Page 87 of Guilty as Sin

She laughed. “You realize these are Paige’s.”

“Oh. Crikey.”

“Exactly.Exactly.I keeptellingher. All right, to be fair, these are some of the worst. But still. Right out of her terrible closet.”

“The uniform’s an improvement, that what you’re saying?”

“Well, no. The uniform’s terrible, too. So I guess she really has been dressing like me, if you don’t know that. Normally, she’d go through my whole closet for the plainest thing and wear that.”

“The first time I saw her,” he said, “she was wearing a pink apron and tackling a goat. I don’t think she’s enjoyed your wardrobe as much as she might have.”

“Why would she be wearing an apron? The apron’s forcooking.And why was she tackling a goat?”

“Both excellent questions. I thought she was mad as a cut snake in a sack.”

“But you talked to her anyway, or you wouldn’t be here.”

“Seems I like women that way. So why am I the scary neighbor?”

“Oh, dear. Did she tell you that? You look very handsome now,” she hurried to add. “You were just a little… ah…”

“Hairy?”

She laughed again. It was Paige’s laugh, clear and bright, and it wasn’t. He reckoned that laughter came more easily to her than to Paige, too. “Maybe just a little. Also, you glared a little bit.”

“Oh. Sorry. I was thinking, probably. That’s my Resting Killer Face, I hear. It’s effective at times.”

“You don’t like to talk to people. Except my sister. She doesn’t like to talk to people, either, so that’s good. And I’ll bet she glared back.”

“She did more than that. I think she threatened to kill me at one point. At least, it was strongly implied.”

“She’s been on edge lately,” Lily said. “But I guess you know that.”

He sobered. “I do.”

“So how is she, really? I’m asking you because she’ll tell me she’s fine. She’s ten minutes older. She thinks it’s ten years. And how did the meeting go? I’ve been scared to ask. I guess you can tell that.”

“She hurts,” Jace said, “but she’s healing. And the meeting was… interesting. I reckon Paige will want to tell you all about it. I’ll just tell you not to worry, because I think we’ve handled it.”

Lily sighed. “You sound just like her. All right. I’ll wait and make her tell me. I have my ways. But thank you for keeping her safe. She’s pretty special to me, you know? She’s pretty… she’s special. This month has been… it’s been… She says that leg thing was minor. It wasn’t minor. Ifeltit. I know. It took six units of blood. I’ll bet she didn’t tell you that. Or how many guys in the department donated blood for her. And she deserves so much better than what she’s had. She deserves everything.”

He said, “I know that, too.”

“She told you?”

“No. But I know all the same.”

When they got to the house, it was quiet and dark, except for the motion-sensing lights he’d installed at three places along the winding drive, which came on as advertised, one after the other. When he got down from the ute, Tobias let out his deep, slow welcome-bark, and Jace said, “That’s the all-clear signal,” then pulled Lily’s suitcase out of the bed and carried it up to the house.

She ran up the steps in front of him, then stopped and said, “Oh. I don’t have my keys. It’s always so weird to switch.”

“Do you do this often?”

“Not anymore. That’s why it’s weird.” She was all but dancing, and Jace got the keys in the lock fast. Lily had the door open almost before he’d finished, was flying into the house and up the stairs, and as Jace followed behind with the suitcase, the light went on in the bedroom. Paige was at the top of the stairs, and Lily was calling out something indistinct. Something that came from somewhere deep down. And rushing into her sister’s arms.

He brought the suitcase up and turned to leave, and Lily tore herself away enough to say, “Don’t go. I want to hear it from both of you. If Paige can tell me. Oh, sweetie. Oh, I’m sosorry.Do you need to go back to sleep right now? Or can you—”

“I can tell you,” Paige said. “It’s worse than it looks.”