"Grandpa parked his bike on a tiny little tree when he was a boy. He left it here when his family went home after summer, and the next year they skipped coming to the cabin so he could go to camp. By the time they came back, the tree had kind of claimed the bike. He decided to see what would happen."

  "Wow. This was your German grandfather?"

  "Ja. C'mon. Let's get unpacked and start looking for ways to take down the most powerful family in Seattle."

  Ari helped Dale unload the car, running back and forth to the cabin as they rain stopped and started. The interior of the cabin was musty but surprisingly not as much as Ari expected. They opened the windows to let the front room air out a little, exchanging it for the crisp ozone smell of the rain. The living room, kitchen and dining room all shared a space, separated by furniture or waist-high counters. Two bedrooms and a bathroom were tacked on to the northern side of the house as afterthoughts. The east wall was dominated by a large picture window draped by lacy, gently wafting curtains.

  Ari stood in front of the couch and looked at the layout. "Something is weird about this place, but I can't figure out what."

  Dale scanned the room and smiled. "We figured it out when I was a little girl. I always thought the same thing when we came here."

  "What is it?"

  "I'm not telling." She put the internet printouts on the couch and took off her jacket. "Where do you want to put your conspiracy wall?"

  "Right..." Ari pointed at a clear spot on the wall and then realized what was odd about the room. "The furniture isn't aiming at a television. There isn't even a place for the TV."

  Dale laughed. "Nope. This place was built before television. My great-grandpa didn't even wire it for electricity, so he didn't have a radio, either."

  "No wonder there was a Depression."

  Ari took the printouts and a roll of tape to the wall. She took out a photograph of Laura Gavin they'd printed out solely to remember what had been lost and placed it right in the center of the empty wall. She let her thumb linger on the corner of the print-out for a moment before she started hanging more print-outs.

  Dale came out of the bedroom as Ari finished with the last sheet. "My bed is made. How's the web?"

  "Constructed. Now I just have to figure out what it all means."

  Dale joined her in front of the couch and they examined the papers taped to the wall. "Five years ago, Laura Gavin started making appearances in public. She made a big enough splash that the media started taking notice of her almost immediately. After that, you could barely turn on a TV without hearing her name. Then rehab, relapse, sex tape, rehab, relapse. New sex tape?"

  "Allegedly. It was only a rumor."

  "But one that Echols believed enough to rough up the kids at that club." Dale nodded. "So the mysterious second sex tape is enough to put her in rehab a third time. Why?" She stepped closer to the wall. "There was a whole year between the release of the first tape and her time in rehab. So why was the rumor of the second one enough to get her clean?"

  "Assuming the tape is the reason she went."

  Ari shrugged. "Let's assume that."

  "Okay. Considering what was on the first tape, I can't imagine she did anything more embarrassing in the second one." She chewed her lip. "Maybe the embarrassing thing isn't the plot. Maybe she was ashamed of the cast."

  Ari looked at her. "You think she slept with someone she shouldn't have."

  "I'm sorry for putting this in your head, but... we don't know how Echols found out about the tape. Maybe--"

  "Oh, God." Ari shuddered. She looked at the web. "We know that Laura most likely lost her virginity to him. The relationship could have lasted longer than she wanted it to. What would stop him? She was basically a prisoner and he had complete control. It's no wonder she turned into a wild child once she got free."

  "But five years," Dale said. "Why would her mother wait so long to kill her? Why wait until she'd actually cleaned up her act?"

  Ari shook her head. "Because of the second sex tape? Maybe that was the straw that broke the camel's back."

  Dale cleared her throat. "Ari, I don't care what was on the second tape. Trust me. Nothing could be worse than the first one. If Katherine didn't kill her because of that, there's no way the second one would be worth killing over."

  Ari paced. Dale sat on the couch and stared at the web on the wall. The type was too small to be seen from that far away, of course, but she could see the headlines. She rested her chin on both fists and waited for inspiration to strike.

  Ari finally stopped circling. "Okay, we're the wild cards. Why did she hire us?"

