Free Broken Vows Mystery 03-In Sickness and in Death by Lisa Bork Page B

find your sister, tell her to stay away from my husband.”
    ____
    After Danny went to bed, I climbed into the bathtub and tried to soak off the lingering sleaze dust I’d picked up inside the strip club. I hadn’t been able to think of anywhere else to look for Erica when we left there, and I knew Danny should be in bed by nine before his first day at Wachobe Middle School.
    I must have dozed off in the tub because the next thing I knew Ray was sitting on the side of the tub, giving me a soapsuds beard.
    He bent to kiss me on the nose as I wiped away his handiwork.
    “How was the rest of your day? Did you find Josie Montalvo’s body?”
    “Not even a lead. She rented her apartment a little over a month ago. Her landlord didn’t require any information from her, just a $500 deposit, which he’s now going to have to use to hire a professional service to clean the blood off her bedroom carpet. They released the scene today.”
    “I went to The Cat’s Meow to look for Erica tonight.”
    “I heard. Briana called Gumby.”
    “I have no secrets, do I?”
    Ray gazed down at my body. “Not without the soapsuds.”
    My cheeks burned. I tried to attribute it to the hot water, but the temperature of my bath had turned cold long ago. “Could you hand me a towel?”
    He rose and pulled a bath sheet off the rack, holding it out so I could step into it.
    I would have preferred to have him hand it to me and leave the room. Even though we’d been together for over fifteen years, I felt a little shy to step out naked in front of him. I knew where it might lead, and I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had sex. Most likely it had been in the days following Noelle’s departure, when I’d been inconsolable no matter what Ray tried.
    I could tell from the look on Ray’s face what he’d like to try tonight. My hands started to shake even as I told myself how ridiculous it was to feel nervous with Ray.
    Erica’s nonsense about becoming a born-again virgin crossed my mind. Absurd. Totally absurd.
    I stood and stepped over the side of the bathtub with as much grace as I could muster. I slipped on the wet tile. My leg went out from under me. I flailed my arms in an effort to catch my balance.
    Ray’s arms and the towel enfolded me, holding me upright. He picked me up and set me on the rug in front of the mirror then tucked the edge of the towel in securely, brushing the top of my breast with his dry hand. He met my gaze in the mirror.
    “Tired?”
    His voice was husky.
    A tingle rippled down my back. “A little.”
    I grabbed another towel and wrapped it around my head, careful not to bump him in the shrinking room. “I took Danny to The Lincoln House for dinner and asked Bernie if any guys had shown an interest in Erica.”
    Ray’s hands pushed mine aside as he took over gently toweling my hair. “And?”
    “Bernie said she left the other night with a quiet, dark-haired guy. He didn’t know his name.”
    “A quiet one, huh?”
    Ray always says to watch out for the quiet ones. I pulled the towel from his hands and nodded. “What if the guy is a serial killer? What if he’s the guy you’re looking for?”
    He took off his badge and laid it on the countertop. “Then he picked too small a town. We’ll find him fast.”
    “Briana said Erica tried to take home a redheaded guy at the club. Do you know any guys with red hair?”
    He wrestled off his belt and laid it next to his badge. “I don’t even know any redheaded women.”
    I started brushing my hair. “I might. Cory said our new customer is a redhead. He said she had a brother. In fact, I saw a red-haired woman come out of The Cat’s Meow the day Danny stole that car. I took Erica there to pick up the Porsche.”
    “What’s her name?”
    “I don’t remember. Cory wrote it down for me. I’ll have to go to the office tomorrow.” I put my hairbrush back in the drawer. “Which reminds me, are you off tomorrow?”
    “I’m not off again until we find Josie