Natalie jumped up and was striding to the phone when she heard noises outside. She rushed to the window. Two men with flashlights, talking. They walked toward the house and in a moment knocked on the front door. She had already seen one in uniform. She swung open the door. "Ted! How long have you been out there?"

"About five minutes. No lights, no sirens. Didn't want to scare off the creep, but there's no sign of anyone."

"Ted, someone was out there under the weeping willow."

"Thought that's where he was. We found two cigarette b.u.t.ts and a crumpled Marlboro package. I got the cigarette package for prints."

Natalie smiled. "You don't know how glad I am you're taking me seriously. Sheriff Meredith told me your theory about the connection among the murder victims."

"He did? I figured he just blew it off."

"Well, he didn't. He even talked to Constance Farley today. Didn't he tell you?"

"It's my day off."

Which explained his jeans and work boots. The other deputy was in uniform. "I'm sure he'll tell you about it tomorrow. He doesn't think she's a suspect."

Ted looked disappointed. "I thought I was on to something."

"I think you are, in spite of Constance 's alibi. So does the sheriff." She hesitated. "He respects your abilities, Ted."

The man's plain face slowly suffused with ill-suppressed surprise and joy. "He does?"

"Yes. He told me so." She didn't know what to say next. She might have already said more than Nick would like, but Ted had looked like he could use some bolstering. "Do you and the other deputy want to come in for some coffee?"

"No, no thanks," Ted said hurriedly. "Got to get back to write this up. Are you here alone?"

"Temporarily. Dad should be back soon."

"I'll have someone drive by once an hour anyway. 'Night, Natalie. Be sure to lock that door."

Oh, I certainly will, Natalie thought as she closed the door behind Ted. She had no doubt the watcher had been here before tonight and no doubt that he'd come again.

13.

THURSDAY MORNING.

Natalie awakened with a sense of dread she couldn't place. She opened her eyes and stared at her bedside clock. 5:55. She slipped out of bed and went to the window to look at the sky. A pale blue wave lapped at the dark sh.o.r.e of night. Birds chirped and sang. It would be a beautiful day.

A beautiful day for a funeral.

Natalie closed her eyes. How could she get through this awful day? She took a deep breath. As bad as this day would be for her, it would be much worse for Lily. Oliver, too, but he had Viveca. In fact, he seemed to have shut out Lily and turned to Viveca for strength and consolation. Natalie thought he was being cruel to Lily, but perhaps she shouldn't judge at a time like this. Still, the situation seemed odd. Oliver had always been so close to Lily-closer than to Tamara, much closer than to his delicate, retiring wife Grace. Natalie clearly couldn't ask Lily what had happened between them. In this case she would keep her own council. Maybe after the funeral the situation would right itself.

A cold, damp nose touched her and she jumped. Blaine. Natalie smiled and rubbed the dog's head. "It's early but I can't go back to sleep. I think it's time for coffee and dog food," she said.

When she reached the kitchen, Andrew already sat at the table with a mug of coffee and a piece of toast in front of him. "What? Just toast? Not the usual breakfast of a prizefighter?" Natalie asked. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? We had a prowler last night and you didn't see fit to tell me," Andrew said coldly.

"How did you find out?"

"I couldn't sleep. When I saw a police cruiser creep by for the second time in an hour, my laser-sharp brain told me something was wrong. I flagged down the car and asked."

Natalie calmly poured coffee. "I didn't want to alarm you."

"Alarm me? Natalie, you seem to forget who is the parent here."

"And you seem to forget that I'm twenty-nine, not nine." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Dad, I was going to tell you this morning. Last night you looked so tired I didn't see the point in disturbing your night's sleep, especially when the police were keeping an eye on the place. Was that so terrible?"

Andrew took a sip of coffee and gazed beyond her. "No, I suppose not. In theory."

"Okay. Let's drop it." Andrew still looked truculent, but she wasn't going to argue. "The funeral is at two."

"I know. I'm bringing Ruth. Will you be riding with us?"

"No. Lily might need me afterward so I want my own car."

"Suit yourself." Natalie could tell he was still seething. He rose, dumped his remaining coffee in the sink with a splash, and clumped out of the kitchen. Natalie sighed. An awful start to an awful day. What had she expected?

Her father left around seven-thirty to make rounds. Natalie called Lily to see if she needed anything. "Someone to lean on," Lily said plaintively. "My father acts like he's the only one suffering."

"Some people aren't capable of recognizing anyone's grief except their own," Natalie offered.

"Especially when they're encouraged to ignore everyone else by the likes of Viveca."

Lily's dislike of Viveca would be a real problem in the future if Oliver married Viveca. She felt she should say something placating, but nothing came to mind. Lily wouldn't listen anyway. "Don't think about Viveca today," she said. "Just concentrate on getting through the funeral."

"At least Warren won't be there. I guess I should be grateful for small favors." She paused. "I can hear your disapproval over the phone."

"I know you didn't like Warren, but he is dead."

