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Deacon, though, who'd spent the past three years under the watchful glare of dozens of such glass eyes, he knew right away what it was.
    A surveillance camera. Apparently they didn't trust him after all.

 
    Chapter 3
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    Lisa bent to scratch behind Tabby's ears and let the fat orange cat rub against her legs. The cat loved when Lisa wore nylons, and would rub itself all over the slippery fabric until its fur stood up in great, bushy spikes. Usually Lisa tried to keep Tabby from underfoot, but tonight the animal's simple affection was just what she needed.
    "Oh, Tabby," Lisa sighed aloud. "What have I done?"
    How could she have forgotten Deacon would be at the meeting? Dad told her he'd called and offered Deacon the job, and that he'd be starting today. But when she'd walked into the lunch room for the design meeting and seen him... Well, they were all just lucky she hadn't lost her lunch in the lunch room.
    He hadn't changed much. Some silver threads had woven themselves into the thick darkness of his hair, which he now wore trimmed short instead of in silky lengths to his shoulders. The lines around his eyes had deepened, but the deep brown eyes themselves and the black brows, smooth and shaped liked crow's wings, were still the same. He was thinner than she'd remembered beneath the bulky flannel shirt and blue jeans.
    But he was still Deacon.
    At last Lisa nudged the cat away and shucked the pantyhose, now covered in cat fur, from her legs. "Yuck!" She tossed them directly into the kitchen trash, pulled a can of tomato juice from the refrigerator, and headed upstairs for a hot bath.
    Before she could even start the water, the phone rang. With a groan, Lisa flopped down on her bed and yanked the hand set from the cradle. "Hello?"
    "So?" Allegra's voice trilled through the phone line. "No movie tonight?"
    "I got a message from Terry on the machine," Lisa said dryly, knowing her sister would already have listened. "He had to work late. Where are you?"
    The background shrieking told Lisa the answer before Allegra spoke. "Kevin's."
    Lisa made a mental note to thank her brother. "Watching the kids?"
    Allegra snorted into the phone. "As if. I'm getting ready to come home."
    Lisa groaned silently. After coming home to the empty house, she'd been looking forward to an evening curled up on the sofa watching an old movie on TV. "Great."
    "Kevin said you looked like you were going to puke today at the meeting."
    Lisa gritted her teeth. "Kevin doesn't know everything."
    "Dad said he liked Deacon's ideas, but that he still wouldn't trust him with the cashbox."
    Now Lisa let out a garbled sound of aggravation. "Let's not talk about it, okay?"
    "Don't get your panties in a twist," Allegra said. "I'll be home in an hour. Get dressed. We're going out."
    Lisa sighed, rubbing her eyes. The bed was so soft, the covers thick and inviting. She had just put on fresh sheets, and her favorite pajamas were clean and scented from the dryer this morning. She had the remote control all ready.
    "No."
    Allegra snorted. "I'll be home by seven-thirty."
    "I said no," Lisa cried into the phone.
    "Wear something sexy," Allegra said blithely.
    The buzz of the dial tone came next, and Lisa slammed the phone back into the cradle in frustration. Something sexy? That meant Allegra wanted to go over to Dubois and hit one of the bigger bars. Lisa was not in the mood for a thirty-minute drive just to sit around listening to throbbing dance music and fending off drunken college guys' advances.
    She just wouldn't go, that was all. She looked at the alarm clock. Six-thirty. She'd take her bath, then maybe order a hoagie from Vito's for dinner.
    Even as she ran the water, she knew it was no use. Allegra would show up at seven-thirty, always prompt when it was something she wanted to do and invariably always late when it was something she didn't. Though three years younger than Lisa, Allegra knew how to bully her older sister into doing what she wanted. Unless Lisa