Wrongly Accused

by Laura Scott

  But where to find a computer? With a sigh, he stretched back out on the bed. He might have enough money to buy a tablet for computer access, but they were already running short on cash. He didn’t remember seeing a computer in the hotel lobby, but there might be a small business center with a computer that they could use.

  He crept out of bed, intending to go down to find out, when Kaitlin screamed. He spun around, his heart lodged in his throat at the horrible sound. He made his way over to where Noelle was holding his daughter close, trying to soothe away the night terrors.

  Watching helplessly, he took a seat at the side of the bed next to Noelle, trying to be supportive as his daughter sobbed with heart-wrenching agony. Noelle murmured comforting words to Kaitlin, and soon the intensity of his daughter’s crying lessened to the point they faded away.

  Still, Noelle continued to hold Kaitlin close. He ached to offer his daughter comfort, too.

  After what seemed like an hour, Noelle gently tucked Kaitlin beneath the covers.

  “Are you okay?” he whispered.

  “I’m fine. What about you?” she whispered back.

  He didn’t think he could ever be fine, not until his daughter’s night terrors went away for good. “I hate hearing her cry like that. Do you think the explosion caused this nightmare?”

  “Probably,” she agreed. There was a long moment as they stared at each other in the darkness. “Try to get some sleep, Caleb, there’s nothing more we can do now, okay?”

  “Okay. Good night,” he whispered, rising to his feet and heading over to the other bed. His previous happy mood vanished in the wake of his daughter’s nightmare.

  And despite his lack of faith, he found himself praying for God to bring Kaitlin the peace she deserved.

  * * *

  The next morning, Caleb climbed out of bed first and quickly made use of the bathroom. Shaving the stubble off his face felt great and despite the seriousness of their situation, he was anxious to get started on his investigation. The guy who murdered his wife must have targeted Caleb because he thought Caleb might figure out the truth. Which made him determined to do just that. First item on the agenda was to get downstairs to search for a computer.

  When he emerged from the bathroom, he found Noelle and Kaitlin were awake now, too.

  “Good morning,” he greeted them.

  “I’m hungry, Daddy.” Kaitlin’s smile didn’t show any evidence of her earlier nightmare.

  Just hearing her call him daddy warmed his heart. He smiled. “The hotel offers a free continental breakfast, so we can eat whenever you’re ready.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Noelle said cheerfully. “After breakfast we can go to church. I saw one located just a few blocks down the street. Are you ready to get washed up, Kaitlin?”

  Noelle grabbed clean clothes for the both of them out of the plastic bag before disappearing into the bathroom. He shouldn’t have been surprised about Noelle’s intent to go to church but somehow he was. He considered letting them go to the service alone, so that he could get started on the computer search. But then he remembered how he’d prayed during those long moments in the bus while watching the cops drive through the parking lot.

  No, he couldn’t let them go alone. Not that he’d really planned on keeping up with Noelle’s Christian teachings once this nightmare was over. Surely he could hold off doing his computer search for an hour or so.

  As he waited for Noelle and Kaitlin he cleaned up the hotel room, putting the dry clothes away and leaving out the ones that were still slightly damp that Noelle had set out to dry the night before. He turned on the news, anxious to hear what the media had to say, but there were only talk shows, which didn’t interest him in the least.

  Thirty minutes later, Noelle and Kaitlin were ready and they all headed down to the lobby for breakfast. He caught sight of a small room off to the side that housed a computer and a printer, and couldn’t wait to get started.

  Church first, he reminded himself. The computer would be here when they got back.

  As they filled up on cold cereal, fruit and bagels he explained his plan to Noelle. “After church, I’d like you to take Kaitlin outside to play on the swing set while I search for photos of the SWAT team members. I’ll save them on the hard drive and then let you review them, see if you recognize anyone.” He’d thought about printing them out, but decided that it might be easier for Noelle to see the faces on the computer screen.

  “All right,” she agreed cautiously. “Are we checking out today? Or staying another night?”

  Good question. As much as he felt the need to keep moving, the fact that this place had free breakfast and computer access made him want to stay. “Maybe we’ll stay one more night,” he said slowly. “By then we should have something to go on.”

  Noelle’s expression was troubled and she looked as if she wanted to say something, but then glanced down at Kaitlin and simply nodded. “All right.”

  They finished the meal and then walked outside to head down to the church. The distance was farther than he’d originally thought, and the church bells chimed as they walked up.

  He felt a little bit like a fraud as he followed Noelle and Kaitlin inside. Kaitlin didn’t seem upset about going to the church service so he knew that his daughter was used to accompanying Noelle.

  Glancing around, he noticed that the small church was surprisingly full. When Noelle picked up the hymnal, he followed her lead.

  She sang the opening hymn, her voice clear and beautiful. He didn’t know the words at all, but was content enough to listen to Noelle sing. To his surprise, Kaitlin joined in, too, but only during the chorus, which was probably the only part of the song she knew by heart.

  Caleb could admit that he’d planned on being bored during the service, but he wasn’t. In fact, he wondered if the pastor had known exactly what he needed to hear, especially when his sermon was centered all about learning to keep God’s faith and following God’s plan. He’d never considered looking to God for guidance. And when the pastor read from the book of Psalms, the words reverberated through his heart and his soul.

