Chapter
Five
The next morning,Robbie was already chafing at the lack of activity. He’d had trouble falling asleep after seeing Alice vulnerable and beautiful in silky pajamas with her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. Worse, he’d touched her warm shoulders, been infused with her berries and cream scent, and she’d almost let her guard down for him. He’d seen longing in her gaze before she’d scrambled off the bed and put her walls back up.
He’d awoken early and done the best workout he could with no weights or equipment. At least they’d be walking a lot today.
He met Alice down in the kitchen. Price was there but only said hello to them, grabbed a protein shake from the fridge, and eased back to wait for them to have breakfast. Price had been married when he was younger, and his wife had ditched him while he was deployed. If there was anyone worse than Robbie at long-term romantic relationships, it was probably Price. The angst hanging in the air between Robbie and Alice obviously made him uncomfortable.
“What’s the plan today?” she asked brightly. She didn’t look as angry, but he didn’t love the forced cheerfulness either. His Alice was naturally cheerful.
His Alice? He wasn’t certain his Alice existed any longer.
“We get lost exploring the charm of Venice.” He smirked. “We’ll have lunch on the waterfront and there are a couple different boat tours set up for the afternoon.”
“Venice is definitely going to be charming to explore, but we both know getting lost isn’t possible. Your sense of direction is still uncanny, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll walk the restlessness in our legs out trying to get lost, though.”
“Mm. I don’t know how I’ll keep up with those long legs or your fitness level.”
She looked him over, and he felt hot clear through. Was Alice flirting with him? His heart took flight.
“I can carry you when you get tired,” he offered.
Her eyes widened, and the air was suddenly charged between them. Far too often he’d swept her off her feet, carried her, and she’d always teased that no one made her soar like he did. Then she’d kiss him and he’d be soaring as well.
“Well then. What are our breakfast options?” She went prim and sounded more like her mom than his Alice.
His Alice. He needed to stop referring to her as that in his mind. What if the term slipped out? This new Alice might rip him a new one.
He helped her pull out breakfast options. There were a variety of delicious cheeses, sliced meats, and breads with Nutella and cheese spreads. There were fruits, muesli, nuts, sliced tomatoes, olives, boiled eggs, and a quiche that he heated up.
Robbie ate a lot as he was always hungry, liking the variety of unique foods. He also didn’t know what subject to broach with her, and it was easier to keep eating than to open his mouth. He wanted to know everything she’d been doing for the past fifteen years. He wanted to know her perspective on the murders and how she was dealing with the loss. He wanted to know how close she’d been to this ‘boyfriend’, if they’d been progressing toward marriage or only casually dating. He wanted to know if she ever thought about him.
None of those subjects were casual breakfast conversation, so he shoveled more food in.
Within half an hour, they were down on the street with Price andMerrick tailing them. They’d agreed to take it slow and not lose their guards. Would this Big Buddha follow her across the ocean? The man had never threatened her, only killing those closest to her, except her mom, and claiming she’d only have him to love.
Robbie had seen the police reports. The only suspect they’d ever come up with was Preston Lavity, a close family friend who’d admitted he had a romantic interest in Alice, but they’d never dated. Robbie would like to interview the pompous punk himself. He’d met him several times with Alice and never thought highly of him. He also darkly wondered if her mom could be the one killing off her friends and boyfriend. As much as she’d despised Robbie, she might have been capable of murder if Robbie hadn’t left.
He smirked to himself. A sickly older lady likely wasn’t killing anyone. Still, he made a note in his mind to text Aiden’s research team and see if Marianne Marshall paid out unexplainable amounts of money close to the timetable of the deaths or had any questionable associations.
They started walking slowly through narrow alleyways between brick and stone buildings, coming out on ribbons of bluish-gray water and bridges every so often. The sky above them was a bright blue, but they were shaded from the sun’s heat by the buildings. He was surprised how much garbage he saw on the narrow streets of such a well-known tourist spot and no garbage cans available to clean it up.
The scenery and walk were intriguing. He didn’t feel as claustrophobic as he feared he would. For the most part, they were alone on these back alleyways. No security issues that he could see, besides how easily a sniper could lean out of a window or glide by on a boat.
Occasionally they ran into other people, found a strip of stores, saw a gondola being slowly pushed through the water with the typical long pole or a small speed boat puttering past.
Many windows were open and flower boxes were plentiful. Every time they reached a canal and bridge crossing, Alice delicately wrinkled her nose. The rotten fish, garbage, and mold scents were strong.
At first she didn’t say much, but as they progressed through street after street she started commenting on an arch, a trellis, a vault, thebuilding design, stonework, the colorful marble, or even an intriguing flower arrangement.
He liked hearing her descriptions and gaining insight into the design and some of the history of different arches or ‘vaults’. He finally asked what a vault was, and she shared insight about the architectural feature of a ‘ribbed vault’, which was a skeleton of arched ribs to support a vaulted ceiling or roof.The ribs, typically formed from stone, created a framework over which the vaulting surface was then built.
“It’s typical of Gothic architecture,” she explained.
“And you’re a fan of Gothic architecture.”