  "She wanted someone to blame for the murder. If she didn't have you, the police would probably be looking at Echols since he was the only one with complete access to her life. With you in the picture, the cops don't have to look any further."

  Ari sat on the couch beside Dale. "I think she was telling the truth about one thing. I think she has cancer and she wants to make sure her family's legacy is secure before she dies."

  "By killing the heir to the family name?"

  Ari had grown very still. "No. Not the heir."

  Dale looked at her. Ari's face had gone ashen, her eyes darting over the papers. She put a hand on Ari's shoulder. "What? What's wrong?"

  "Protecting the Gavin name. Katherine Gavin wanted me to keep an eye on Laura to make sure she was still clean. Her entire goal was to make sure that the Gavin name would be safe after she died. And then I handed in my first report and told her that Laura had a boyfriend. If they got married--"

  "No." Dale turned and put her hands on Ari's shoulders to force Ari to look at her. "I won't believe that. No matter how evil Katherine Gavin is, I won't believe that she is that heinous. To kill her daughter just so she wouldn't change her last name? It's moronic, Ari. Don't beat yourself up for no reason, okay? I know that whatever motive she really had is going to sound stupid to us, but that defies credibility by any gauge. And Laura's death wasn't your fault."

  "That's why I keep you around, I guess."

  Dale smiled and looked at the web again. "Okay, so the rumors of the second sex tape came out. Echols went around trying to figure out who was involved, and apparently he succeeded. I didn't see anything about a second tape surfacing, or even rumors."

  "And that only brings up the question of how Echols knew about it."

  "Maybe the other person or persons in the video tried to blackmail the family. They called Katherine for a ransom and she sent out Echols instead. Then Katherine set up Laura's murder to prevent any further embarrassment."

  Ari narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Even though she'd already gotten clean?"

  "Allegedly clean." Dale stood up and went to the wall. She tapped the stories. "A lot of these are from the last two months, and they treat Laura cleaning up her act as a phase. One of them even compared it to Britney shaving her head and Lohan going gay for a while. None of these tabloids believed she was clean and sober."

  "She was," Ari insisted. "I saw her. She was not that person anymore."

  Dale shrugged. "You had the benefit of living with her for a weekend. You saw her when the mask was off. To everyone else, they just see the party girl hanging out at a soup kitchen and holding down a steady job. They're waiting for the other shoe to drop. We've already decided Katherine's reason for hiring you was a lie. She didn't care what you discovered because she thought she already knew the truth."

  Ari was nodding. "Katherine Gavin had cancer. She knew she was dying and she was leaving more than a century of history on Laura's shoulders. The whole sex tape thing came out, and she knew she had to do something. So she hatched a plan."

  "But then Laura got clean."

  Ari shrugged. "Allegedly clean, as far as Katherine knew. That probably worked into her plans, too. If Laura got killed after turning her life around, that makes Katherine Gavin an object of sympathy. The last scion of her family, her only child cruelly taken from her. And then the kicker... she announces she has cancer. She doesn't have long to live herself. The glorious Gavin family coming to an end. After years of living in obscurity, everyone in Seattle... hell, everyone in the nation, probably, would be watching her. She would probably use the notoriety of Laura's wild child days to raise her own stock. Everyone would be talking about the lamentable end of the once-great Gavin family."

  Dale leaned against the wall. "Oh, that is despicable. You can see her doing that?"

  Ari nodded. "Oh, yeah."

  Dale pushed her hands through her hair and puffed out her cheeks. "Then that's the theory we're going to run with. Are you hungry?"

  "A little less so, after putting together those pieces. But we should probably eat."

  Dale made sandwiches for them both while Ari poured their drinks. Ari held up her glass to Dale. "To you. For not leaving when I told you. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'd probably have given up by now."

  "To you." Their glasses met with a fragile clink. "Without you in my life, I definitely would have given up by now."

  Ari tried to pass it off as a joke. "I was just talking about the past couple of days."

  "I wasn't." Dale put down her glass. "I never told you this, but I was in a real bad place when we met. You gave me purpose, and a job, and a friend. Three things I had pretty much given up on by that point." She looked down at their sandwiches and leaned back in her seat. "But now, here comes your line."

