Fake I.D. Wife

by Patricia Rosemoor

  “Elise! Wait!”

  “Logan!” Though shocked that he was there, she nevertheless was thankful that he’d shown up when she needed his help. “Hurry!”

  He was running toward her, and behind him she could see the blue lights of a squad car join the ambulance. She started the engine, brought up the anchor and untied the boat. It bobbed in the wind-roughened water as Logan ran down the dock toward her.

  The moment he jumped in, he enveloped her in his arms and pulled her close. Sobbing with relief, she clung to him, but only for a moment.

  “We have to hurry. Minna’s the killer and it’s all on tape.”

  “Let the police handle her.”

  “She has Eric and Mom,” Elise told him as she turned back to the wheel. “Minna is going to get rid of my mother, too.”

  She knew no sane person would take a small craft out in this chop, but she had no choice.

  Logan didn’t budge from her side. He slid an arm around her waist and steadied her as the boat lurched through the water. “I was at the station trying to get them to arrest Mitchell when the call about gunshots came in. My heart nearly stopped—I thought someone shot you.”

  His heart had nearly stopped? Then he did care, Elise realized.

  “Minna shot Carol, Logan. She left me there to take the blame. My fingerprints are on the gun. She had no idea her every word was being taped.”

  They were narrowing the distance to the running lights.

  “What kind of mother would murder her own children?” Logan muttered.

  “One who is insane. Both Brian and your sister were killed because of Kyle’s illegal activities. Not that Minna meant to kill her favored child. She lost it when she thought Brian was going to turn in his brother and ruin her plans for the Mitchell political dynasty.”

  They were practically on top of the navigation lights, which were no longer moving.

  “She’s stopped,” Logan muttered.

  Elise did the same. The two craft bobbed in the rough waters like toy boats.

  Then he snapped on the searchlight, and she gasped at the illuminated phantasm before them. Her obviously weakened, pale mother was bent over with hands tied behind her back. And, still dressed in the flowing silver gown she’d worn to the fund-raiser, Minna was shoving her toward the side.

  “Get closer,” Logan whispered, “and I’ll get on board.”

  Even as she followed orders, Elise spotted her son leaving the cabin. “Oh my God, Eric!”

  “No, Grandmother,” Eric sobbed, “no-o-o…”

  “I told you to stay downstairs, young man. Now get back in there!”

  “Eric, do it!” Elise yelled, fighting hysteria at the sight of him. “Get inside now!”

  Looking frightenedly from his grandmothers to her, Eric backed up through the doorway, and Nancy Kaminsky struggled to get to him. In response, Minna slapped Elise’s mother to the deck.

  “Minna, stop!” Elise yelled, even as the madwoman pulled her mother back to her feet. “You’ll never get away with this!”

  “Watch me!” Minna untied her mother’s hands and shoved.

  “Mother!”

  Logan was climbing onto the side of their boat just as her mother went overboard with a huge splash. Elise cried out, but Logan was already jumping in after her. Thinking fast, Elise grabbed the life preserver and tossed it after him. Once assured Logan had caught it and was about to grab on to her mother, she maneuvered her boat toward the bigger one.

  Were it only Minna, she would let her go, but Eric was on board—and who knew what would happen to the boy if she didn’t do something, and now. The crazed woman had a habit of killing the people she loved.

  Minna was at the wheel by the time Elise came alongside her. Cutting the engine and picking up a line, she leaped from one boat to the deck of the other and tied them together. She got a fleeting glance of Eric, huddled just inside the door against the wall. Every instinct told her to rush to him, to hold him in her arms and comfort him, but that wouldn’t stop the madwoman who was his grandmother.

  With a shriek, Minna left the wheel, rushed her and grabbed her. Elise slipped out of Minna’s grasp before she could secure the hold and tried to hang on to her from behind, but Minna was strong and pulled free.