"And even if he didn't kill my sister, he did have at least one affair. Do you know what finding out about that would have done to my sister? My pregnant sister? The b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d who was killed hours after you found out your murdered sister was pregnant, Natalie thought. Nick's words came back to her: "Profound grief or shock can make you capable of things you never imagined."

"Natalie, are you there?"

The doorbell rang. Thank goodness, Natalie thought, overcome by guilt for even considering that Lily could be a murderer. "Lily, someone is here. I'll be at the church a little early, and I'll be at your house later."

"I appreciate it. And I'm sorry to be such a harridan today."

"Don't worry about it." The doorbell rang again. "I have to go. See you later."

She hoped Lily would turn down the virulence a notch before the funeral. Warren 's father would probably attend, and though he didn't seem too fond of his son, he didn't need Lily popping off at him every five minutes. Natalie also didn't want Nick hearing Lily's rancor. If he seriously suspected her of murdering Warren, her hot temper could only make her look worse.

Natalie's mind was completely taken up with the problem when she opened the door. She blinked twice in the light before she recognized his tall, slim form. "Nick," she said flatly.

"Her heart pounds with enthusiasm for his unannounced visit."

Natalie smiled. "I didn't mean to be rude. I'm distracted about Tamara's funeral."

"And you also didn't get much sleep because of a prowler."

"You've talked to Ted."

"Yes. I wish you'd called me last night."

"You weren't on duty, and it was just a Peeping Tom."

Nick tossed her a skeptical look. "You don't seem like the kind of woman who calls in the cavalry over a Peeping Tom."

"You're right. After what you told me about a possible connection among the victims, I got spooked when I saw a guy watching the house."

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"No. I really only saw the cigarette burning."

"Then why are you sure it was a man?" Natalie stared at him a moment. "The height of the cigarette, although it could have been held by a tall woman."

"Ted said they found two cigarette b.u.t.ts. He'd been watching you for a while."

"I'd only been in the bedroom a few minutes."

"His bad luck was that Blaine sounded the alarm before he could watch for long." She looked at him closely. "Ted gave me the details."

"Dad also got the details later in the night when he spotted a patrol car. I was going to spare him until morning. He's furious with me, and that's without knowing I might be on the killer's list."

Nick's thick eyebrows drew together. "He has to be told, Natalie."

"I will."

"If you don't, I will."

Irritation p.r.i.c.kled through her. "This is my business."

"Not if you get killed. Then it's my business, and business has been too good lately."

Natalie felt slightly chastened. "I'll be careful."

"I have a feeling your idea of careful and my idea of careful aren't the same. I don't want anything to happen to you," he said fervently, then added as an afterthought, "or Lily or Alison."

"Who do you think the prowler last night was?"

"Jeff Lindstrom. Trudy at the diner told me he was staying at the Lakeview Motel. I checked last night, but he wasn't in. I went by again early this morning. No Lindstrom, no car, but he didn't check out."

"Then where did he go after he left here?"

Nick shrugged. "Maybe he figured he'd be the first person we'd suspect after you saw him at Tamara's and decided to lie low."

"He can't lie low forever."

"No, but he can leave town."

"Oh, great. Can't you find out where he is?"

"I can run prints from his room, although at this point I have no evidence for a warrant."

"It's a motel room."

"Rented to him, so temporarily it's his property. Natalie, this isn't television. Things don't just fall into place."

For the first time she noticed he had smudges under his dark blue eyes and lines of strain around his mouth. She also realized that, tired as he was, he was good-looking in a strong-boned, square-jawed way. Definitely not the male model type but definitely handsome.

"Why does everyone in this town stare at me?" Nick asked in amused exasperation.

Color rushed to Natalie's cheeks. She felt like she did at fifteen when she'd had a crush on seventeen-year-old Hart Sullivan. A crush? More blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Natalie, are you all right? You're flushed."

She blinked. She swallowed. She stretched her mouth in a semblance of a smile. "I'm fine. I'm just dreading today."

"Sure you are." He was all solicitous concern. She felt ashamed. Tamara was being buried today and she was sizing up the new guy in town. Worse still, he'd caught her doing it. "I'll be at the funeral," he said.

"I thought you would be." Natalie fought to regain some of her poise. "Still looking for potential suspects?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I also need to talk with Viveca Cosgrove and Oliver Peyton."

"Do you think the funeral is an appropriate place to do it?"

"No, but they've both made themselves unavailable to me," he said.

"That must be annoying."

"Annoying? It's p.i.s.sing me off. This isn't a game."

"Oliver and Viveca don't realize Lily and Alison might be in danger."

Nick sliced his hand impatiently through the air. "So what? I'm the sheriff, dammit. I'm trying to solve three murders, one of them Peyton's daughter's. The Cosgrove woman is supposed to be in love with him and to care about Tamara. I shouldn't have to chase them down. They should be eager to help me in any way they can instead of acting like I'm some nosy pest."

Natalie looked at him sympathetically. "They're both really highhanded."

"Well, they can get off their thrones voluntarily or I'll d.a.m.n well drag them off. I'm getting sick of people like Oliver Peyton and Max Bishop."