Melissa. Her name echoed in every chamber of his heart. What she must be going through. She’d sounded as if she’d shattered into a million pieces when she’d cried into the phone that her baby was gone.
It had taken Dominic several precious moments to calm her down enough to instruct her what to do. She’d seemed to sense that now was not the time to break down. She’d swallowed her sobs and become almost frighteningly calm. The core of strength Dominic had always known she possessed had surfaced.
He loved her. He couldn’t deny what was in his heart. But he would not take a chance again on love. Abigail had taught him well. The fact that Melissa had held secret Bill’s abuse, that she’d refused to trust Dominic with that secret, only made him that much more determined to steer clear of thinking of any future with her. Never again would he contemplate a future with a woman who kept secrets. He wouldn’t...couldn’t put himself through it again.
He slowed as he passed a sign that indicated Rainerville was three miles ahead. He didn’t have directions to the nursing home, but hoped there would be a sign or something to direct him there.
Sure enough, another mile ahead he spied a small sign for the nursing home that pointed down a narrow asphalt road. He turned and sped up again, his heart resuming a thudding rhythm of fear.
He now had the information that would exonerate Melissa of the murder charges. He could give her back her life, but what kind of a life would that be without her son?
He hoped he wasn’t wrong about this. He prayed that in second-guessing Neal he’d made the right guess. If he was wrong... He shook his head, refusing to finish the thought.
As he drove over a small rise in the landscape, the nursing home came into view. The long, sprawling one-story building nestled into the green valley like a jewel set amid velvet. The late-afternoon sun played on the beige building, making it appear as if it had been sprinkled with gold dust.
He slowed once again to turn into the gates. Instantly he spied a blue pickup he recognized as Neal’s. “Damn!” He slammed his palm against the steering wheel. He’d hoped to get here before Neal, head the man off before he could get inside.
He parked his car on the opposite side of the lot, where he could see Neal’s truck but didn’t think Neal would notice him if he came out of the nursing home.
Shutting off the engine, Dominic frowned. He didn’t know what to do, but as an ex-cop, he knew the danger of confronting a killer alone. And although he had no absolute proof, he knew Neal was a killer. He knew with a cop’s instincts, with a man’s common sense, that it had been Neal who had sneaked into Melissa’s home and viciously stabbed Bill to death.
He thought of all those agonizing times when he’d believed Melissa responsible. The strange thing was, he would have been able to understand if she had been guilty. After hearing about the kind of man Bill Newman had been, Dominic ached as he thought of what Melissa must have endured over the years of her marriage.
A squeal of tires interrupted his thoughts. He turned to see Melissa’s car roaring through the parking lot. She must have driven as fast or faster than he had to arrive here so quickly, he thought. With another squeal, she brought the car to a halt and jumped out of the driver’s seat.
Dominic tore out of his car and grabbed Melissa’s arm before she could dash through the nursing-home front door. “Where is he? Where’s Jamie?” Her eyes were wide, nearly black, and her face was devoid of all color.
“Come to my car.” Dominic took her arm and tried to gently guide her away from the building.
She jerked her arm from his grasp. “Just tell me where he is. I’ve got to get him.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders, felt her uncontrollable trembling, knew she was on the verge of losing all rational thought. “Melissa, you can’t just barge in there. We don’t know what room Neal is in, and we don’t know what his state of mind is.” He spoke firmly, trying to penetrate her raging maternal instinct to protect her child and make her understand how careful they had to be. “Now, come back to my car and let’s figure out what we need to do.”
She looked at him, her eyes begging him to do something, to save her son. Some of the wildness dissipated from her gaze and the energy that had vibrated through her faded away. She allowed him to lead her to his car.
“Did you call Mawlins?” he asked once they were seated in the car.
She nodded. “I’m not sure how much sense I made, but he agreed to meet us here.” Once again she gazed at Dominic, a wealth of pain in her eyes. “We have to do something!” she cried as she looked at the building. “We can’t just sit here.”
