by Brenda Joyce
Kait looked from her stiff and pained expression to Trev’s equally grave one. “My hearty appetite is gone,” she said tersely. She suddenly realized she was barking up the wrong tree as far as Elizabeth Dorentz was concerned. This woman loved Trev Coleman. She might hate Kait enough to kill her, but she’d never burn down his barn and jeopardize his horses in order to do so. “Am I interrupting?” she asked, unable to even smile.
“No,” Trev said abruptly. His gaze swept over her. “You look better today. How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
He nodded, remaining grim. “Good.”
Kait stared. Last night she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him. Yes, Marni had been sleeping in her bed, but he had made himself awfully scarce. And last night she had wanted nothing more than to cuddle in his arms.
“Brent Black called,” Trev said. “He’s the fire inspector. The number’s on the fridge—he wants to speak with you ASAP. I’ll see you later.” He walked out.
Kait trembled. It wasn’t her imagination, but Trev had become a bit distant since the fire. But why?
Kait’s gut feeling that he knew she wasn’t Lana remained, even though rationally she doubted that he did, because of his concern for her welfare. But there was simply no way to understand why he was distancing himself from her now—when she needed him, even if only briefly, more than ever.
“Alicia called,” Elizabeth said coolly.
Kait turned to face her.
“Your dear friend seemed terribly worried about you. She wants you to call her back.”
Kait nodded, having no intention of doing so. While Alicia seemed sweet, every time Kait thought of her now, she thought of Lana betraying her friend with John. She automatically retrieved the note placed on the refrigerator with a magnetic horseshoe, then she halted in her tracks.
Alicia was so nice to her, Kait. Everyone else despised Lana, but not her best friend.
Yet Lana was having an affair with her husband.
How could Alicia not know?
Kait knew she was a terrible actress in normal times. Yet in the current crisis, she had become worthy of an Oscar.
What if Alicia were as worthy?
Kait realized that Alicia Davison should be as high up on her list of suspects as anyone.
The phone rang. Kait was closest to it and she picked it up. “Hello?”
“Lana!” Sam screamed. “Gabe’s been shot! Help!”
The closest hospital was Middleburg Memorial, which was where they went. Kait, Trev, and Elizabeth dashed into Emergency. Kait saw Sam instantly, sitting in a blue plastic chair, huddled over, and crying. They rushed to her.
Sam leapt up and into Kait’s arms. “What if he dies?” she sobbed. “Oh, God, what if he dies? I can’t live if he dies!”
Kait held her and stroked her long, tangled blond hair. “Where is he, honey?”
She blinked through her tears. “In surgery.”
“What happened?” Trev asked.
Sam looked at her father. “He got into a fight with that ass, Ben Abbott! We were at the mall.” She burst into tears again. “Ben was rude to me. Gabe tried to get him to apologize. Then Ben pulled the gun! Fuck him!”
Kait held her hard again, but her eyes met Trev’s. What felt like a silent understanding passed between them. She was about to suggest he ask a nurse or doctor where Gabe was, and how badly he was hurt. But she didn’t have to.
Trev said, “I’ll see if I can find out how Gabe is doing.” He whirled and took off. Kait saw him grab the sleeve of a doctor in a blue medical coat, then she looked down at the sobbing teen in her arms. “Sam, I’m sorry,” Kait said. “When did this happen?”
“I don’t know,” Sam cried, gulping air. She was shaking like a leaf. “We split from school for a pizza. What time is it?”
“It’s one,” Elizabeth said, laying her hand on Sam’s shoulder. “This is a fine hospital, Sam. I feel certain that your young man will be all right.”
Sam looked at her gratefully. “He was trying to defend my honor,” she said. “Because that’s the way Gabe is! Then they fought for the gun and it went off!” Tears began flowing again.
Kait espied a police officer in a navy blue uniform at the Emergency desk. Trev had seen him at the same time. As he hurried over, Kait said, “Hold on, Sam.” She gave her hand a squeeze and rushed over to Trev and the officer.
The policeman was saying, “We have him in custody. He claims Jenkins started it and that the gun was Jenkins’s.”
