Murder of a Creped Suzette

At the first sight of Skye, Wally rose to his feet. In one swift movement he met her halfway across the office and gathered her to his chest in a fierce embrace.

She kicked the door closed, locked it, and dropped Toby’s leash, then buried her face against the strong, warm column of his throat. It was a rare moment of pure pleasure, and she enjoyed it fully.

With his lips against her hair, Wally whispered, “I’ve been thinking about holding you like this all day.” His large hands framed her face and held it gently while his dark eyes caressed her.

“Me, too.” She wound her arms around his waist and stroked his back.

“In that case, maybe I should make your dreams come true right now.”

“Here?” Skye was distracted by his thumb stroking her jaw.

“Well, your ghost makes it risky to try to make love at your place.” His words were teasing. “Half the time she even blocks my phone calls.”

Skye knew Wally didn’t really believe it was the spirit of Alma Griggs that caused things to blow up, catch on fire, or flood every time they went beyond a chaste kiss on the cheek at her house, but Skye wasn’t so sure. Just to be on the safe side, they’d gotten into the habit of hanging out at Wally’s.

“Guess I need to sprinkle some holy water around,” Skye murmured. “Or maybe get Father Burns to perform an exorcism.” The jolt of electricity where Wally’s thigh brushed her hip made it hard to breathe, let alone concentrate on forming a coherent sentence.

“Or,” he purred as he tugged off her cardigan, leaving only the thin camisole she wore underneath, “you could move in with me.” He nipped at the sensitive cord running from her ear down her neck.

“I don’t think we should . . .” Skye tried to bring both of them to their senses. “I mean, what if someone . . . ?” She lost her train of thought when he arched her body into his and locked his hands against her spine. “It wouldn’t be good if someone . . .” There was a reason they shouldn’t be doing this, but darned if she could think of it.

“True.” His lips hovered above hers as he spoke. “But right now I don’t care.”

Skye stopped trying to resist and pressed her open mouth to his. He needed no further invitation and his kiss devoured her.

A few minutes or hours or days later, a bright flash of light exploded in front of her. Wally’s head whipped around and he swore violently. Careful to keep Skye behind him, he turned toward the intruder.

At the same time, a white blur rocketed past the couple, launched itself at the guy standing in the open door wielding the camera, and knocked him down.

“Get this freaking animal off of me!” Kicking and screaming, Camera Guy tried to dislodge the little dog from his leg. “It’s trying to kill me!”

Before Skye could respond, footsteps thundered up the stairs and her mother rushed over to the fallen cameraman. May attempted to haul him to his feet, but her five feet, two inches and 120-pound frame was at a disadvantage against the much bigger man.

“Citizen’s arrest! ” May yelled at him as she struggled, making it clear that her intent was not to rescue him, but to take him into custody. “Citizen’s arrest.”

Close on May’s heels were the officers who had been working the phones.

Anthony, a part-timer, reached them first. His face was beet red and he was stammering. “Uh, Chief, I, uh, we’re, uh . . . This weasel slipped through the gate when I went to help Mrs. Denison with those dang reporters. He must’ve hid somewhere real fast, ’cause he disappeared. We looked everywhere, and were checking in the garage when we heard the ruckus up here.”

Skye stepped around Wally and grabbed Toby. Searching for a place to contain him, she finally gave up and tied his leash to the desk. After admonishing the little dog to stay, she turned and saw Wally pulling May off the downed cameraman.

Once he had separated May from the guy, Wally took the man by the arm and announced to his employees, “Okay, everyone. I’ll handle this. You all can get back to work.”

But Skye’s mother stood firm, with her arms crossed over her chest and a stubborn expression on her face.

“May”—Wally’s voice was cool and unyielding—“I meant you, too.”

At one time Wally and Skye’s mother had been close, but May’s objection to his engagement to her daughter had introduced considerable tension into that relationship. May believed Wally wasn’t young enough to father a sufficient number of grandchildren for her; plus he was divorced, an additional mark against him. He was trying to get an annulment, but there was little he could do about his age.

“I want to press charges against this jerk.” May narrowed eyes that were the same emerald green as her daughter’s. “He broke into the station, pushed me out of the way, and when I fell against a file cabinet, I tore my best uniform pants.”

“Are you all right?” Wally and Skye asked in unison.

“I guess.” May’s words were grudging. “But there’s going to be a bruise.”