Root of All Evil

by Hayden, Jennifer

  “Hm.” Archer took more notes.

  “Obviously you haven’t located Louis Ferndale. Do you have any leads?” Suz asked, from where she’d been silently standing across the room.

  “No. Finding him is like finding a needle in a haystack. He seems to be very resourceful when it comes to eluding the authorities. That’s not to say we’re not looking for him, especially now with the discovery of Ms. McPherson’s body. You have to understand that all we have to go on at this point is Mrs. Garrison’s description of Mr. Ferndale. It’s an approximate sketch, not perfect.”

  “How did she die?” Kate asked

  “She was beaten pretty good and strangled. The bus depot appears to be a dumping spot. We’re not sure exactly where she was killed.”

  “Oh my God,” Kate said, clearly distraught.

  Knowing she was upset with him, Luke kept his distance. “I didn’t hurt her. When she left here, she was fine.”

  “At about what time was that?” Archer wanted to know.

  “I don’t know. We slept in. I was on the phone with Nate when the doorbell rang. It was probably around ten or so.”

  “How can she be dead?” Kate shook her head sadly. “She finally had a chance to start a new life. She had a chance to change.”

  “He got to her, Mrs. Garrison,” Archer said, looking from Kate to Luke. “I’m going to give you both a piece of advice. Watch your daughter and watch your back. This man isn’t messing around.”

  Nate walked over and showed Archer out.

  Luke forced himself to meet Kate’s somber gaze.

  “I don’t know why you didn’t tell me that she came here.”

  “I already told you why. I didn’t want to upset you. I knew she wasn’t on the level. I still believe that, Kate. Whatever happened to her, it was because she couldn’t break free of Louis. He was pulling her strings when she stood on that porch. I had no choice but to send her away.” He walked over and sat down next to her on the couch. “Do you understand that she threatened our daughter?”

  “I can’t believe she would do that. She knows how much Hallie means to me. She watched me cry for her every day for three years. ”

  “She may not have hurt Hallie herself but she was going to be part of it whether she wanted to or not.”

  “I’ll never break free of him, Luke. He’s going to do the same thing to me.”

  “No, he’s not. I already told you, I’m not going to let that happen.”

  “None of us are,” Nate said, now standing in the doorway. “We take care of our own, Kate. You’re one of us.”

  Luke gave his brother a grateful look. As usual, it was Nate to the rescue.

  “I’m going to check on Hallie.” Kate got up and left the room.

  Luke exchanged glances with his brother.

  “This is going to be hard on her,” Suz said, again making herself known. “She’s got feelings for this woman, substantiated or not.”

  “She had feelings for the woman,” Nate corrected.

  “She’s having to cope with a lot,” Suz said, frowning. “She really needs some help.”

  “We talked about that. She’s willing. We’re taking things slow,” Luke told them, standing up. “I’m slowly getting her back. You can see the changes in her in five short days. That’s a lot of difference in such a short amount of time. She wants her old life back.”

  “Is that possible?” Nate asked. “Time hasn’t stood still, bro. Things are different.”

  “Not with us they’re not. We’ll work this out. I think the barbecue’s done for the night though. I should go check on Hallie too.”

  Nate and Suz left. Luke didn’t go check on his daughter right away though. Instead, he took the stairs two at a time and headed straight for his bedroom closet. He reached up onto the top shelf and pulled down the locked metal box that rested there. He unlocked it and opened the top. The .45 Semi-Automatic pistol was in its place safely. He lifted it out and held it in his hands, making sure it was loaded and ready to go. It was. He’d checked a few days ago too. If Louis Ferndale wanted to mess with his family, this time Luke was going to be ready.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Sara Hendrickson dug through her purse for her cell phone. She should probably pull over, she thought, not really wanting to get into an accident or get another ticket while trying to deal with her ringing phone. She was pretty sure it was her roommate, Madeline, calling to see how the barbecue had gone. At this point, she was desperate for a sympathetic ear.

  “Hello,” she snapped after locating the phone and flipping it open.

  “Hey. Just checking on you. How’d it go?” Madeline was chewing and the sound of her lips smacking together as she talked was less than appealing. Sara forced herself to ignore it. She and Madeline had lived together for a couple of months now. She’d been a friend from college and the only person Sara had known when she’d moved to Seattle.

  “It went terrible. I misread things,” Sara said, feeling tears fill her eyes again. She had been so excited when Hallie had called her the previous day. Ever since Luke Garrison’s wife had shown up, she’d felt basically hopeless about the progression of their relationship. She’d waited for him to call, to no avail. Then yesterday Hallie had called. Sara had been given a sense of renewed hope. That is until she’d actually arrived at Luke’s house and found his wife on the other side of the door.

  “What happened?” Madeline asked.

  “His wife was there. He’s not leaving her.”

  “Did you really think he was going to, Sara? I mean you told me he told you he couldn’t get involved with you right now because of his feelings for her. And that was when he thought she was dead.”

