paid the price you could do with her slaves anything you wanted. True, the cost was very high, but those who frequented Mistress Merry’s domain could pay for their pleasure, and if she lost a few pieces of her property… well, they were easily replaced.

Of course, she never let the clients in on that. If they knew how easy it was to acquire them from her agents or smuggle in these young bodies, they’d never pay the exorbitant fees she charged for reducing her "inventory".

The woman pacing and cursing in her parlor had arrived Sunday night and her mood then had been dangerous, to be sure, but it was nothing compared to the furious rage that held her now, a full two days later.

After paying the price, not Mistress Dee’s standard preferences but certainly not unheard of, she made her selection and retired to the private dungeon where she used her four hour allotment to, as described by Mistress Merry’s efficient assistant, Ning, "flay the skin off" of a nubile fifteen year old girl.

The whipping wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, it was, after all Mistress Dee’s tool of choice and she never arrived without it. Her choice of victim was.

Usually Ms. Dee asked for tall brunettes and generally left them bloodied and bruised, lashed and miserable, but ultimately, repairable. Even the other two occasions when she’d paid for the privilege of ‘using up’ the Madam’s stock, they had been tall, long haired, brunettes and after whipping them fore and aft for hours had eventually beaten them to death. The first time was several years ago and the second a few after that. So, Sunday night’s choice of a redhead and her choice to whip the very skin off the girl was highly unusual.

Then she arrived again Tuesday night with the same request.

Mistress Merry gave that some thought. Patterns in behavior among the kinds of people her clients were, were fairly predictable and she’d found over the years that severe aberrations in them occasionally warranted her interest,,, and her caution.

Why some people did what they did usually never stirred her curiosity. She’d given up trying to figure it out long ago.

When Mistress Dee arrived Sunday she assumed that the object of her fury was, as is common in her place of business, a surrogate for the clients antagonism or lust and that the change in venue from brunette to redhead must mean a new woman in the blonde woman’s life beyond Mistress Dee’s reach.

When she repeated the scene Tuesday, Mistress Merry took notice.

It appeared as though in this instance, she should have paid closer attention to the woman’s choices the night before, but it had been a busy evening and the madam was preoccupied with the details of the charity ball she was hosting at the country club this Friday.

Now it was very early Wednesday morning. The small oriental woman was looking forward to a good nap and a massage later. She was just finishing the books and was about to clear the house and lock up when she rushed into her parlor and saw the damage… and the danger.

Mistress Dee turned to her.

"My apologies, Madame, my temper seems to have gotten the best of me. If you replace the items I’ve damaged, I’ll be happy to pay for them."

Wisely, once again, Mistress Merry refrained from speaking and simply nodded.

Returning the nod, Mistress Dee left several large bills on the teak bar.

Mistress Merry, known to her friends and social circle only as Mrs. Li Huang widow of the late judge, the most honorable Da Huang originally of Hong Kong and London, was anxious for her bed.

She had a luncheon with the garden club this afternoon and it wouldn’t do to show up looking fatigued. Now, however she simply waited for the volatile pacing and cursing menace in front of her to calm sufficiently and hopefully, exit peacefully, and soon, taking the shaking giant with her.

She would say or do nothing to encourage her toward that end, however.

Mrs. Huang was a very wise woman.

********************************************************************************************

Darla slammed the door closed on her Lexus and stormed through the door from the garage to her kitchen. Eli followed behind trying to be as quiet as possible.

If he was very lucky he’d get out of this with a beating, but he wasn’t very confidant about that possibility. He’d never seen Mistress Dee so livid. His only hope was that she was more angry with his Mistress Val than with him. It really wasn’t his fault.

Darla was seething. She had been seething from the moment in the diner when she realized that Valerie had once again, nearly ruined all of her plans.

Sunday when she was unable to locate her she felt she’d just need to vent her anger a bit. She was quite sure that the fury she’d unleashed against the redheaded slave at Mistress Merry’s would mellow her out enough to avoid outright killing the bitch as soon as she caught up with her. After all, she still needed her or her money at least, to make this whole scheme pay off.

She hadn’t planned on the viper disappearing so well. Even that addlebrained little nothing, Nancy, didn’t know where she’d gone. She would have told me if she knew. I was almost holding her heart in my hand and she was very aware of it. All she could tell her was that her mistress had come home early, packed a bag and said she’d be out of touch for a while, but that Eli would keep an eye on her.

Monday and Tuesday, after hours of checking and rechecking every dive, club, bar and whorehouse from here to San Diego she still hadn’t been able to get her hands on the troublesome slut. And that meant no answers about what could have possibly gone so wrong at the old woman’s house as to necessitate nearly killing the old bat.

Not that she gave a damn about the old biddy, but bringing attention to them from the Sheriff, and that meant attention from Harley Ravensdown was an altogether different thing. She couldn’t have that! She was so close!

By the time Tuesday night rolled around and there was still no sign of Valerie her fury was at its peak and her only release once again was to be found in the surrogate provided by Mistress Merry.

Then, just as she was feeling a tad better, Eli had arrived and informed her that the simple little assignment Valerie had given him to watch Stephanie’s house and report anything unusual led to this newest complication.

She kept her back to the muscle bound boob as she opened her closet and began to undress. She knew he was kneeling in the doorway behind her and she knew as well, he was sweating with fear.

"Tell me again. What happened?" She kicked off her stiletto boots and began to unzip her leather pants.

Eli swallowed as well as he could. There was very little moisture in his mouth. He kept his eyes on the floor in front of him as he tried to explain his actions in a way that wouldn’t leave him bleeding to death from her reactions.

