Fake I.D. Wife

by Patricia Rosemoor

  “I want to do it,” she said. “I want to spend as much time with my son as I can.”

  “How do you know this isn’t a setup, that Mitchell doesn’t want you there for some nefarious purpose?”

  The tone of his voice frightened her. Did he know something dangerous about Kyle that she didn’t? Is that why he’d gathered all that information on the family? She wanted to ask him in the worst way, but that would be admitting she’d snooped in his things. And then, if he wasn’t really on her side, if he was out only for himself—whatever that purpose might be—she would ruin everything.

  No, she would say nothing, just keep pretending.

  “Kyle wasn’t even home when Diane asked me to sit for Eric. He won’t be coming home to get her, either—she’s to take a taxi downtown. He probably has no idea that Diane finally fired Petra and that she won’t even be able to talk to someone about a temporary nanny until tomorrow.”

  “I thought we agreed you were going to lay low for a few days.”

  Elise glanced past him to Cass, who appeared stricken. She knew. Elise hadn’t spelled it out for her friend, but by using her apparently well-developed sixth sense, Cass had a way of knowing things.

  “I want to spend time with my son,” she said, turning away from them both, from the two people who had come to mean so much to her in so short a time. “If you don’t leave now, you and Cass will be late. You know she has to be there early so she’s ready to introduce the performance artists.” Pulling herself together, she turned back toward them. “You don’t want Gideon angry with her when he just gave her this chance.”

  “Fine.”

  He didn’t sound fine. Well, she wasn’t feeling too fine herself. Not after what she and Cass had found in his room.

  “Here.” Logan reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. “Keep this on you at all times. If you get so much as a whiff of trouble, call 9-1-1 and then me, in that order.”

  She softened her expression and her voice. “Thank you.”

  Pretending that nothing was wrong, that she would see him later, she moved closer and kissed his cheek. The caress of her lips against beard stubble was short but incredibly intimate.

  His glare gentled a bit.

  Elise swallowed hard as she realized that was the last time Logan Smith, or whatever his name was, would touch her.

  But she smiled and waved, and only when he was turned away from her did she trade a significant look with Cass, whose eyes glimmered with unshed tears. Cass slipped on a pair of sunglasses as if to hide behind them and followed Logan to the car.

  As he slid behind the wheel, Elise drank in the sight of Logan Smith, whoever he was. She might not trust him, but she did care for him. Maybe loved him.

  He’d become so much a part of her life…how would she do without him? The thought was tearing her apart inside.

  The car pulled out of the driveway, and Elise felt as if her heart were breaking. Part of her went with him. A part, she suspected, that she would never regain.

  Then all she could do was wait.

  Only the bottle-green Jaguar sat in the drive next door, and luckily for her, Diane was going to take a taxi rather than drive downtown. Kyle’s black BMW, Minna’s silver Mercedes and Gloria’s red MG were all gone. The women were already off somewhere, probably with Kyle. Only Diane and Eric were in the house, and Diane wouldn’t be leaving for another hour.

  Elise rushed upstairs, showered, dressed and fetched the bag Cass had loaned her. By carefully packing, she fit in most of the wardrobe she’d bought only a few days ago. She checked her wallet to make certain she had the new IDs, compliments of Gideon.

  There, she was ready.

  But was she really?

  Memories of her night with Logan filled her mind. She relived every touch, every kiss, every whisper they’d shared. No matter his reason for being involved, she thought he had feelings for her, that their lovemaking had been real. She would keep the memories close to her for as long as she could, though her heart broke yet again knowing memories, too, would fade with time.

  Time…

  She checked her watch.

  Wiping unshed tears from her eyes, she put her mind where it needed to be—on Eric.

  She took the suitcase with her downstairs, checked to make certain the coast was clear, then, using the deck door, left the house. Hiding the suitcase in the hedge, she crossed to the Mitchells’ garden door, her heart beating with excitement.