  Sara scowled. She was getting a little tired of hearing that fact pointed out. “I realize that. I just thought maybe seeing her again made him realize he wasn’t as in love with her as he thought. I mean she’s a mess.” Sara steered her car toward home. “She’s deathly skinny and pale. She’s all bruised up and pathetic looking.”

  “Uh huh. He really looks to me like the kind of guy who’d have an ugly wife.”

  “I didn’t say she was ugly. I said she’s a mess.”

  “She was kidnapped, Sara. You’d be a mess too.”

  “Just whose side are you on?” Sara snapped, stopping at a red light. Sometimes Madeline could be so irritating.

  “So did you stay anyway? Even though his wife answered the door?”

  “Well, what could I do? He would have really freaked on me if I had just walked away then. Hallie would have been upset.”

  “You shouldn’t mess with little kids to get to their parents. It’s kind of cold.”

  “I like her,” Sara said sincerely. And she did like Hallie. A lot. But she liked Hallie’s dad a whole lot too.

  “So did you come on to him or something?”

  “Not in so many words.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I just asked him why he didn’t call. He basically told me he has no intention of leaving his wife.”

  “Hm. Well, I’m not surprised. You have to quit going for guys that are married. This is just like that last loser. The one back home. What was his name?”

  Sara did not want to discuss Robert. He had been the main reason she’d left Minnesota to begin with. He’d been married and his wife had been very much alive. Not only that, she’d been pissed to find out he had a girlfriend. Sara had done the right thing and broken the relationship off but Robert hadn’t felt the same way about things. He’d stalked her relentlessly until she’d moved herself to Seattle, hoping for a fresh start. Now, here she was with more screwed up circumstances. What was it with her and married men?

  “Well, just let it go. There are a lot of guys out there.”

  “I’m aware of that. If they’re single, I probably won’t find them.”

  “Maybe you should pay a little more attention.”

  “Thanks for the advice. I’m on my way home. I’m going to grab a pint of ice
cream from the store. Be prepared to eat.” Sara disconnected the phone and turned the corner toward the grocery store. She was angry with herself for misconstruing things. On top of that, the good girl in her felt she needed to apologize to Luke and to his wife. After all, she’d behaved inappropriately. She knew that and she didn’t know what was always coming over her and making her act so ridiculous. Madeline was right, Luke had laid the cards out on the table when they’d first met. He’d told her he wasn’t ready to date—that he still had unresolved feelings for his dead wife. She’d seen in his eyes right then that his wife was likely the love of his life. Someone that Sara never would have been able to compare to, as far as he was concerned. Why couldn’t someone besides Robert fall for her so completely?

  She swore, pulling into a parking place not far from the entrance to the Stop and Shop. Rocky Road, here I come, she thought, grabbing her purse and heading for the store. While she was in there she found herself renting a couple of movies. A good tearjerker and a good comedy to bring her back up. She took the videos and her ice cream to the counter and paid for them. Then she headed for her car. It was after eight now and starting to get dark. There was still activity going on in the parking lot but it was mostly from high school kids who used the place as a watering hole. To be that age again, she thought to herself. High school was now the good old days and it mildly bothered her to realize they’d become that.

  “I want you to get in the car and don’t make a sound.” The voice in her ear darn near made her pee her pants. She froze, dropping her grocery bag. She felt the sharp point of a weapon slice into her back and she tried to scream but a hand came around her from behind and clamped tightly against her mouth. She couldn’t breathe. A moment later, she passed out.

  Kate stared out into the night, goose bumps crawling up her arms. The house that Luke had bought sat on a large piece of land that was backed up by trees. It was the perfect place for a person who didn’t want to be seen to hide. A perfect place for someone to stalk, to wait and to pounce. Shivering, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms. He was out there. She knew Louis was out there. It was only a matter of time before he found her.

  “Here.”

  She looked over her shoulder as Luke walked into the room, a cardboard box in his hands. He plopped it down on the bed. He’d disappeared earlier where she guessed he’d gone up into the attic to look for this box. What it was and why he was bringing it to her, she didn’t know.

  “It’s one of the boxes of your mom and dad’s things that you didn’t give away to charity. There were only a few and you had them shipped here.” He lifted a box cutter and shredded the tape that held the box closed. “Only you never made it home from Ritzville. The boxes showed up a week or two after the accident and I shoved them upstairs in storage with the rest of the bad memories. I was going to give them to Hallie one day when she was older.”

  She brightened somewhat, eventually catching on. “You think there might be something in there that tells us about my father’s business deals?”

  “I think it’s worth a shot. This is the only box that has any kind of paperwork in it. The others are all toys and books.”

  They both plopped onto the bed and began to go through the box. There were piles and piles of legal documents, mostly pertaining to the sale of the house in Ritzville. The proceeds from that had gone to paying off bills, which it turned out there were quite a substantial amount of. Her parents had not only several credit cards maxed out, but also a personal loan from a national bank. Their debts had barely been covered.

  Kate frowned as she looked through their things. “They never seemed this financially irresponsible before. We lived well but I had no idea the amount of money they were spending.”

  “People tend to live far beyond their means. That’s why the credit card was invented.”