"Oh, uh, I was following the Mistress’s orders like she told me. Watching the house on Old Orchard and Sheriff Ravensdown and some blonde went in. Then they came out a time or two and put some suitcases and boxes into the Sheriff’s SUV. Then, just this blonde comes out and starts walking down the road…right at me! She’s coming right at me and I think she’s gonna see me sitting there just watching her and tell the Sheriff and I, well, I just, I mean she told me not to get caught and not to do nothing that could draw attention to me, but well, see, she was comin’ right at me… so I took off." Eli stopped talking and started praying silently that what he said would be enough. He hoped the little accident he’d had with the blonde wasn’t what was putting Mistress Dee in such a foul mood.

Darla threw the last of her clothing to the floor and turned. "And then?"

"I just made a quick U turn and got out of there."

"Right in front of the blonde? Where was the Sheriff at this time?"

He swallowed. "Uh, she was still in the house until, I mean, uh, I just got out of there."

"She didn’t go after you? Suddenly this car takes off in the darkness and squeals away like the hounds of hell are on their heels and she does nothing?"

He couldn’t form the words. She had that look in her eye. The same one Mistress Val got just before she’d light into Nancy. He just shook his head and noticed the sweat fly off his face as he did so.

Darla turned and reached into the pocket of her leather trench coat. It was the only item she’d hung up, for good reason. This was not her favorite toy: too loud, too obvious, but it would do until she had Eli exactly where she wanted him.

She attached the silencer to the powerful gun as she spoke. "There’s something, maybe several things you’re not telling me. I don’t like being kept in the dark. I’m sure you won’t either when I’m through with you. But you will tell me what you’re holding back. They always do. In the end." She gestured with the weapon. "Get up. Head into the kitchen."

She grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from the counter and threw it on the table.

"Write." She said. Her voice was low, almost childlike but poisonous under all. Eli found himself very, very, scared of this woman.

His Mistress Val could be vicious and agonizingly cruel when she was mad, even when she was just irritated. He had to admit to himself he more or less loved that about her; her control and the pain she caused, but this woman standing before him, mostly naked, rather skinny, speaking softly, almost crooning, was seriously deranged. The whole feeling was amplified by the gun hanging almost carelessly from her fingers. She was capable of murder. Yes, he was very afraid.

"Write down every name of every person your mistress has ever introduced you to. Write down every phone number she has ever given you. Write down every address you have ever been to with your mistress or that she sent you to. Every… single… one." She took a deep breath and then looking vaguely over his shoulder she said, dreamily. "People just don’t disappear. She has to be somewhere. I will find her. And you will tell me everything I want to know, won’t you?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A few miles away, Harley Ravensdown checked her wall clock.

After leaving Emily she’d returned to the office, hoping to work on the case and adding notes about the latest incident with the hit and run on Emily. She was sure it was connected, she just wasn’t sure if Emily was the target or….

At least that had been her intention when she’d left her house. She wanted to make sure she did anything but think about the green eyed blonde and throwing herself into this puzzle was what she was counting on to help her do that.

After printing out the incident report of the stalker or snoop at Steph’s house last night, she grabbed the case file and spread everything out on the coffee table.

It was large enough to necessitate removing the portable T.V. to the floor in order to have enough room to look at each bit of what she was sure was one case, tied together somehow.

She looked it over carefully and tried to fit all the pieces into the right slots. The only way it would work was if both Darla and Valerie were working together. To what end? What was their purpose? Motive?

She couldn’t connect the dots and that made her start over from the beginning. She’d missed something. What was it?

Of course that brought her back to their first dead end. Nancy McKinnon.

She made a face. Damn! After everything that happened I still didn’t find out if Emily got word from Naomi about Nancy.

She hung her head. Harley had no choice but to go and see the damnable woman again. She wasn’t nearly ready for that.

She leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, then sat up abruptly with her eyes wide open.

"Oh, my!" She breathed. "That was a mistake."

The moment her eyes closed the Sheriff was treated to a full color picture memory of Emily sitting on her bed totally naked.

"Coffee. I need coffee."

She threw on her hat, grabbed her cell phone and radio and headed out for the diner.

By nine Wednesday morning Emily was waking up and feeling just fine. For once, she didn’t have that nasty chemical hangover from her pain pills and she’d slept the sleep of the contented. Her memories of the impression she’d made on Harley the night before made her smile and the warm/hot recollection of their kiss made her feel good all over.

By ten-fifteen she was perturbed.

Her arm had felt almost normal this morning so when she tried to dress on her own, she was surprised at how clumsy the cast still made her. In the end all she could manage were some sweatpants and a zippered front cardigan.

After a quick look at herself in the bathroom mirror she was very glad she was alone. The purple sweater clashed horribly with her buttercup yellow sweatpants and she couldn’t manage to do anything with her hair but brush it. Even the part was crooked.

Before she could think of a way to fix it all, both Catherine the Great and Prince Potemkin reminded her that she was now a woman responsible for more than herself.

She hurried down the stairs and managed with great difficulty to manhandle what felt like a 600 pound bag of dog food out from under the pantry shelf and fill the monster pup’s food dish. One handed, no less.

After cleaning up the floor from spilling the water in Prince’s dish when the Empress decided to wind between her legs as she carried it, and once again as she got hip chucked by the dog, she finally got it to its destination.

That left only feeding the Empress.

The minute the cat heard the electric can opener begin to whir, she started to climb Mt. Emily.

