isn’t,” she said firmly. “I didn’t see or hear anything.”
He wasn’t surprised. The tongue hadn’t been there when she’d arrived home, so it must have been delivered in the middle of the night while she was sleeping. Polinsky was checking with the neighbors to see if anyone had seen the person who’d left it. Marcus doubted anyone had. Even if one of her neighbors had been awake at that hour, he suspected the perpetrator would have done everything to make it impossible for anybody to identify him or her. It shouldn’t have been a difficult task, given the weather and the kind of bulky winter clothing most people were wearing these days. This person seemed determined to prevent Regina from revealing something. After going to this much trouble, they weren’t going to risk having their identity revealed by getting caught leaving the tongue on her porch.
He also didn’t doubt the tongue had been left by the person who’d cut it out of Jeremy Decker’s mouth in the first place. It wasn’t exactly a gift someone could ask a second party to deliver. It was too personal. Everything about this was too personal.
Marcus didn’t tell Regina Garrett any of that. She looked unsettled enough—rather understandably, he thought as he studied her. They stood in her living room—she’d declined the opportunity to sit—as the crime scene techs photographed what she’d found on her porch and collected it for evidence. Her expression was calm, but her posture gave her away. She was ramrod straight, her spine stiff, her arms folded over her chest. One hand stroked up and down the opposite forearm absently as though she was subconsciously trying to comfort herself. His gaze lingered on the motion, and he felt something clutch in his chest.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked before he could stop himself.
“I’m fine,” she said with a tight smile, then sighed gently. “At least as fine as I can be. I’m past the initial shock of finding…it at any rate.”
He nodded, not sure if he should believe her.
As though confirming his doubts about her emotional state, she cleared her throat softly and asked, “Is it all right if I use the bathroom?”
“Of course.”
With a tight nod she turned and started out of the room. When Marcus realized he was watching her walk away, he immediately lowered his eyes and slowly exhaled, releasing the air that had been pent up in his lungs.
He’d spent the past twelve hours trying not to think about Regina Garrett. Her open, lovely face. Her soft, inviting scent that had stayed in his vehicle long after they’d parted ways. It should have been easy. God knew he had plenty of other things to think about, a million other subjects fighting for his attention. But somehow his thoughts had kept being pulled back to her. Even after he’d gone to bed, he’d lain awake for far too long, and what he’d thought about was her.
Then, just when he’d finally settled in at work that morning and found the means to push her out of his mind, she’d called with the news of her discovery. And so here he was, in the home of a woman he couldn’t seem to get out of his head. A woman who, despite the shock of what she’d found, looked even better than he’d remembered.
He gave his head a brief shake. He didn’t know what it was about her that had grabbed his attention so firmly and refused to let go. Yes, she was beautiful, but he’d met beautiful women before. Maybe not as beautiful, maybe not in the same way, but beautiful nonetheless. Yet there was something different about this woman. From the very first moment he’d seen her, he’d responded to her in a way he never had to any woman before and couldn’t seem to shake. But whatever the reason, this wasn’t the time and these really weren’t the circumstances for him to be thinking about her like that. He was pretty sure he had no business thinking about this particular woman at all.
Seeking a distraction, Marcus scanned the interior of her home, trying to get a sense of the woman who lived here—strictly for the case. It was a two-story, single-family house, and she’d already told him she lived alone. It wasn’t the kind of place he would have pictured her living, but the woman seemed to be full of surprises, and now that he was here, he had to admit it seemed to fit her.
She appeared to be neat, but not fanatically so. There were enough signs that the room was lived in—a few magazines tossed on the coffee table, an afghan loosely folded at the end of the couch—without too much unnecessary clutter. There were no Christmas decorations on display. She had no tree, no wreath on the door. Even in the light of day, he’d noticed that hers appeared to be the only house on the block without any lights or displays outside. It was something they had in common, he acknowledged before he could think better of it. He hadn’t bothered with any decorations at his place, either.
Not comfortable with the comparison, Marcus glanced toward the front door, hearing the sounds of Polinsky talking to the techs outside. He noticed, not for the first time, that there were two matching suitcases lined up neatly in the entryway, as though ready and waiting to be carried out.
He was staring at those bags when she reentered the room. She did look better now, like she’d taken the opportunity to gather herself. If anything she looked even more beautiful.
He saw she’d noticed where his attention had been focused. He made himself ask the logical question. “Going somewhere?”
“I’m supposed to be on vacation at the moment,” she explained. “I had a flight out this morning, but obviously I couldn’t go.”
That explained the lack of holiday decorations both inside and outside her home. She hadn’t expected to be here for the holidays. He wondered where she’d been going, who she’d been going with. A boyfriend? He pushed the thought aside. Whatever the answer, it was none of his business.
Polinsky chose that moment to walk through the door. “The guys are done out here. They’re going to take off. What about you?”
“Yeah, I think we’re done,” Marcus said. “You get anything from the neighbors?”
“Nobody saw anything.” Polinsky turned his attention to Regina, the gleam that entered his eye sending a warning through Marcus’s system. “Pretty nasty Christmas present, huh, counselor? Must have given you quite a scare.”
On the final words, his mouth twitched. Marcus had to fight back a sudden surge of anger. When she’d called to report her discovery, Polinsky hadn’t been able to keep from smirking, seeming to take a particular pleasure at the news. Not unexpected given how he felt about her, but not one of his finer moments as far as Marcus was concerned. It was one reason he’d insisted on taking Regina Garrett’s statement, even though he hadn’t really wanted to and Polinsky had been more than willing to talk to her in this instance.
Regina met Polinsky’s gaze calmly, seeming unruffled by his hostility. “It was certainly an experience I could have done without.”
“So how about it, counselor? Seems pretty clear somebody doesn’t want you talking about something your client told you. You ready to tell us what that is?”
“As I’ve already told Detective Waters, I don’t know what it is.”
“I know what you told him. I thought this might have jogged your memory.”
“My memory is just fine, and I can’t be reminded of something I never knew.”
From the way his lip curled, Polinsky didn’t believe her. Marcus wasn’t surprised. Considering Polinsky’s feelings and everything he’d heard about her, it made sense he would assume she was trying to be difficult, keeping relevant information from them, viewing him as much the enemy as he did her. The only truly surprising part was that Marcus didn’t feel the same way. He believed her. He just wasn’t sure he wanted to examine his reasons for that belief.
Before he could say anything, Regina turned toward him. “I’ve been thinking. We need to talk to Lauren Decker again. Now that she’s had a chance to absorb the news of Jeremy’s death, she may be more forthcoming.”
Marcus didn’t miss the glance Polinsky shot him at her