Rock Harbor Series - 04 - Abomination

by Colleen Coble

  Nick stared at the wood three inches from his nose. He rapped again. “Mrs. Matthews?” What had just happened? She’d acted as though she knew his name. Doubling his fist, he pounded harder.

  The door opened a crack. “I’m sorry,” the woman said. “Listen, could you come back in the morning? It’s really too late to deal with this tonight.” Her green eyes looked enormous in her pale face.

  Deal with what? He hadn’t even told her what he wanted. “It’s crucial that I talk to you and Ms. Cox. Please, it will only take a moment. I’m with the state police. I don’t want to have to throw my weight around, but I can if I have to.”

  Her gaze went over his shoulder, and he heard the crunch of gravel. “Listen, let me ask my husband what to do.”

  Nick was ready to throw up his hands. What was the big deal? He turned to see a stocky man about his own age get out of a pickup. Dressed in a park service uniform, he nodded to Nick, then frowned when his wife rushed toward him.

  “Bree, what’s wrong?” He shot a suspicious gaze toward Nick and gathered his wife close.

  Nick couldn’t hear their whispered comments, though Bree’s agitation was clear. He stuck out his hand as the other man approached with his wife. “I’m with the Michigan State Police. I’m investigating the serial killer who calls himself Gideon.” Nick shook his hand. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Kade Matthews. Bree’s husband.”

  “I’d like to interview her and your guest, Elena Cox.”

  “Not until we talk.”

  Nick had had enough. “Look, I’ve told you I’m with the Michigan State Police. We can talk here or we can talk up at the sheriff’s office. Those are your options. I’m trying to stop a killer.”

  Kade studied his face and evidently found something he liked. “Elena is in a fragile state. I’m not sure letting you talk to her is a good idea. You know she was hurt when my wife found her?”

  “I’ll take it easy with her.”

  Kade looked away. “Um, Elena was walking along the side of the road just outside town. Bree stopped and picked her up. She had a head wound and a knife cut along her rib. She didn’t remember how she got there, who hurt her.”

  Bree tugged on her husband’s arm. “Let’s sit down a minute. I don’t want her to overhear us.”

  Nick followed them to the porch swing. The air smelled faintly of dew and some sweet flower. The light from the old-fashioned street lamp illuminated their corner.

  Kade kept staring at him. Nick could almost sense a wave of hostility and suspicion from the other man surging again. “What?”

  Bree glanced at his left hand. “You’re married.”

  “I was. She—she was killed by the serial killer I’m tracking.” Nick was in no mood to talk about his marital status—or lack thereof. “My daughter is still missing.”

  Bree put her hand over her mouth. Kade stood and paced the porch. Both of them sent off agitation in waves.

  “I think we’d better let you talk to . . . um . . . Elena,” Bree finally said.

  CAR LIGHTS SWEPT THE FRONT LAWN AND POKED THROUGH Eve’s bedroom window. A few minutes later, the murmur of voices floated up the stairs from the entry, and the front door opened and closed a few times.

  “Elena, where are you?” Kade’s voice called from the entry.

  Elena? Hadn’t Bree told him they’d figured out who she really was? Elena still sounded more familiar than Eve. “I’m up here,” she called. “Be right there.” She hauled herself up from the rocker by the window and went down to the living room, where she found Kade and Bree standing by the fireplace.

  Kade’s blue eyes probed Eve’s face. “You okay?”

  Eve nodded. “As okay as anyone is to discover a serial killer is after her. Did Bree tell you we know my name is Eve Andreakos?”

  Kade nodded. “I know. It’s just . . .”

  “What’s wrong?” Eve asked him.

  Bree glanced at her husband, then back to Eve. She cleared her throat. “Um, there’s someone outside.”

  Eve wasn’t sure how this pertained to her, but it obviously did.

  “A Michigan State captain,” Bree went on. “Nick Andreakos.”

  The name sank into her consciousness. She tried to wrap her mind around it. Nick. Here. She rose slowly. “He’s . . . in Rock Harbor? You didn’t tell him I was here, did you?” She darted a panicked glance toward the entry and moved toward the stairs.

