CHAPTER NINE
This was the trouble, she thought, with researching on the Internet. The sheer bulk of information. She figured it would take about a hundred years to wade her way through this lot. She rubbed her neck and stretched. Still, she was lucky the place was set up for the Internet, she guessed. Everything here was pretty cozy. An image of Allison came to mind and Michaela felt the dull ache of loss again.
She shook it away. Allison wasn’t what she had pretended to be. Michaela was just another sucker. Trisha being here proved that all too well. Michaela sniffed and stood up just as Trisha came into the room.
‘Got any coffee?’ Trisha asked. She glanced over at Michaela’s laptop. ‘How come you’re so bloody fine and perky today anyway? You drank plenty last night if I remember.’
Michaela poured her a mug of coffee. ‘Lot’s of water before bed,’ she said, by way of explanation, shrugging.
Trisha gave her a disgusted look and took the mug. ‘Maybe I’m coming down with something,’ she said.
Michaela laughed. ‘You look healthy enough to me. Come on; you’re just exaggerating. What’s the real problem?’
Trisha shrugged. ‘No problem.’
Michaela backed off. ‘If you say so,’ she said.
Trisha sat down at the table. She nodded toward the computer and yawned. ‘So what’ve you found out?’ she asked.
‘Elementary, my dear Watson,’ Michaela said, sitting back down at the table and swiveling the laptop around so Trisha could see the screen. ‘I’ve discovered that ours was a very unusual light.’
Trisha interrupted her. ‘Well, we knew that. I told you I’ve never seen one here before and I’ve stayed here five or six times. I would have seen them before in all that time, surely.’
Michaela wanted to ask about why she stayed so often, but she stopped herself. It was none of her business. ‘I would have thought so,’ she said instead. ‘And others would have seen them, so I was expecting to find stories of them in this area. But there was nothing. So to my mind, that kind of blows the gas theory. But that’s not the real discovery I made.’
Trisha leaned forward and looked at the screen. ‘Okay, I’m listening.’
She was too, Michaela realized. ‘Well, apparently ghost lights don’t explode as ours did. All the sightings I read about, they were lights that blew out like candles after a few minutes or even seconds. No explosions, no sound effects, and no residue.’
Trisha looked at her and raised her eyebrows. ‘Interesting,’ she said. ‘So it wasn’t one of these ghost lights, then.’ She indicated the pictures on the computer.
Michaela shook her head. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘I think it was something else.’
‘What?’
Michaela shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Yet.’
Trisha slumped back in her chair. ‘That’s a bit of a letdown,’ she said. ‘So what now? Do we just forget about it? Or do you know some geeky guy to send your sludge off to?’
‘I wish I did. We just keep our eyes open.’ She nodded. ‘That’s it? Shit, Sherlock, that’s the crummiest plan I’ve heard.’
Michaela stood up and leaned over Trisha’s chair. ‘Got a better one?’ she asked. Trisha stared up at her, the feline smile back on her face again. ‘Baby,’ she said and drew a finger down Michaela’s neck. ‘I always have a plan.’
Shivers were sliding their delicious way down Michaela’s spine. She smiled and straightened. ‘I’ll bet you do,’ she said.
Trisha stood up. ‘What’s wrong with you?’ she demanded.
‘What do you mean?’ Michaela stood still.
‘You.’ Trisha shook her head. ‘You come on to me then you back off. Off and on again till I’m getting dizzy. What’s with you?’
Michaela opened her mouth then snapped it shut again. Trisha stood in front of her, face upturned and all those wild curls tumbling everywhere. A tiny smile crept onto Michaela’s face. Tough chick with the look of a romantic poet’s wet dream.
‘What are you smiling about?’ Trisha said. ‘God, you’re an asshole.’ She went to turn away.
Michaela reached out and stopped her. She swung her back around and cupped her hands around her face. She leaned down and kissed her. She burrowed one hand into that mass of curls and pulled Trisha closer with the other, skimming it over her shoulders and down to her waist. Trisha’s lips were soft and unaware at first but within seconds she was wrapping her arms around Michaela, kissing her back with a fiery heat that flashed and burned between them.
The kiss ended and they released each other, stood back and looked at each other. Michaela pressed her fingers to her lips.
‘Sorry,’ she said.
Trisha gaped at her. ‘For what?’ she asked and in one smooth movement was pushing Michaela against the table, hands questing after skin, lips opening against hers again.
Michaela let herself go. The rain played against the roof as they embraced, creating their heat. In a minute Trisha grabbed Michaela’s hand and led her out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom.