“I dunno. It’s too close, really. Someone could see him anytime.” Neil walked her to her car. “Careful. It’s icy there. Jim could alter his appearance. You know, contacts instead of glasses, grow a mustache, that kind of thing. And if someone thought they recognized him, he could just say, ‘I’m his cousin,’ and whip out his driver’s license.”
“I guess you’re right.” She smiled up at him. “I’ll follow you back into town, but I don’t think I’d better go to the police station again. That would be pushing it a little far. I’ll head for home.”
“Okay. Drive carefully.”
“Thanks a lot.” She got into her car and started the engine. As she pulled out onto the street, she looked in her rearview mirror and saw Neil standing motionless on the sidewalk, still watching her.
Neil got behind the wheel of his car and slowly made his way back to the station. When he got to the office, he checked with the Department of Motor Vehicles again. Apparently, their power was on, and he was able to get Joseph Parlin’s driver’s license this time. As Connor came from the break room with a fresh cup of coffee, the image came up on the screen.
“Lousy picture,” Connor said. “Print it out.”
It was definitely Jim Burton with brown eyes, not blue, and dark hair, full and thick on top. Corrective lenses required, but no glasses. And no record of motor vehicle violations.
Neil studied it for a long moment, then shook his head. “Hard to believe that’s the same man.”
“Let’s get the whole unit together and hash this over,” Connor said.
Suddenly the lights went out, the computer screens went black and the office was still. The big windows on two sides let in the dim afternoon light, so they could still see. Dimmer lights around the edge of the room came on.
“We’ll have minimal power if we have to run on generators,” Neil said.
The monitors around the room lightened, and all the men went to their desks to reboot their computers. Connor took his cell phone down the hall toward the break room. Neil figured he was checking in with Adrienne.
When he came back a couple of minutes later Jimmy asked him, “Got power at your house, Captain?”
“Nope. It went out when ours did.” He called the men to his desk. “All right, it looks like Jim Burton set up an ID under his dead cousin’s name and put a Westbrook address on his driver’s license and Social Security record.”
“Westbrook?” said Lance. “Incredible. He can’t still be there.”
“You may be right,” said Connor. “He set this identity up to shield his getaway, but he’d be stupid to stay there long.”
“So, are we going over and check it out?” asked Jimmy.
“You bet. But we’ve got to get the Westbrook police in on it. You can set that up, Jimmy. Call their day patrol sergeant and fill him in. Ask for a unit for backup. Tony, you go get the warrant. Jimmy and Lance, call home and tell your wives you’ll be late for supper and not to worry. Gentlemen, please wear your vests.”
They all headed for the locker room.
An hour later, the Priority Unit went back to the city and wearily climbed the stairs. Even if the men had wanted to use the elevator, they couldn’t. The generator ran only necessary equipment. There wasn’t any hot water in the locker room.
Neil yanked the Velcro on the side seam of his bulletproof vest. “No clothes or furniture in the house. Nothing. What a bust.”
“Big disappointment for the captain,” Jimmy said as he peeled off his vest.
“Well, we knew it was a long shot that Burton had stayed around,” Neil admitted, “but I was hoping.”
“We all were,” Jimmy said.
Tony hung his jacket and vest in his locker on the other side of Neil’s. “I thought we had something, too.”
“We did,” Neil reasoned. “We still do. And Lance has some information on that woman Natalie, the one with the Samoyed. We can check her out tomorrow. If the Registry of Deeds is open, we’ll get data from them and find out if he had financing for the house. There’ll be lots of things to do tomorrow. Maybe Connor can even figure out how to make that offshore bank freeze Burton’s account.”
Connor breezed in from the outer office. “Head on home, men. Neil, are you going to your apartment?”
“Yeah.”
“Drive carefully. It’s starting to sleet again. Do you have heat at home?”
“I’ve got a kerosene heater.”
