by Leona Karr
“Don’t know if I can tell you much, but come on in. It’s too damn hot to stand out there.” As he stepped back from the door and motioned them into a small but pleasant living room, he yelled, “Gladys!”
A tiny gray-haired woman wearing bright pink capri pants and a baggy top bustled in from the kitchen. She had a puzzled look on her pleasant face when she saw Courtney and Neil standing there.
“Sorry to bother you,” Neil said quickly. “We’re trying to identify the woman who bought your vehicle, and wonder if you and your husband might help us?”
“You want her name?”
“Yes, that would help,” Neil assured her.
“It was a real common one, wasn’t it, Frank? Jane Smith.”
“She gave us a P.O. box address,” he added.
“Could you describe her for us?” Courtney asked. “Did she have red hair?”
“Couldn’t rightly say. She wore one of those handkerchiefs pulled back from her forehead and tied in the back. Couldn’t see her hair.”
“What about her build. Tall, short, thin, fat?”
“Taller than me,” the woman answered, chuckling. “’Course, everybody past the sixth grade can say that.”
“You’re a peewee, all right,” Frank said kindly. “I reckon this gal was average height, and about one hundred and twenty pounds.”
“Just ordinary looking, I’d say,” his wife remarked.
“And she paid cash for your used car?”
Frank frowned. “Oh, we didn’t have a car for sale.”
“She bought our used camper,” his wife added.
“You sold her a camper?” Neil repeated, avoiding the crushed expression on Courtney’s face.
Camper? How likely was it Billie would buy a camper when she needed a quick getaway?
“Yep. Had a lot of miles on it. That’s why we could let it go cheap. But in good condition,” Frank insisted. “I had a mechanic look the camper over.”
Courtney sat down on a rather lumpy couch and struggled to come to terms with a bitter disappointment.
Neil’s cell phone sounded and he apologized as he answered it. She knew it must be McGrady when Neil quickly explained where they were and gave the address.
After he hung up, Neil advised the O’Brians that Detective McGrady was on his way to speak with them. Gladys moved closer to her husband and Frank’s accommodating manner disappeared.
“What is this all about?” he demanded, openly on the defensive. “We didn’t do anything wrong. That camper was ours. We had the right to sell it to anybody that came along.”
“Easy, Frank,” soothed his wife, touched his sleeve. “Let them explain.”
Her husband wasn’t that easily pacified. “Why you bringing the police into this? We’re law-abiding citizens. Never had any dealings with the police except for a couple of damn parking tickets.”
“Please.” Courtney held up her hand to stop the tirade. “We’re trying to find the woman who stole my baby.”
A grenade thrown in the middle of the living-room floor couldn’t have been any more effective in creating a stunned silence. Both Frank and Gladys just stared at her.
She swallowed hard as if the words were burrs in her throat. “A woman posing as my aunt took my four-month-old son. She drove a gray van and we found it abandoned.”
“We know she had money for another vehicle,” Neil added quickly. “And when you told my brother that your buyer paid cash for your used vehicle, we had to check it out. Unfortunately we thought it was a car or truck that you’d sold. We wouldn’t have bothered you otherwise.”
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” Gladys hurried to sit down beside Courtney. “We don’t read the papers, or even watch much TV. Too much violence.”
“We’ll try to help all we can,” Frank promised, his irritation completely disappeared.
When McGrady arrived, Neil could tell he wasn’t pleased that they hadn’t waited for him to make contact with the O’Brians in the first place.
“We don’t want to impose upon you folks,” he said in his homey way. “We’d appreciate any information you can give us to clear this thing up.”
“I don’t know why a kidnapper would want to buy a used camper,” Frank spoke up. “You don’t have much speed, takes a lot more gas. Doesn’t make sense.”
“Not the smartest thing to buy when you’re trying to make a getaway,” McGrady agreed.
“Unless you don’t think like other people,” Neil offered thoughtfully. “Maybe that’s why this Jane Smith buyer could be Billie Mae. God knows, her mind runs on a different track.”
“We can clear all of this up once we verify the woman’s identification,” McGrady said flatly.
“We want to help,” Gladys assured him. “Don’t we, Frank?
Her husband nodded dutifully.
“Okay, we have a name and a P.O. box. If that doesn’t check out, even the smallest memory you have about this woman could help us identify her. Do you still have any of the bills she gave you?” McGrady inquired in his usual affable way.
Frank shook his head. “No, we deposited the seven thousand right away. We didn’t want that kind of money lying around the house. Why?”
“There’s a chance we might have gotten her fingerprint off the money. Did she touch anything else while she was here?” He looked hopefully at Gladys as if the woman might have used the bathroom.
Gladys shook her head. “She didn’t even come in the house. Frank took care of the sale in the driveway where the camper was parked.”
“Did she take possession of the camper the day she bought it?”
Frank nodded. “Drove it right off.”
“What about the car she arrived in?”
He frowned. “I remember her saying she saw my sign when she was driving by earlier. I just assumed that she lived somewhere in the development and had walked here to see about buying the camper.”
“The bus stops up at the corner,” Gladys said. “Maybe that’s how she got here.”
