Fearless

by Fern Michaels

  “Right this way,” Anna said to Mr. Lowande.

  They walked past the double staircase, toward the den. He stopped, looked up. “Can you show me,” Mr. Lowande asked, “which staircase she fell down?”

  “Of course,” Anna said. “This one.” She went up the stairs, stopping at the landing on the second story.

  He followed her. Walking along the landing, he stooped, ran his hands over the smooth oak floors. “Smooth.”

  “But not slick,” she added. “They don’t have a lot of varnish just for that purpose.” They were more natural, rough-hewn.

  “I see that.” He stepped down the first few steps, which were the same rough-hewn oak, but Anna had had slip-proof rugs made for both set of stairs, the rubber backing specifically designed to prevent falls.

  “Anyone ever fall or trip on these?” He ran his fingers along the edge of the rugs.

  “No. They’re sealed with a special glue. They’re guaranteed not to budge. Go on, try tugging at that corner,” Anna said. “Though I suppose anyone could fall; they’re not a hundred percent foolproof. As with anything else, nothing is perfect, but this is close, as far as stairs go.”

  “I see,” he said, standing. “Mind if we go to Christina’s room?”

  “Not at all.” She directed him to follow her. He appeared as though he was actually investigating a crime scene, which in essence, he was.

  Anna opened the door, stood aside as he stepped into her daughter’s room. No big mystery here, Anna thought. A typical teenage girl’s room. Purple bedcovers, pink-and-lavender pillows on the bed, with a half-dozen stuffed bears, another of Christina’s collections. These were from her many trips to Build-A-Bear Workshops when she was much younger. One bookshelf held all of her books, the Harry Potter series that she was so proud of, as all were signed first editions. Her dresser was scattered with hair ties, barrettes, and a few compacts. Blushes and powders because that’s all Anna allowed at her age. Maybe lipstick and mascara if it were a special occasion, but she wanted to keep her daughter thirteen while she was thirteen. A MacBook Air was in a charging station on her desk, along with her Kindle and a set of rechargeable earbuds.

  Mr. Lowande walked around the room, looking but not touching anything. “Lots of interests, I see,” he said, as he perused the titles on her bookshelf.

  “She’s a reader, like me,” Anna explained.

  “Readers make for good kids,” Mr. Lowande said. “My mother’s words.”

  “She’s right. Nothing like an escape with a good novel. I need to read more myself.”

  “Good habit to have, I’d say. Okay, I’m ready to meet Christina,” he announced. “Lead the way.”

  Both walked down the staircase, but he walked much faster, purposely careless, as though he were trying to make himself stumble or topple down the rest of the stairs.

  “I take it Christina flew up and down these steps a dozen times a day,” he added, looking up.

  “Probably, more so when she’s not in school. This is a big house,” she added, stating the obvious. “She spends a lot of time in her room, doing the usual girl things.”

  “I want to meet her,” he said.

  Anna led him around the staircases to the den, which covered at least a third of the downstairs. “In here,” Anna said.

  Christina reclined on the hospital bed, her grayish-white cast splayed on the bed, while her other leg was tucked beneath her. She wore a pair of black shorts, and a gold-and-black T-shirt that read BISHOP COERVER in gold letters. A gift from Tiffany. She was playing a game on her cell phone, saw them, and placed it on the table beside the bed.

  “I’m Daniel, and I know you’re Christina,” he said, smiling. “Looks like you’ve got a rad setup here,” he said in teen speak.

  “Sort of,” she agreed, then looked toward her mother, raising her eyebrows, smiling. Anna felt her cheeks turn pink.

  “Your mom gave me permission to discuss what happened on Labor Day with you. As you’re a minor, I’d like to make sure you’re comfortable talking with me; I don’t want you to feel nervous in any way.” He looked at her, waited for a response.

  “I know, I have to do the right thing, and Mom says it’s wrong to cover this up, but really, I just wish it’d never happened. Anyway, you can ask me whatever you need to.” Christina raised herself up a bit higher.

  “I want you to tell me your take on what happened, and if you need to stop, tell me. If you can’t remember something, tell me. You good with that?”