With only one good arm and an anxious and obviously starving cat to deal with, it took several long minutes that felt like hours to remove each delicate but devastatingly sharp claw from her right thigh and hip.

Emily managed to deliver Catherine the Great’s water without incident and was sitting on the floor, back braced against the opposite pantry shelf trying to push the 900 pound bag of dog food back into place with her feet.

Of course, she was almost there, trying to blow her hair out of her eyes while her one good arm was helping to give her traction as a shadow passed over her, She looked up to see the amused face of the Sheriff smirking down at her.

"Naturally. Of course you’re here. It’s Carolyn Murphy’s Law."

Harley chuckled. She squatted down next to the disheveled looking woman and asked. "Don’t you mean Murphy’s Law?"

"Nope," she replied cocking her head to one side. "Carolyn Murphy’s Law. She’s a supermodel. A friend of mine invented it in recognition of the wonders of air brushing photographs and the conflict between those pictures and real women. The law states, If anything can make you look ridiculous and unattractive, it will, and at the worst possible moment."

Harley laughed so hard she landed on her butt and just went with it. Even through her laughter she could still hear Emily carrying on.

"So, of course here I sit, trying to get this one ton bag of elephant food back in place with only one good arm, beautifully clashing in my ensemble, perfectly coiffed having parted my hair with a fork, sloshed with water and dripping blood and you show up! A perfect example of Carolyn Murphy’s law."

"You know, that happens with you all the time. Or at least it seems to since we’ve met. I wonder what it is about you or me or us, but it seems like every time you see me I look ridic…"

"Bleeding? What do you mean bleeding?" Harley asked leaning forward, all traces of humor gone. It had taken her a second for that last to register but when it did, she wanted answers.

She started scanning Emily all over and then noticed the blood on her pants in various spots.

Emily began to explain Catherine the Great’s enthusiasm for breakfast as Harley bodily lifted the smaller woman to her feet and without permission or fanfare, pulled down Emily’s sweatpants.

"…heard the can opener and got a little too eager, I guess. What are you doing?" She exclaimed, trying to bend over and snatch at her pants. Harley just pushed her back up and ignored the question. She was making a detailed examination of the puncture wounds when a swat to the back of her head finally got her attention.

"What?" Harley said, as she raised her head up with a look of intense irritation covering her face.

"What do you mean, what?" Emily said her own irritation showing. "You can’t just come into someone’s personal space and pull their pants down!"

"Of course I can. In the first place your personal space is occupying my house and possession is nine-tenths of the law, and in the second place, I’m the sheriff here and it’s my job to render aid wherever I deem it necessary." She turned back to her examination but kept her brows furrowed. This time Emily wasn’t sure if it was irritation at being interrupted or concern for her injuries.

It was on the tip of her tongue to make some remark about Harley misusing her office but she, for once, held her tongue and remembered what Steph told her about Harley’s background. In the end, she just stood there and huffed a bit at least grateful that she had worn some of her prettiest pink Victoria’s Secret panties this morning and that she’d had the foresight to shave her legs in the bath last night.

"These need cleaning and some antibiotic ointment." Harley concluded. "I’ll go get it." With that said she left Emily standing in the pantry with her pants around her ankles and walked through the panel in the back that led to the other side of the A frame.

"I’ll just stay here, shall I?" Emily muttered to the now empty room, sighed and drummed her fingers on the shelf of the pantry next to a large glass canister labeled Basmati rice.

Several minutes later after a treatment with peroxide, antibiotic ointment and gauze bandages, (the latter of which made Emily smile to recall, as Harley had nearly hyperventilated when she’d had to pull Emily’s panties away from her hip to apply it), they were seated on the couch.

Harley had offered to make coffee and let Prince out while she relaxed, on the pretext that she was injured, but Emily was sure it was more to recover her composure than a need for Emily to rest that prompted the offer.

Harley was sipping her coffee, glad that the redness in her face had finally receded while she busied herself with the French press, and listening to the one sided conversation Emily was having with Naomi.

She let her mind wander while she waited for the call to end and wondered once again where all these strange compulsions she felt when she was with the writer came from. She’d had to speak very sternly to herself to keep from bending down to kiss the bandaged wounds when she’d finished treating them. Maybe Paris will feel like sparring a little this morning. Goddess knows I need to do something to keep my mind and body occupied for a while.

As Emily hung up and began to relate her conversation with Naomi, she was unaware that the look of intense concentration she saw on the Sheriff’s face wasn’t focused on Emily’s words.

It took Harley an inordinately long time to make the switch from mental ruminations of Emily’s features to what she was saying. She was very grateful for the practice in the courtroom that allowed her to appear to be listening when in fact she was thinking of something else. She did manage to tune in to the important parts.

Nancy was there in the beach house, as Naomi had rollerbladed, accidentally of course, past the house just as the grocery delivery man was leaving. Naomi had managed to inquire about how Nancy was to the delivery man who’d informed him that she seemed a little better and remarked that it must have been a weird but lucky kind of a car crash to leave her so bruised and yet, not break any bones.

Naomi also confirmed that Valerie’s next door neighbor had heard Valerie drive in early Sunday morning and leave again shortly thereafter. The neighbor, a retired banker who stayed home and painted beachscapes, hadn’t seen or heard her since. Nor had the neighbor on the other side of her.

In addition, yes, indeed, Naomi had been told in no uncertain terms, that Valerie was known as Mistress Val in the darker BDSM scene around town and she was strictly playing on the female side of the fence. She didn’t mind dominating and disciplining men, but she didn’t top them in bed. She was known to have a female sub and a male sub. The guy more or less worked as her bodyguard/ assistant/gopher and occasional whipping post. The woman was described as of medium height, darkish brown hair, brown eyes and very thin.

