The older woman shook her head. “Cash. Wait right here. I’ll get the paperwork and make a copy of it for you.”
“Wait. I need to handle the paper. It’s evidence now.”
The manager’s eyes grew round as she headed into her office. “What did this man do?”
“He’s a person of interest in a case.”
She pulled out a file cabinet and found what she was looking for.
“I’ll need to take your fingerprints to rule out yours on the paper.”
“Sure.” She passed him the document.
“Did DJ ever handle this?”
“No. He has nothing to do with the paperwork.”
While Jesse went to the car to get his fingerprinting kit, Lydia looked around. “How many animals can you take in?”
“Not nearly enough. I have room for thirty and often need to turn away animals.”
“Do you work with a vet?”
“Yes, but he’s only here from May to September. I need to find another one.”
“I’d like to volunteer.” Lydia dug her business card from her purse and handed it to the woman. “I can fill in from October to April.”
“Bless you. You are an answer to a prayer. Our vet just informed me he was going to start going to Arizona for winters.” She stuck out her hand. “By the way, I’m Nadine.”
“I’m Lydia.”
Nadine glanced at the business card. “Are you related to Robert McKenzie? He was a vet who died last year.”
“Yes. He was my father.”
“He used to help us out. It’s like it’s come full circle.”
Jesse reentered the office, bagged the adoption paper and fingerprinted Nadine. When they left the shelter, Jesse again had Brutus sniff for a bomb as though it were an everyday routine. But to Lydia, it drove home what was happening.
Lydia put the car in Reverse as he lifted the paper out of the evidence bag by pinching one corner with his gloved fingers. “Guess who adopted Calvin? Sam Alexander.”
“The guy you found already dead in the house that exploded.”
“Yes. Let’s drop the evidence off before going home. We’ll have to dig into Alexander’s life. He can’t be the bomber because he was dead from a drug overdose about two weeks before the bomb went off in his house.”
“He could have bombed the hardware store.”
“But that would mean someone killed him and continued bombing. Maybe he had a partner and they had a falling-out.”
“But why?” Lydia massaged her temples, trying to make sense of what was going on. The Sam Alexander who adopted Calvin had to be wearing a disguise, so he could have been working with the bomber.
“I wish I had an answer to that. Then I would know who was behind all this.”
By the time they arrived at the police station, Lydia’s head throbbed. Before Kate came home from school she needed to lie down and catch up on the sleep she’d been missing. She wished she could stay in the car while Jesse went inside, but the memory of that feeling of being watched earlier reinforced her fear of being alone.
*
Lydia lay on the bed at Jesse’s house, but no matter how much she wanted and tried to take a nap, she couldn’t. It was good to get out for a while today, but she couldn’t shake the feeling she was a target with a big, red bull’s-eye on her. After listening to Phillip talking with Thomas and Jesse, she’d felt she was missing something. It was inside her mind, locked away, and she couldn’t find the key to open it.
Maybe it was the fact she told Jesse she loved him and still everything was unsettled. What had she thought he would do—declare his love back?
She stared at the white ceiling, silence surrounding her. Jesse and Don were in the kitchen the last time she saw them going through the evidence, hoping something would jump out at them. Thomas had come back with the results of the fingerprints on the adoption paper.
No match in the database but Sam Alexander didn’t have a record. Thomas had discovered Sam would have had access to the C-4 at his construction job. So it was possible he was tied to the bomber in some way, but sorting through the rubble of his house after the bomb would take a while.
She heard footsteps coming down the hall, and suddenly the door burst open. Kate charged into the room and flounced onto the bed, letting her backpack slip to the floor.
“Did something go wrong at school?” Lydia prepared herself for an onslaught of anger.
“Connor. When I left today, I saw him talking to Mandy and they disappeared down the hallway.” Kate twisted toward her. “He gets tired of me telling him I can’t do anything. He can’t even come over here. You’ve made it plain he isn’t welcome.”