  She nodded.

  “Tell me what happened,” Mr. Lowande asked in a gentle voice. He sat in the chair next to the bed, Anna took a seat in the chair beside him and placed the mugs of coffee on the small table between the two chairs.

  “I wanted to make her feel comfortable because she was a guest. Mom’s rules. I didn’t mind because at first I thought she was kinda cool. She has pink hair, lots of piercings. She didn’t say much, so I asked her if she wanted to see my room. We were at the pool, and Mom and Ryan were there with Patrick. He’s the swimmer. Really good, too.”

  Anna disliked her name being linked to Ryan’s, but it couldn’t be helped.

  “We went upstairs to my room. I showed her some of my stuff, the Harry Potter books. I don’t think she’s a fan. Then I showed her the necklace mom gave me for Christmas last year. It’s like a family heirloom thing. Renée asked me if she could borrow it to wear the first day of school. I told her no. She called me a couple of names, said I was spoiled. I figured I’d better put the necklace away, so I headed out of my room to go to Mom’s room, which is at the opposite end of the landing. If we leave the doors open, we can see into each other’s rooms. Anyway, as I was going to Mom’s room to put the necklace away, right when I was about to pass the steps at the top of the landing, she put her hand on my back. Then she pushed me.”

  “Anything else you can think of, any hint that she intended to do this to you before she actually pushed you?” Mr. Lowande asked.

  “I don’t know what she was thinking before she pushed me. She followed me and waited until I was lined up with the staircase, so maybe she thought about it before, at least a second or two. Why does that matter?” she asked.

  “Premeditation,” he replied.

  “You mean like she planned ahead?” Christina asked, her face a couple of shades lighter.

  “It only takes a second to make the decision, so yes,” he answered, his voice completely sober, the light teasing tone gone.

  “So where do we go from here?” Anna asked. “This is . . . another nightmare.” She felt her chest beginning to tighten and quickly took a deep breath. In and out, slowly releasing it because she needed to stay calm. No panic attacks.

  “We’ll have to file a formal complaint with the police department, they’ll investigate, then take their findings to the prosecuting attorney. Given that we’re dealing with a minor, we’ll see what the state recommends, then go from there.”

  “It sounds so easy,” Anna said. “What will they do to her? If they decide there’s enough evidence to do anything at all, what do they do with a child in these kinds of circumstances?”

  “Lots of options. I don’t want to guess, so we’ll take this one day at a time. If you’re sure I’m your man,” he added.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Christina, are you happy with Mr. Lowande?”

  “Yeah, okay,” she said.

  “I’ll need you to sign a few papers, I’ll need a retainer, then we’re good to go.”

  “Of course,” Anna said. This wasn’t a favor; this man was doing his job, and he didn’t work for free. “In my office, we can take care of all the paperwork.”

  “Thank you. Christina, you’ll do just fine. Listen to your mom here, and we’ll get this taken care of so you can put it behind you and move forward.” He glanced at her cast. “When your cast comes off, of course,” he added, chuckling.

  Chapter 21

  Mr. Lowande—Daniel, as he insisted she call him by his first name—st
ayed with them when two of Lubbock’s finest came to the house to file the report. It wasn’t as difficult as she’d expected, but she didn’t care for the fear she saw in her daughter’s eyes when the two officers questioned her.

  “Like I said, I just wanted to take the necklace, put it in Mom’s room so it would be safe,” Christina reiterated.

  “When she called you those names”—the officer looked at his notes—“ ‘a spoiled brat, and a bitch,’ you didn’t react?”

  “I said no. Why would I? She was kinda weird, I got that. I just wanted to put away the necklace Mom had given me,” Christina said, her voice edging up an octave.

  “John, she’s said this three times.” Daniel knew one of the two officers, and he wasn’t about to let them browbeat Christina into making any false statements or suppositions. “You’ve got enough in your report.”

  They’d been over the incident several times. “Yes, we do. Now, we’ll file this. It may take a day or two, then it’ll go to the prosecutor’s office. Not sure what happens, once it’s in their hands, but they’ll contact you and your mother.” He spoke directly to Christina.