  Diane answered the bell immediately. “Nicole, come in. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your coming to my rescue again.” She headed back into the other room, where she slipped into a short-sleeved jacket. “I promise I’ll find some way to repay you.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  Diane had no idea how dear the payment would be, Elise thought. Though she wasn’t always a nice person, Diane had taken good care of her son, and in her own way, did love him. Elise knew the wrenching heartbreak of having one’s child ripped away from her. She almost felt sorry for Diane.

  “Emergency numbers are here on the table.”

  “Fine.” Elise smiled at her son, who was sitting on the floor playing with one of his toy cars. “But we won’t be having any emergencies, will we, Eric.”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “And you remember about the cookies?”

  “Two cookies and a small glass of milk,” Elise said.

  Diane swept Eric off the floor and gave him a hug and kiss. “You be a good boy for Nicole, honey.”

  “Okay.”

  “We shouldn’t be too late. Maybe eleven.”

  “And Carol and Minna?”

  “I’m not really sure. Minna was having an early dinner with a friend. As for Carol?” She shrugged.

  Great. That meant either woman could be home at any time.

  Diane was hardly out the door when Elise took Eric into the kitchen for milk and cookie time. She needed to keep him occupied long enough to get her hands on traveling money.

  “I’ll be right back, Eric.” She restrained herself from taking him in her arms and hugging him. Instead, she rubbed his back lightly and said, “You just stay there when you’re done.”

  “Okay.”

  She didn’t want him walking in on her as she emptied the safe. Getting the pouch was easy. Knowing it was real now, that she was leaving, that she was doing so without even saying goodbye to Logan—those things were difficult.

  But she no longer had a choice.

  Once again she wished there was some way she could warn her mother, could tell her everything. She despaired at the thought of her mother’s reaction when Eric disappeared. First a daughter, then a grandson. How would the woman survive such terrible losses?

  But she didn’t have time for questions or doubts. She had to get out of here before Minna or Carol returned. Leaving the office the way she’d found it, she raced to the kitchen, where Eric was drinking the last of his milk.

  “Done?” she asked.

  “Uh-huh. Read to me, okay?”

  “Not right now, Eric, later. How would you like to go for a drive first?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Then, let’s go upstairs and get some of your things.”

  A few clothes, his favorite cars and stuffed animal and, of course, the book all went into an overnight bag.

  “I promise I’ll read to you later, okay?”

  He shook his head, but his eyes were only half-open. She carried him down the stairs, detoured through the kitchen to fetch the car keys, then left by the garden door and retrieved her suitcase. Juggling bags and her boy, she rushed along the driveway and got all into the waiting vehicle. Luckily Diane’s car had been the one left at home; it had the child safety seat in back.

  By the time she tucked Eric in and secured the safety belt, his little head was nodding to one side and his thick pale lashes brushed the tops of his cheeks. He was asleep. Her heart ached for all the moments like this that she’d lost over the years, but she was abou
t to make all that up. She smoothed his curls, kissed his forehead and got into the driver’s seat.

  A few minutes later, she was pulling onto Sheridan Road and thinking she was truly free at last.

  Glancing into her rearview mirror, she noticed lights flashing on and a vehicle pulling out behind her. Even though she tried to tell herself it had nothing to do with her, she pressed harder on the accelerator.

  For a moment, the lights behind her grew distant. Then the other vehicle sped up and the lights nearly filled her rearview mirror.

  Her stomach knotted.

  Could it be? Was someone really following her?

  The murderer?

  But who? Kyle? Rafe Otera?

  She couldn’t tell the make or color of the vehicle behind her.

  Now deep in the twisting, turning ravines, she had to concentrate to keep the car on the road as it sped around curves, her heartbeat accelerating.

  She couldn’t get caught…couldn’t get caught…had to get away…

  The futility of her continued flight became obvious as the other vehicle drew around to her side in the oncoming traffic lane. Sucking in her breath, she gave the other driver a wild look and recognized him.

