by Renee Miller
“Kris? How are you?” Michael, Daniel’s brother. He sounded upset.
“Good, I’m good. You?”
Silence and then a shaky breath before Michael continued, “To be honest, I’ve been better. Have you seen the news?”
Kristina’s gaze went to the TV screen, the purple blob bounced across while a gaggle of kids followed behind him cheering. “No, I don’t watch much TV. Why?”
“Dan’s been arrested for murder and a bunch of other shit. It’s not looking good.”
She curled her lips in a smile and took deep breaths to calm herself. The bastard would finally pay and it was her hand that had hammered the first nails into his coffin. If she could, she’d be the one to make sure the damn thing stayed sealed for eternity.
“Are you still there?” Michael asked.
“What? Oh, yes I’m sorry. This is so shocking. What happened?”
“I don’t know. They won’t let me talk to him. He’s been crazy since they locked him up and now they’ve got him separated from the other inmates and he’s not allowed seeing anyone but his lawyer.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t imagined he’d react like this. Daniel usually turned on the charm in situations that involved his own ass. She never expected him to act like a maniac. How perfect was that?
“You knew he was with someone, right?” he asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t know her.” Lies, more lies.
“Did you know they were married a couple of weeks ago? She’s pregnant.”
Floored, Kristina sat on the edge of the coffee table and digested this information. She shouldn’t care, but couldn’t help the sickening pain that burned her chest. A couple of weeks ago, Daniel had visited her, raped her and accused her of all sorts of things. He even claimed to love her while he did it. He should have been on his honeymoon, with his new pregnant wife.
Kristina glanced at her reflection in the darkened window, her eyes were moist, her face pale. It felt like a betrayal, but she didn’t understand why. She hated him, that’s what she had to remember. He betrayed her and Desiree. Now she’d see he paid the ultimate price. “I knew they were engaged, but I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Oh, well you guys weren’t meant for each other anyway, both of you are better off.”
“I know.”
“The cops questioned her and she told them he beat her. I just can’t believe it.”
Was he serious? Kristina had really liked Michael, missed seeing him since she’d divorced Daniel but this was the side of him that frustrated her. She’d told him several times about Daniel and how he ‘trained’ her to be the perfect wife, but Michael refused to believe his baby brother could do anything so horrible. Kristina gave up trying to convince him.
“The things she said,” Michael voice broke. “That he locked her in a room—kicked her and punched her—I’m just so shocked. Did he do that to you? Did he really hurt you like that?”
“Michael, I’ve told you this before. He hurt me daily, for infractions like turning on the vacuum when he was trying to hear the TV, and I was terrified. I should have left sooner but I was so scared.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. It’s just not like him, when we were kids he was such a goofy sweet guy. He never got mad.”
“Well he changed.” She wouldn’t get into this discussion and refused to imagine Daniel as a boy, with so much promise within him. Thinking like that is what made her stay for so long, she could see the boy in his eyes, and longed to make him emerge, to stifle the other one; the evil and hateful one.
“Dan says he’s innocent though, that’s what the news said. I managed to get his lawyer to fill me in a little, and he thinks it’s definitely a setup.”
Her heart pounded and blood roared in her ears. Shit, the lawyer could ruin it all. If she hoped to bury Daniel she had to convince his own brother of his guilt. If she couldn’t do that, how would she convince a jury?
“I didn’t want to tell you this because I value your friendship and I’d hate to lose that.” She paused, taking a breath. “But I might be the reason they arrested him. I don’t know, but I had to tell them. I’m sorry.”
“Tell them what? You’re not making any sense. If he’s done something then I need to know, I won’t hate you for telling me the truth, Kristina.”
She almost laughed. The truth was something that hadn’t left her lips in a while. “I found a box in the basement, one he left here after we separated. I told him to take it several times and he said to just leave it, he’d get it when he could. He forbade me to look inside, and one day I just got curious. I saw a knife and closed it. I didn’t look at anything else, so I can’t tell you what else was in there.”
“Shit,” Michael drew a ragged breath.
He’d bought it.
“I didn’t give it to them, though. I wouldn’t do that. He’s Cadence’s dad, I don’t want him in jail. Someone took it and I don’t know who or how or why, just that someone broke into my house and took it and they gave it to the police.”
“Someone broke into your house?”
“Yes, and I didn’t report it because Daniel had done it before to scare me, and that’s what I thought happened. I didn’t even look for the box until the police called me.”
Michael cursed and Kristina let silence fill the line.
The phone sounded muffled for a moment. Is someone else listening to this conversation? When the noise cleared, Kristina pushed ahead more determined than ever “they told me they’d arrest me for it and I’d lose Cadence. I didn’t want to tell them.”
“I believe you, and he should never have put you in such a position. He’s not a man. He’s a coward.”
Her heart soared.
Cadence cried from her chair. “Up!”
Kristina stood and walked to her daughter, bending to pick her up while Michael digested all she’d fed him. Cadence grabbed at the phone, her gaze intent on the power light on it. “No.” Kristina pulled back, so her clutching fingers couldn’t reach the phone.
“What?”