His friend Ernie told Naomi that Mistress Val was scary. No one messed with her or they found themselves ruined, both in the community and in the boardroom. She dealt very dirty.

Ernie also said that he’d heard she had a pretty large dungeon built into the bedrock below her house under the highway. It’s part of what makes her parties so infamous.

No one knew what the female sub’s name was as Mistress Val only ever referred to her by her position as slave or any number of derogatory nicknames, the mildest of which was whore.

No one had seen them at their usual haunts in several days and everyone was worried. Not for their wellbeing but because they had, as yet, not received their annual invitations to Valerie’s no-holds-barred Halloween party. They were all afraid they’d done something to offend her as she usually sent invitations out by the first weekend in October, and each of them had been trying to see if anyone else had received theirs. So far, no one had.

Yes, as of yesterday, Nancy was still there as Naomi saw a woman matching the description given and covered in bruises. She’d been looking out of the sliding glass doors as Naomi jogged on the beach past Valerie’s house.

Naomi hadn’t seen her long or too closely but was very concerned. The woman’s injuries were healing as most were fading to a yellowish green, but Naomi said her eyes looked "dead". Naomi almost turned and went back but when he looked again, she was gone. Worried he might spook her and ruin it for their investigation he let her be.

While she put her own thoughts in order, Harley asked Emily. "What do you make of Valerie’s sudden absence?"

Pleased to be consulted and ready with an answer, Emily replied. "I think she needed to get outta Dodge."

Harley nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I do too. But what or who is she running from?"

"Duh, could it be the Sheriff? I mean if you put together the times and dates it sounds very much like she was responsible for Polly Pechter’s injuries."

Harley nodded again, "Granted the timing is right, but I ask again? What is her motive? Why hit a seemingly random old woman on the head with a hammer? If it is her, why did she do it and if she did, then who was it that tried to run you down at Steph’s last night? We know it couldn’t have been her if she’s in the wind"

Emily nodded this time. She furrowed her brow and stared at the landscape outside the wall of glass they faced. "Okay. Let’s think this through. We speculate, by way of deductive reasoning, that it was Nancy who broke into Steph’s place and, uhm," she shuddered, "put the knife in the bed. Motive unknown but supposition is that she did it either at Valerie’s request or in some way to please her. Nancy is now alone at Valerie’s and appears to have been beaten up. Supposition is that Valerie was unhappy with her and punished her. Assumption is that it was because Nancy attempted to please her by breaking in and planting that knife and she was wrong, or that she failed in her mission in some way."

Harley interrupted. "Or, Valerie did the break in after Nancy procured the keys and the code and after planting the knife either learned it wasn’t Steph that was in that bed OR that her plan for you, if you were her target, whatever it was, maybe to scare you out of town, didn’t work and being the sadistic bitch she is, blamed it on Nancy."

"True," Emily said. "Either scenario works, but the sticking point as you’ve pointed out, is why? What has leaving that knife in Steph’s bed next to me, hitting Polly Pechter with a hammer and someone, and I’m not convinced it’s true, trying to run me down, have in common?"

"What aren’t you convinced is true?"

"I don’t think the car last night tried to run me down. It seemed more like it was trying to get away. I think I wasn’t a target; just an accident. I mean, if my foot hadn’t slipped on the wet leaves at the roadside, I’d have been able to get out of the way with no problem. I don’t think whoever was driving was trying to hit me. I think they saw me and panicked. I think someone was watching Steph’s house and when I started walking down that road they were afraid of being discovered just sitting there in the dark in their car."

"Or, they were watching us, or you, or me." Harley proposed.

"Possible, but if it was you, was it you, Harley Ravensdown, or the Sheriff they were watching? And if was me, was it me, Emily Cutter, or the person supposedly staying at Steph’s house? Maybe it was just the house they were watching. Hell for all we know, it might have just been some pervert waiting in the dark to do some dirty deed as yet unknown."

"Aargh!" Harley shook her head and stood. "This is getting us nowhere. We just don’t have enough solid information. We need more data. I’m going to check back in with J.D, and see if he has anymore on the Valerie/Darla connection and make some more calls today to see what we can find out and confirm. I’ll head back down to L.A. first thing in the morning and talk to Nancy. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Polly will have come around by then, and I can talk to her, too."

Emily bit her top lip and looked up, remembering that Harley had agreed to let her help with the investigation, then asked, "Mind if I come along?"

Mistress Merry moved to the bar, pocketed the cash and made a mental note to remember to add it to the books tomorrow night. As it was very early Wednesday morning, she really meant tonight.

Now however, it was time for bed. It was the Garden club lunch this afternoon and then she simply must begin the arrangements for the Library council dinner. Finding the donations and arranging the catering and guest list was going to keep her very busy. Maybe she shouldn’t have accepted the chairperson position,

So much to do! She gave a moment to consider her options as she made her way to the elevator at the end of the concrete hallway. She could hear the last of the cleaning crews using the power sprayer to wash the blood down the drain in cell 6, Mistress Dee’s mess, as she thought of what help she would need with the arrangements she had yet to make for the dinner this year.

Perhaps she would promote Ning and have her make some calls and such. The girl was competent, obedient, and organized. She might enjoy being out of the dungeons. After all, it had been twelve years and she was family, after all.