  Logan!

  He motioned her to pull over to the shoulder, then sped up and got in front of her just as an oncoming car flicked its brights.

  Logan tapped his brakes and slowed, forcing her to do the same. She wanted to refuse to stop for him, but she knew it was no use. Slowing down, she rolled the car onto the shoulder and brought it to a stop.

  Logan did the same in front of her, then tore out of the car.

  Nauseated and a little light-headed, Elise glanced back at her son—still fast asleep, thank God—then stumbled out of the Jaguar to face the very man she’d been trying to escape.

  HIS GUT HAD TOLD HIM that she was going to run.

  Even so, Logan had sat in stunned disbelief for the moment it had taken Elise to wield Diane’s Jaguar onto Sheridan Road heading north. Undoubtedly she’d thought to get across the Wisconsin border to give herself more time.

  But had she really thought she could get away from him so easily?

  “Are you crazy, taking those curves so fast?” Logan demanded. “Didn’t you even consider you could end up dead? You and your kid?”

  “I didn’t know it was you. I thought… What the hell do you think you’re doing, anyway?” Elise demanded, keeping a yard between them as if afraid he might touch her.

  The streetlights on Sheridan road this far north were few and far between, so she was thrown into silhouette by the car lights, and yet he could read her clearly. She had swallowed her panic and was now furious with him and spoiling for a fight.

  “I’m getting you back where you belong before anyone notices you left with the kid.”

  “My son. And I don’t belong in that house, not anymore. And you knew I was going sometime soon.”

  Yeah, he’d known, but he didn’t have to like it. And he didn’t have to let her go.

  “Going now doesn’t solve the problem.”

  “Whose problem?” she asked. “Yours? What is your problem with Kyle Mitchell, anyway?”

  So, she wasn’t stupid. She knew he was in this charade for himself as well as for her. But instinct told Logan now wasn’t the time to discuss his motives. He had to get her back, and fast, before someone came home and everything was ruined.

  They stood there, two combatants in the dark. And when she spoke, it was in a voice suddenly dripping with honey.

  “Don’t tell me, then. Maybe I’ll just ask Kyle.”

  Knowing that she was bluffing didn’t stop his temper from flaring. She’d been willing to drive out of his life and she’d put herself at risk, to boot!

  “Do that, screw things up for me now when I’ve almost got him, and you’ll be back in prison faster than you took that last curve!”

  She stepped back, and he couldn’t miss the way she froze.

  “Fine. I’ll go back for now, Logan, but whatever it is you have against Kyle Mitchell, take care of it fast.”

  With that, she climbed into the Jaguar and, waiting until after a lone car sped by, did a U-turn back toward Mitchell House.

  Registering the emphasis on his name—as though she knew he was using an alias?—Logan wasted no time following her, knowing that while she was returning, it was under duress.

  What they might have had together was already gone.

  “HERE YOU GO, Diane, the last of the auction items,” Elise said, forcing a smile to go with her final delivery.

  “You sound tired.”

  “Yes.”

  Voice tight, Elise was not over her intercepted flight of the night before. And just being in Mitchell House again was giving her the creeps. Paranoia kept her guard up, but no one else seemed to be around. Still, she felt as if she was tempting fate merely by crossing the threshold.

  “I’m sorry we had to work you so hard, but Harbor from the Storm is so worthwhile.”

  “I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

  She was about to make her excuses, when Eric ran down the stairs and into the living room shouting, “We’re going outside!”

  And he was followed by a slender older woman, the sight of whom put Elise into a state of shock.

  Diane didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy checking the auction items. “Oh, this is Eric’s other grandmother. Nancy Kaminsky…meet Nicole Hudson Smith, our new neighbor.”

  Elise couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Though her head went light, she didn’t miss the recognition that crossed the woman’s features, recognition her mother quickly hid but for the awareness in the blue eyes identical to Elise’s own.

  “Well, hello. I’ve just returned from Florida to see my grandson.”

