Random Acts by Taylor Smith

Author:Taylor Smith [Smith, Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The coroner's van had arrived and the stretcher had been loaded when Dan finally headed back toward the car, supporting Laurel's arm as they stumbled their way up the brush-covered ridge. Pausing at the top, he glanced over at Claire, but if he was annoyed that she'd gotten out of the car, he gave no indication of it.

Not surprising, she thought. It was a shaken, subdued crowd that had watched the police divers emerge and gently lift the tiny, waterlogged body into the boat. A misdemeanor like hers was a minor infraction next to such a tragedy.

Dan released Laurel's arm, and they moved toward the line of cars. Claire studied the other woman. Her expression was grim, her skin pale as death. When they reached the car, Dan hesitated a moment, then introduced them.

"Agent Madden, Claire Gillespie. Claire's a reporter for Newsworld," he explained. "Also, an old friend. She came along for the ride to get an off-the-record briefing on TOTNAP."

Laurel nodded distractedly but said nothing, as if she didn't trust her voice after what they'd witnessed below. If she'd ever heard Claire's name before, it wasn't apparent. Claire felt Dan's eyes on her, though, almost daring her to say anything.

No way. Not here, not now.

Claire nodded instead at the stretcher bearers making their way slowly up the bank. "The Kirkendall baby?" she asked quietly.

Dan nodded. "Looks like."

Laurel pulled a set of car keys from her pocket. "I'd better be going. I'll stay down for the autopsy and let you know what turns up."

Dan shook his head. "Oz will send someone else. They won't likely do it till tomorrow morning, anyway."

"I don't mind coming—"

"No. I want you back working on TOTNAP. But not now," he added, his voice gentler. "That's enough for today. Go home and get some rest. Will you be all right to drive?"

"I'm fine, but—"

"Home. That's an order."

Laurel hesitated, glanced at Claire once more, then nodded and walked away. Dan watched until she'd gotten into her car and pulled out. Only then did he turn back to Claire, his own face drawn. "Ready?"

"If you are."

He exhaled wearily. "More than ready."

"Dan?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry about before — on the drive down. I really didn't mean to put you on the spot."

"Forget it. We'd better get going. Bridget and the others will be waiting with that dinner."

He opened her door, his expression unreadable. Claire slipped past him and into the front seat, feeling like a stranger, weighed down by an inexpressible sense of loss — loss of the child. Loss of innocence. And maybe, too, the loss of an old trust that might never be rebuilt.

Dan closed the door and walked around to his side of the car. Claire buckled her seat belt, then sat quietly, waiting for him to get in. Westward, the spreading gleam of estuary waters spilled into the wide Pacific, reflecting an orange sun and a sky shot with blue and purple shards of offshore clouds. It was an obscenely pretty sunset forming above the horizon. What

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