She inserted the octagon shaped jade stone of the ring on her left thumb into the slot on the control panel and the elevator started to ascend the six floors to her home and the level of her bedroom suite. It was now Wednesday morning, a little past five a.m. and she had to attend that meeting at one this afternoon. She then thought of the other obligations calling to her.

There was the Asian Society Brunch this Sunday and the St. Bartholomew Hospital auxiliary dinner dance the following weekend. Not to mention, the Garden Club auction for which she was in charge of donations.

She definitely needed a social secretary. Ning, with a bit of training just might do.

Yes, she thought, she might just do that. After all, family has to come first.

Ning remembered everything her mother ever told her. Her mother told her she was a clever girl. Ning knew this to be true.

She was glad when the Mistress had given her the promotion because it helped her very much with the last of her special plan. It was lucky for her. Ning’s mother always said she was lucky.

Today she had paid her debt to Madame. She had been in service twelve years and though it was almost remarkable for any girl in service in this house to still be alive, let alone debt free after so many years, Ning knew she was special. Her mother told her so.

She had heard of only one other girl to gain her freedom from the Madame and several days later came the regrettable news that she had died in a car accident. Ning knew better. There would be no car accident waiting for her.

She was smarter than that girl and planned much for her future, and now, with the promotion out of the dungeons and up to the main house, her plan couldn’t go wrong.

Her mother had told her many things as a child. First of all that she was special and also that she was clever, and these were important here as a slave whore in this house, but also she was gifted. It was that gift that helped ten year old Ning adapt and live here. Not only live, but thrive in a place that took so many down, so young.

It was what had made her an ideal choice for Madame’s assistant. Her gift was self-knowledge and the courage to accept herself for what she truly was. She had a blissful even-mindedness that she had never been without during her younger years and it served her well.

Ning knew what she was and what she liked and what she craved.

At only ten years old she accepted her life and her preferences so, when other girls who came to live here fought this life, Ning gave no trouble at all.

From the start she accepted that she preferred women to men sexually, but that she could put up with the men without hating it, and that she liked to submit and dominate, inflict pain or receive it.

It made the early years in Madame’s service much easier for her and showed Madame that Ning was no problem. No trouble. No threat.

That really wasn’t true but as long as that was what it appeared to be, Ning’s plans would go forward.

She did, after all, have a plan.

It was to be set in motion that very day. A special date she would always remember, Wednesday, October the 8^th. Ning’s Independence Day. When Madame turned the disposal of Mistress Dee’s ‘accident’ over to her, she was ready. It was time. She was sick and tired of it. They really didn’t have to kill them. They didn’t.

Ho liked her, she’d made sure of that and since he was both the youngest of the men who worked here and the newest as well, he was easily lead and perfect for her plan.

She’d simply tell Ho where and how to dispose of the body and he would do it. The other men didn’t care for the job much so the newest ones were forced to do it. Thankfully, they had all told Ho to do anything she said. She had after all been here the longest, she was Madame’s assistant and she had made sure to be very, very nice to him many times.

It would of course be found. She was sure of it, and of course she was just as sure of who would be assigned the case. She had a plan after all.

The girls who came here had been very helpful over the years. They taught her many things and in turn, she tried to teach them how to cope and to stay alive.

She’d learned many things the mistress didn’t know she knew, or she might have never left her alone in her office with access to both the phone and the computer. That was a mistake on Madame’s part.

Another mistake was letting her watch television.

After she attended to Madame this afternoon and helped her with Madame’s clubs and charity events, she would again go upstairs after the Madame was laying down for her nap, and she would simply leave. It would be that easy.

She was trusted.

Her ride would be waiting and her funds would be waiting at the bank where she had transferred them. She had managed to pocket a little over seven hundred dollars in cash to date which would be more than sufficient to get her from here to her mother’s house in Oceanside.

It, of course would be the first place they would look for her, but she only planned to stay for a few hours and then they would catch their plane. They would be back once she was sure her mother and sisters would be safe and Madame and her employees were in jail. She had it all planned. It would be in the file. The family trip would not be turned down, so before Madame could mount a search and destroy mission, they would be in Las Vegas, gambling with some of Madame’s money.

Of course, it would seem to her mother’s friends and neighbors, or anyone who asked, that they had gone to San Francisco to visit relatives, but…

Within a week a very full file on CD would arrive at that attractive young assistant District Attorneys office full of information on Madame and her clients and it would contain real names and real addresses and proof that at the very least, Madame was guilty of procuring and tax evasion. If Ning were very lucky, Madame would be indicted for slavery, for that is what she did.

She’d seen the district Attorney on television and thought she was very cute, with that short red hair and hazel eyes. ADA Russert would be appalled at the evidence and thrilled to finally solve the seemingly random murders in the area. Several confusing and inconclusive cases of badly burned young women had gone unsolved over the years.

With this much evidence, even ADA Russert’s bosses, who were sometimes clients of Madame couldn’t possibly cover this up. If she followed Ning’s suggestion she would leak it to the press as soon as possible after the search warrant was served, before Madame had a chance to clean it up. Ning had helpfully made sure the file contained the names of the few judges who frequented Madame’s brothel and suggested the ADA avoid them in requesting the search warrant.

Then Ning would have the two things she wanted most in the world. She wanted to go home, and she wanted her revenge.

At first she knew her mother wouldn’t believe her. After all Madame was her mother’s oldest sister and for years Ning had been sending letters to her mother praising the treatment she received and the education she’d been given, since Madame came and offered ‘a better life’ for her daughter. The semi-illiterate young widow was more than happy to turn her daughter over to her most honored sister, wife of a judge, to make a better life for her. After all, she was poor and with three other younger daughters to raise on her own, it was a prize beyond pearls to give her oldest the chances for a future that only her honorable sister could provide. The scars on Ning’s back and belly would help to convince her, though.