“Why don’t you just come to the house? We’ve got the fireplace and a little woodstove in the garage. I can set it up in the sunroom if we need it.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll worry about you dying of carbon monoxide poisoning,” Connor admitted.
“I can go to my folks’. They’ve got a woodstove.”
“If you want. But we’d be happy if you came to our house.”
It was tempting. Kate would be there. This new friendship with her was definitely a good thing, but he didn’t want her to think he was pursuing her again. He was still wary from the way they’d crashed and burned last summer. Still, he hoped any lingering doubts she harbored about him could be resolved as they matured spiritually. And he knew that, for once in his life, he didn’t want to blow this relationship.
“I’ll be fine,” he told Connor.
He drove home and took his flashlight out of the glove compartment, then trudged up to his apartment and went in. It was nearly as cold in there as it was outside. It took him a while to get the heater going. When it was burning in the kitchen, he used bottled water to make himself a glass of Tang, then sat in front of the heater, warming his hands. When they were warm enough, he made a sandwich and ate it.
On impulse, he took out his cell phone. Would the ice storm affect the transmitting towers? He clicked to his phone’s address book and stared at the number, trying to decide if he should call or not.
Probably best to leave Kate alone. But he wanted to call her, and hear her voice again. After a long moment, he clicked instead to another number.
“Pastor Robinson? This is Neil Alexander.”
The minister’s warm voice calmed him, and Neil felt he’d taken the right course. “You said you’d help me study the Bible if I wanted, and there are some things I feel as though I need tutoring on.”
“I’d be happy to meet with you once or twice a week. In fact, you’d be welcome here at the parsonage this evening, if you don’t mind studying by lantern light.”
Neil smiled. “Thank you, sir. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
Connor called Neil early in the morning. “We can have showers in the locker room at the station if we get there early, before the shift changes and the generator is on peak use.”
Neil scrambled into his clothes and shut off the kerosene heater. He didn’t dare leave it running when he wasn’t there. He drove to work carefully, passing two fender benders on the way. People were in the park, chopping ice with hatchets and filling buckets. He assumed they would take it home and melt it to wash with. He hoped they wouldn’t drink it.
Connor brought two gallons of bottled water to the office. “Adrienne stocked up before we lost power,” he said. “When she heard some areas blacked out, she bought twelve gallons of water and a pile of flashlight batteries and candles and crackers.”
“How’s the baby doing?”
“Good. We’re keeping her bundled up. How about you? Were you warm enough last night?”
“Barely. The landlord told me he’s keeping the pipes warm in the basement, but it was pretty chilly in my apartment. If we don’t have power tonight, I might visit you.”
They hit the showers. The other detectives were at their desks when Neil went out into the office.
Neil and Tony drove to Natalie DeWitt’s address. No one responded to the doorbell, but inside, a dog barked. Neil tried calling and got her answering machine. They spoke to two neighbors. She worked, but they didn’t know where. Lance’s report hadn’t told them where she was employed, s
o they went back to the station.
“Joseph Parlin signed a contract on the house in Westbrook,” Jimmy told them. “A payment was due yesterday, but the bank didn’t receive it, and the Realtor hasn’t heard from him.”
Connor sent Tony and Neil to court for Stephen Burton’s hearing. The judge decided not to send him to trial. Instead, Stephen got a suspended sentence and probation.
The streets were strangely lacking in traffic as Neil drove cautiously back to the station. Most of the stores were closed, and pedestrians were rare. Road crews were throwing salt and sand everywhere to protect the city from lawsuits. He hated to run his truck through it. The diner near the police station was closed, and they were hungry.
“Taco Bell is open,” Jimmy told them. Tony and Neil drove over there. Somehow, the restaurant was in a pocket that still had power. They ordered hot coffee and takeout food and took it back to the office. It was nearly two o’clock. Connor was pacing, so Neil knew things weren’t going well.
“What’s up?” he asked, handing Connor the extra cup of coffee and burrito he’d brought.
