After tu
rning out the light, she hurried up the stairs to her room. Her cell phone was in her purse. She pulled it out and sat on the side of her bed to call him. It rang three times. Please answer, Luckey.
On the fifth ring she heard the click. “Ally?” Thank heaven. “Is something wrong?”
“I—I didn’t want you to leave.” Her voice faltered. “Surely you know that.”
“It was better I did.”
“If it’s all right, I’ll bring Silver over to your house tomorrow after work. I’ll supply the food and we’ll talk.” They couldn’t be alone at her house.
“I’d like that very much, but answer me a question. What are you afraid of?”
She gripped the phone tighter. “Of making a mistake with you.”
“In what way?”
“I’ve never been married, but you have.”
“Go on.”
Ally shivered. “It would be the most normal thing in the world for you to see traits in me you don’t like that remind you of your ex-wife.” Her voice shook. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right. I know you loved her and I didn’t mean any disrespect. I just keep putting my foot in it. I guess what I meant to say is, I’m trying to be careful with you.”
“That works both ways, Ally. Since you’re unlike any woman I’ve ever known, the possibility of comparing you to anyone else doesn’t exist.”
“But there’s one truth we can’t escape from. I am a woman.”
He let out a bark of laughter. “Yes, you are, and I’m a man. How do you expect me to respond to that?”
“I don’t know. I feel like a fool.”
“We’ll figure it out tomorrow when you come over. Call me when you leave the university, to give me a heads-up.”
“Okay. Good night, Luckey.”
She didn’t know if she could last that long. Ally knew for sure she wanted to throw out the rules she’d imposed. All she could think about was getting in his arms.
* * *
ALLY’S PHONE CALL had given Luckey his first real indication that she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. Tonight she’d been the one to reach out to him on a purely personal level. She had initiated tomorrow evening’s meeting and wanted it to be at his house, where they could be alone.
Overjoyed by this much progress, he drove home feeling a kind of euphoria he’d never experienced before. Ally was the real deal. He couldn’t believe she’d been living here in Austin since summer, right under his nose. He’d flown over her parents’ ranch while he’d been working another case.
Never would he have dreamed she lived there. They didn’t live that far apart from each other. Luckey was getting the feeling it was all meant to be. He didn’t want to think anything else.
After he got home he put the disk in the computer and stretched out on the couch in his den to practice the tone pairs. Ally had gone over the pronunciation with him tonight. The sounds were easier to understand now. He marveled over the knowledge she’d acquired. Because of it, he’d been able to delve deep into this murder case.
After half an hour had passed, he removed the disk and checked his email one more time. Nothing of any consequence showed up on the screen. Before he went to bed, Luckey looked through the remaining names from the criminal database. He scrolled halfway before he found another possible suspect.
“Robert D. Martin, known to hold a US and Chinese passport, is sought for the armed robbery of eight million dollars from a security company in Las Vegas. He took two security employees hostage at gunpoint, handcuffed them and injected them with a poison, killing them. Fled to China and is still at large. Fluent in Xiang. Has awards in kung fu and gymnastics. Aliases are: Dino Morten, Bobo Marten, Sid Marteen, Momo Demott, Angelo Martin. Carries a .32 caliber pistol.”
Luckey read the rap sheet.
Caucasian with red hair, but the passport listed him with black hair. What was his real hair color?
Age forty. Fluent in Xiang. Why?
A gymnast. When and where? Why did he come through Texas?