Here, it comes. It’s all my fault.
Kate chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t think he cares about me as much as he says he does. We had a big fight about me not being able to see him after school. Why would he go with Mandy? I tried calling him. He didn’t answer.” Tears began streaming down her sister’s face.
Lydia sat up and scooted toward Kate. “I’m sorry. If he can’t understand why you can’t be there right now after school, then maybe he isn’t the boy for you.”
“He should know. He was here the other day and knows what’s happening to you.”
“It can be hard to put yourself in another’s shoes. Maybe he knows on some level, but doesn’t really get it.”
Kate pulled out her phone. “All I can say is he better text me. Soon.” She knuckled the tears away and rose, heading for the hallway.
There was a part of Lydia that would love to relive her senior year, so she could undo what had gone wrong. But there was a part that was so glad she wasn’t a teenager anymore, especially as she saw what Kate was going through.
She reclined back on the bed. Thoughts of Connor and Kate arguing morphed into visions of the dream she’d had about Melinda arguing with her boyfriend. It was her boyfriend, I remember that now. But why can’t I see what he looks like? What did Melinda tell me after they talked?
Then a faded image materialized in her mind. Shadowy. Down at the end of the hall at the bistro, hand on doorknob. He glanced back at her and she met his—cold, gray eyes. That was all she could see. What did he look like? Why was he leaving the restaurant that way?
She lay there for a while longer, but nothing else appeared—a vague person with gray eyes. Was it the man she ran into as she came into the bistro? If so, why was he in the hallway?
Exasperated, she pushed to a sitting position. She felt as though she were going crazy. Bits and pieces of information floating around in her mind, but nothing came together into a whole picture. People’s lives depended on her remembering.
A dark screen fell over her thoughts and shut everything out.
Frustrated, she stood and decided to find Jesse. She needed a distraction.
As she walked through the living room, Kate sat on the couch talking to Connor. She lowered her voice as Lydia made her way into the kitchen.
Jesse looked up at her and grinned. “Thomas discovered that Sam Alexander had an older man visit him several times in the past month and that Alexander did get a dog but it hasn’t been seen in a while.”
“Who? How did he find out?” Lydia sat across from Jesse with Don next to her.
“From the neighbor who wasn’t home. This morning Thomas was able to talk to the couple before they left for work.”
“What did the older man look like?” Lydia hoped this would lead to the bomber.
Jesse’s smile grew. “That’s the best part. The husband identified him from the sketch of the man with Calvin at the animal hospital, except according to the neighbor, this ‘Mr. Jacobs’ didn’t have a limp and could get around with no problem.”
Moving like a younger man. Lydia could see why Jesse was excited. They were getting closer to the bomber and his true identity. “So he called him Mr. Jacobs?”
“No. He didn’t know the man’s name. Thomas checked with some of the other neighbors and another said they had seen an o
lder man come and go from Alexander’s house. This past month or so.”
“So do you two think the bomber got his C-4 from Sam?” Lydia looked from Don to Jesse.
“Maybe. Thomas is coming over to fill us in on a couple of other developments.” Jesse studied her for a few seconds. “Leads are starting to produce some results.”
The doorbell rang, and Don hurried to answer it.
“You okay?” Jesse held her hand. “Mary told Williams when she escorted Kate to the house that she was extremely upset when Mary picked her up at school.”
“Boyfriend problems. Connor wants her to spend more time with him.”
“Since he’s been here already, he could come over after school, on the weekends, if you think that will make things easier.”
The more she saw of Connor the more Lydia likened him to Aaron. She prayed her sister didn’t do something stupid like she had. When she’d tried to have a conversation with her sister about sex, Kate shut her down. Dad had already given her the talk, and she didn’t intend to go through that embarrassing subject again.
Lydia rolled her shoulders to ease the tension setting in. “Frankly, I’m glad he’s showing his true colors to Kate. He has a one-track mind, and I know he’s been pushing Kate to do things that—”
“That you did when you were a teenager,” Kate said from the doorway.