“Absolutely nothing. I can’t seem to find anything on this Natalie person.” The rigid line of his back spelled frustration.
“Did you do a credit check on her?” Neil asked.
“I tried. The system is pretty much down now.”
Neil chewed a bite of his burrito and walked to the window. As he looked out on the glittering street below, sipping his coffee, he decided it was time to call his mother.
“Cornelius Jan Alexander! I was worried about you. Are you okay?” she demanded.
“Yes, how about you?”
“We’re fine, and Oma is staying here. The Pines has no heat.” Neil’s grandmother had been living in a retirement home for several months.
“Mom, do you know a woman named Natalie DeWitt?”
“Natalie? Ha!”
“Ha, what?” Neil asked, wishing he’d paid attention to that niggling memory in the back of his mind sooner.
“She’s my cousin Bernard’s ex-wife,” she said.
“Oh, right, right. She lives in Deering?”
“I don’t know where she lives. They’ve been divorced for ten years. I haven’t seen her for longer than that.”
“So you don’t know where she works?”
“Last I heard, she was a hostess at the Elite Lounge.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but she’s the type that moves around.”
“Does she like dogs?”
“Well…when she was married to Bernie she had German short-haired pointers. Very high-strung dogs. Drove Bernie nuts.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“What, this is for work?”
“Well, her name came up. I thought maybe you’d know who she was.”
Connor was trying once more to get somewhere with his computer. “I think our Internet provider has closed up shop,” he said when Neil stood beside his chair.
“Natalie DeWitt used to work as a cocktail hostess at the Elite Lounge. She may not still be there.”
“That’s my boy.” Connor stood and clapped him on the shoulder. “The reason you know this is…?”
“I asked my mother. I thought I remembered her mentioning Natalie.”
“Great! When the florist down the street reopens, I’ll send her flowers.”
Neil tried to call the lounge, but no one answered.
“Maybe we’ll drive by there tonight,” Connor said. “Come on. We’ve got our computers up, but if the provider is down, what good does it do? We may as well go home.”
Neil stopped at his apartment to get his things. It was barely above freezing in there. He ate a peanut butter sandwich and got his sleeping bag and pillow and a change of clothes for the next day.
The streets were still hazardous, but with his four-wheel-drive and pursuit driving experience, Neil felt almost invincible. He was going to see Kate again. Every time he thought of her now, anticipation prickled him. She was different from any other woman he’d taken an interest in. Last summer he’d seen that as a drawback, but now he saw her in a different light, and he was sure that was good.
He thought about her as he drove to Connor’s house. She was honest about her ambition. If she needed a story for the paper, she said so. And if she just wanted to have fun, like the sledding on Sunday afternoon, she didn’t act coy about it. He thought he’d gotten beyond Kate the Reporter and had reached Kate the Friend. He liked that Kate.
When he got to the Larson house and suggested taking Kate out for a perusal of the Elite Lounge, her eyes lit up.
“More investigating,” she said eagerly.
But Connor’s reaction burst Neil’s bubble of confidence.
“First of all, that’s not the kind of place I want you taking my sister-in-law.”
“Oh, come off it,” Neil said. “This isn’t a date. We’ll just go in and ask for Natalie. If she’s not there, we’ll leave.”
Connor scowled. “Second of all, they’re probably closed.”
“Are you kidding? Bars are the last places to shut down in an emergency.”
“That’s right,” Kate chimed in, but when Adrienne and Connor stared at her, she scrunched her neck down as though trying to disappear inside her turtleneck sweater. “Of course, I have no personal experience to go by.”
“We’ll check Natalie DeWitt’s house again first,” Neil offered. “But from what my mom said, she’s the type who works nights. If she’s not home, we’ll drive to the lounge and just see if she’s working tonight.”
“All right,” Connor said at last, “but Kate stays in the truck at the Elite Lounge.”
Neil bristled. “I don’t think so. Not in that neighborhood.”