Kait gasped. “Sam told me that the gun belonged to Ben Abbott.”
“I took her statement,” the officer said. “Unfortunately, there were no witnesses. The incident took place in the parking lot of the mall, but on the far side. We have one woman who heard the shot, and that’s it. Looks like there will be an investigation. We’ll find out who had the gun and who shot whom.”
Kait snapped. “Gabe Jenkins has been shot, Officer. That is obvious.”
The officer gave her an annoyed look and walked away. Kait turned to Trev. “Can you get Rafe here?”
“He’s on his way,” he said. “Jenkins was shot in the side. He’s been in surgery for about forty-five minutes. I have no real news—and I won’t until the surgery is complete.” Suddenly he was agonized. “Jesus, I hope that kid survives.”
She took his hand. “Let’s pray Gabe is all right.”
He gripped her palm in return. “Is Sam telling the truth? Or did Gabe start it?”
“I don’t know, Trev, but right now your daughter needs you—I think you had better give her the benefit of the doubt,” Kait said firmly.
Trev seemed to accept that. But he looked so stricken that Kait wanted to pull him into her arms and hold him as if he were a little boy.
Instead, Kait tugged on his hand. “C’mon.” She pulled him back across the emergency room toward Sam and Elizabeth. The moment she did so, Sam flashed to her father, “Are you happy now?”
“No, Sam, I’m not happy,” he said grimly. He laid his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away.
“I don’t believe you!” she cried. “You hate him—I bet you hope he dies!” She burst into fresh tears.
He reached for her. “Sam!”
She faced him, her expression turning ugly. “I hate you!”
Trev recoiled.
Kait bit off a cry. “Sam, honey, I know you don’t mean that,” she tried quickly.
“But I do,” Sam snapped viciously.
Kait saw the anguish so clearly in Trev’s eyes. But amazingly he held himself together, and spoke calmly and firmly. “I’m not happy that you’ve been sleeping with Jenkins, but I don’t want him hurt, and if you think for a second, I’m sure you’ll realize that.”
“His name is Gabe, damn you!” Sam shouted. She started to run away, when she froze. “That’s the doctor!” She pointed across the room with her trembling arm. And she lost the little coloring that she had.
Trev hurried over to a doctor in tortoiseshell glasses who looked a lot like a young George Clooney. Kait stepped over to Sam and hugged her to her side. “Your father is sick with worry for Gabe, sweetie.”
“Don’t,” Sam said, choking. Her gaze never wavered from her father and the doctor.
Kait also looked that way, and a moment later Trev returned to them. Kait took one look at his expression and knew that Gabe was alive.
“He’s okay,” Trev announced, looking anxiously at his daughter.
Sam cried out.
“He’s stable and in recovery,” Trev said. He glanced grimly at Kait. “Dr. Travis says he has a good chance of pulling through. The bullet did some damage to his spleen,” he cautioned. “But he’s young and strong, and that’s all on his side.”
“Is he going to die?” Sam whispered, still against Kait’s side.
Trev hesitated. “Travis says he has a seventy percent chance of making it.”
Sam stared at her father. “Only seventy percent...”
“Sam—he�
��s a strong boy—he’ll make it.”
She stared as if mute.
Kait spoke for her. “Can she see him?”
“In a bit. When he’s out of recovery, in about an hour or so, we can all go up.”
Sam whimpered and turned to Kait. Kait held her again.
Sam was sitting beside Gabe, who was conscious but so groggy from the anesthesia and painkillers that he could do no more than open his eyes to look at her and then close them again. She held his hand. Gabe’s mother sat in a chair beside Sam, a brave smile fixed on her face. Every moment or so she would reach out and pat his knee. She was a plump, pretty woman in a waitress’s uniform and Kait had taken one look at her and liked her. Now she stood beside Trev, holding his hand. Elizabeth had left to pick Marni up at school.
Someone came up behind them. Kait and Trev turned to face Rafe Coleman. He nodded at them and they stepped out with him into the hall. “How’s Sam?” he asked quickly.
