Blood Red by Heather Graham

you…do you think it was the man you ran into last night at the bar?”
    â€œThe cute guy?” Deanna asked.
    â€œI didn’t really see him. I don’t know how cute he was,” Lauren said.
    Deanna frowned in thought, then shook her head. “No. There was nothing…creepy about him. Now, the other guy…”
    â€œWhat other guy?”
    Deanna hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said, puzzled.
    â€œYou’re losing me. What are you talking about?” Lauren asked.
    Deanna shook her head. “There are two guys.”
    â€œTwo guys?” Lauren said, frowning. “Do you mean Mark Davidson, maybe? Mark and the man you met at the bar?”
    â€œNo, Mark is your guy,” Deanna said.
    â€œThen who do you mean?”
    â€œI…don’t really know. Maybe I had too much to drink or something, but I can’t exactly remember. But I’m sure I’ve seen…or met… two men. The one at the bar last night. His name is Jonas. I like him. He’s very sweet. And I ran into him today, right when…”
    â€œRight when what?”
    â€œWhat you said,” Deanna told her. She sounded impatient.
    â€œWhat I said about what?”
    â€œThe carriage ride.”
    â€œYou did take a carriage ride?”
    â€œNo. But I was tempted to.” She looked at Lauren. “This is crazy. You know what? I’m with you from now on when it comes to fortune-tellers. But…”
    â€œBut what? ” Lauren persisted.
    â€œThere’s someone else,” Deanna said, troubled.
    â€œThe second man you’ve seen? Have you talked to him? Maybe you’ve just walked past him a few times or something. Deanna, I wish you made sense. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    â€œNeither do I. It’s more like a feeling,” Deanna murmured. “I’m sorry. I know I sound…confused. It must be the sleepwalking.”
    â€œIt’s okay. I’m just trying to understand.”
    Deanna stopped suddenly, looking around. “It’s gone.”
    Lauren hesitated. “It?”
    â€œWhatever was watching us.”
    â€œ Who ever was watching us, you mean.”
    Deanna shivered. “No. Whatever was watching us.” She stared at Lauren with wide eyes. “It wasn’t human. I’m sure of it.”

5
    L ooking for Stephan’s hideout was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, Mark thought. He might have chosen a basement in a deserted housing complex almost anywhere. Or an old warehouse. Or abandoned industrial park.
    Somehow, he had to get a better sense of where his nemesis was making his home base.
    His next self-imposed task didn’t seem to be any easier.
    Mark wasn’t at all sure how he was going to gain access to the morgue, and it wouldn’t help him in the least if the attendants brought out Polaroids of the deceased or digital images, as was so often the case these days.
    He was pretty good at mesmerizing people, and on someone trusting, like innkeeper Lilly Martin, he could almost guarantee success. But at the morgue, there were clerks, assistants, attendants, gurney pushers…all kinds of people to get past.
    Luckily, he started out with a young woman in her mid-twenties, a picture of her husband and baby on her desk.
    The entire business world knew that confident, direct eye contact brought about the best results. And she was easy to engage. Without telling too many lies, he convinced her that he had an official reason to be there and got her to agree to let him in to see the body that had been pulled from the Mississippi.
    As it happened, the remains were in one of the autopsy rooms. Bad luck. But he was able to get into the back, and put on scrubs and a mask. With a clipboard in hand, he moved down the hallway, knowing exactly where he was going.
    To his surprise, there was a roadblock. A human roadblock.
    Most of the time that would have meant