by Jenn Vakey
“Do you know who she got that idea from?” she asked, trying to appear both casual and amused. “Elise was on the phone with Ben ten minutes before she came rushing in the office with her ‘vision’ about the woods. She was telling him that she would bet money that he would try to take her out through the woods if the roadblocks didn’t come down. When she saw Young rushing out past her, she called me to tell me she might be on the way here.”
“Then why did you go along with it?” he asked. “Was it just because it was your sister’s idea?”
“No,” she said. “She and Ben were just shooting ideas back and forth. I knew that if we didn’t check it out and she was miraculously right, the department would face major backlash. I honestly didn’t think for a second that we would catch him trying to get her out of town through the woods. I did consider the possibility that he was camping out there with her, though.”
He didn’t seem to know whether to be stunned or impressed. She thought for a moment that he might question it further, and was relieved when he didn’t.
“Have there been any developments with the other case?” she asked. “Were we able to identify either of our Jane Does?”
“Not yet,” Wilcome replied. “We’ve had several calls come in about other possible victims, though. LaShad and Donovan are looking into them while Tylers and Steele search for possible locations of where our guy could be holding them.”
Rilynne nodded disappointedly. She was hoping that they would have at least been able to identify the girls. With any luck, one of the neighboring counties would get back with something useful.
“Now, I trust your questions have been sufficiently answered,” Wilcome said. “Go home. That’s an order. I don’t want to see you back in here until you’re either married or have another date set.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yes sir,” she said. “I will keep you apprised.”
Rilynne stepped back out of the station and let the sun warm her face. The effects were short lived, though, as she started running down the sidewalk. The chilled November air bit at her nose as she went and burned the back of her throat with every breath. It felt good, though. It had been over a week since her last run. She had almost forgotten just how relaxing it was.
The events of the last few days had almost completely been pushed out of her mind by the time she reached her block. She might have actually been successful in doing so had she not run right past Lori’s house.
“Where have you been?” Ben called out when she pushed her front door open moments later.
After kicking off her shoes, she followed the smells coming from the kitchen. He was just turning off the stove and assembling the bacon, egg, and cheese tacos.
“Those smell fantastic,” she said. She grabbed her plate and followed him into the dining room. “I went for a run. I stopped by the station on the way. After filling in all of the blanks on the case, Wilcome ordered me to stay out of the office until we are either married or have set another date.”
“Don’t we have to set a date in order to get married?” Ben asked before he took a bite. As he did, juices ran from the end of the taco and splattered the plate. “It’s not like this is Las Vegas where we can just be driving down the street and decide to swing into a drive thru chapel.”
“What, it isn’t your lifelong dream to get married without even having to get out of the car?” she chortled.
He raised a bemused eyebrow before taking another bite.
“We really do need to set a new date,” she said. “That way our out of town guests can make additional arrangements.”
He nodded and walked down the hall toward the bedroom. After a few moments, he returned with his tablet.
“These are the only things I have scheduled,” he said as he pulled up his calendar and spun it around for her to see.
After two hours and several phone calls, they finally agreed on a new date. Though Rilynne didn’t want to have to wait another two months, she knew it would be too much to ask of their guests to make the trip again any sooner than that.
They spent an additional two hours calling both vendors and guests to inform everyone of the change. By the time they finished, Rilynne felt like she needed a nap. Ben’s idea was equally appealing, though, as he grabbed a few beers and the puppy and retreated to the back yard. After dropping Marti down in the grass, he took his usual spot on the porch swing.
“So now that this crazy mess is over, maybe it's time we talk about everything,” Ben said. He slid over to make room as she took the beer he held out for her and sat.
Rilynne grinned and took a sip before politely saying, “We don't have to if you aren't ready,” she said. She fought hard to keep the eagerness from her expression. Though the fact that he had money wasn't important, she found the list of questions she had growing longer by the day. After taking another drink, she looked down at the bottle to avoid his gaze. She knew if she met his eye that he would surely see right through her.