Trev grimaced. “Devastated.” Rafe glanced from his brother into the hospital room. Gabe remained as white as death, and as he had an intravenous in one arm, and oxygen tubes in his nose, he looked very ill. “I spoke with Travis and Officer DeWitt. He’s young, Trev. He’ll make it.”
Trev raised his eyebrows at him. “Don’t patronize me now, Rafe, damn it!”
Rafe looked grim. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s serious. But the odds are in his favor, at least.”
“Are they? You’ve seen this kind of shooting before? Is it seventy-thirty?” Trev asked.
“I’m not a doctor, Trev. I’m a cop. Look, as soon as Sam is up to it, I’d like to speak with her, find out what really happened, even though this police investigation is not in my jurisdiction.”
There was a moment of silence. Kait knew they were all hoping now that Sam wasn’t lying to protect Gabe and that Ben Abbott had owned the gun and had been to blame for the shooting. Finally Trev said, “She’ll need some time. She’s hysterical with fear.”
Rafe glanced into the hospital room again. His entire face softened. “Poor Sammie,” he said.
And in that moment, in spite of Lana and Farrell and the fact that she, Kait, had actually stolen a diamond ring, she liked Rafe Coleman. “It’s going to be a long afternoon—and probably a long night.” Kait didn’t think Sam intended to leave the hospital. “I’m going to go down to the cafeteria and pick up some sandwiches and soda. Sam should get something into her system.”
Trev looked at her, the light in his eyes softening. “Thanks.”
Rafe gave her a grudging nod. “You okay today?”
She was stunned that he would ask. “Yes, thank you.”
Rafe turned back to Trev. “C’mon. Let’s pay our respects. Sam needs us in there with her.”
Kait walked down the empty corridor as the two brothers disappeared into the ICU. A nurse’s station was at the far end, not quite in sight. Elevators were there as well. She was suddenly exhausted. She felt as if her life had become an endless roller-coaster ride. They all desperately needed a break.
And surely Gabe Jenkins would survive.
Not just for Sam’s sake, but for his own sake. He was only a boy.
A hand suddenly closed on Kait’s shoulder from behind.
Kait had not heard anyone come up behind her, perhaps because she was so immersed in her thoughts. She started and it was a moment before she could react.
And that moment was enough. Before she could turn around, before she could do more than cry out, she was being pulled into a stairwell, the door to the corridor closing firmly shut behind her. Kait jerked free of her captor and whirled around. What the hell was this?
She expected to come face-to-face with the killer who was after her—perhaps down the barrel of his or her gun.
But it was Lana who stood there, leaning calmly against the door to the stairwell.
It was Lana who slowly smiled at her.
Lana, with all of her hair cut off.
“Hi, Kait,” she said.
CHAPTER 19
Kait could not believe her eyes.
Lana said, “You look awful, Kait. Have you been ill?”
“Ill?” Kait echoed. She was about to tell her sister that she was ill—that she was sick at heart. But instead, she breathed. Hard, deep, fast. She needed her composure now. “So you came back after all,” she managed.
“Don’t panic,” Lana said, with a rueful smile. “I’m not staying.”
Kait stared, her mind racing. Lana had cut off her hair and her short cut was almost identical to Kait’s. No one looking at them now would be able to tell them apart, except for the fact that Lana was in a gray pantsuit and Kait wore jeans. “I’m not panicking,” Kait lied.
Kait had to sit down. In fact, she could barely breathe, no matter how she tried, as if the small walls of the stairwell were closing in on her. She sat down hard on the cold concrete steps. “Did you get my message?”
“No. I can’t retrieve your voice mail, remember?”
Kait stared.
“What’s wrong, Kait? You seem upset and angry.”
“What’s wrong?” Kait gasped. She gestured around her. “This is wrong.”
“But it’s almost over, and I’m not staying. However, I think we both know that you are.”
Kait simply looked at her, refusing to reply.
Lana sat down beside her. “You’re really mad. I came to say goodbye.”
Kait hugged herself and shifted so their bodies would not touch. “I don’t understand you,” she said. “I don’t understand how you could use and hurt so many people.”
Lana leapt up. “Don’t you judge me, Kait! You’ve never walked in my shoes before now, so let’s just leave it at that!”
