by Debra Webb
The midst of a stressful and desperate investigation like this was the least desirable launching point for a prospective relationship, but sometimes life sneaked up on a guy like that. He wanted to explore these feelings. Maybe that made him soft, but it was the truth. He’d always found that living by the truth and one’s honor was the best way. At thirty-five he wasn’t about to change that now.
His lips slid into a smile. He enjoyed watching her like this, all soft and vulnerable. The idea that this woman trusted him enough to sleep under his watch shifted something in his chest. She was no pushover. Definitely no shrinking violet. Gaining her trust and her respect was a big deal and he savored the idea that he had earned that from her. Particularly in such a short time.
She damn sure had earned his respect and trust. He’d never met a woman any stronger. Except maybe Victoria. And his mother. She was a strong woman, as well. The thought of introducing Olivia to his mother had another of those strange little curls of emotion happening in his chest. He hadn’t been in love before so he couldn’t hazard a guess as to whether this was it or not, but he knew for sure that whatever it was, he wanted it to last.
The urge to climb into that bed with Olivia and make love again was powerful. But she needed sleep and he was fresh out of condoms. He carried one in his wallet at all times. Not that he planned casual sex but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Her respiration grew rapid and uneven and the pained look on her face had him moving to the side of the bed. No sooner than he settled in next to her she started to flail and cry out.
She was having another nightmare. Dammit.
“Olivia.” He took her by the shoulders and shook her gently.
She tried to twist out of his hold, tried to fight him off. “Olivia, wake up.”
Her eyes flew open and she screamed.
“Olivia, it’s me, darling. It’s okay. You were dreaming.”
She blinked, inhaled a ragged breath. “Oh, God.”
Before he could try and calm her she scrambled away from him and off the other side of the bed. A smile tugged at his lips just watching her pace the room wearing nothing but his shirt. Man, she was gorgeous.
“It was her.” She turned to him, her body trembling. “Janet. It was her.”
He stood and moved toward her. “What do you mean it was her?”
“She was at the house during those final days or weeks.”
Olivia nodded frantically. “And she was up to something.”
“What did you remember exactly?”
“I woke up from a bad dream and I went in search of my mother.” She moistened her lips. “Only when I went into her room it wasn’t her in the bed with my father. It was Janet.”
Olivia hugged her arms around her middle. “That’s why I felt repulsed by the thought of going into their room when we were at the house.”
Russ went to her and put his arms around her.
She stared up at him. “Bad things happened there, Russ. Things we don’t even know yet.”
Chapter Sixteen
8:00 a.m.
Clare had made her decision. No matter what Tony said she was going to see her daughters. All she had to do was get them all to meet her somewhere. Anywhere. The only way she imagined she would be able to do that was to call that woman…the head of the Colby Agency.
Tony would be angry. She glanced at him still covered head to toe in the bed. His gunshot wound was infected. He knew this and still he refused to go to a doctor. Though he was a nurse and he was on the antibiotics he had taken from that clinic, there was a problem.
She had wanted to believe in her son. He was so smart and he had done so well for himself. She had prayed for him over the years. But Janet and those awful people who had adopted him had ruined him.
Clare feared there was no hope for his redemption.
She hadn’t driven in more than twenty years when she’d had to race away from her old house with Tony bleeding like a stuck pig. That had proved that driving was like riding a bicycle. One never forgot how.
Maybe she should just slip out while he slept. They had hurried away from Granger after delivering the package to the motel where Olivia was staying. They’d gotten to this small town before Tony had complained that he was too tired to go on. He’d taken some of the pain pills he’d stolen from the clinic, as well, so he might not wake up for a while yet. That would prevent an ugly confrontation. She didn’t want to leave him on bad terms. Whatever he had become in his life it was her fault in large part.
God had blessed her with a child after that awful rape. She should have kept her child and faced the consequences like a grown-up. Instead, she’d run to the only family she’d had left. Janet had given her bad advice. She had used the opportunity to hurt Clare yet again. Worse she had hurt an innocent child. She had ruined his life.
Perhaps Clare shouldn’t leave him. She could try harder to make him see right from wrong. When this mess was all cleared up maybe they could join a small church and let God cleanse them. And she would have the chance to make up for her terrible mistakes. Tony deserved more from her.
But she had begun to worry that he might hold a grudge in his heart against the girls. Clare could not let him hurt the girls. Like him, they had suffered enough already.
She peeked beyond the curtain and checked the parking lot. It was cracked and weeds had long ago grown up in those cracks. The building was surely on its way to being condemned. But that had made it safe for them.
Only two other cars were in the lot. Old, beat-up cars like the one Tony had purchased from a man with two cars for sale in his front yard. Tony had plenty of money. He would be all right without her. Once this trouble was cleared up he could get another nursing job and all would be well for him. He’d said he didn’t kill that man. Surely the police would find the truth.
Like they found it twenty-two years ago?