  Ari furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

  "We're just friends, it would be too complicated so we shouldn't even try. Do you remember when we kissed in my apartment a few months ago?"

  "We agreed that you were too vulnerable. You'd just found out your ex had cancer. If I'd taken advantage of you, neither of us would ever forgive me."

  Dale nodded. "I know. And now we're on the run from the whole world, so you can use that as your excuse. We can keep up the dance." She pushed away from the table and shook her head. "Sorry. I don't even know why I brought it up." She stood up from the table and started for the door.

  "Dale..." Ari chased her across the living room and outside.

  Dale stormed off the porch and into the deluge, immediately soaked from the rain. Ari took a running step and closed the distance between her and Dale. She grabbed Dale's arm and spun her around. Dale's hair was already flattened by the rain, her clothes soaked. She looked pale, drowned.

  "I admit that I push you away. I've had to fight for everything good in my life, and I'm so scared that if I push any harder it'll all collapse. And I'm scared that if I reach for more, everything will fall apart. But Katherine Gavin took everything from me. My job and my apartment and my reputation. My whole life is lying around me in pieces, but I don't care because you're still with me. I won't let that woman take you away from me." Rain streaked down Ari's face, obscuring the fact she had started crying. "So if you're telling me you want me, I'm not going to push you away. In fact, I could use a kiss right now."

  Dale kissed Ari. Ari parted Dale's lips with her tongue and pulled her shirt out from the waistband of her trousers. She pressed her palm against the warm skin underneath and pulled Dale back to the porch, under the awning. They left the door of the cabin open as they went back inside, and Ari looked into Dale's eyes. Dale still looked terrified, heartbroken, and ready to flee.

  "We don't have to stop this time. This is the one thing I have left, and I'm not going to hold back anymore. I love you, Dale."

  "I love you, too." They kissed again, and Ari unbuttoned Dale's blouse from the lowest button to the highest. She spread the sodden material and Dale dropped the hands. The blouse dropped, revealing a cream-colored bra. She kissed the corner of Dale's mouth, followed by her cheek. She closed her lips on Dale's earlobe. Dale ran her hands over Ari's back during the exploration, her breathing ragged as if she was still crying.

  Ari let go of Dale and moved to the couch where her bag was still sitting unpacked. She took out a towel and went back to where Dale was waiting. She tenderly dried Dale's face, her chest, and then tried to dry her hair by ruffling it with the towel as gently as possible. Dale laughed, and Ari smiled. Dale moved the towel down so that it was looped around her neck and pulled Ari to her for another kiss.

  They walked to the bedroom Dale had already made up for the night. A sheet was stretched over the mattress and a blanket was folded at the foot of the bed. Dale slipped her hand into Ari's and guided her across the room. She turned and sat down on the foot of the bed, looking up at Ari before she hooked her fingers under the hem of Ari's shirt. Her hands were trembling as she peeled it up, and Ari had to help her get it up and off. Ari hadn't bothered with a bra when she dressed in the car, and Dale sucked in a breath. She'd seen Ari's breasts many times, but in platonic situations.

  Now she touched them, stroked the slight curve of them, and leaned in to kiss one dark nipple. She curled her tongue over it, her lips soft as she teased it to erection. Her fingers found the other, and she moaned as Ari stroked her hair. Ari placed one knee on the mattress, letting it rest against Dale's hip, and stared down at her. Dale looked up and met her eyes and she smiled shyly. Ari tilted Dale's head up and bent down to kiss her again.

  As they kissed, she lowered Dale to the bed and gently lay on top of her. Dale stroked Ari's chest while Ari finally spread her hand across Dale's back and opened her bra. All the massages, all the stolen glimpses Dale had gotten of Ari's naked body, Ari had never seen Dale naked. She rectified that by breaking the kiss and looking down, drawing a circle around one pink nipple with her thumb. Dale sucked a breath through clenched teeth and arched her back.

  "Ariadne..."