Lydia closed her eyes for a few seconds, then twisted in the chair to look at Kate. “Yes. I know firsthand the mistake it was.”
“He called and explained that Mandy’s locker was stuck, and he helped her get it open. That was all.”
Don and Thomas came up behind Kate, and she stepped out of the entrance, disappearing around the corner into the living room. Probably to call or text Connor again. Lydia heaved a heavy sigh.
Thomas took the chair Don had used while the officer left to check outside. The detective slid the sketch to Lydia. “This is the sketch Nadine gave us of Sam Alexander. It fits the driver’s license for that man. He worked in construction. The AFT agent is interviewing his employer about the C-4, but I’ve got a feeling some is missing.”
Lydia’s gaze fixed on the young man who was found in a freezer in the bombed rental house. “So you think he supplied the C-4 to the bomber and that guy killed him so he couldn’t identify him?”
“They could have been partners for the first bomb and had a falling-out,” Thomas said.
Jesse took a look at the sketch. “Or, maybe Alexander blackmailed the bomber after the first bomb went off.”
Thomas frowned. “The descriptions of the person we think might be the bomber are different each time. Remember that couple out walking on the street where the church was, not five minutes before the bomb went off? They saw a guy wearing a hoodie, slender build. And on the traffic cam near the hardware store, a person we think was the bomber leaving the scene before the explosion early that morning had a hoodie but a potbelly. Physical body type keeps changing as well as facial features and coloring.”
Lydia sat forward. “Hoodie? Like the guy I ran into as I went into the bistro. We collided as he left and he was wearing a hoodie.”
Jesse captured her gaze. “Did he have a potbelly?”
“I’m not sure. I think he was what I would call husky. Did the couple see the color of his eyes? The guy at the bistro had gray ones.”
“No, he had on sunglasses even though it was starting to get dark.” Thomas huffed. “We have thin, fat, old, young. Gray hair, dark hair.”
“If the couple saw the bomber, then why didn’t he come after them like he is with me?”
Jesse snapped his fingers. “That’s it. You saw the real bomber. The others were disguises—someone who knew how to apply makeup and play a role convincingly.”
“Okay, why the bistro?” Flashes of the fractured memories from that day paraded through her mind.
“Not sure. We may not have the bomber on that traffic cam and the couple might not have seen the guy doing this. But the person who brought Calvin in has to be the bomber.” Thomas stood. “But in disguise.”
“What about Shane Taylor and the black Chevy? What did you find out there? What does he look like?” Jesse rose and went to the coffeepot to refill his mug.
“He was like what the salesman in the appliance store described, and he has an alibi for the first two bombings. He said he was there looking for a washing machine.” As Thomas paced in a circle he looked at Lydia. “We’re getting close. Hang in there. Well, I’ve taken a long enough break.”
Lydia chuckled. “You call this a break. You’re going to need a month’s vacation when this is over with.”
“Let us know what you find out about the C-4.” Jesse walked with Thomas toward the foyer.
Was the gray-eyed stranger she’d bumped into the bomber? And who was the man using the hallway exit?
So many questions and so few answers.
When Jesse returned and sat in the chair next to Lydia, she told him about the faceless person with gray eyes who haunted her. “I can’t shake him. But I know the pharmacist has brown eyes. I can’t picture who was fighting with Melinda yet, and the guy who left the bistro as I came in had gray eyes. And I’m sure the old man with Calvin had blue eyes. They misted with tears when he wasn’t sure Calvin would make it. How reliable are my memories? They seem so disjointed.”
“Contact lenses can change a person’s eye color.” Jesse stroked his hand down her arm, the gesture meant to reassure her.
What would happen when this was over? Lydia didn’t want to think about that question. “I forgot to ask if Thomas ever found Phillip Keats. Did he find him?”