  Teach me, Lord, the way of your decree, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart (Psalms 119:33-34).

  From beside him, Noelle murmured the words under her breath, as if she knew them by heart. He was ashamed that he’d never bothered to read anything from the Bible. For one thing, he’d always thought it would be dull and boring. But the passage from the Psalms was lyrical and enlightening.

  What else had he missed?

  The closing hymn was another upbeat song that Noelle sang along to with gusto. He found himself wishing he knew the words and the melody so he could join along. He was content, though, to listen to Noelle’s and Kaitlin’s voices blend together.

  When the service was over, he rose to his feet and followed Noelle and Kaitlin outside, feeling lighter and filled with hope despite everything that had happened.

  Was this why people went to church? Not just to pray but to hand their burdens over to God?

  Maybe. If so, he figured he should attend church more often.

  “Thank you for going along with us,” Noelle said as they walked leisurely back to their hotel. “I think it was nice that we could share the service together with Kaitlin.”

  “You’ve taken her to church often, haven’t you?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

  “Yes.” She slanted him a sidelong look. “I hope you don’t expect me to apologize for it.”

  He had to laugh. “No, I don’t expect you to apologize. I’m actually very grateful that you were there for my daughter during the months I couldn’t be. And I’m glad she’s learned to love God and to pray.”

  “You are?” Surprise echoed from her tone.

&
nbsp; “Yes, Noelle, I am.”

  “Does that mean you believe in God, too?”

  He pondered her question for a moment. “I think deep down I believed in the concept of God,” he admitted. “But my parents didn’t go to church much, so I never really gave religion much thought. Heather wasn’t very religious, either, so we didn’t make God or church a big part of our life.”

  “I guessed that Heather wasn’t much of a believer,” Noelle said.

  He let out a soft sigh. “The demise of our marriage wasn’t all her fault.”

  “I know. But you weren’t the one who had an affair, right?”

  “Right.” How had they gotten on this subject? The last thing he wanted to do was to discuss his failures. He saw the park with the playground up ahead and pointed it out to Kaitlin. “Would you like to play outside for a while?” he asked.

  “Yes! Can we, Noa? Can we?”

  “Sure,” Noelle agreed, smiling down at Kaitlin. Then she turned toward him. “Promise me that you’ll let me know what you find out.”

  “I will. I need you to help ID this guy, remember?” They parted ways at the playground. Caleb quickened his pace to get back to the hotel’s computer room. After he settled down in front of the computer, he clicked on the internet and began searching for various news stories.

  Finding clear photographs of his former teammates wasn’t easy, many didn’t show their faces, but after an hour he had at least a half dozen, including a photo of Declan.

  He stared at the picture of his best friend for a long minute. What would happen if he contacted Deck now? Would his buddy believe him? Or hang up on him?

  Surprisingly, he was tempted to find out. Maybe if he was alone, he’d take the risk. But no way was he going to put Noelle or Kaitlin in danger.

  With a sigh, he moved on to another search attempt, but this time, a news caption on the home page caught his eye.

  Body found floating in Lake Michigan believed to be that of Kenneth James, eyewitness to the murder of Heather O’Malley.

  With a deep sense of foreboding, Caleb clicked on the headline and read the article. The body of his neighbor Kenneth James had been found almost ten days after his disappearance. And who had the most to gain by Kenneth’s death?

  Caleb O’Malley. After all, he was now a free man because there was no eyewitness against him.

  He sat back in disbelief. Even though he’d been in jail when Ken had disappeared, the reporter believed it was possible Caleb had arranged the murder from prison.

  Once again, he was a prime suspect in this latest murder investigation. And if he were arrested again, he felt certain he’d be convicted.

  * * *

  Noelle enjoyed being outside in the sun with Kaitlin, who’d found another little girl to play with on the swing set. Yet she couldn’t help feeling like she needed to get back inside the hotel to help Caleb search for members of the SWAT team.

  She glanced at her watch for the third time, and decided that an hour was plenty of time for Caleb to have found some photographs. After everything they’d been through, she found she desperately wanted to help clear his name. She needed to go in and review what he’d discovered.

  “Come on, Kaitlin, it’s time to go inside,” she called.

  “Not yet, Noa,” Kaitlin protested. “We’re having fun, aren’t we, Izzy?”

  The little blonde nodded eagerly. “Lotsa fun,” Izzy said.

  “Ten minutes,” Noelle said firmly. “You can always come back to play later.”

  “But Izzy won’t be here later,” Kaitlin said, thrusting out her lower lip in a pout.

  Noelle suppressed a sigh, and fought back a wave of impatience. There was no rush. Caleb had agreed to stay here another day. Certainly there was plenty of time to search the internet.

  “Izzy,” a blonde woman called out. “Time to go home. We have to get ready to go to your cousin’s birthday party.”

  “Okay.” The little girl obediently slid off the swing. “Bye, Kaitlin.”

  “Bye, Izzy.” Kaitlin’s sad eyes followed her new friend as Izzy ran over to her mother.

