Bedtime was the usual ritual. Sammy showered first and then Katie took a bath. While Katie enjoyed her bubbles and bathtub paint, Eliza read Sammy a short story.
Within a half an hour the children were tucked in and Eliza went back downstairs to shut off her computer. She’d thought she might work a little bit after the kids were in bed, but she was too mentally and emotionally exhausted to do anything but go to bed herself.
She took a long, hot shower, got into her nightgown and then crawled into bed. It was only then, alone in the dark, quiet room, that tears that she’d held in all day began to fall.
She cried for what might have been, for what she thought would be. She wept for the kind and the wonderful man she’d fallen in love with, a man so damaged by life he would deny himself love.
Was it just her he didn’t want to be with or did he intend to keep himself isolated and alone for the rest of his life? This thought broke her heart for him.
She fell asleep with tears still wet on her cheeks and dreamed of Troy and laughter and love. In her dreams he sat at the little purple-and-pink table in Katie’s room to share in a tea party, and then he sat on the sofa with an arm flung around Sammy’s shoulders as they watched a movie.
And he was in bed with Eliza, his beautiful blue eyes glowing with not just desire and passion, but also filled with the forever kind of love she wanted from him.
In one minute she was in Troy’s arms and in the next she was suddenly wide-awake, her heart beating a frantic rhythm. Immediately she reached for her nightstand lamp and turned it on.
She gasped as she saw her dead ex-husband stepping out of her closet.
* * *
TROY SAT AT his kitchen table. It was just after one in the morning and he’d been sitting here for hours nursing a scotch and soda and staring out at the moonlit landscape of his backyard.
He was trying hard to forget the feel of Katie’s little hand in his. You’re a daddy without a daughter and I’m a daughter without a daddy. All afternoon those words had played and replayed in his mind.
Along with thoughts of Annie.
Eliza had told him he needed to forgive himself even though she didn’t feel like he’d done anything wrong. Could she possibly be right?
Three years ago he would have laid down his life for Annie. He would have taken a bullet for her or been run down by a bus if it would have saved his daughter’s life.
All you did was look away for a minute or two, a little voice whispered in his head. That had been his sin. He’d momentarily taken his eyes off his daughter. He couldn’t have known that evil was near and just waiting to pounce.
Annie had known he loved her, because he’d told her so every single day of her life. A vision from the past suddenly filled his head.
He and Annie had been playing together and she began to tickle him. He wasn’t really ticklish, but it was her giggles that made him laugh. She stopped tickling him and instead clapped her hands on either side of his face. “Oh, Daddy, I love your happy face,” she’d exclaimed.
Instead of bringing him to tears, the vision brought with it a healing. In the past three years he’d been so focused on his own misery, he’d forgotten to remember that Annie had always wanted him to be happy.
Happy...like he had been with Eliza and her children. What was he doing killing himself slowly with isolation and guilt? Annie wouldn’t have wanted that for him. She loved his happy face. At the moment his choices over the past three years felt like an utter disrespect to the daughter he had loved.
He tossed back the last of his drink and then rolled the glass between his hands. You’re a daddy without a daughter and I’m a daughter without a daddy.
Was it possible fate was giving him a second chance at happiness? Annie would have wanted that for him. Hell, he wanted it for himself.
You’ve suffered enough, that inner voice whispered again. You’ve virtually been dead for the past three years and now it’s time to get back to living. And living was Eliza and her children.
A sense of peace fluttered through him, a profound peace that held forgiveness for himself. He’d done enough penance. He’d punished himself long enough. And along with the peace came love.
He leaned back in his chair and allowed the rush of love that filled him. Yes, he wanted happiness in his life, and happiness was Eliza and Sammy and Katie.
If he could, he’d run across the yard to Eliza’s place to tell her that he loved her, that he wanted a life with her. He’d tell her that he was ready to accept loving and being loved.
Of course he couldn’t very well do that now. It was the middle of the night. An edge of anxiety filled him. Maybe she wouldn’t be willing to give him a second chance.
He’d been pretty cold and hateful to her yesterday. It was quite possible she wouldn’t be able to forgive him. He’d pushed her away and there was a very real possibility that he’d pushed her away forever.
He shook his head. He couldn’t think that way. He had to believe that somehow, someway she’d not only forgive him, but would also welcome him back into her life...this time forever.
What he needed to do right now was to get some sleep. He knew Eliza was an early riser and he wanted to be on her doorstep as early as possible in the morning, hopefully to reclaim her heart. He got up from the table and carried his glass to the sink. He raised his gaze to the window and froze.
Two figures were running to the back of his yard. They were clad in dark clothes, but the bright moonlight overhead made them visible. It was obvious by their body size that they were men.
They raced to the wooded area and then...disappeared. He frowned and squinted his eyes, seeking the two of them among the trees. But they were gone.
What in the hell was going on?