Kate walked over to Connor and touched his arm. “Connor, I’m twenty-four years old, and as much as I appreciate you, you’re not my father. I’ll be safe with Neil.”
Yes! She believed in his change. Neil straightened his shoulders.
Connor ran a hand through his short, curly hair. “Sorry. I just don’t want the next trauma I’m called to respond on to be you.”
“Is this high-risk?” she asked.
“You never know.”
“Trust me,” Neil said, “walking into a nightclub is not life threatening unless you’re in uniform. And the Elite Lounge is a cut above some of the…” He noticed Connor’s hoisted eyebrows and stiff spine then and backpedaled. “I mean, in my professional experience. I actually haven’t been in there in at least a year. Honest.”
Connor frowned, but then threw up his hands. “Go, then. But if you so much as skid into a snowbank, I’ll have your hide.”
“Right. Absolutely.” Neil hustled Kate toward the coat closet. “We should be back by ten.”
“You’d better be.”
TEN
“Yikes,” Kate said when they were in Neil’s pickup. “I’ve never seen Connor so touchy.”
“Yeah, well, he’s under a lot of stress right now. And when it comes down to it, he knows I’ve done a lot of less-than-brilliant things in my life.”
“Like hanging around nightclubs?”
“Well, that was then, and this is now. I don’t miss it.”
Kate sat back, tightening her seat belt. Neil drove slowly toward Natalie DeWitt’s neighborhood. After a few minutes of silence, he said, “Thanks for trusting me tonight.”
One of the last reservations in Kate’s heart melted as she gazed at him. He kept his eyes on the icy road, and she studied his profile. What had started as a crush last summer had escalated so fast she’d let her common sense lag behind. A popular, charming, gorgeous man was lavishing his attention on her.
Adrienne had voiced her concerns early. Neil was giving Kate “the rush,” and she should be cautious. His reputation was a red flag. Connor had agreed—Neil was a steady detective but a notorious heartbreaker. It would be hard to find a single woman in the police department whom he hadn’t dated and dropped.
In on
ly two weeks, Kate had known she’d fallen in love. But Neil never said he loved her. It’s too soon, she’d told herself. But he hadn’t thought it was too soon for a physical relationship. It was his easy dismissal of her protests that had brought the interlude to a screeching halt. Didn’t he care about her convictions? If not, that meant he had no respect for her. The bleak realization had stunned her. She had confronted him, and the tone had turned nasty enough for her to cut short her visit to Adrienne and Connor, returning home hurt, embarrassed and angry at herself for not listening to them or to God’s clear guidance.
The Neil Alexander she saw now was not the same man. Could six months make such a vast difference? How long should she hold back, observing critically, before she believed the transformation was permanent? And was that up to her? Only God could see Neil’s heart. She didn’t want to rush back into a romantic relationship with him, and yet deep down she still longed to be loved by the man she’d once imagined Neil to be. Was he becoming that man now?
He glanced over at her, his dark eyes anxious, and she realized she hadn’t responded to his remark.
“If you forgive someone, you can’t keep punishing them for what they did. Besides…” Her chest tightened, and she swallowed hard. “What happened last summer wasn’t all your fault. I knew I shouldn’t date a non-Christian. But when you asked me out, I was so flattered and excited, I didn’t care. I’m sorry, too, Neil. I never should have gone out with you. I’ve confessed that to God, but…will you forgive me, too?”
Neil braked carefully and brought the truck to a halt at a stop sign. He looked over at her in the dim light cast by the instrument panel. “I don’t think there’s anything to forgive, Kate, but yes. I’ve straightened that out with God, too. I know I was living the wrong way, and I’m starting to learn the right way. I don’t want to hurt anyone ever again.”
“Thank you.” She blinked away the tears that formed in her eyes and reached over to touch his sleeve for an instant. “I’m glad.” She sent up a silent prayer for Neil as he eased the pickup out onto the next street and drove toward Natalie’s house.
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