It would only be after the news broke and the arrests were made and maybe not until Ning testified, as she had every intention of doing, that her mother would truly understand how her own sister betrayed her and whored her daughter out as a child to men and women with whips and flogs.

Then the revenge would happen as Madame and the clients like Mistress Dee, who was really Darla Dunhem of Bramble Realty, and Master Blaze, who was really Joe Quillim, Fire Chief of Station 17, and Judge Dread who was really the right honorable Judge Patrick Gillam of the Superior Court and Mistress Merry, who was really Mrs. Li Huang, wife of the late Honorable Judge Da Huang, Aunt of Ning Luen, were lead to prison for murder and rape and torture.

It was only fair, after all.

By ten Thursday morning Harley and Emily were halfway to Los Angeles.

This time their routine varied as the coffee provided came by way of Emily from Harley’s kitchen rather than the wonderbrew pot of Twyla’s and instead of leaving at nine as Harley had hoped to do, they were running a bit behind due to… family issues.

The issues this family had this morning had been a fairly intensive cuddle session and a straightforward talk between Emily and her new owner, Empress, Catherine the Great.

Initially the cat was adamant that Emily go nowhere without her and Harley had to bite her lip quite firmly to keep from laughing as Emily took the cat up, sat down on a chair and proceeded to talk to her very gravely about how inappropriate her coming along would be.

When that didn’t seem to work, the writer had resorted to explaining to the small feline how cramped and uncomfortable the ride would make her and then vowing, with hand over her heart that she would be back by tonight.

As Harley and Prince Potemkin stood there watching, only the human seemed surprised when the Empress looked long and hard into Emily’s lovely green eyes, patted her human’s cheek with one delicate paw, gave her owner one cuddle under the chin and then regally removed herself from her lap, walked over to the rug in front of the glass wall, and laid down in the sun.

Emily looked like this was expected behavior from the cat and Harley looked like she’d been slapped with a trout.

Wisely the attorney said nothing, but opened the door as Emily once again grabbed her bag and proceeded out to the car.

The atmosphere in the car was cordial and unstrained as they spoke of the best ways to get Nancy to give up the information they were sure she had.

"The biggest problem as I see it will not be to get her to talk, it will be to get to talk to her at all." Harley said. "If Valerie is there she could and I think would not let us in and without a search warrant, we can’t make her do it. Then again, if Valerie isn’t there and she’s as conditioned a sub as she seems to be considering Naomi’s description of her appearance, we’re really dealing with battered woman’s syndrome." She stopped to sip her coffee. "If that’s the case we have no way of telling what Valerie may have threatened her with or if she’s so used to the abuse and the cycle of violence and making up that she’d defend her actions to us and even deny that what we know happened, happened."

Emily thought about that as she watched the empty fields outside her window fly by. She had no frame of reference for this. To the best of her knowledge she’d never met a battered woman and had the hardest time understanding how anyone would take that kind of abuse from someone they thought loved them. The concept was alien to her and made her disgusted to think about.

"I’m sorry if I’m so ignorant about this but I would think given her condition that the woman would be looking for any way out of this situation. I mean, Naomi made it pretty clear that she was apparently badly beaten. Who wouldn’t want to get away from that and press charges against the one who did it to them?"

"Well, if what we suspect is true, she’s been Valerie’s slave for a while now. Add to that the supposition that as her Mistress, Valerie has escalated the punishment while training her over a period of time and of course, if she is as notorious as we are led to believe by Naomi in the BDSM community, that all or most of her pain has been accompanied by a certain amount of sexual tension and eventually, sexual release. That can become very addicting and by the time that the true abuse started, she’d have a lot of trouble separating the punishment/reward/release from simple straight forward battery or ‘bad pain’ fueled by whim or rage." Harley sipped again and continued. "Subs are rarely aware in the beginning of where the power in the relationship truly rests and I’m sure from the personal knowledge I have of Valerie, she’d make very sure that it was understood from the outset that Nancy was to do and be only what Valerie told her. The SSC or RACK rules wouldn’t even come into play with Valerie" She shook her head. "I’d bet even money Nancy couldn’t tell the difference between her role and her rights by now. She is most likely completely Valerie’s creature and has very little personal power or self esteem beyond that which is allowed by her Mistress."

Emily was silent after that for quite a while and it took a minute for Harley to realize how much she had revealed of her knowledge about the subject. When she did she had to wonder what Emily was thinking about it all, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask or even look at her. She used that wonderful peripheral vision and saw Emily concentrating intensely on the dashboard with no visible emotion on her face to determine what she was thinking.

Emily was thinking .She was thinking in a half dozen directions at once. She thought about her near miss or hit with Valerie at the party. She thought about her secret desires and what they meant and what she wanted. She thought about all the in depth knowledge Harley seemed to have on the subject matter. Was it professional or personal knowledge? She wondered if the attorney had, at one time, a case in which research in to the subculture might have been needed. Was that where she got her information? Was it more than that? Was that only the beginning of her research? She thought about how that might impact her if that was true. If their relationship headed in the direction the writer wanted it, was that what she wanted, too?

Then she thought about the set look on Harley’s face when she spoke about her ‘personal’ knowledge of Valerie? Just how ‘personal’ was her knowledge?