  Bree grabbed her arm. “He wants to help you, Eve. Why are you so afraid of him?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” The adrenaline pumping through Eve’s veins should have told her something, but she couldn’t grasp hold of it.

  “Keri has been asking for her daddy,” Bree reminded her.

  “I know.” She sagged against Bree. Even though she didn’t remember Nick, Keri did. And she missed him. Eve had no right to deprive her daughter of her daddy.

  “I didn’t tell him who you were. He thinks you’re dead,” Kade said.

  “Dead?” Eve needed to sit down. She sank into the couch.

  Bree nodded. “He thinks Gideon killed you, just like the newspaper said.”

  “And Keri? Where does he think she is? Dead too?” Just saying the words made Eve shudder.

  “He said she’s still missing.” Bree touched her shoulder. “You okay?”

  “No.” She wouldn’t be okay until this nightmare was over—if it ever was. “Don’t you think you’d better warn him?”

  “I thought maybe getting his first reaction when he sees you might tell us if he had anything to do with the condition you were in when you got here,” Kade said.

  Eve nodded. “Okay.” She was not ready for this.

  “Let me get him.” Bree backed out toward the door.

  Samson hunkered down and barked, then ran toward the door with his tail wagging hard enough to come off. Eve told herself the dog wouldn’t be so welcoming to someone who was a danger. Gracie licked her foot, and she scooped up the kitten for courage while she watched the door for her first glimpse of her husband.

  Ex-husband, she reminded herself. He had no power over her.

  Voices came her way. First just a murmur, then she could distinguish a deeper voice intermingled with Bree’s higher one. The timbre set the hair on the back of her neck to vibrating. She put her hand on her throat and watched for her first glimpse.

  Heavy boots clomped along the wooden floor. Eve’s pulse rattled against her veins. If she were small enough to squeeze under the sofa, she would have crawled under it.

  Two figures loomed in the opening from the hall. Eve’s gaze brushed Bree’s face, then moved to the figure behind her. The man behind Bree towered over her petite frame. He turned his head and glanced into the room. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

  The color washed from Nick’s olive skin. No words came from his parted lips, just an intake of breath that left a question dangling in the air.

  Eve’s gaze traced his features. His physical attractiveness made the room seem small. The picture online hadn’t captured the magnetism that radiated from his dark eyes. Broad shoulders, dark hair that curled a little at his neck, chiseled lips and bone structure. He could have posed as Adonis.

  This man had lived with her in a home somewhere. They once had a life together. He had fathered her child. It was more than she could take in. All this history, and she didn’t have a clue how it had played out.

  Eve found she was standing. His dark eyes swallowed her whole. The hunger that blazed in them changed to a fierce joy and passion. Before she could move or react, he was in front her. His hands came down on her shoulders. The heat of his fingers burned into her skin where he gripped her.

  “Eve,” he whispered. “Eve, you’re alive.” His gaze roamed her face, then lingered on the scar on her temple. His hands moved up to cup her face. Then somehow her face was buried in his shirt that smelled like fabric softener and spicy cologne.

  Had she ever felt this way before? Surely she had
, but it felt like she’d never been embraced like this before, never inhaled the scent of strength that poured into her nose. Her bones seemed to melt into wax that left her clinging to his shirt.

  She tried to resist the softness that swept over her. How could she feel this way when she didn’t remember him? Just when the embrace had gone on longer than she thought she could bear, he released her enough for her to push away from the suffocating folds of fabric.

  “I thought you were dead.” Nick’s words came out in hoarse staccato. “We found bones. We called in a forensic sculptor. The re-creation looked just like you.”

  His voice was deep, deeper than she’d thought it would be. It made the blood drop from her head to her feet. Any words she might say got stuck somewhere between her intentions and her tongue. All she could do was stare at him.

  He stared back with a burning passion in his eyes. Had that been the problem? Maybe he’d been a possessive husband.

  “Aren’t you going to say hello?” he prodded.