“Yes, he showed up at the drugstore around one with some story that he went for a drive to clear his head. At least that’s what he told a coworker.”
“I guess it’s a good thing he’s part owner. A lot of bosses would fire someone over that.”
“I kind of know what Keats feels like. I would like to clear my head.”
“So would I. I keep getting brief images, and I can’t tell what’s real anymore. If only the bomber knew I have no idea who he is, he would leave me alone.”
Jesse pulled her toward him. “You’re trying too hard.”
“I know you keep telling me that. Then I get a dirty look from Kate because of what’s going on and—”
He laid two fingers over her lips. “Shh. Don’t tell Thomas, but this evening let’s not think about the bomber or the bombings. A deal?”
“Sounds wonderful. Although I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it.”
“Tell you what. My SUV is ready. After dinner you can drive me to get it, then I’ll follow you back here and we can go for a ride. Just you and me.”
“I don’t think—”
“You’re thinking too hard. I’m thinking too hard. I believe it’ll help us. Let’s go to Point Woronzof and see the sun set. Okay?”
“I haven’t been there since we were teenagers.”
“Then it’s a date.”
A date? Casually said, but it sparked memories. And here she was, still in love with Jesse. How was she going to deal with real life when the bomber was caught?
*
Leaving the parking lot at Point Woronzof, Jesse held Brutus’s leash in one hand and Lydia’s in the other as they made their way carefully down the hillside to the small-pebbled beach. Glacial silt tinted the waves gray as they washed up onto shore.
Lydia stopped and turned in a full circle. “I’d forgotten how beautiful this view of Cook Inlet and Mount Susitna are.”
“I’ve seen some glorious sunsets from here.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
As the sun started disappearing behind the mountain line across the inlet, Jesse recalled the first time he’d known he was in love with Lydia. It was the summer before their senior year in high school. They had a picnic dinner at this point and waited for the sun to go down. He’d wanted to tell her how he felt. He could never get the words out and didn’t until they reconnected af
ter she’d dated Aaron. At the time, he didn’t realize it wouldn’t make any difference. She eloped with Aaron not long after. Why did he suggest bringing her here?
Because while they were here, the world hadn’t intruded and a feeling of peace pervaded, at least for a short time. They needed that right now, especially in the midst of all that was happening in Anchorage.
“Look. Do you see the whale?” Excitement flowed from Lydia as she moved closer to the water. “Seeing one never ceases to make me smile. They’re so beautiful. The Lord has created a whole bunch of unique and fascinating animals.”
He pointed to a bald eagle flying above. “Like that one. Majestic.”
The joy in her expression spread through him as though it were contagious and for a moment it erased the tragedy and pain in their past and replaced it with the hope only the Lord could give them.
Jesse unhooked Brutus’s leash and gave him the signal to play. His dog sniffed his surroundings, exploring a piece of driftwood on the beach.
Then as if to confirm Jesse’s thoughts, the sky deepened to a rich orange golden color as the sun dropped behind the mountains. The peace he sought descended while the ravens performed their aerial tricks.
Jesse slipped his arms around Lydia and pulled her back against him. He rested his chin on the top of her head, smelling the apple scent in her shampoo. A memory from his childhood wound its way through his thoughts, bringing a smile to his lips. His mother had pulled an apple pie out of the oven and put it on a cold burner to cool. The aroma from the pie had filled the whole house. He’d started to pinch off a piece of the hot pie. His mom had quickly pulled him back and warned him of the hot plate, but she’d wrapped her arms around him, much as he now held Lydia, and hugged him.
Lydia twisted toward him and locked gazes with him. “Why are you sad?”
He hadn’t realized that his expression revealed his sadness. The older he became, the dimmer his thoughts of his childhood with his parents became. He wanted to keep them close always. “The scent of your hair reminded me of my mother when she used to bake us an apple pie. I loved them. Now I can’t eat a piece.”
“Because the smell brings back the thoughts of losing her?”
Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #1 Page 15