“We have to stay here,” Dominic told her. “Melissa, we’ve got to wait for Mawlins. At this point anything we might do could make a bad situation worse. If you go in there, there’s no way I can guarantee your safety. For all we know, Neal wanted you dead along with Bill.”
Her eyes widened and a shuddery sigh escaped from her. “Did you see Jamie? Was he all right?”
How Dominic wished he could set her fears to rest. He considered lying, telling her he’d seen Neal go into the building and Jamie had been safe. But they’d come too far in their relationship to opt for anything except the absolute truth. “I got here too late to see Neal go in. But his truck is here and I know he’s inside with Jamie.”
She drew a deep breath, a hint of color faintly brushing her cheeks. “What’s he doing here? Why did he take Jamie?”
“His sister, Susan, was the woman in the wedding photograph we found in your basement. She lives here.”
“What?” She looked at him in surprise. “Why? What’s wrong with her?”
Dominic took Melissa’s trembling hand in his and explained to her what he had learned from Susan’s mother. He told her about the suspicions of Bill’s abuse and the fall down the stairs that had resulted in Susan’s miscarriage.
Melissa’s eyes filled with tears as he spoke—tears he knew were not for herself, but for the woman who’d been destroyed by Bill. Her tears for Susan only made Dominic love her more.
“So, you think it’s possible Neal took Jamie in some strange desire to replace the baby Susan lost?” Melissa asked when Dominic was finished.
Dominic shrugged. “It makes a crazy kind of sense, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose. As much as any of this makes sense.” Anxiously she looked toward the building once again. “You—you don’t think he’ll hurt Jamie?”
Dominic hesitated before answering. “I don’t think he will.” He frowned thoughtfully, then added, “But, Melissa, the man is obviously unstable. We can’t take anything for granted.”
She nodded, tears sparkling on the tips of her lashes. Dominic recognized the tight rein she held on her control—so tight it threatened to snap at any moment. He pulled her into his arms. “Melissa, you’ve been so strong through all of this. Just hang on a little while longer.”
She trembled in his arms and he wished he’d met her years ago, before Abigail, before Bill, when they’d both been young and innocent and untainted by their life experiences. But there was no way to go back. They could only go forward, and Dominic prayed that Neal wouldn’t snap and harm the baby that both he and Melissa loved.
Seconds passed—long, agonizing seconds that turned into minutes. And with each minute that passed, Melissa’s despair increased.
Although the inactivity threatened to steal her sanity, she knew the foolishness of rushing into an unknown situation where her son’s life might be jeopardized. Unable to do anything else, she clung to Dominic, needing his strength, drawing from it to get herself through this.
“There are so many things about all this I don’t understand,” Melissa said, swallowing the hysteria that was only a heartbeat away. “If Neal was Bill’s brother-in-law, then why did Bill hire him? And why didn’t Neal kill him sooner?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully we’ll get those answers before it’s all over.”
“What if Mawlins doesn’t come?” she asked, finally moving o
ut of Dominic’s embrace.
“He’ll come.” Dominic’s voice was strong with assurance. “He’ll come because he’ll be afraid he’ll miss out on something if he doesn’t.”
As if summoned by Dominic’s words, Mawlins drove through the gates and into the parking area. Both Dominic and Melissa stepped out of Dominic’s car and waved to the detective, who pulled up next to where they stood.
“This better not be some damned wild-goose chase,” he said as he got out of his car. “If it is, we waste time finding the baby.”
“It’s not,” Dominic replied. As he filled Mawlins in on what he’d discovered about Neal and Susan Cook and Bill, Melissa stood off to one side. She didn’t want to hear it all again—how Bill had destroyed not just one person, but apparently an entire family with his lies and deceit, his abuse and brutality.
At that moment one of the double glass doors swung open and a woman in a nurse’s uniform emerged. The thin, distant wail of a child drifted out along with her. Not any child. Jamie. The sound caused Melissa’s womb to ache and a rush of adrenaline to sweep through her.