  “Okay,” she said. “Then I can forget all about this?”

  “That’s up to the prosecutors, not us. We just write the report,” the officer named John explained. “Daniel, good seeing you. Not ideal circumstances, but you understand.”

  Daniel shook hands with both John and the other officer, whose name Anna hadn’t gotten, but it didn’t matter. This was the beginning of getting their lives back to normal.

  To before Ryan.

  Anna walked the officers to the door, Daniel trailing behind. “Thanks, guys,” he said, then she closed the door.

  “That was not the most encouraging pair,” she said. “They seem to think this is some kind of childish prank, payback for not letting Renée have the necklace.”

  “They’ll question her, and it’s possible they’ll search for the necklace. May not be much of an area to search since the place is literally ashes now.” She’d told him about the fire.

  “Mom, Renée had luggage in the trunk of Ryan’s car. Remember, he said she’d packed up a bunch of stuff the day of the barbecue. He did say that, I remember!”

  “You’re right, or something like that. He said she’d packed like she was going on a trip. Maybe some of her things are still in the trunk of Ryan’s car,” Anna suggested, feeling a glimmer of hope that they might find her mother’s necklace, but more than that, that Renée would be found out, and, she hoped, get the treatment she so desperately needed.

  “Something else, I just remembered,” Anna said. “Excuse me,” she said, and whirled out of the den and into the kitchen. She’d forgotten all about the gifts Patrick and Renée had brought on the day of the barbecue. In all of the excitement, if you could even call it that, she’d never bothered opening their gifts, hadn’t given them much thought, until that moment. Someone had tucked them away in a drawer; she remembered seeing them the other day. Probably Mona. She pulled several deep drawers open, then saw the two little boxes sitting in the drawer where she stored extra napkins. Taking the boxes with her, she handed them to Daniel. “Ryan’s kids gave these to me. I never opened them during all the commotion,” she said, thinking she was being extremely fair, calling attempted murder a commotion.

  “Do you mind if I open them?” Daniel asked.

  “Of course not,” she replied. “Do whatever you need with them.” Personally, she wanted to toss them into the garbage, but that was being childish.

  Both boxes were identical and looked to have been prewrapped. “You haven’t tried to open this one?” He held one of the packages toward the light. “This looks like it’s been opened and maybe resealed.”

  “No, I’d forgotten they’d given them to me, though I did run across them when I was searching through the kitchen drawers a few days ago. I closed the drawers and didn’t think of them again until just now. I can ask Mona if she opened them or tried to.”

  “No need. Why don’t you open them now? I’ll snap a few pictures with my cell phone. Just in case.”

  “In case of what?” Anna asked. Does he think there’s a bomb or something inside?

  “Just to be on the safe side. I don’t think there’s anything to get alarmed over, just being overly cautious.”

  The boxes were approximately three-by-four inches. The wrapping paper was a white glossy with gold trim. Whatever was inside, the boxes were prewrapped. Carefully, she used a fingernail to break the seal without tearing the paper. Daniel snapped a photo, then she peeled the paper back, revealing a dark brown box. He snapped another picture. She opened it up. Four pieces of assorted chocolates, the kind you could purchase at any drugstore. One more flash from his cell phone.

  “Open the other box now,” Daniel directed, then added, “please.”

  This was the box he thought might have been tampered with, though seeing what was inside now, it could’ve been like this when they’d given it to her. Truly, she hadn’t paid that much attention then. Anna went through the same routine, allowing Daniel to snap a picture as she took the paper apart, removed the dark brown top to the box, and revealed a second box of chocolates. She sighed with relief. “Nothing unusual here,” she said. But as she was about to pluck one of the chocolates out of its paper, she saw a light green powdery substance that looked like it was oozing from a crack in the chocolate. “Wait, look at this,” she said, pointing to what she was seeing.

  Daniel took another picture. “Whatever you do, don’t eat that.”

  “Of course not,” Anna said. “Any idea what this could be?” she asked Daniel.

