the ramp, then it turned left at
the street and she was gone. Cade sighed once, then turned to go back upstairs.
A tall, thirtyish, brunette woman in a sharp, shades-of-green skirt and
jacket business ensemble asked, "Your wife?"
Stopping to meet her gaze, Cade said, "No. A friend." After a short pause,
he added, "A very nice lady."
The woman had ice-gray eyes like fine gemstones that were nearly on a level
with Cade's. Her face at first seemed rather plain, or perhaps she simply wore
no makeup, but her strong character shone through her features like a beacon. A
very impressive woman.
Her full lips parted and Cade realized she was speaking again as she said,
"Are you all right?"
Shaking off her spell, Cade said, "Uhm. Yes, ma'am. Sorry. You have...
unique eyes. They're a color I don't see often enough. Very lovely." With a
grin, he added, "I guess they kind of shorted out my little brain for a few
seconds. Excuse me, but I have to be somewhere shortly."
Taking his cell phone out of his pocket as he left her, he dialed Mandi's
number, even though he'd felt her watching since Beth and he had left her room
with her luggage.
Mandi answered, "Hi, Ed. Andrea's here. I've filled her in. Come on up to
the room."
"On my way, milady."
A toddler on a leash managed to get loose and came running Cade's direction
as his mother tried to call him back. When the kid neared him, Cade's arm
flashed out and snagged the kid's collar. He constrained the thrashing little
beast at arm's length as he continued talking to Mandi.
"Gimme an extra few minutes, ma'am. I have to return something to someone
down here."
Laughing, Mandi said, "So I see. Good collar, Officer Ed."
The woman arrived to collect her child and Cade got underway again. On the
fourth floor landing, he thought he heard voices and looked up and down the
stairwell. Nobody either way.
He turned a bit and listened a little harder. Some guy was trying to arrange
a rental car. The other voice he heard was apparently that of a rental agent on
a phone, and the voices seemed to be coming from the other side of the fourth
floor hallway door.
No, not the door; to one side of it. Cade stepped that direction and clearly
heard the agent tell the guy that the kind of car he wanted would have to be
brought in from the airport.
The agent's voice was much fainter than the other one, so he probably wasn't
on