"You speak of Valerie as if you know this, ahh, aspect of her interests pretty well. Do you?" Emily thought about easing into the question with the Sheriff a trifle more subtly than she ultimately asked it and then rethought that. Maybe it was time for some plainer speaking between them? So far, it was working.

It took a long time for Harley to answer.

Darla Dunham, Mistress Dee, did not deal with disappointment well. She’d never admit to it, but her father had spoiled her as a child, giving into her every whim, making excuses for her bad behavior, lying to keep her out of trouble and quite literally stealing to see to her comfort. She’d never learned self control. She’d never had much use for it.

This morning she was very disappointed.

Because that idiot, Valerie, had once again taken it on her head to make decisions that were not rightly hers to make, everything she’d worked for could be in jeopardy.

This plan had been years in the making and the doing, and she wasn’t going to stop until she got her thousand pounds of flesh. The bitch was making it very hard for Darla to do what needed to be done to get the revenge she so needed against the goddamnned Ravensdowns. Against Harley. This angered her greatly. What made her angrier still was that the whore was still nowhere to be found.

Her little pet, Nancy, said that she had gone away on business and Eli, the redheads little punisher, didn’t know where she was either. All of the information he had, had been extracted from him before he was no longer useful.

It hadn’t taken too long to empty the man of everything he knew or thought he knew about his Mistress. Forty minutes later she was finishing wiping up the mess off the kitchen floor when she once again wondered, Why do they always piss?

She’d burned the paper towels she’d use to wipe up and pulled the throw rug back over the door in the floor leading to her private ‘playroom’. It wouldn’t do to leave any obvious forensic evidence on her kitchen floor. Eliminations could be so messy.

After washing her hands she’d poured a drink while she decided what exactly, if anything she needed to do about the incompetent Eli’s little accident. She’d glanced at the clock. It was just a few minutes past seven.

Since it had been such a tiring, but rewarding evening and was now early morning, she went to bed.

The whole of the next day was spent phoning every number Eli had given her and making up a whole host of scripts to get the people at the other end to give out any information they might have about Valerie or her whereabouts

All of last night had been spent driving to most of the locations that had no phone number and coming up empty again.

And now it was another day and still no Valerie.

If all of the late Eli’s leads to find the hole the stupid slut had hidden herself in turned up empty, there was always a trip south to see the broken little toy again and maybe break her just a little bit more until she came up with Valerie’s likely hideaway. She probably knows something she doesn’t know she knows. People often do. They so seldom pay attention to what’s right under their nose.

She counted on that.

On a hillside just south of the highway and only twelve miles from the turn off that would take you to Bramble, the body of a young woman lay face down in the dry grass, covered by flies.

Unlike the other bodies through the years that the Madame had asked her to get rid of, this body wasn’t burned beyond recognition, it wasn’t unclothed and it wasn’t left more than thirty miles from the Madame’s home.

This time Ning wanted that body found. Her time here was nearly finished and her plans were set.

By evening she would be gone and living a new life with a new name and several thousand dollars would be hers.

Madame would have to pay. After all, she was family, and one should always take care of family.

The non-descript, totally unremarkable man was on his daily walk and though to the passerby he seemed to just be taking the air, his eyesight was keen and he was looking for the same things for which he always looked.

As usual he found nothing of note about and therefore nothing of which to advise his superiors.

Well, almost nothing. There was that body.

He pondered the best thing to do about that.

Getting involved with the police and making and signing a statement would draw attention to him and of course, that was to be avoided at all costs.

However….the thing needed to be found.

He thought about that as he continued his walk looking at the ground around the corpse, being very careful not to disturb any potential trace forensic evidence.

The location was problematic. The dump site was too far off the highway to be seen by passing vehicles and save for himself, the occasional nature loving hiker… and one other person; it might go for days and not be discovered.

The man knew by then, any perishable evidence may be destroyed by the insects, scavengers or the natural passage of time.

No, there was nothing for it. The body had to be discovered and that meant he had to lead someone else there. He sighed a bit. This was going to be hard. He liked the old hobo and though they had never spoken, the background check he ran on the old man was extensive. He knew what the fellow valued most of all, but his privacy and anonymity just might have to be compromised.

The problem was, it was either the old man and his dog who broke the news or himself.

Sighing sadly, he turned around and set his mind to the plan that would lead the timid old hobo and his big ugly hound to this site of death.

It had to be done.

Damn! Forgot about that bit of information .Harley considered. I might as well tell it. The way the woman snoops around it wouldn’t be long before she nails either Dani or Paris down and then it’ll come out anyway.

She sighed heavily and looked straight ahead. This was not the place or time she’d planned on having this conversation but she had gotten herself into this, so she had to tell it.

"You know we were dating for a while?" Harley briefly glanced over to Emily who simply nodded.

Her voice lowered a bit and she said. "I know you recall what I said to you about not moving too fast and getting to know someone before becoming physical?"

Emily bit her top lip and nodded again. The writer could clearly see the signs of reluctance on the Sherriff’s face. Whatever this was going to be, Harley sure didn’t’ want to tell her about it. For a quick second she thought about telling the woman to forget it, but she tamped that down when she realized that this was going to be something she probably needed to know. It was probably something both about Valerie’s personality and therefore, important to the case they were working on, as well as a window into what went on in Harley’s mind about relationships and intimacy.

"The first few weeks it was fine." She shook her head. "No, the truth is the first few weeks she played me. And I bought it." She shook her head again. "She must have spent some time checking me out because for all intents and purposes she was very like the kind of woman I’d be interested in, but… Anyway, the last few days we saw each other she was pretty much in my personal space all the time. I tried to be flattered and relax around her but I just couldn’t. Looking back on it I’m pretty sure my subconscious was trying to warn me that she wasn’t all she seemed, but I was lon…I just didn’t listen."