Clare shuddered. That had been different. There were things she couldn’t tell the police. Things that would have made the difference, but her hands had been tied. All she could do was try to convince them that she was innocent and pray that justice would prevail.
But it had not…not for more than twenty years.
Clare dismissed those haunting memories and painful emotions. She couldn’t change the past. She had to focus on the here and now. If her being a part of Tony’s life was going to cause him pain, perhaps leaving was the right thing to do. But she hated to go without telling him she loved him and appreciated all that he had done. Well, most all that he had done. Some things she wasn’t so sure about but she was only human.
She would leave him a note. Then she would drive to Houston and demand to see this Victoria Colby-Camp. As a mother herself, surely she would understand Clare’s position.
Clare took her time emptying the paper sack of food supplies she’d gotten from the grocery store. The motel had no writing paper but there was the pen she had used when she’d left that note for Olivia. Well, it hadn’t really been a note. More an omen. Even then she had known that this moment was coming. It was time for her to stand on her own and stop depending on her son to take care of her.
She flattened the bag and carefully wrote a note to her son. Taking care to say all the right things, she told him how much she loved him and how sorry she was for not taking care of him as a mother should have. He had deserved better and she had failed him. She hoped he would one day forgive her. She told him of her plan to go to see the woman at the Colby Agency. Clare had as good a chance of swaying her as Rafe had had. Better maybe since they were both women and mothers. Tears welled in her eyes as she told Tony how she wanted to be reunited with her daughters and that this was the only way. When this was over perhaps they could all be together. She signed it with much love and then drew a little heart.
With the note left where he would see it first thing when he woke up, Clare gathered her few items. A change of clothes and a hairbrush. She didn’t need anything else. There was a bus station not far f
rom here. The car was Tony’s and it would be wrong for her to take it.
She had a small amount of cash of her own. They’d given it to her along with her few earthly possessions when she left the prison. Surely two hundred dollars would be adequate to get her from here to Houston.
Moving quietly, she eased toward the door. Once she reached it she had to carefully remove the security chain and then pray he wouldn’t hear the knob turn.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Clare froze. Think! She needed an excuse. “I thought I would go out and get us some breakfast.” She pasted a smile on her face and turned around. Her lips dragged into a frown. He held that awful gun aimed right at her.
“Is that right?” He threw back the covers and sat up. “Is that why you’re carrying that stuff?”
Fear pumped through her veins. “I was…was going to put them in the car so I wouldn’t forget about them. They’re all I have.”
He snatched the keys up from the bedside table. “Really? How did you plan to unlock the car? I keep it locked, you know.”
“I forgot. Silly me.” She pushed her smile back into place. “Would you like some breakfast?” His T-shirt was bloody. The wound was bleeding again.
“Sit down over there.” He waved the gun toward the chair.
Her body trembling so much she wasn’t sure she would be able to walk, she pointed herself in the direction of the chair and moved toward it. “I’m very hungry this morning.” Please, please let him believe her.
He got up and started toward the bathroom.
If he went into the bathroom she could still get away without him catching her.
He stopped at the console where the broken television sat and reached down.
Her heart lurched wildly as he picked up the paper sack she’d written the note on.
The seconds ticking past screamed in her ears. Finally, he turned around slowly and aimed the gun at her once more. “Love you, too, Mommy.”
Chapter Seventeen
Bay Point, 9:30 a.m.
Victoria sat down on the chair facing the sofa. Her husband was the most stubborn man she had ever met. He absolutely would not listen to reason.
“We have to come to some sort of agreement, Lucas,” she argued yet again. “I will not have you taking these kinds of risks anymore. It’s far too dangerous.”
It pained her to look at the awful bandage on his forehead and the walking cast on his good leg. Dear God, what else did it take for him to see that they were too old for this business? Enough was enough. The Colby Agency was in good hands. Let the next generation take the reins.
Lucas closed the novel he’d been reading and set it aside. He removed the eyeglasses that he never allowed anyone save Victoria to see and put them aside, as well. “We can come to an agreement right now but it would be a wasted effort.”
“You’re wrong this time, Lucas.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin in defiance of the little voice his words awakened. “I will not change my mind. We are officially retiring. No more cases. None.”
“And what will you do the next time you receive a letter from a desperate client? Or a call from someone in need?”
The man knew her too well. “I won’t be receiving any letters or calls because no one, outside of our family and Simon and Ian, will know this address or this number.” She intended to do this thing this time. It was well past time they stopped kidding themselves. They should be traveling and enjoying life, not working cases that put them in the line of fire.
He made a harrumphing sound. “All right. Where are we off to first? A cruise? A trip to Europe? Name the place and we’ll go. Just leave all the business cares behind and fly off into the sunset.”
“We’ll need to wait until you’re fully recovered first. Then we’ll make a list of all the places we’ve always wanted to visit. We’ll prioritize them and start checking off destinations.” She smiled, feeling good about making this decision once and for all.
