I've got to get out of here.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

After waking up, Bodie wandered over to the gazebo. He slipped his fingers through the cool water of the spa, and remembered last night in the swirling heat, Pen so beautiful, Melanie topless and flirting and later bottomless as well, so urgently striving to keep Bodie's attention from her sister.

Where is she now? Crouched in Harrison 's closet? Hiding beneath his bed? Maybe caught.

He supposed he should do something about it, but what?

Stepping around the wooden platform, he found the controls. Turn a k.n.o.b, flick a switch, he could probably get the water hot.

Go ahead.

He did.

The machinery hummed and the clear surface stirred a bit. Lowering an arm into the water, he felt along the side until a warm current pushed at his wrist.

He returned to the house. Upstairs, he found the bikini trunks he'd worn last night and put them on. With a towel draping his bare shoulders, he went down to the kitchen. He took a beer from the refrigerator, opened it, and walked out to the spa. He climbed in.

The water made him shiver, but he sat in front of the lead-in pipe. The water from there blew warm against his back.

He was sitting where Pen had sat last night.

Closing his eyes, he pictured the way she had looked -her face shimmering in the red glow, her blond hair the color of a harvest moon, a few damp locks clinging to her forehead, the shiny satin of her wet shoulders, the way the water rippled over the tops of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

The water felt warmer, now.

'Hi.'

Bodie's eyes flew open. For a moment, he couldn't believe that Pen was standing there. But she was, oh yes. 'h.e.l.lo,' he said.

'I didn't think anyone was here.'

'Just me.'

'Where's everyone else?'

'Joyce is stilla out.'

Pen nodded, an angry look flaring for a moment in her eyes.

'Melanie's sort of abandoned me here.'

She climbed up, left her sandals on the platform, and sat on the edge with her legs hanging in the water. 'It could be hotter.'

He shrugged. His heart was thudding.

'I freaked out a little bit, staying over there alone.'

'I called you earlier.'

Her eyebrows lifted.

'I guess you weren't home.'

'I haven't plugged in my phones. Not yet. Who knows, maybe never.'

'That bad, huh?'

'I know it's silly.'

'I don't think so.'

'Thanks. What did you call about?'

'Why don't you put on your suit and come in?'

'Is that why you called?'

'I called about Melanie.'

Pen nodded for him to go on.

'We went back to Harrison 's. First, we went to the police station, but we didn't find out much. Then we went to Harrison 's. He and Joyce were still there so we came back to the house and Melanie phoned him - said your father had come out of his coma and wanted to see him.'

'Are you serious?'

'It worked. We sped back there and he was gone, so we broke into his garage for a peek at the Porsche.'

'What do you mean, you broke in?'

'Melanie smashed a window.'

'Jesus H. Christ, and you let her do all this stuff?' Pen didn't sound angry at him, just perplexed.

'Well, not exactly. I didn't know what she was up to. When she phoned Harrison with that wild story, I had no idea what she was going to say till it was out of her mouth. Even then, I couldn't believe my ears. The same with breaking the garage window - she just did it. I was ready to call it quits, and the next thing I know she's driving her elbow through the gla.s.s.'

'You were supposed to stop her from doing crazy stuff. That was the whole idea behind investigating Harrison.'

'Well, part of the idea was to look for evidence.'

'Did you find any?'

'The Porsche looked fine. If he's the one who hit your father, he must've used a different car.'

She nodded, 'It figures. He's too smart to use his own car for something like that.' Leaning back, she braced herself up with stiff arms. She rolled her head around as if trying to work kinks out of her neck muscles. Her untucked plaid blouse had slipped upward, showing a triangle of skin between the last b.u.t.ton and the waist of her shorts. At the top of the opening was her navel. A little more belly was exposed as she raised one hand to rub the back of her neck.

'Headache?' Bodie asked.

'Not yet. Just a stiff neck. I've been a little tense.'

'The hot water would do it good.'

'You're determined to get me in there.' She smiled slightly as she said it.

Bodie smiled back. 'Nah.'

'All we'd need is for Melanie to come back and find me in there with you.'

'Not much worse than if she'd found me in your bedroom last night.'

'True. But I don't think we should press our luck. Where is she, anyway?'

'I'm not exactly sure.'

'Where do you think she is?'

'In Harrison 's house, spying on the suspects.'

'What?'

'I don't know for sure.'

Pen sat up straight. Frowning, she leaned forward a bit as if to hear him better. Her hands settled on her thighs. 'She's in his house?'

'That's my guess. When we were there before, the back door was unlocked.'

'So she went in, of course.'

'We both did.'

'Good G.o.d.'

Bodie shrugged. 'I figured, what the h.e.l.l, we'd already broken into the guy's garage.'

'So did you find anything in the house?'

He ran a few euphemisms through his mind. s.e.m.e.n by any other namea 'There was some indication that they had, indeed, been making the beast with two backs.'

Pen blushed. She said, 'You're so literary.'

'A regular Robert B. Parker.'

'Nothinga more incriminating?'

'We didn't linger. I dragged Melanie out of there as fast as I could.'

'But you think she's there now?'

'She wasn't exactly eager to leave. We no sooner got back here than she took off in my van. That was around one o'clock. She's been gone ever since.'

'That was almost three hours ago!'

'I know, I know. And I'm just sitting here.' Reaching back, he picked up his bottle of beer and took a drink. 'Want some?'

'Bodie!'

'Have you got any ideas?'

She reached out a hand. Bodie stood. She glanced down his body and quickly away as he waded forward a step and gave her the bottle. She drank from it, head tilted back and eyes sliding shut for a moment. She handed the bottle back to him. 'Thanks.' She rubbed her hand on her bare thigh. It left a moist smear.

Bodie sat down, the hot water climbing to his shoulders. He raised the bottle to his mouth, felt it against his lips. Seconds ago, Pen's lips had been here.

'That stupid d.a.m.n idiot,' she muttered. She shook her head. 'Sorry. I shouldn't bea What were you planning to do, just wait around and hope she comes back?'

'Something like that. If she is in Harrison 's house, she's hiding somewhere. So she might not be able to just take off when she wants to. Basically, she's stuck there until she can find a chance to sneak out. Even when the chance comes, she might not take it. I mean, the girl has to be pretty desperate or she wouldn't have gone in there in the first place. She probably figures this is her last, best chance to get the goods on those two.'

Pen was nodding. She understood and agreed. 'On the other hand, maybe she's been caught.'

'I know.'

'What if they are the ones whoa did this to Dad?'

'Then Melanie's in plenty of trouble.'

'Or worse.'

'But if they haven't caught her and we go charging to the rescuea'

'We can't just wait.'

'We don't want to blow it for Melanie, though. She'll never forgive us if we rush in and pull her out before she's had a chance to hear something really incriminating.'

'I can live without her forgiveness. I've been getting along without it this long.' Pen's eyes took on a frantic look. 'He's got a gun, Bodie. Harrison has a gun.'

'All the more reason not to charge in on him.'

'I bought a shotgun today.'

'Oh, great. We can have a shoot-out.'

'He might kill her. I know him. He's capable ofa almost anything.'