  She lowered her head and kissed the hollow of Dale's throat, sucking there as she kneaded Dale's breast. Dale reached down and undid Ari's pants, pushing them down her hips and splaying the fingers of her right hand over Ari's rear end to pull her closer. Ari licked up Dale's neck, kissed her jaw, and settled her weight on Dale's hip. She moved her lower body, lifting her head to look into Dale's eyes as she thrust, and Dale began to whimper. Ari's right thigh moved up, muscular and solid against the crotch of Dale's thin trousers, and they moved against each other in a slow rhythm.

  "Oh, God, Ariadne."

  Ari closed her eyes and shuddered. She didn't want to tell Dale to say her name again, didn't want to be that cliché, but God did she love the way it sounded. Dale kissed Ari's throat and chest as they moved against each other, their breathing becoming too ragged for words. Dale grunted and whimpered, holding back her orgasm. Ari sensed her reluctance and backed off, moving to one side to kick her pants and underwear away. Dale did the same and rolled on top of Ari, pinning her to the mattress.

  Ari looked down at Dale, taking in the fold of her stomach, the patch of hair between her legs that was just a touch darker than the hair Ari was accustomed to seeing. She settled between Ari's legs, and Ari put both arms around her. She slipped a hand between Dale's legs and cupped her sex, and Dale's arms trembled as her eyes rolled back.

  "Consider this payback for all those massages," Ari whispered, and Dale laughed as they kissed again. Dale's thighs tensed and relaxed as she thrust against Ari. Little moans rode on her breath, and she grinded down on Ari's hand before thrusting up against her once more. She bit Ari's lip playfully, and Ari growled before spinning them again. They hit the headboard, but the pain that shot up Ari's arm was fleeting and quickly forgotten.

  They were kissing when Dale came, her hands fluttering against Ari's side like trapped birds until they molded to her cheeks and rested their. She sobbed, laughed, and gave a final tremulous moan before her body went limp. Ari broke the kiss, but pressed her lips to Dale's closed eyes.

  "I love you, Dale."

  "I love you. I love you, Ariadne." Dale kissed Ari's neck, parting her lips to sweep her tongue over the warm flesh. "Can we do something...?"

  "Anything," Ari said. She cupped Dale's face. "What do you want?"

  Dale told her how she should be positioned, and Ari complied. She stretched out facedown on the bed and Dale, still naked, climbed on top of her. She massaged Ari's shoulders and moved her hands down. She skimmed Ari's sides, her fingertips just barely touching the gentle swells of Ari's breasts.

  She moved lower and parted Ari's legs. "Sometimes in the middle of a massage... I got the image of this. And I always thought if I had the opportunity... I was going to take it." She kissed the curve of Ari's ass, spread her legs apart, and touched her tongue to Ari's sex. Ari sucked in a breath, clutching the pillow with both arms and arching her back.

  "I don't... think I... would have objected."

  Dale snickered and pressed her tongue between the folds before retreating. Ari was already on a tightrope, and Dale was about to push her over. Dale was amazing with her hands, and she proved it by adding a finger. She stroked softly with her tongue, using her knuckle to apply pressure and part Ari's labia. Ari lifted her legs, threading them under Dale's arms. She pressed her feet against Dale's back, and Dale reached up with her free hand to touch Ari's ass.

  Ari came quickly, crying out Dale's name before she pressed down against her. Dale kept her mouth against Ari throughout her orgasm, moaning and sending the vibrations along Ari's sensitive flesh. Ari fell to the mattress like a broken thing, panting as Dale kissed her ass, her hips, the small of her back. Her tongue painted a line over Ari's spine, and Dale pressed an open-mouthed kiss to Ari's neck. Ari shuddered as Dale's tongue passed over her skin, and then Dale settled her weight on top of her.

  Dale pushed her arms between Ari's stomach and the bed. Ari reached up and stroked Dale's hip, her lips curling into a smile as she tried to catch her breath.

  Dale brushed Ari's hair out of her face and Ari craned her neck for a kiss.

  Katherine Gavin may have taken everything else in Ari's life, but she'd left the most important thing. Dale was all she needed. In the morning they would work out a plan of attack. But for tonight, for this storm, all she needed was this bed and her best friend. The rest of the world could wait until morning.

 

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