  “I . . . I . . .” She swallowed and tried again. “You’re . . . Nick?”

  He frowned. “What? Of course I’m Nick.” His gaze searched her face again. “You’re different somehow. What’s wrong, Eve?”

  The disappointment in his voice wounded her. “I’m sorry.” She looked down at her hands. “I can’t remember anything. Until today, I didn’t even know my name. I thought it was Elena Cox.”

  “You’re Elena? The Elena who found the body?”

  She nodded and held up the ballet-slipper necklace that bore the name she’d adopted. “The name Elena is on the back.”

  “Your old teacher,” he said. “She gave you that. You . . . you have amnesia?” He went even paler, if that was possible. “Is that why you let us all go on thinking you were dead for three months?”

  She nodded. “I just found out today who I am.”

  His head jerked around. “Keri? Where’s Keri?”

  Eve tried to wrap her mind around all she’d discovered. “She’s upstairs.” She laid her hand on his arm and was surprised by the hard muscles under her fingers. “She’s fine.”

  Nick closed his eyes. “Thank God, thank God,” he whispered. He opened his eyes and raked her face with his gaze again. “You look good, Eve.”

  Eve could have said the same thing back to him if she’d had the nerve. Nick Andreakos had the kind of masculinity that would have made any woman take a second look. She was drawn to him even though she didn’t remember him.

  Surely she must be some kind of wanton woman to desire a man she didn’t know.

  She wet her lips, unable to muster a single comment.

  “How did you survive Gideon’s attack?” He seemed to be drinking her in the way a man in the desert would gulp water.

  “I don’t remember.” She wanted to step away from him, but her legs wouldn’t obey.

  “I was so afraid.” His voice cracked, and he clenched his fists. “There was blood in the living room. All the furniture was messed up. When that skull turned up looking just like you, we were all sure . . .”

  “What skull?”

  “Animals got to the body, and all we found were scattered bones. I couldn’t wait for DNA identification to get back, so I had the re-creation done. It looked just like you. I was sure it was you. But all his victims have resembled one another. We still don’t have DNA back yet.”

  She moved slightly away from him. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  “I wonder if he found another victim when you escaped.”

  She flinched. “I can’t remember anything,” she said again.

  “Nothing?” The disappointment in his voice sharpened the word.

  She curled her hands into fists. “How did you find me if you didn’t know I was here?”

  “I heard about the body you found yesterday. It fits Gideon’s MO. I came to check it out.”

  She shivered. A headache began to gnaw at her left temple. She backed away from him.

  He glanced past her. “I want to see Keri. Let me protect you both.”

  “Just like you protected us last time?” She should have felt triumph when he flinched, but a hollowness settled in her bones. She was prodding him, and she didn’t even know why. She realized Kade and Bree had vanished, probably to give them some privacy.

  “That’s a low blow.” He straightened. “You still haven’t forgiven me, have you?”

  “I don’t remember!” She pressed her fingers to her temples, hoping to stave off the headache. “We’re married?”

  “Divorced. Just before you disappeared.”

  She nearly crumpled. “What went wrong between us?”

  “It’s a long story. Tonight’s not the best time to talk about it,” he said.

  “I need to know,” she whispered. “I don’t remember anything.”

  He sighed. “For one thing, you hated my job. You wanted me to quit.”

  “The work is dangerous?”

  “Not so much. I’m mostly stuck doing stuff after the crime. But I work long hours. I’d miss family dinners, have to peel out in the middle of something. You hated that.”

  Maybe he was right. She wasn’t ready to hear all this. Besides, this was his version. Surely he’d done worse than work hard.

  “Mommy?” Keri’s voice came from the steps.

  Nick whirled and stepped to the stairs. “Keri! Come see Daddy.”

  “Daddy?” Small feet thumped on the steps, and Keri stepped into the foyer. Her blonde hair hung in silken strands on her shoulders. “Daddy!” Her thumb went to her mouth between a smile.

  Eve noticed she didn’t run to meet him, probably because it had been so long.

  He stepped toward her, knelt, and smiled. “Did you miss Daddy?”