  She held out her hand as if they were strangers. Elise somehow responded, and the pressure of her mother’s strong, steadying grasp brought her back.

  “So very nice to meet you,” Elise drawled as the phone rang.

  “I need to get that,” Diane said, heading away from them immediately.

  While Elise stood there stupidly, not knowing what to do next, her mother said, “Eric and I will be outside.”

  Elise added, “And I need to get home.”

  Already picking up the receiver, Diane waved them both off.

  “My sister is recovering nicely from a stroke,” her mother went on as if she were talking to a stranger, “so I decided I could spare a few days for Eric.”

  Elise followed her mother and son out the garden door and Eric quickly busied himself batting a ball around. She wanted in the worst way to throw herself against her mother and feel comforting arms around her, but she stayed in character for anyone who might be watching from the windows.

  “You don’t know how glad I am to see you,” Elise whispered.

  “You’re glad? My God, I thought you were dead!” Nancy Kaminsky returned, her now-trembling voice equally low. “When I saw you, it took me only a moment to recognize you, despite the changes. What are you doing here, right under their noses?”

  “You recognized your daughter. None of them know me well enough. I’m going to take my son and disappear—tomorrow, during the charity event.”

  “Not without me, you’re not.”

  Elise closed her eyes. Thank God she wouldn’t have to do this alone, after all.

  “I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT when I saw you walk in the door,” Cass said the moment she found Elise in the Club Undercover break room that night. “I was sure you were gone.”

  “Me, too. Logan caught up to me.”

  “Uh-oh. Did he do any explaining?”

  Elise shook her head. “I didn’t ask. I threatened to expose him.”

  “And?”

  “He threatened to put me back in jail.”

  Cass gaped at her. “He wouldn’t!”

  “I couldn’t be sure, so I had no choice. I’m trapped, Cass, and I don’t even know why.”

  “Trapped
how?”

  Elise whirled around to find Blade standing there in the doorway, his striking face pulled into a scowl. She wondered whether he’d overheard details. Considering the loud music pulsing at them from the club, maybe not.

  “It’s nothing,” she tried to tell him.

  Blade closed the door behind him. “You’re in trouble, I’ve known that all along.”

  Elise and Cass looked at each other.

  “And I know your name really isn’t Nicole…Elise.”

  Elise gasped. “What did Gideon tell you?”

  “Nothing. But I overheard Logan talking to the boss about you.”

  “Of course.” She laughed. “I have Logan to thank for everything.”

  “He’s the one giving you trouble?” Blade’s face narrowed and his expression revealed his suspicion. “I’ve been wondering about him myself. Maybe I can help.”

  “Sure, if you can get me Logan Smith’s real name,” Elise said, thinking that if she knew more about him, she might have some point of negotiation if she needed it. “Or the reason he wants to nail Kyle Mitchell.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Blade said mysteriously. “Later.”

  After he left, Elise brought Cass up to speed on her mother’s arrival.

  “She’s going to take Eric, supposedly to lunch and an early movie, but really she’ll drive him to a town in Michigan where I’ll join them.”

  She was so grateful for her mother’s reappearance at exactly the right time. The thought of never seeing her again, never letting her know she was alive and well, had haunted her.

  “Diane won’t notice when they don’t come back to the house?”

  “She and Minna will both be at the yacht club from mid-afternoon on, setting up. As will I. Kyle won’t care as long as Eric is taken care of and doesn’t interfere with his plans. And Carol…” She shrugged. “Unfortunately, she’s the wild card. If I’m lucky, she’ll be off somewhere with her lover. Nevertheless, even if she was home, I don’t think she’d be setting off any alarms.”

  How she was going to get away from Logan was another question, one on which she couldn’t concentrate right now. Her feelings for the man had already been raw before he’d added salt to the wound when he’d threatened to turn her in. Now she didn’t know what to think about him. She wanted to hate him for it, but she just couldn’t.