  As fit as her mother-in-law was, Elise was more so, and she had a few tricks she’d learned in prison, as well. Their struggle to the side of the boat was a short one. They turned and twisted around each other as the boat bobbed in the chop, and neither could get a good hold on the other.

  Suddenly Minna shrieked her frustration and raked her nails across Elise’s cheek.

  In return, Elise slashed out with the heel of her hand and caught Minna square in the face. Blood spurted from her nose.

  “You broke it! I’ll kill you!” Minna screeched, making another dive for Elise.

  This time Elise ducked and jammed her elbow in Minna’s back. The older woman flew forward, stomach to the rail, and when Elise put out a hand to keep her from taking a nosedive into the lake, Minna grabbed her arm and swung her around. Elise’s back smacked against the boat and her breath whooshed out of her. Minna leaped for her, and it took everything Elise had to move out of her way.

  Just then, a wave tossed the boat and sent Minna over the side. Her flowing skirts caught on a rail, and her body thumped against the hull.

  Elise was tempted to leave her on her own, but couldn’t do it. Quickly, she bent over and reached for the woman. “Take my hand.”

  Minna did and Elise pulled. Bench-pressing had paid off. But when she had Minna halfway up the side, the woman shook her head and with her free hand tore at the material so she was no longer attached to the boat.

  “Minna, what are you doing?”

  “I won’t spend the rest of my life rotting in prison! There’s nothing left for me!” she wailed, and let go of Elise’s hand.

  “Minna!”

  But the heaving lake swallowed her in an instant.

  Elise then rushed to the other side of the boat, where Logan had her mother in a lifeguard hold. He was clinging to the preserver and she was trying to fight him as only a panicked nonswimmer could.

  “Mom, don’t struggle. Logan and I will help you get into the boat. Please, Mom! Please, listen to me! Mom!”

  Her voice seemed to calm her mother, and, working together, they got her safely on board, Logan climbing in after her. Her mother soaked Elise with lake water and tears.

  Elise hugged her tight. “You’re all right, Mom. I have to see to Eric, okay?”

  Her mother nodded and let go of her.

  Feeling Logan’s eyes on her, Elise rushed to her son and pulled him close. He sobbed against her chest, and for once she let her emotions flow and cried right along with him.

  “That’s it, honey, cry all you want to. But you’re safe now. Mama has you, and you’re safe.”

  “I DON’T KNOW how to thank you, Bob,” Elise said, shaking her elderly neighbor’s hand outside the courtroom. “You set me up with the best.”

  Bob Hale beamed and threw his arm around his son, who’d taken over his practice when he retired. “Yep, Bobbie here is the best, now that I’m out of the picture.”

  “Bobbie” Hale being about sixty and close to retirement himself.

  When they’d brought the boats in, Old Bob had been at the Mitchell estate along with other neighbors. He’d vowed then to help clear her name. And he had. The tape had convinced the state’s attorney and the judge that Minna had killed both Brian and Ginny.

  So many people had helped her. Too bad they couldn’t all be here—Gideon, Cass and Blade. She would thank them in private.

  “It shouldn’t take long to have your husband’s assets transferred into your name,” Bob assured her.

  “I don’t care about the money,” she said. “Just enough for a modest house in the city and whatever it takes to give Eric a good life. I’m going to put the rest in a trust fund for him.”

  Finally she turned to Logan, w
ho’d kept a low profile since the crisis. Even now, he was standing back, waiting, as if he wasn’t sure where he belonged.

  “If you don’t care about money,” he said gently, “what do you care about?”

  “I care about having my son safe, at last.” She drew close enough to gaze into his eyes, a light silver-gray today, as if all the worry had been removed from them. “Thank you for helping me save Eric from that madwoman.”

  Expression neutral, he said, “You’re welcome. Thank you for helping me get justice for Ginny.”

  The case against Kyle Mitchell was strong. Elise figured that even if he somehow avoided doing time, he wouldn’t be able to run for dogcatcher when this was over.