“In the meantime I suppose we can oversee all that redecorating you want to do.”
That he made the task sound less than palatable grated on her nerves. Did he truly not want to retire? Had that knock on the head rattled him to the point that he was confused? They’d had this conversation months ago and he’d been all for retirement.
“Don’t make it sound like such a dreaded chore. Do you not want to redecorate?” It wasn’t absolutely necessary. If he was opposed, that was certainly all right with her.
He patted the sofa next to him. “Come over here and sit by me, my love.”
With a dramatic display of reluctance she did as he asked. Once she was seated he put his arm around her and hugged her close. “Victoria, I love you more than you can possibly fathom. As I know you love me.”
She rested her head on his strong shoulder. “Then why won’t you see reason on this? We’ve had a wonderful three decades. It’s time to move on to that next stage in our lives, like normal people do.”
He laughed, the sound rumbling up from his chest. “My dear, we have never been and we will never be normal. Surely you recognize that. There are people who rescue and there are those who get rescued. We’re the rescuers. The world needs us.”
“We need us.” She rose up and looked him in the eye. “I need you.”
“Now we get to the true heart of the matter. You’re afraid. Not for yourself, but for me.”
It was true. She couldn’t deny it. “Yes. I want us to take the time we never seemed to have in the past and enjoy each other. We discussed this all before and you agreed that it was the best decision.”
“And then you answered Rafe Barker’s call to come see him in prison and you were bombarded and harassed by protesters and reporters. It did little good for me to agree if you aren’t going to abide by that mutual agreement.”
The situation cleared for her. This wasn’t about him having second thoughts. This was about him being worried about her.
“I’m finished with that case,” Victoria proclaimed. “Simon and his staff have it under control. There is nothing else I can do. I’m done, Lucas. I want to begin plans for our first trip.”
Her desperation was showing and that was never attractive. The memory of hearing that he had been found in that ravine, half-dead, still haunted her. She couldn’t face the possibility of another call like that.
“Very well. You’ve convinced me.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “What city is at the top of your list, Victoria? Where in the world would you go first?”
The telephone rang and she sighed. “Hold that thought.” Satisfied that she and Lucas were on the same page now, she went in search of the house phone. She checked the screen. The office.
“Hello, Simon, how are you this morning?” This would be as good a time as any to let him know that she was off the case.
“Victoria, we have a situation.”
The seriousness of his tone warned that it was not a good situation. “What’s going on?” From the corner of her eye she saw Lucas’s eyebrows rear up.
“It’s Clare Barker. She just called here and she wants a meeting with you. Today, Victoria. She wants to meet with you today. She says she’s ready to give you the whole story on what really happened twenty-two years ago. But she will only give it to you and her daughters. She will not negotiate those conditions.”
The certainty that she was finished with this case, that Simon and the others had everything under control, vanished. There was no other option.
“Tell her I’ll be there.”
Chapter Eighteen
Barker Farm, Granger, 3:30 p.m.
Olivia sat perfectly still for a long moment after Russ parked the SUV. The others were already here. The meeting with Clare wasn’t until four o’clock, but Victoria Colby-Camp wanted time for the introductions and for preparation.
Russ, along with the other two Colby investigators who had been protecting the Barker offspring, would have to leave before that time. Part of the condit
ions of the meet was that all three bodyguards were to stay clear of the old farmhouse.
“You holding up okay?”
Olivia turned to Russ. “It helps that you’re here.” Just the sound of his voice made her feel safe and strong.
“You know we have backup in position already. Two of my colleagues, including Simon Ruhl, are in the house along with two of Detective Whitt’s men. There’s a whole army of cops in the woods. They’ve been there for hours just in case Weeden has been watching this afternoon.”
“Clare said she would be alone.”
“She won’t be alone. She may appear alone, but he’ll be here somewhere. You can count on it.”
Olivia resisted the urge to twist in her seat to scan the area. She tried to steady herself. Her entire being seemed to quake with uncertainty. “On some level I’ve wanted this reunion of sorts since the moment I learned I was adopted. But it’s a big risk to all of us, isn’t it?”
“It is. We don’t know what either or both have planned but we’re assuming the worst.”
“I guess I’ll see you later, then.” Regret washed over her at the idea that this might be the last time she saw him. If she died today—or if he did—they would never know what might have been. For that she was immensely sorry. She had called her parents and apologized for blaming them in any way for trying to protect her from the past. It didn’t excuse what she had done or make up for it but at least the air between them had been cleared.
Russ nodded. “I’ll be waiting.”
Somehow her lips stretched into a smile. Maybe it was the certainty in his eyes and his voice. He had no intention of losing her to Weeden or Clare or anyone else. Her heart filled to overflowing.
“I’m holding you to that promise, cowboy.”
He leaned across the console and kissed her. Not a demanding kiss, just a simple, sweet, more-to-come kind of kiss. When he drew back she had to go. Another second and she’d never be able to walk away from him.