“Not you, Michael. Cadence keeps trying to take the phone.”
“She must be so big,” his voice broke again.
“She is. You should come by and see her some time.”
“I should, instead of being such a shitty uncle. You’re sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I’d love to see you, and so would Cadence.”
“I will and you do what you have to do. Hear me?”
Kristina pressed her lips together before answering, he was a good man and she despised lying to him, but it had to be done. He couldn’t see what his brother was before. Daniel was a monster. This would save him some heartache later. It was just a matter of time before Daniel did kill someone and her lies might have saved that girl. “Yes, I hear you.”
“He’s a big boy, and he’s done some terrible things. He should pay the consequences.”
“Yes he should.”
CHAPTER 32
Shivering as the cool breeze that had taken over the once pleasant evening chilled her to the bone, Kristina tucked her chin into her coat. Dinner at her parents had been an ordeal. She’d never lied to them before and each lie that passed her lips made her feel further away from them. Telling herself she had to do it, and she couldn’t drag them into her mess, made her feel a little better.
The clanking sound of a pop can rolling across the pavement sent the hair on her neck on end. She glanced up. Her body tensed when a man crossed the street by the post office, about ten feet from her. She resisted the urge to turn back and take the long way down the main street home. Instead she continued toward Colborne Street, one of the darkest in town. Only a few streetlights blessed it with illumination.
The man, tall and built like a linebacker if the way his jacket hugged his shoulders was anything to go by, turned right at the funeral home. She breathed a sigh of relief. She hated walking alone at night. Since the attack she’d avoided it. But her dad drank far too muc
h at dinner to drive her and she hadn’t told them about the incident, hadn’t wanted to worry them. Her mom demanded she leave Cadence for the night. Kristina had left alone.
A sense of exhilaration filled her at her little show of bravery. The stranger hadn’t forced her to take the long way home as his presence would have only yesterday. It made her feel strong, as though she’d reached another milestone in her journey to becoming independent. She turned left, toward the green bridge and home. If she had a life, Kristina might have called up a friend and gone out, but she didn’t want to. Besides, with Wade in jail and Amy dead, Dirty Truths had been closed. What did the regulars do when the only watering hole in town closed? Kristina smiled at the thought. The Beer Store would be doing a booming business.
She’d been so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn’t notice him until he fell into step beside her. Kristina opened her mouth to scream, but his hand slapped over her face before she could utter a sound. She trembled in fear, her eyes burning with tears. It took her a moment to realize who it was before her. The stranger.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Kristina nodded.
He smiled and relaxed the hand clutching her hair, but didn’t remove the other from her mouth. “First, promise not to scream. You do, you’re in that river… after I snap your neck.”
Her gaze darted to the water, settling on the falls rushing down into a shallow but rocky bed below. Kristina hated this part of the river, had hated it since going over the falls as a child. The bottom, where the water was shallow and safe, didn’t bother her but the rushing flow over the falls always made her nervous. His threat would have been enough to silence her even without the added terror of having her neck broken.
He moved his hand from her mouth and lowered it to her back, then he nudged her toward the bridge.
Kristina obeyed, not wanting to anger him until they moved far enough so the water wouldn’t be an option.
“You’ve been a busy girl. I’m impressed,” he said.
Kristina glanced up, and relaxed a little when she caught the grin on his face. His dark eyes had softened. The coolness she’d seen in his previous visits had vanished, replaced by a friendly warmth. She stumbled as they came to the end of the bridge and her foot hit the curb that separated the boards from the road. Catching herself, she turned as they continued across the road to her house. She risked a smile. “Is that all you came to say?”
“No, but I don’t think it’s wise to discuss what I have to say out here, where anyone can hear us. It’s about a mutual friend, one who saved me from making a huge mistake the last time we spoke. I’m sorry I misjudged you.”
They’d reached the end of her driveway and Kristina considered running, but her gut told her she had nothing to fear from this man. Something in his eyes as he grinned, the way she didn’t shudder when his hand pressed against her back. If Wade trusted him, then she would.
She pulled her key out of her coat and led him to the door. Inserting it in the lock, she fumbled with the simple effort as she remembered the last time a man stood watching her open it.
“I won’t bite,” the stranger said.
Kristina glanced back. The top of his bald head reflected the glow of the streetlight and the glare shadowed his features. “I didn’t think you would.”
She took a breath to calm herself, forcing the memory of Wade’s mouth on hers, the warmth of his tongue as he licked her finger, from her mind. Kristina opened the door. The stranger walked in. In her mind, her mother’s voice reprimanded her for being so stupid. Despite the certainty she wasn’t in any danger with this man, she offered up a silent prayer.
He’d switched the kitchen light on but as she entered, he was nowhere to be seen. Her gaze darted to the darkened living room and a flutter of dismay tickled her stomach. Brave or not, she wasn’t going into a dark room with him. Relief made her dizzy when the living room flooded with light.
He moved to the center of the room, an eyebrow raised in question.
Kristina walked toward him and stopped near the television, a few feet away from where he stood.
“You’ll testify?” he asked.
“About what?”