  “And I care about you, Detective John Logan.”

  His expression softened and suddenly he looked like another man, she thought—a man in love.

  “That detective part isn’t official,” he told her. “I’m not sure I’m going back to the CPD.”

  “You’ll have to give me the details,” she said, lightly dusting off the lapels of his pale gray suit jacket.

  “You’re not the boss of me.” He grinned as he turned Elise’s very words against her.

  “Are you sure about that?” she asked, moving into his arms. “I know you’ve been holding back until this mess was cleared up, but now’s the time to speak up.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” Her face radiated happiness. “I’ve said my goodbyes, Logan. I love you, and I’m ready for anything you care to offer.”

  “Then, marry me, Elise, and let me take care of you forever. You and Eric.”

  “We’ll take care of each other,” she whispered, raising her face to his.

  She lost herself in his kiss. Her head felt light and her stomach tightened and her pulse raced. But this was no panic attack.

  It was love.

  The thunder of clapping brought her back to the present. Their audience approved.

  Elise grinned. “Let’s go share the news with Mom and Eric.” Both of whom were waiting outside.

  Saying their goodbyes, Elise and Logan headed for the exit, only to find Diane before them. She, too, had been in court, sitting at the back of the room. Elise wasn’t sure what Diane wanted from her.

  “Elise, a minute, please.”

  Elise moved in closer to Logan’s side. “We can spare a minute.”

  “I—I just wanted to say how sorry I am.” Diane’s eyes filled with tears. “What you went through— But the night Brian died, I really thought…”

  Elise nodded. “I can understand how you would.”

  “That’s all…just…I’m sorry.”

  Diane started to turn away, shoulders slumped. She’d lost everything. Her husband, who would soon be behind bars for years, her home and the boy she’d thought of as her son. Carol had survived Minna’s attack, but Elise didn’t think the two women would ever be friends. Diane had no one.

  “Diane, wait.” When the other woman hesitated, Elise said, “Thank you for taking such good care of Eric. If you want to see him once in a while…I wouldn’t object.”

  Diane smiled through her tears. “Thank you, Elise.”

  And then Elise led the way through the doors into the sunshine and took her first breath of true freedom in more than three years. Her mother and son occupied a nearby bench and were sharing A Horse and a Half, and Eric was wearing his father’s pin.

  Elise waved and yelled, “It’s over!” and Eric immediately launched himself and ran to her.

  “Mama!”

  Heart nearly bursting with joy, Elise swept him up into her arms, then turned toward Logan’s waiting ones and the start of a new life.

  Epilogue

  Hip-hop music pulsing from the club into his office, Gideon leaned back in his chair and thought how things had changed for him in a heartbeat. He’d been considering switching identities yet again and moving on—not because anyone was after him this time, but because he’d felt that growing dissatisfaction with his life—a life that meant nothing to anyone.

  A meaningless existence.

  But Elise Mitchell had given him meaning. At least a taste. He’d done something positive for someone else and it had felt good. He wanted more.

  And so, he’d come up with a scheme he couldn’t resist: using his witness protection background to help others in trouble. How many people had reason to hide their true identities, how many were falsely accused, on the run from someone who wanted to hurt them?

  Gideon planned to find out.

  He’d easily enlisted Logan, who wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to the mean streets of Chicago, especially now that he was taking on family responsibilities. Cassandra had her own reasons for being interested, and Gideon thought it would be fitting if someday they could clear her name. And Blade, who had a secret guilt of his own, desperately needed absolution.

  They made some crew. An identity thief, an experienced investigator, a lovely chameleon and expert in weapons and stealth. A criminal-type wouldn’t want to meet Blade Stone in a dark alley.

  Together they made up Team Undercover.

  And Gideon couldn’t wait for their next case.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-4076-6

  FAKE I.D. WIFE

  Copyright © 2003 by Patricia Pinianski

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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  * The McKenna Legacy

  † Sons of Silver Springs

  ** Club Undercover