“Come to think of it, she did seem in kind of a hurry to take possession. It’s a good thing we had the camper cleaned out and ready to go.”
“Wait a minute!” Gladys’s eyes lit up. “I remembered something. I’d been cleaning the windows, and left a bottle of glass cleaner on the dashboard. When she got ready to drive off, she handed it to me.”
“Good girl,” McGrady said. “Was she wearing gloves?” When Gladys shook her head, he smiled. “I’d like to take that bottle down to the lab, and see what we can find. Will you carefully put it in a sack for me?”
Courtney’s emotions had been a Ferris wheel, rising and falling as she listened to the conversation. Her hopes had been dashed when they had learned the woman had bought a camper, and had risen again when Neil had insisted that it was something the deranged Billie Mae would do.
“Well, thanks for your time, folks,” McGrady said as he prepared to leave. “We appreciate your cooperation.”
“You’ll let us know what you find out, won’t you?” Gladys asked as she handed him a plastic bag. “I won’t be able to rest until I know whether or not that horrible woman is the one who is using our camper.”
McGrady promised to let them know the results of the fingerprinting analysis as soon as he knew anything. He walked out to the car with Neil and Courtney.
“We should be able to tell in quick order if we’ve got a match with Kessel’s fingerprints. I can’t put out an APB on the camper until I know for sure that Billie Mae Kessel was the buyer.”
“What about license plates?”
“Frank said they left theirs on the camper, but that doesn’t mean anything. Billie’s smart enough to put on bogus plates that will pass superficial scrutiny.”
“Every day counts,” Courtney said in a tight voice.
“I know, honey.” He patted her shoulder. “We’ll move as fast as we can, I promise. If I can get forensic on the ball, we may have the results before the day is over.”
Neil headed home instead of back to the office. His former skepticism had vanished, but he knew better than to admit it to Courtney at this point. He could tell she was struggling to keep a tight rein on her emotions. Every development seemed to be a cliff-hanger.
He didn’t want to leave Courtney alone, so as soon as they got home, he telephoned Maribeth. “I’ve got to get back to the office. Courtney needs some company while she waits for a telephone call. I’ll let her tell you about it.”
At first Courtney was irritated by Neil’s insistence that she shouldn’t be alone, but it turned out that Maribeth’s company was a blessing. Courtney couldn’t help but respond to the woman’s upbeat, supportive presence.
“Okay, tell me all. What’s going on?”
Gratefully, Courtney told her about Alex’s visit, and the result of their visit and conversation with the O’Brians.
“How wonderful. You have Kessel’s fingerprints?”
“We don’t know. McGrady’s going to call me.”
When the phone rang midafternoon, Courtney’s hand trembled as she lifted the receiver.
“We’ve got a match,” McGrady told her. “I’ll keep in touch.”
When she hung up, Maribeth searched her face. “Is it good, or bad news?”
“I don’t know,” she answered as her thoughts raced.
A camper was a moveable house. It could be parked anywhere. How would they ever find it?
Chapter Thirteen
When Neil came home at dusk, Maribeth’s car was gone and no lights were on in the house. Late-afternoon shadows enveloped the hall, living room and den. A sense of emptiness warned him he’d become much too accustomed to Courtney’s presence in the house.
He turned on lights and then bounded up the stairs. She’s probably taking a nap, he thought, as he quietly made his way to the guest suite. Peering in the darkened room, he saw the bed was empty and there was no sign of her sitting listlessly in a chair in front of the window as she had been prone to do.
She must have gone home with Maribeth, he decided as he made his way back downstairs. He’d never had trouble filling up his time at home before. Even though his housekeeper was efficient, there were still chores he liked to do. Spending a few minutes watering the plants on the patio usually cleared his head from long days at the office.
Sometimes he waited until twilight before he raided the fridge for the meal the housekeeper had left for him. Contrary to his reputation as a man-about-town, he enjoyed an evening of solitude.
But not tonight.
As he crossed the hall to the kitchen, a faint sound of gurgling water reached his ears. Turning in that direction, he saw a sliver of light under the door leading to the Jacuzzi. He was surprised at the wave of relief that swept over him when he saw Courtney sitting in the hot tub.
“So there you are. I’ve been all over the house looking for you,” he chided. “I thought, maybe, you’d gone home with Maribeth.”
“She left a little while ago.”
He frowned. “What was her hurry?”
“She has a family to look after,” Courtney reminded him. “Your sister is good company, and I appreciate her spending time with me, but I can handle being alone.”
“I would have left the office earlier, but I got caught up in the fallout of that business with Delaney and Woodword.”
“What’s happening?”
“The district attorney is getting ready to go to trial.” He set his jaw. “I had to provide a lot of the financial details that will convict them. It’ll be a relief when all that’s settled once and for all.”
“You look tired.”
“It’s been some day, hasn’t it?”
“Would you like to join me?”
He hesitated, remembering the passionate fire that had ignited when they’d been in the Jacuzzi together. He wasn’t at all sure that he could keep his hands off her luscious body. He thought about her almost constantly, and it was becoming harder all the time to keep his distance.
“Please.”