The stranger reached to touch the picture of Cadence that hung on the wall next to the stairs. He ran a finger over her face, and a sad smile played on his lips. “I have a daughter.”
“Really, you don’t seem the fatherly type.”
“There’s a type? Your Daniel is a father. You’d call him a fatherly type?” Lowering his arm he turned to look at her, his eyes cold once more.
“No, I suppose not. I just don’t see you with a child. But I don’t know you either, aside from the fact that you like barging into strange women’s homes and your grandmother is from Egypt.”
He smiled and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat. “True. I meant Daniel. You’ll help bury him? Make sure he takes the wrap?”
“Of course, he’s guilty, isn’t he?”
The man’s gaze held hers for a moment before nodding.
Was that respect in his eyes? Kristina looked away first, turning to remove her coat and set her purse on the coffee table. “Is that all?”
“We’ll help make sure he goes under, but you’ll have to disappear. In my experience, if you stick around people you know, things have a way of coming out; things you think you can keep to yourself. There’s also the little problem of some friends of ours who aren’t exactly friendly. They know about you, and that’s not good. The Brotherhood has decided it would be best for all of us if you take a holiday.”
“I can’t leave. People will think I’m hiding. I have no reason to hide.” Goosebumps erupted over her skin, and she recognized the rolling sensation in her stomach as panic threatened to overwhelm her.
She couldn’t disappear; her parents would be terrified. And what about Cadence? She couldn’t take their granddaughter away from them. No, she’d testify against Daniel and everything would be fine. She could keep a secret. Hadn’t she covered what Daniel was so well that when she asked for help, no one believed her?
“You need to be realistic, sweetheart.” He advanced slowly.
The nearness of his body when he stopped made Kristina uncomfortable. “I am being realistic. I have a child and my family is here. I can’t take her away from them. They’d never understand.”
“We’ll figure out something. Your dad has proven very loyal to Wade. I think we could let him in on some of it.”
Let her dad in? No way. “No. Absolutely not. My parents can’t know anything about what’s going on here.”
“We’ll work it out, as I said. Look, you can go anywhere you want and the Brothers will make sure you’re looked after. Money, a house, you name it and it’s yours. You scratched our backs and we’ll scratch yours. You can tell people whatever you want. I don’t care. But the important thing, the thing that should make you want to do this, is you can take your daughter and start over again. Forget all of this. After a decent amount of time, you can let your mom and dad know where you are and sort of hide in the open. You don’t have to disappear forever.”
Kristina chewed her lip, wondering if he really gave her a choice. If she refused, what would he do? Kill her too? Her gaze moved to his neck, to the tattoo representing justice, his justice. He would do what he felt he had to.
“And Wade? I won’t leave him.”
The stranger studied her for a moment then nodded. “He’ll have to do a couple of years at least. They don’t let you off light for possession and trafficking you know. But I’m sure he’d find you, wherever you went. Do you want to be found?”
“Yes, that’s the only reason I’ve done all of this. If not for Wade I wouldn’t have lied to anyone.”
“You love him?”
“More than you could ever understand.”
“I doubt that.”
The man turned, walking past her to the back door. Without looking back, he left.
Kristina stood staring at t
he empty room, her heart aching for the sorrow she glimpsed in his dark eyes. Not everyone was as lucky as she’d been. She hadn’t considered that. Maybe the stranger had a reason for his moody darkness beyond the coolness factor. After all, everyone had a story.
CHAPTER 33
The room hummed with excited murmurs, conspiratorial whispers and the annoying buzz of fluorescent lights.
As the Crown Attorney called her name, Kristina rose.
Richard Long, a man in his fifties who looked remarkably well preserved—though she would lay a bet Grecian Formula and Botox helped him along—smiled.
She smoothed her skirt, a soft black A-line that fell demurely to her knees, and composed her thoughts. Kristina walked to the front of the room, ignoring the stares of reporters and locals from Laighton who had traveled to see the trial. Only a few managed to get in, the media filled most of the seats. Daniel’s brother and friends occupied the entire row behind the defense table. Desiree was noticeably absent.
She stepped up into the little box next to the judge and raised her right hand as the bailiff instructed. After swearing in, she sat in the chair, surprised at its comfort but unable to relax into it as she was sure the manufacturer intended.
“State your name for the court please,” Richard instructed.
“Kristina Lynn Riley.”
“Thank you, and do you know the defendant?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know him?”
“He’s my ex-husband.”
The crowd murmured again and Kristina fought to keep her gaze on the lawyer as instructed. She knew the questions he’d ask, most of them anyway, but a lump formed in her throat.
“We have a statement from you where you claim a box which was brought to the attention of authorities recently was left at your house by your ex-husband, Daniel Riley. Is this correct?”
“Yes.” Kristina’s gaze moved to Daniel.
He stared, his mouth pressed in a firm line, his lawyer reached over to place a hand on his arm. Daniel shrugged him off.
Richard passed copies of Kristina’s statement to the judge and then to her. He read it over, adjusting his glasses on his rather large, red nose. She averted her gaze to the paper in her hands and waited for the next questions. A shuffling from the prosecution’s table brought her eyes up to see what was happening.