"We’d been doing the standard date thing. You know movies, dinners, hikes, long phone calls, and then, that last Friday she wanted to go clubbing." Harley smiled and glanced at Emily. "If you haven’t figured it out we don’t have any clubs in Bramble so the nearest place to hit was a little lesbian bar in Santa Barbara…or so I thought.’

"She told me she wanted to take me someplace new. I figured okay, what the hell. Then she told me she wanted it to be a surprise. Next thing I know, I’m belted into her car, I’m wearing a blindfold and she hands me a travel mug filled with ‘Long Island Iced Tea,’ she said."

Harley let go a long slow breath. "I have only vague recollections after that. I seemed to remember walking from the car to somewhere with steps, soft lighting, music, something cold in my hand, then that’s it. The next thing I know for sure was waking up on a bed in a strange room and it’s sometime mid-afternoon of the next day. My head hurt and I felt fuzzy, not hang-over fuzzy, more like when you come out of anesthesia fuzzy. I sat up and just as I was trying to put it together, Valerie comes in with coffee and proceeds to tell me that I passed out in the car on the way and she felt it would be better to bring me to her little cabin until I felt better….since it was on the way. On the way to where I never found out."

Emily’s eyes got huge and before she could say anything, Harley continued. "I know, I may come from a small town but I’m not an idiot. I was pretty sure I’d been drugged, but I was fully dressed except for my shoes and lying on the bed, not in it, covered with a comforter. And I was alone. Only my shoes were off. I couldn’t figure out what it was she gave me or why, since I seemed to be waking up the same way I went to sleep. I did an academy award winning job of acting nauseous, and asked if she’d drive me home. She bought it and went on and on about how she was so sorry if she was responsible for my condition, and how she didn’t know I couldn’t hold my liquor, ha, ha. ha, you know? I just agreed with her and moaned and held my stomach until she dropped me at my door. I refused to let her in saying I just wanted to take some medicine before I threw up."

Harley ran a hand through her hair. "The minute Valerie was gone; I called Hobie and asked him to come over to see me and to bring his bag. I asked him to draw some blood, and check it for anything odd, particularly anything that might make me sleep."

"Rohypnol." Emily said.

"Yeah, that was my idea, too." She sighed. "No luck. Could have been BHG. It dissipates in the body after twelve hours. Whatever she gave me either doesn’t leave any chemical trace or had already dissipated."

"Did he do a vaginal exam?" Emily asked.

Harley’s mouth dropped open and she nearly shouted. "Emily! He’s my BROTHER!"

"Oh, yeah." A very chagrined Emily smiled vaguely and said in a very small voice. "Sorry."

Harley huffed a bit then answered in the same small voice. "No. No one did."

"What?"

"I know it was stupid, but hindsight is 20-20. Anyway, at first I didn’t feel anything in any way, well, different down there, you know. It just never occurred to me she’d go that route. My first thought was that she drugged me for some sort of industrial espionage purposes, you know, to get information about what Dad and Wilson are doing and the way the company is headed. You know inside trader kinda stuff. Goddess knows she’s cheap enough. For a multi-millionaire, I paid for every date. Anyway." She cleared her throat. "I just didn’t’ think she would do that. I mean, what woman would think to do that to another woman, and up until then I thought we had some sort of real relationship, ya know?"

"Yeah.’ Emily said softly. She could see that this incident really bothered Harley. As well it should! It was obvious she was angry with herself and Valerie, but more than that she was humiliated. Emily understood why. Here she was, an attorney, and she missed the signs, not to mention a part time Sheriff. Beyond that, Emily could see small glimpses of something else in her eyes and body language. It took her a moment to get it, but then it registered. She was hurt.

Emily wasn’t sure she should ask but she had to know. "Well, did she?"

Harley swallowed hard. "Yeah. After I dumped her she made a point to tell me what she’d done and how much fun it was. She said she just got tired of waiting and decided ‘she’d been a good girl for long enough and it was time to just take what she wanted.’ She said nobody ever said no to her and no one ever walked away and she knew that I wouldn’t either." She shook her head. "She was so arrogant! She said, she was used to always getting what she wanted and that I needed to remember it was all about her and what she wants. If I was a good little pet, and remembered to be grateful, she said, she’d make me very glad she chose me. She actually said, she’d have me ‘trained up’ in no time. At the time I was just so mad, I knew I had to get out of there before I ended up in jail. It would have been justifiable homicide, but I know my Daddy wouldn’t have liked it."

"The bitch!" Emily hissed. "You did arrest her for this, right?"

Harley shook her head. Before Emily could go off on her like she was sure the writer was about to, she held up her hand and said, "I couldn’t. I had no evidence. There was nothing in the blood tests. I had no marks I could prove she made. No one heard her confession and the whole town knew we had been dating. All she had to do was deny it."

Emily fumed. She fidgeted. She clenched her fists and then her jaw and then her fists again. She mumbled, and then she started smoking and chained smoked all the way to Los Angeles.

Harley spent a few minutes trying to calm herself down. Telling it brought it all back and she had to work at letting the anger go. By the time she was calm enough to talk about something else, she noticed the righteous indignation on Emily’s face and had to smile. When it didn’t go away after several miles, she once again reminded herself not to get on Emily’s list and tried to think of a way to calm the small woman down.

She was a little worried about that blood vessel in Emily’s forehead bursting.

TBC