* * *
“BLAKE...YOU’RE...YOU’RE ALIVE,” Eliza stuttered in stunned surprise. She stared in disbelief at the man she’d been married to and had thought was dead. She couldn’t even begin to process that it looked like he had just walked out of her closet.
“Very much so.”
“But...but I thought you died in a motorcycle accident.”
“According to the world, I am dead. You know, good old Frank had a lot of thug friends. Many of them now live in Florida. It cost me a lot of money to fake my own death and get new identification, but I managed.”
She continued to stare at him. He’d put on some weight since last time she’d seen him and his hair was longer. “But why would you do that?”
“One of the reasons was because I didn’t want to pay child support for two kids I don’t care anything about.” His upper lip curled into an unpleasant smile. Oh, she remembered that smile, and she also remembered how very much she disliked him.
Still, her brain was spinning. What was going on here? How had he gotten into her closet? And why was he here? She raised the bedsheet closer around her. “How did you get in here?”
He released a small laugh. “I’ve been coming in and out of this house since you moved in here.”
“But how? I’ve got a security system.” And why hadn’t an alarm gone off when he came into the house?
“A tunnel,” he replied.
“A tunnel?” she echoed as her brain struggled to keep up with everything that was happening.
“Once again I can thank Frank. There’s a tunnel that runs from your closet to the backyard next door. He made sure he always had an escape route if the cops came knocking.”
He stepped farther inside the room and Mitchell also stepped out of the closet. The dark-haired man wasn’t wearing an ill-fitting Kansas City Power and Light uniform tonight. Rather he wore dark jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched over his broad upper body. His dark eyes gleamed as his lips curved into a smile.
“Mitchell here got a little ahead of things trying to get in through the front door.” Blake laughed once again.
“We were quite amused when you put in that fancy security system because we knew it wasn’t going to keep us out.”
“So it was you I heard, the rustling and the bumps in the night.”
“Yeah, it was hard to look around in here in the dark and sometimes we made a little noise.”
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was in trouble, but she was still struggling to fully comprehend Blake’s presence here. “What do you want, Blake?” Thank God the children hadn’t awakened to see their dead father.
“You know what I want: the necklace.” He took a step closer to the foot of her bed.
She smelled the thick, acrid scent of danger in the room, the smell overriding Blake’s familiar cologne. “What necklace? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she bluffed.
“Don’t play stupid with me. You had to have found it. Mitchell and I have searched this entire place from top to bottom and all the hiding places are empty.”
He took another step toward her, his eyes narrowed. “I know it was here because Frank told me it was here right before he died.”
“When did you see Frank?” She was stalling, biding time, but she didn’t know what she might be waiting for. The cavalry to ride in and save the day? That wasn’t going to happen.
Blake and Mitchell had gotten into the house without setting off the alarms. Nobody knew they were inside and so nobody would be coming to help her.
“I managed to sneak into the hospital the day before he died,” Blake said. “And he told me all about the robbery and the necklace. I know you have it, Eliza. I also know there’s a big reward for the return of the necklace.”
“You’re probably planning on turning it in and getting that reward,” Mitchell said. “I’ve got a one-half interest in those jewels from the heist and I’ve waited a long time, and tonight is collection time.”
“Blake, I have no idea where any necklace is,” she said desperately. “Please just leave.”
“I can’t just leave. You shouldn’t have woken up, Eliza. Mitchell and me were just going to check out another couple of places while you were still asleep, but you made the mistake of waking up and turning on the light.” Blake pulled a revolver from his waistband.
Eliza gasped, her heart beating so fast she could scarcely draw a breath. “Blake, what are you doing?”
“Whether you have the necklace or not doesn’t really matter. We’ll find it before dawn if we have to tear down all the walls in the house. But I can’t let you live. I’m not going to let you ruin the new life I’ve built.”
“I won’t tell anyone I saw you. I swear I won’t tell,” she replied frantically. Oh God, what would happen to her children if she died? What would happen to her sweet children? The thought of them finding her dead body in the morning was too horrific to imagine.
“Blake...please don’t do this.” Tears burned at her eyes and slid down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening. Surely she wasn’t going to be murdered in her own bed by a man who had once been her husband.
She looked around, as if help might magically appear out of thin air. The control panel next to the bed. If she could just get to it, she could make the alarm go off and hopefully help would come.
“Don’t even think about it,” Blake said. “If you even flinch, you’re dead.”
She looked at the gun in Blake’s hand and realized he had a silencer on it. But she’d heard somewhere that even with a silencer gunshots were loud.
“Somebody will hear,” she exclaimed. “Blake, if you shoot that gun in here somebody will hear it and come to see what’s going on.”
“I’m gambling that nobody will hear it,” he replied. “It’s the middle of the night and everyone is asleep and these walls are pretty well insulated.” His eyes glittered with a sick light. “Let’s give it a test.” He raised the gun and Eliza said a quick prayer for her children.
Blake spun around and shot Mitchell in the chest. Eliza slapped her hands over her mouth to stanch her scream. Mitchell wore a bright red splash and a look of disbelief before he fell to the floor and within seconds appeared dead.