  She supposed that was true. She picked up a small black journal and scanned its pages. There was mostly gibberish in it. Notes here and there. She saw scribbles regarding flight numbers, probably pertaining to one of their business trips. There were a couple of addresses written down, one for the savings and loan where her parents did their banking. Kate already knew where that was. The other Kate recognized as the address of she and Luke’s first house.

  “Anything interesting?” he asked.

  “Gibberish mostly.” She flipped the page. The word Isle was written on the page. At least that’s what it looked like. Or maybe it said Isla.She couldn’t tell. Her father’s penmanship had always been difficult to decipher. On top of that, the pen used to write the word had been running out of ink and half the letters weren’t showing up. She stared at the scribble, wondering what it meant.

  Luke looked over her shoulder. “What’s that mean?”

  “You got me.” She looked at it for another minute and then turned the page. There was no more writing in the notebook. Sighing, she tossed it aside and pulled some other papers out. More bills. They were disappointed not to find anything useful in the box. Just basically worthless documents that they’d already known about.

  “I’m sorry. I thought it was worth a try.”

  “It was. It’s too bad I didn’t keep more of their things. I just didn’t want the reminders. I was so upset about their deaths back then that I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

  “People who are grieving tend not to.”

  Kate shoved the papers back into the box. “I don’t even remember having them shipped. I just remember wanting the bad memories out of my life.”

  “You didn’t think they’d fit in the Jeep with us and all our stuff. That’s why you had them sent.” He lifted the box and tossed it down on the floor, then leaned back on the bed, resting his head on his pillow. “I feel bad that Hallie got hurt in all this.”

  “So do I.” In fact, she felt pretty much like this whole thing was her fault. Luke and Hallie had been a great team until she’d come back. Now they were fighting and going to bed angry. It felt wrong.

  “Don’t get that kicked dog look on your face again. Hallie and I have always butted heads, Kate. She’s a lot like me, which is why we tend to spar.” He grinned. “She’s got spunk, that daughter of ours.”

  Seeing the pride in his eyes, Kate smiled. “She does.”

  “It pains me when it’s me she’s mad at. She really lays it on thick.”

  “That’s because she has you wrapped around her little finger.”

  He looked over at her. “Yeah. Just like her mom does.”

  “It’s part of the charm of being female,” she said, and giggled when he reached over and tickled her. She loved the feeling of his hands on her and the look in his eyes when he laughed with her. It made Louis and all of her problems fade away for a while. As long as he was there, standing between her and the world, she felt like she was going to be okay.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Over the next several days, Kate began to slide into the role of Kate Garrison again. She felt comfortable in the house that had once been Luke and Hallie’s alone. She began cleaning, doing laundry and making meals. She started doing all of the things she’d done before the accident, and felt right at home doing them. Even her relationship with Hallie was improving. With each day, she felt the space between them closing in. Hallie had even begun asking her to do the nightly bath time ritual rather than Luke, who had stood back and happily let Kate take over.

  Things were feeling real now. She was home and this was her family again. The feeling of knowing that was exhilarating.

  Luke was getting antsy being home. She could tell that. He spent more and more time on the phone with his coaching staff, going over plays and strategies. The night before, she’d met Kevin Brundage when he’d brought playbooks over. He and Luke had hung out in Luke’s office all evening going over things. When Kevin had left and Luke had joined her in bed, he’d been smiling. She knew he loved the game of football, whether he was playing it or coaching it. It was in his blood. She felt bad that she was keeping him from his job when he
loved it so much. He blew the notion aside and assured her he could handle things from home for the time being.

  Things changed mid-afternoon, a couple of days later. Detective Archer showed up, unannounced again.

  “You’ve found him,” Luke said, as he opened the door and let the detective inside. Kate could tell that wasn’t the case. Archer looked just as grim as he had the last time he’d been by a week ago. That was when he’d told them about Karen.

  “Sorry. No. I need to talk to you about Sara Hendrickson.”

  Both Luke and Kate were surprised.

  “What about her?” Luke asked.

  “When was the last time you saw her?”

  Kate didn’t like the way this conversation was going. “Why do you ask?”

  “Because her roommate reported her missing yesterday. Seems she hasn’t been home in several days.”

  “She’s not from here. Maybe she went home to Minnesota,” Luke reasoned.

  “I already talked to her parents. They’re frantic too. They haven’t heard from her in almost a week. When was the last time you saw her?” Archer persisted, looking from Luke to Kate.

  “Last Monday,” Kate said, struggling with days and times in her head. “She came to see Hallie.”

  “And?”

  “And she left,” Luke said, eyeing the detective warily. “Why are you questioning us?”

  “Her roommate says she was here. She also said that you and Ms. Hendrickson had a relationship and you dumped her last Monday. She says Ms. Hendrickson was very upset.”

  Kate watched as Luke’s temper flared.

  “We did not have a relationship. Before my wife came back I took her out a couple of times. She was closer to my daughter than she was to me.”

  “So you didn’t have words with her at the barbecue?”

  “I had words with her because she had the idea in her head that I was leaving my wife.”

  Kate blanched. So that was what had happened.

  “So you asked her to leave?” Archer prodded.