  “Maybe. Do you have a plastic bag?”

  “Sure.” She ran to the kitchen and returned with a small box of plastic sandwich bags.

  “Mind opening one?” he asked, then picked up another bag in his hand, using it as a glove to pick up the box and drop it into the bag Anna was holding open. They repeated the process with the other box of candy even though it appeared to be fine.

  “Want to tell me what you think this is?” she asked.

  “Let’s wait until we get the lab results,” he answered. Clicking through his phone, he hit a number, then spoke. “Listen, I need you two to come back. I’ve got something that could be connected to the crime scene. I need to get it to the lab ASAP. Thanks,” he said, then ended the call.

  “Why does this need to go to a lab? I need to know,” Anna insisted. “In the kitchen,” she said, leaving Christina to wonder what was going on. She’d tell her soon enough.

  Daniel sighed. “Ms. Campbell—”

  “Call me Anna, please,” she interrupted.

  “Anna, I don’t know for sure, but that green powder, it looks like a pill that’s been crushed.”

  Her heart rate quadrupled. “What do you mean? What kind of pill?”

  “There’s been a string of young women at Tech who have been roofied. That is exactly what it looks like when it’s crushed up. Do you happen to know where those chocolates were purchased?”

  Stunned, Anna took a minute to reply. “No. As I said, they were a gift from Ryan’s kids. I suppose I could call him, ask if he remembers where he bought them.”

  “If you wouldn’t mind, Anna, it’ll be a big help to me and the investigators.”

  Ryan was the last person on earth she wanted to speak to, even more so now, but she’d do what she needed to help with the investigation. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” Anna used the door in the kitchen to go downstairs to the studio.

  They were still snapping pictures on set in the kitchen. “Mandy, I need to speak with you for a minute. It’s important.”

  “Sure. Guys, let’s call it a day. I think we’ve got enough stills to work with,” Mandy said to the three members of the crew who were still there.

  Normally, Anna would’ve chitchatted with them, but now wasn’t the time. She did give them a wave to let them know they weren’t the cause of her emergency. The crew was more li
ke extended family, as far as she was concerned, and she made sure they knew this and all were extremely well compensated for their hard work.

  “In the office,” Anna said.

  Mandy followed her to her small office, where she usually tended to work-related e-mails and such. “Daniel, he’s the attorney Simon sent over, never mind. Follow me. You need to see this.” Anna hurried upstairs, Mandy at her heels. In the kitchen, Daniel sat at the bar, the two plastic bags on the counter.

  Mandy looked at Anna.

  “Mandy, this is Daniel Lowande. He’s helping Christina. Daniel, she knows what’s going on. You can speak freely in front of her.”

  “As I was telling Anna, the candy, at least one piece of it, appears to have been tampered with. I can’t say for sure, but the green powder looks like a crushed-up roofie.”

  “A roofie? As in a date-rape drug?” Mandy managed to spit out.

  “I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I suspect it could be,” he told her.

  “Where did this”—she pointed to the boxes of candy in the plastic bags—“come from?”

  “I’d forgotten all about them. The barbecue. Patrick and Renée brought me gifts. I was busy, so I put them on the counter in the kitchen. I forgot I had them. There was so much going on that day. I think Mona or someone put them in a drawer, and I totally forgot about them. Daniel wants me to call Ryan, see if he remembers where they were purchased.”

  “Then do it,” Mandy said.

  “I was about to, I just wanted you to do what you did last night. With your phone.” Anna knew it was legal in Texas for her to record a phone conversation without the person’s consent. But even so, she didn’t want to go into it with Daniel just yet.

  “Excuse us,” Anna said. “I’ll see if I can find where they were purchased.”

  Anna hustled out of the kitchen to her bedroom upstairs. “Get the app ready to record.” Anna dialed Ryan’s cell number.

  “Hi, love,” he said.

  Anna rolled her eyes. “Hi, Ryan. I, uh, wanted to see how you all were. Any news on the fire?” She’d been instructed by Simon not to discuss this, but she needed to give him a reason for her to call.