Kait also stood, shivering now. Very slowly, she said, “Did you think that by moving all of my furniture and belongings out, by putting my apartment up for sale that I would accept your plans, and stay here, pretending to be you until I die?”
“I quit your job, too. Kait, we both know that Trev is your Prince Charming and that you want to stay. Colin told me the two of you are getting along fabulously. So why argue with that? I want out of my marriage. I’m giving it to you.”
“Why not stay, and get a divorce?”
“It’s easier this way.”
“Like hell.”
“What?”
“Rafe Coleman wants to hang you, Lana—upside down.”
“He has nothing on me, nothing. I’m heading to Paris tonight, Kait. And I am not coming back. Rafe can’t touch you. He may want to, but he can’t. And with time, all of his suspicions will die down, now, won’t they? The switch makes perfect sense. I get what I want, and you get what you want.”
Kait was shaking now, with all the anger she didn’t dare express.
Lana came to stand beside her, putting her arm around her. Kait flinched. “Kait, why are you doing this? We both know that you don’t want to go back to being Kait London. We both know you want my life—every single part of it. You always have.” She smiled.
Kait looked into her sister’s eyes. They were the exact same shade of blue as her own, with the same thick black fringe of lashes, and they even shared the same slight lavender tone of flesh beneath. But they were so different, too, because Lana’s eyes were flat, opaque. Kait had never realized it before. “Tell me one thing. How can you live with yourself if you walk out on Trev, Sam—and your own flesh and blood daughter, Marni?”
Lana seemed amused. “I stink as a mother. By now, you know that—don’t you? And I’m a horrible wife. But you’re a romantic, Kait, and you and Trev are exactly the same. I knew it the moment I met him. I cannot think of two people who deserve one another more. Look at it this way. I know you. You’re my twin—the sister who grew up devouring romance novels while secretly waiting for her very own Prince Charming to one day walk through the door. Well, you have a prince now. He might not be quite as flawless as those hunks in those books you used to read, but I know you well enough to know
you admire Trev as well as love him—you wouldn’t have slept with him if you hadn’t given him your heart and soul. He should have chosen you anyway, not me. So now let’s just say a wrong has been righted and he’s yours.” She smiled.
Kait stood, and in the back of her mind, the possibility of doing as Lana asked lurked, the devil’s own temptation. “It’s not that simple. You’re asking me to continue to live a terrible lie! It was easy at first, before I knew what was going on, but now it’s almost impossible to get through a single minute, much less an hour or a day.”
Lana’s carefully groomed brows lifted. “Honey, if you tell him the truth, he will never forgive you. And your Prince Charming will be history.”
Kait inhaled, hard. She already knew that. “Why, Lana? Why? And how could you do this? You set me up—from the very beginning, didn’t you? You set me up, for this, switching places with you—forever. Just like you set up Trev. Farrell told me that the two of you have been together for ten years. That you married Trev for his money, his position. That he was a perfect mark. Is Marni even Trev’s daughter?”
“You’re upset,” Lana said calmly. She sighed. “Marni is Trev’s daughter. I’m not a fool, Kait. I had to have his child, just in case he became suspicious of me. She was my security, my leverage, in case he ever found out the truth about what Colin and I were doing. And it worked. Marni kept us together for all of these years.”
Kait wanted to vomit. “She’s your daughter! You don’t deserve her!”
Lana shrugged. “No, I don’t. But you do.”
But you do. Lana’s words echoed. Kait hugged herself, fighting them—fighting temptation. “Don’t you have any conscience? You’re standing there as cool as an ice cube. Why, Lana? Why are you so... immoral? How can you steal from your friends? How could you marry Trev while being Farrell’s lover? How could you cheat on Trev!” How could you not love him?
Lana laughed. “Which question do you want me to answer first, Kait?”
“This isn’t funny!” Kait shouted, forgetting that they might be overheard and that Rafe Coleman was only a few doors away. “No, answer this! You found out about Trev from me, didn’t you? You called him pretending to be me, and changed the place of our meeting—and then went to meet him—and pick him up—yourself.”