She didn’t care what the consequences were to herself, she had to get to her child. Maternal instinct propelled her forward.
She entered the building, vaguely aware of Dominic shouting her name, but she didn’t stop, didn’t even hesitate. Her baby was crying, frightened, and she had to get to him.
She found herself in a large lobby with two hallways veering off in opposite directions. She paused only a moment, listening for the sound that would lead her. A faint cry came from the hallway on the right. Like a sea siren’s song, it pulled her down the corridor with no other thought than to reach it, reach him.
Passing several rooms, she remained focused on the cry, only vaguely aware of the murmur of voices drifting from the rooms she passed.
At least he’s alive, she thought. He’s alive and well enough to cry. She came to a closed door and knew that beyond it was her son—and the man who’d taken him.
For the first time since she’d heard Jamie’s sobs, she hesitated. Surely Neal wasn’t a monster. Surely nothing she could do would provoke him to hurt the baby. A vision of Bill lying on the bed filled her mind. Over twenty stab wounds. Raw fear shimmied up her spine. It had been the work of a monster.
She leaned against the wall just outside the closed door, drawing in deep breaths, trying to think, trying to decide what to do.
For six long years Bill had abused her. She’d taken the slaps, the pinches, the punches. And she’d felt her self-esteem being chipped away with each hateful, hurtful word he said. She’d taken it because she hadn’t known she had choices, that she had power over her own life.
It had been Jamie who had given her the strength to decide to leave Bill. It had been her son who’d given her the courage to carry on despite facing murder charges. There was no way she could allow her baby to be used as a pawn in Neal’s revenge against Bill. If he wanted his revenge, she would offer herself.
Her decision made, she turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The first thing she saw was a drawn, pale young woman in a hospital bed. She instantly recognized her as the woman in the wedding photograph.
Susan. Her eyes were closed, her face as pale as the bedsheets. Someone had obviously tried to fix her up, as her long blond hair looked freshly washed and brushed and a blue barrette held back one side.
Melissa swung the door wider. Neal saw her at the same time she saw him. He sat on a chair, with Jamie tucked into the crook of one of his arms. Neal’s eyes widened in surprise and he showed her the gun he held in his other hand...a gun pointed at her baby’s head.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice rising unevenly.
“I’ve come for my baby.” Melissa didn’t move, was afraid to move while he had the gun, which was now at Jamie’s head.
“No. He’s for Susie. He’s going to make Susie better.”
Melissa took a step closer, then froze as Neal pressed the tip of the barrel against her son’s head. “Don’t come any closer. I don’t want to have to hurt him,” Neal warned.
“Neal, please.” She studied his face, then noted the trembling of the hand that held the gun. Surely there was still some semblance of a rational human being beneath his rage. He obviously cared deeply about his sister and Melissa knew it was vital she touch whatever core of goodness in him that had not been destroyed by Bill.
“He’s crying, Neal. He wants me. He wants his mother,” Melissa said softly.
“No. Susie is going to be his mother!” Neal exclaimed. “He’s going to make her well. He’s got to make her well!” Neal’s voice trembled with emotion, but the gun didn’t waver.
Holding her breath, hoping his tenuous grip on reality would hold, Melissa stepped up to the side of Susan’s bed. She touched a strand of Susan’s shiny blond hair. “You must love her very much.”
“Don’t touch her!” Neal yelled, the gun swerving away from Jamie and pointing at Melissa. Melissa nearly sagged to her knees in relief. She would rather be the target than have the gun aimed at Jamie.
Melissa withdrew her hand from Susan’s hair. “I wouldn’t hurt her, Neal.”
“But he did. He shattered her. He made her love him, then he stole her money and ruined her life.” Tears filled Neal’s eyes as he stared at his sister.
“And so you killed him, didn’t you? You killed Bill.”
Neal nodded, the tears dissipating as his eyes took on an icy hardness. “He needed to die for what he did. It took me a long time to hunt him down. He thought he was so smart, changing his name. But that didn’t stop me from finding him. Just took me a little longer, that’s all.”