The invitation in her soft eyes reassured him and he nodded in acceptance. “Be with you in a minute.”
As Courtney waited for Neil to change, she leaned her head back against the edge of the tub, closed her eyes and remembered the conversation she’d had with Maribeth that afternoon.
They had sat at the small round table in the kitchen, having coffee and sharing the challenges of keeping their lives on an even keel. Courtney had never shared with anyone the disappointments in her marriage.
“I never had any real companionship with Clyde. When he wasn’t working, he was off somewhere, drinking beer, watching football or playing poker with the boys. When I became a widow, I decided I didn’t want another man complicating my life.” She looked steadily at Maribeth. “I haven’t done a lot of dating because I’ve chosen to go it alone. I think I made the right decision.”
Maribeth studied Courtney over the rim of her coffee mug. Then, clearing her throat, she said, “I suppose I should be staying out of this. But, you know, fools rush in. May I say something?”
“Please.”
“I don’t want my brother hurt,” she said in a forthright manner. “For the first time since Wendy, Neil’s really opened himself up and allowed himself to care. Do you hear what I’m saying?”
“I think so,” Courtney replied hesitantly.
“For years, he’s tried to cover up his deep sensitivity, but you’ve really gotten to him. Just look at him! He’s got dark circles under his eyes. He’s lost that jaunty step of his. He’ll do anything in the world for you, even take on your pain if he could.”
How could she put into words what Neil’s support had meant to her? “I don’t know what I would do without him. He’s been my only anchor.”
Maribeth covered Courtney’s hand with her own. “Heaven knows, you’re trying to handle a myriad of torturous feelings right now. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through,” she admitted. “The thing is, I’m worried that the fallout from all this may leave my brother deeply wounded again.”
“I wouldn’t willingly hurt Neil, ever. You have to believe me.”
Maribeth looked at her with those knowing eyes. “I think you’re so afraid of being hurt that you’re turning a blind eye to the love he’s offering you. You’re trying to protect yourself at his expense.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Of course you do. You’re willing to deny your own feelings because you lack the courage to accept them,” Maribeth said bluntly. “That’s not fair to Neil, nor to you.”
As Courtney played the conversation over in her mind, she realized Neil’s sister had seen her for the coward she was. Instead of wanting a guarantee for a nebulous future, she should be reaching out with both hands to this man who had captured her heart. Life was too fragile to throw a moment of it away.
When Neil slipped into the water beside her, Courtney sent a playful handful of water spraying in his face.
He was so surprised that he laughed out loud and did a double take. Her eyes were shining and her lips parted in a challenging grin. He quickly rallied and sent a swish of water back at her.
Like two boisterous kids, they gave themselves up to childish play and released pent-up pressures that had been building within them.
“Take that!”
“And that!”
When Courtney’s hair was soaked and she was blinded by water streaming down her face, she laughingly blubbered, “I give up.”
Neil willingly accepted her surrender. Droplets of water glistened on her long lashes, and wet fair hair clung to her lovely cheeks and forehead. Just looking at her stirred desires in a way he wouldn’t have thought possible. He felt a mounting need to claim every part of her.
Neil’s eyes held a dreamy look that Courtney had never seen before. It made her aware of how little she really knew about this man who had given her so much. Maribeth had been right about a lot of things. The present moment was all they really had
, and because of her self-protective attitude, she’d been ready to cheat both of them of it.
“You look as if you want to kiss me,” she said boldly as she put her arms around him.
“Well, you did surrender,” he reminded her, not quite sure how to handle her forwardness.
“Yes, I did,” she agreed softly. Putting her hand on the back of his neck, she drew his face down to hers.
The sweet, pliable softness of her lips matched the promise in her yielding body. When she breathlessly withdrew from his embrace, he read the promise in her eyes.
Without speaking, they climbed out of the Jacuzzi and made their way to his bedroom. Discarding their wet suits on the floor, they buried themselves under the warm covers of his king-size bed. He drew her moist nakedness against his.
As a floodgate of desire flowed between them, he led her from one exploding crescendo to another. Tenderly and passionately, he heightened their pleasure until an encompassing sensation of bewildering fulfillment exploded between them.
Tears of happiness filled her eyes as they lay together, spent and satiated with lovemaking. As her head rested upon his bare chest, she was aware of his rhythmic breathing and was totally content in the quiet awareness of his nearness.
Maribeth had been right. Courtney had been cheating them both by trying to protect herself from falling in love. Whatever the future, she would have this moment to remember and be strengthened to face whatever lay ahead.
About midnight, they enjoyed a snack that Neil brought up to the bedroom. They talked until about two o’clock, made love again, and then fell asleep. The next morning, they leisurely made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast.
As another day without Jamie faced her, the brief respite Courtney had felt in Neil’s arms slowly began to fade.
Another day. Where’s my baby!
She couldn’t help resting her head in her hand as Neil was getting the coffee. She felt totally helpless and filled with a growing fury. When Neil asked her what she’d like for breakfast, she just shook her head.
“Surprise me.”
“All right, I’ll make you the specialty of the house.” He reached for a waffle mix, and was busily greasing the waffle iron when the doorbell rang.