When I See Your Face. Laurie Paige

abruptly. Her head whipped around toward him, then she groaned and put a hand to her temple.

      “Sorry,” he murmured, resisting an urge to put his arm around her waist and pull her closer. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I should have guarded my tongue.”

      The smile fluttered over her lips. “Well, now that you have my attention, what did you really want to say?”

      He laughed, relieved at her humor and sassiness. “Here we are. Turn right,” he directed.

      They went into the pleasant, window-lined room. The winter sun played hide-and-seek through a thin covering of clouds. “Do you recall what the room looks like?” he asked.

      “Not really. Windows and plants, I think.”

      He described the potted trees and plants, the way the snow lay upon the rolling grounds of the hospital and on the peaks outlining the sky, the gleam of the sun shining on the red Mexican tiles.

      “I brought you a poinsettia,” he added. “You have about a thousand baskets of flowers in your room. We should have brought some down here.”

      “Good idea. I’ll tell the nurse.” She took a seat in the cane-backed rocker he directed her toward. “Now. Tell me what you saw when you went in the gas station. First, what kind of vehicles were outside?”

      “That’s what Kate’s husband asked,” Rory told her. “He wanted every detail I could recall.”

      Kate’s first marriage had ended in tragedy a few years ago. She’d recently married a cop. The man had a son, and the couple was adopting a little girl. When he saw them in town, they were the picture of a happy family.

      For an instant, he felt the strangest emotion, then realized what it was—envy.

      Not that he was still mooning over Kate, but sometimes a man felt the emptiness in his life. Like at Christmas.

      Shannon nodded. “Jess is in charge of investigations for the department. He’s grilled me, too. Between him and the sheriff, I began to wonder if I had robbed the place and shot myself to cover up the crime.”

      He chuckled at her wry grimace, which caused the dimples to flash in and out. “Let’s see, there was your SUV at the gas pump in front of my truck,” Rory said, picturing the gas station, its lights hazy in the falling snow. “A pickup was parked at the side of the building, where the air and water hoses are located. I think there was another one at the curb near the door. That was all I saw.”

      “You didn’t see anyone driving off when you arrived?”

      “No.”

      “You didn’t notice any fresh tire tracks in the snow where someone might have just driven off?”

      “No, sorry. Clues to a crime weren’t on my mind at the moment. I was thinking of home and bed. I didn’t notice anything until I walked in the store and saw three bodies lying on the floor.”

      “I told the sheriff there wasn’t anyone else. The perp had to be the other man in the store.” She sighed and raised a hand to her bandaged temple. “No one believes me.”

      Rory sensed her frustration. Lacking evidence, since the store owner didn’t remember anything at all, the sheriff had let the other man go when he was released from the hospital with only a slight flesh wound from the shooting. Without sight, Shannon couldn’t identify the man, even if he was the guilty party.

      Eyeing the thick bandages, Rory considered her future. Being blinded in the line of duty was a hell of a way to end a police career. He wondered what she would do now.

      “Take me back to my room, please,” she said suddenly, standing, her hands trembling as she reached out to him.

      He wondered guiltily if she had somehow read his thoughts concerning her future. He took her arm and led her back the way they had come. Her cousin Kate was waiting for them. Seeing her reminded him of another reason for his visit. He removed an ATM card from his jacket pocket and handed it to Kate, along with a pair of glasses.

      “The card was on the floor. I found the glasses in her hand,” he explained.

      Kate gave him a hug for saving her “second favorite” cousin. Her smile was conspiratorial.

      “Hey, I thought I was the favorite and Megan was second,” Shannon protested.

      The lighthearted tone surprised him. Studying the lady cop and her smile, which looked rather comical, coming as it did from a head swathed with bandages, Rory felt that odd pang in his chest again. She was scrappy, this one.

      Glancing at his watch, he saw it was time for him to report back to the office. “Duty calls,” he told the women. “Good to see you again, Kate. Take care, lady cop.”

      He smiled for Kate and looked Shannon over once more, finding it hard to reconcile the confident, buoyant officer who’d held the world in her hands with the woman whose hands had trembled, whose steps had been hesitant, as he led her along the corridor. She’d changed yet again when she’d realized Kate was in the room, becoming cheerful and teasing. Putting on a show for her cousin.

      He mentally cursed. Life, in case anyone hadn’t noticed, could be hell.

      Shannon sensed Rory’s concern and recoiled. She wouldn’t accept pity from anyone. Holding on to the smile she’d assumed for Kate, she thanked him again for the plant and for stopping by.

      After he’d left, she exhaled a relieved breath. Being sociable, especially with Rory, wasn’t her thing at the moment. Besides, she must look like a leftover from a Saturday-night brawl.

      The irony of being concerned about her looks struck her as she climbed into bed. As if she had nothing else to worry about except combing her hair and putting on lipstick.

      After handing Kate the robe and letting the fleecy slippers fall to the floor, she stretched out on the fresh sheets. She was as tired as a pilgrim returning home from a long dangerous trip to Mecca.

      “Wow,” Kate said softly, “Rory Daniels. The prize catch of the county. Lucky you.”

      Shannon managed a cheeky grin. “Yeah, should make local news, don’t you think?”

      “It’s already gone the rounds. I heard he was here from Betty down at the bank. He’d bought a pot of poinsettias from the flower shop. Betty’s sister, who works there, told her. I suspect she’s told the rest of the town by now.”

      Shannon laughed at the absurdity of the notion. Rory had never noticed she existed. Not until he walked into a convenience store and found three bodies on the floor, hers among them, she reflected, the internal darkness drawing around her once more.

      The nurse bustled in. “Mail call,” she said and laid a new stack of cards in Shannon’s lap. “Well, now, it’s nice to hear you laugh. I’ll put that on your chart. The doctor will be pleased. This morning he said you could go home if you continued to improve as you have.”

      Fear tightened Shannon’s throat. “I can go home?” she said, immediately worrying about where she would go.

      “To the big house,” Kate said as if reading her mind. “Megan and Grandfather are expecting you. You can stay with them until the bandages come off and you decide what you want to do next.”

      A beat of silence followed this announcement.

      “Until we know if I’m blind or not,” Shannon said, saying what they all were thinking, making herself face the possibility. She felt again the hot flash of pain, the absurdity of being shot by some two-bit crook in a convenience store in a scene straight out of a B movie.

      “Now, now, none of that,” the nurse chided. “There’s every chance you’ll be fine. You have to have faith.”

      Shannon heard the little squeaks from the woman’s shoes as she arranged a lunch tray on the rolling table. After the woman left, Kate muttered in annoyance, “And a Happy New Year to you,