  She nodded, her eyes never leaving his face. Then she took a step toward him. “Daddy?”

  He scooped her up. She nestled into his arms and patted his face with her chubby hands. He buried his face in her hair. “Daddy missed you.”

  Eve’s eyes misted. Their marriage might have ended in divorce, but he’d been a good father. His love for the child radiated brightly.

  Moisture ringed his eyes when he lifted his head. His dark gaze swallowed Eve up again. “You don’t know how hard it was, how I felt when I thought you were both dead. It changed me, Eve. I can’t let you go, either of you. I want us to try again.”

  Eve heard the words, but she felt nothing other than a need to flee. “I don’t know you,” she whispered.

  Still carrying Keri, he took a step toward her. “You have to remember, Eve. You love me too. I know you do.”

  She sidled away toward the steps. “I’m sorry, Nick. I don’t feel anything.”

  The light in his eyes faded. “Maybe your memory will come back. What’s the doctor say?”

  “He says only time will tell.” She had to get out of here before this pain in her head crushed her. “Keri, it’s time for bed, sweetie.”

  Keri’s lip quivered. “Keri stay Daddy.”

  Nick passed the reluctant toddler to Eve. “You heard Mommy. It’s bedtime for little girls. Besides, I’m not going anywhere.”

  Eve started toward the steps with her daughter in her arms, then Bree appeared.

  “I’ll take her,” Bree said. She looked over Eve’s shoulder to Nick. “You can crash on the couch. Finish your talk.”

  “I’d rather not,” Eve said in a low voice to Bree.

  Bree just smiled and took the child up the stairs. Eve turned back to Nick and pressed her back against the wall. Her hands were locked in front of her. “What do you want from me? I can’t just go back to where we left off. I want to get away. Right now, before Gideon tries to hurt me or Keri again.”

  “Don’t you want to catch this guy, Evie? Make him pay for what he did to you? You can’t keep running forever. What happens if he finds you again? What happens to Keri if he comes and you’re not around? If that body you found yesterday means he’s tracked you down here, he could d
o it again.”

  She shuddered. How would she escape a monster like Gideon? Nick stepped closer, and his hands came down on her shoulders. The heat from his fingers swept down her arms, across her chest, and settled in her belly. She felt the power of his attraction.

  “No!” She wrenched away. “Don’t touch me, Nick.” The safety of her bedroom was just a few steps away.

  Through her pain she heard the phone began to ring. She turned to snatch it up before Bree could get it, an excuse to escape this conversation “Hello.”

  The electronically altered voice sounded like Daffy Duck. “Hello, Eve. You didn’t think I’d find you, did you? It was easy, so easy.”

  “How did you find me?” she whispered.

  “A picture in the paper. Hobnobbing with the wrong kind of people.”

  The picture taken several weeks ago in town. Eve had worried about it at the time and then forgotten. She closed her eyes. “Leave us alone,” she said. “I don’t know why you want to hurt me. I’ve done nothing to you.”

  “You’re a sinner of the worst kind. Think, Eve, and you’ll remember. I hear you have amnesia, but you and I know that’s just a smoke screen.”

  Her headache ratcheted up a notch. “I don’t remember your face or even what you did to me. I’m no threat to you.”

  “Don’t try to fool me, Eve. You’re really very clever, very resourceful. But not smart enough. I feel sorry for your daughter.”

  “Don’t hurt Keri.”

  “I don’t want to hurt her. You’re the guilty one. You have to pay for your sin.”

  “I don’t know what I did.” She straightened and began to walk back and forth across the living room. His smug voice made her want to hit something. If he’d hoped to scare her, he’d accomplished the opposite.

  Nick tried to grab the phone. “Let me talk to him.”

  She hung on and shook her head. He frowned and dropped his hands back to his sides.

  “You’re still claiming amnesia—to me?” The cartoon laugh sounded eerie. “Oh, this should be fun.” The voice hardened. “Don’t run away again, Eve. This is between you and me. If you leave town, something might happen to Keri this time. I don’t want to do that to an innocent, but I will if you force me.”