“I don’t hear anyone coming,” Blake said calmly. “And I really didn’t want to share with him.” He pointed the gun at her. “This is your last chance. Tell me where the damned necklace is.”
“I don’t know,” she cried hysterically. “I swear I don’t know.”
“Mommy?” Katie’s little voice made time stand still. No. No. No! Eliza’s brain screamed.
Katie looked at Blake. “Daddy!” Her voice was filled with awe and delight as she ran to him and embraced him around his waist.
Eliza knew if something drastic didn’t happen fast, it was possible that her blind son would be the only survivor of Blake’s greed.
Chapter Twelve
The minute after Troy had seen the men in his backyard he’d grabbed his gun and a flashlight and headed out the back door. The night was hot, but a cold chill spiraled up his spine.
What had those men wanted and where in the hell had they gone? He ran across the backyard and didn’t turn on the flashlight until he was in the area where the two men had seemed to vanish into thin air.
He’d never explored much back here, preferring to leave the area to the deer and other wildlife who called it home. Now he clicked on his flashlight and looked around. There were definitely no men hiding behind the trees or anywhere in the near vicinity.
Had they really been there? Or had they just been a figment of his imagination? No. No, he knew what he had seen. Somehow, someway those men had managed to disappear in this area.
He began to shine his light on the forest floor, seeking something that might explain the sudden disappearance of the men.
He walked slowly from one tree to another. A rustling behind a bush whirled him around in time to see a rabbit running away. Insects whirred and clicked and buzzed around his head. But nothing distracted him from the task at hand.
There had to be something here. Why would two men run back here in the middle of the night? What had they been doing and, dammit, where had they gone?
He wasn’t giving up until he had some answer that made sense. Once again he shone his light back and forth on the ground.
He froze as his foot hit something solid. He aimed the light down to see what appeared to be a corner of a piece of wood. He moved his foot from side to side, revealing a large piece of plywood.
What was it doing back here? Who had put it here? His heart quickened its pace as he revealed a small handle on the wood. A door? He grabbed the handle and pulled up, stunned when it rose up to reveal a tunnel going down into the bowels of the earth.
It explained how the men had disappeared, but where did the tunnel lead? He grabbed his flashlight more firmly in his hand and descended.
Six large steps down and then he was in the tunnel itself. Earthen walls pressed in on him and he had to duck to proceed forward. And forward was definitely leading him in the direction of Eliza’s house.
If this tunnel did, indeed, lead directly into Eliza’s house, then a lot would be explained. But what terrified him at the moment was the fact that two men had entered this tunnel and might be in Eliza’s house at this very minute.
This thought spurred him to move faster through the musty-smelling tunnel. All he could think about was that it was possible Eliza and the children were in danger.
He consoled himself with the thought that he suspected the men had used this tunnel before. The figure Eliza had seen in the dark had probably been somebody who had entered her home this way. So far they hadn’t confronted Eliza, so hopefully she was still sound asleep and had no idea that the men were anywhere nearby.
It felt like he’d been walking forever when he came to a place where the tunnel divided into two. He stopped, unsure which direction to take.
Was it possible he’d somehow gotten
disoriented and the tunnel didn’t lead to Eliza’s house after all? He shone his light first up one direction and then the other, cursing that his flashlight wasn’t brighter, stronger. All he could see up both passageways was darkness ahead.
The unmistakable sound of a gunshot sounded and terror sizzled in his veins. Eliza! His heart cried her name as he stared at the two tunnels. Which one should he take?
He finally raced up the one that veered right, praying that he had made the right choice and he wasn’t too late.
* * *
“DADDY, YOU AREN’T in heaven, you’re here,” Katie exclaimed happily. She looked at Mitchell’s body and her happiness transformed to horror. “Is that man dead?”
“Get off me,” Blake growled, and tried to pull Katie’s arms from around him.
Eliza shot off the bed. “Don’t you hurt her,” she yelled.
Blake wrapped an arm around Katie with his gun still pointed at Eliza. “Then tell me where the necklace is.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Eliza replied with fervor as tears tried to choke her. “Just let her go, Blake. You’re scaring her.”
“I got a new necklace,” Katie said. “It was buried treasure I found in the wall.”
Blake yanked the little girl around and grabbed hold of one of her shoulders. “Where is it?” he screamed at the child. “Where is the necklace now?”
Katie began to cry...deep, wrenching sobs that made it impossible for her to respond. Eliza launched herself at Blake, momentarily blinded by her daughter’s terrified distress.
Blake raised the gun and pistol-whipped her upside the head. She reeled backward and landed on the bed as pain exploded and stars flashed behind her eyes.
“Tell me, you little brat. Tell me where the damned necklace is,” he screamed at Katie.
“Isabella wanted to wear it,” Katie finally managed to sob.
“Who in the hell is Isabella?” Blake asked. “You better not have given it to another kid.”
Desperate Intentions (HQR Intrigue) Page 15