“Why didn’t you just kill him and leave town? Why work for him?” Melissa demanded, wanting answers—and wanting to keep him talking until Dominic and Detective Mawlins could figure out a way to get both her and Jamie out of here safely.
“Initially, that was my plan.” His gaze flickered to Jamie, who’d stopped crying, but squirmed in the cradle of his arm. “Then I heard you were pregnant with his baby, and I knew maybe it would help Susie.” He frowned, his gaze lingering for a moment on his sister, who had not moved or opened her eyes since Melissa had entered the room. “I told Bill I wanted a job, that if he didn’t give me one I’d tell you and the authorities that he was a bigamist. Then I waited for the right time to kill him.”
He looked at Melissa again. “You should thank me. I got rid of him before he could break you. He intended to stay with you until you got your inheritance, then he was going to take your money and run. He had a new victim in his sights.”
“Grace Harrison.”
He nodded and once again his gaze drifted to his sister. “I was her big brother. I promised her I’d always take care of her.” His eyes teared and his voice shook with feeling. “When we were young, she was always tagging along with me, telling me I was her protector. But I couldn’t protect her from him.” Jamie began to cry, as if sensitive to the emotional tension in the room.
“Neal, just give me my baby. Let me have my son,” she pleaded and took several steps forward, then paused. “He needs me. Susan can’t take care of him.”
“No, I told you he’s going to make her well.” Neal sobbed, his voice rising to be heard above Jamie’s cries.
“That’s too big a burden to place on a baby,” Melissa protested, tears running down her cheeks. “He can’t help anybody. He’s so little he can’t even help himself.”
She took another step forward, so close to him now, she could smell his fear and the grief that clung to him. “It’s over, Neal. Put down your gun and let me have my son.”
“No!” The gun trembled in his hand, but remained pointed at her. “Don’t come any closer. I...I don’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt anyone but William.”
Jamie’s wails rose in intensity, his little face puckered up and red. This is truly hell, Melissa thought. Seeing your child in need...afraid... Hearing his cries
and being unable to hold him, soothe him.
Neal’s shoulders shook with sobs as tears tracked down his cheeks, adding to the clamor of Jamie’s cries. “I just wanted to help her,” Neal said, the words torn from his throat with anguish.
“This isn’t the way,” Melissa replied. She licked her lips, tasting the salt of her own tears, unsure whom she cried for—the squalling baby, the tormented man, or the silent woman in the bed. And the man who’d caused it all was probably laughing in hell.
At that moment, above the noise, the sound of sirens broke through. Neal half rose, his gaze focusing out the window. Dominic burst through the doorway, past Melissa and toward Neal.
The gun exploded. Melissa screamed.
Chapter 16
The gunshot shattered the window and for a moment deafened Melissa. She watched in horror as Dominic knocked the gun from Neal’s grasp and it went spinning across the tiled floor and disappeared beneath the bed.
For a moment the two men stared at each other, Dominic obviously afraid of harming Jamie, and Neal using the baby as a shield.
As the last echo of the gunshot blast left her ears, Jamie’s cries took its place. Beneath the baby’s sobs, she could hear the sound of Dominic’s uneven breathing...or was it her own?
“It’s over, Neal,” Dominic said, his voice calm. “The police are waiting for you outside. Why don’t you give me the baby and let’s call it a day.”
Neal seemed to fold into himself, grow small and confused. He looked at his sister, then down at the crying baby in his arms. “I never meant to hurt him,” he said softly. “I just...I just had to do something to try to help.”
“We know that,” Dominic said, his voice holding no judgment, no censure.
Melissa held her breath as Neal once again looked at Susan. As Neal held Jamie out to Dominic, a wrenching sob escaped her. The moment Neal no longer held the baby, Detective Mawlins and two other uniformed officers rushed into the room. As they handcuffed Neal, Dominic placed Jamie in Melissa’s arms.
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