  “Come on, Kaitlin, let’s go inside for a while,” she said, holding out her hand. Kaitlin reluctantly came over, her head hanging down dejectedly. Her heart squeezed in sympathy, knowing that if they were home right now, they’d be making playdates with other girls from preschool.

  She took Kaitlin into the lobby and walked over to the small computer station. Caleb glanced up at her, his expression grim. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He glanced at Kaitlin and shook his head. “I have some photos for you to look at,” he said, rising to his feet so she could sit down. She noticed he had a short list of names written on a single piece of paper. “They’re in order from left to right.”

  “All right.” She clicked on the first image and couldn’t help a small gasp when she realized the photograph was of Caleb and another man next to a small child who was wrapped in a blanket. “Who is this guy standing next to you?” she asked.

  “Declan Shaw.”

  He didn’t say anything more and she shook her head. “That’s not him.”

  Caleb nodded and she saw a flash of relief in his eyes before she clicked on the next photograph. The image wasn’t as clear and she stared at it for a long time before slowly shaking her head. “Nope, that’s not him, either.”

  As she went through the next five photographs, Caleb made notes on the list. She sat back with a sigh. “None of these is the guy I saw. Maybe you’re wrong about him being on the SWAT team?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said shortly. “There are several guys whose photos I haven’t been able to find yet.”

  “What’s wrong, Caleb?” she asked, glancing over to make sure Kaitlin was still preoccupied with drawing her picture. There weren’t any crayons, but Kaitlin didn’t seem to mind as she used a pencil to draw a picture of a clown. “You look upset.”

  He hesitated, and then bent over to use the mouse to click on a newspaper article. The headline made her feel sick to her stomach.

  “I don’t believe it,” she murmured as she scanned the article about the death of Kenneth James, the missing eyewitness from Heather O’Malley’s murder investigation. “I don’t understand why anyone would think this.”

  “I do,” Caleb muttered harshly. “This is another attempt to get me convicted of murder.”

  The thought of someone going to such great lengths to do just that made her blood run cold. She shivered and tried to think rationally. “But, Caleb, you were obviously in jail when this happened. What possible proof could they have that you arranged this from behind bars?”

  “I don’t know. The only man I had regular contact with while in jail was my lawyer, Jack Owens. And he’s the only one I called from the hotel where our car suddenly exploded. As much as I hate to admit it, Jack Owens is the key. Although, this new twist certainly doesn’t help him any. He’s being implicated in this murder investigation, too.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Noelle said in a low tone. She swiveled in her seat to stare up at Caleb. “Remember what you said about someone from the SWAT team having the knowledge and ability to tap into Jack’s phone? What if that same guy who murdered Heather did that and more? What if he’s truly setting up both of you for this murder?”

  Caleb abruptly straightened. “You could be right. I have to warn Jack.”

  “Wait.” She caught his hand before he could leave. “How are you going to do that? If you call him they might track the call and find us. And we don’t have a vehicle to drive over to find him.”

  “I’ll take a bus,” he said. “You and Kaitlin can wait here.”

  “No way,” she protested, jumping to her feet. “What if something happens to you? We’d be stuck here without money or a way to ge
t to safety. We’re going, too.”

  “Too dangerous,” he argued. “I’ll leave you some cash. If I’m not back before nightfall you can go to the closest police station for help.”

  The thought of sitting here and waiting hours for him to return was excruciating. Not knowing what was going on was worse than the fear of going along with him to the place this all started. “Caleb, please. Let us go with you to the city. We’ll find someplace safe to wait while you talk to Jack. Don’t make us sit here in a different city, alone.”

  He shook his head but didn’t say anything more. She couldn’t help feeling that splitting up was the worst thing they could do. But how could she convince Caleb?

  * * *

  Caleb knew that the best thing for Noelle and Kaitlin was to stay hidden in Madison. Yet leaving them here alone didn’t sit well with him, either.

  He didn’t think they’d been followed here. How could they have been? They came on a bus chartered by a group of senior citizens. There was no reason to believe that Noelle and Kaitlin wouldn’t be safe here. While taking them along with him would be far too risky.

  They walked back to their room, a heavy silence hanging between them. He understood Noelle’s frustration, but he needed to do the right thing to keep them safe. No matter how much he wanted to have their company.

  “You can’t stop us from buying bus tickets, too,” Noelle said once they were inside the room. She stood near the doorway, with her arms crossed defensively over her chest. “We’ll come along regardless.”

  “You don’t have any money, Noelle,” he reminded her.

  “I’ll use my credit card. I know the number by heart.”

  He batted down a flash of anger. “That wouldn’t be smart and you know it. Whoever tried to kill me knows we’re together. He’ll find you in a heartbeat if you use your credit card. Don’t you see? I have to warn Jack that he’s at risk and I don’t want you and Kaitlin in any danger. It’s best for all of us if I go alone.”

  “Daddy?” Kaitlin came over and held her arms up. “Up!”

  Flustered, he reached for his daughter, lifting her against his chest and holding her close. She’d never asked him to hold her before and he was thrilled that she was growing less afraid of him.