“Well, the cat's already out of the bag,” he chuckled. “Besides, knowing you, there are a dozen questions floating around that clever little head of yours.” When she didn't deny it, he grinned and shook his head. “So...” He didn't seem to know where to start.
Neither did Rilynne, so she just sat in silence. His knuckles pulled up to his chin. For the first time in a long time, he resembled the nervous, uneasy man he had been when they first met. After several long minutes, he finally seemed ready to speak.
“My parents left me a little bit of money,” he started. It was clear that it wasn't a conversation he was used to having. “Between their assets and the life insurance, I was... let's just say comfortable. Then when I turned twenty-five, I had access to the trust fund my grandparents set up for me. After Justin died, I was also left with control of all of his assets.”
“Which left you with enough money to cover a three million dollar ransom?” she asked. “So, how much are we talking?” She felt a little rude for asking, but her curiosity overpowered her ill feelings.
A guilty smirk crept across his face.
“So more than just a few million…” Her head was spinning, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Then she thought back to a comment Matthews made the year before. Modest, given his circumstances.
“A bit,” he said simply.
She sat back on the swing, staring blankly out at the yard. It didn't seem real. Part of her expected a guy with a cheesy smile to jump out from around the corner and tell her it was a practical joke and she was on television. “So that's why you didn't invite me to the Lewis' fundraiser,” she pondered aloud. He nodded. She thought about it for another moment and laughed. “Nancy would be furious if she knew you had money on top of being incredibly attractive.”
Ben groaned and ran his hands over his face.
“She's relentless,” he said. “I ran into her when I went to the manor. You should have seen her.”
“Still throwing herself at you?” she asked. Ben chuckled and nodded. “Does she know we're getting married?”
“You remember how I told you I ran into her while shopping about six months ago?” She nodded. “Well I was at the jewelry store buying that.” He motioned to the ring on her left hand.
Rilynne glanced down at it and grinned. “That doesn't mean anything. She tends to block out everything going on around her when her mind's on something,” she said. “When she was trying to get your attention during the Price investigation, she didn't even notice that you were pulling the boards off the stairs. So, what did she say to you?”
He shook his head and leaned back. After letting out a low groan, he said, “More of the usual. She tried to imply again that you were involved in some illicit affair with the chauffeur.”
“What did you say?” she asked curiously. She couldn’t help but smile.
“Nothing,” he said. “Jared walked out and I left with him. I was more concerned with getting Kim back than anything she had to say. Besides, I'm kind of lo
oking forward to seeing her face when she sees us show up for dinner.”
She gave him a bemused look.
“I told him we would go over for dinner after everything settled back down,” he explained. “Could you imagine how she'll react when we arrive together?”
Rilynne chuckled. “And engaged to top it off. Now I'm glad you waited. I would hate to miss that.” As she thought about it, though, she was hit with a sudden twinge of guilt. While she was working undercover in the Lewis' manor, she had become close with Danny, the chauffeur. When he found out it had all been an act, he was understandably hurt. While she was sure Nancy would have informed him immediately of her relationship with Ben, it still wasn't an encounter she was looking forward to.
“Well, back to the subject at hand,” she said. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
Ben grinned and shrugged playfully. He finally seemed to have relaxed. “I'm sure it would have eventually come up. Like if we ever had to go on the run again and you wondered how we were able to actually afford to buy a deserted island.”
“Or when it came time to buy a house and they requested our financial information. Speaking of, why do you rent an apartment if you could easily afford a house?”
He struggled to keep the smile off of his face as he took another swig from his bottle. “Technically, I don't rent the apartment,” he said. “I actually own the building.”
“You what?” she exclaimed. He grinned. “But there are several officers living there. My sister lives there. How has it not gotten around that you own the building?”
“None of my properties are actually under my name,” he said. He spoke so casually that she would have thought they were discussing nothing more than where to go for dinner. “Everything is listed under my LLC. Believe it or not, I don't actually like people to know I'm well off. People treat you different when they know you have money.”
“That's what Jared Lewis said,” she recalled.
He slid his arm around her and kicked the swing into motion. “Yeah, he and I were actually talking about it on our way to San Antonio,” he said.
“So he knows?” she asked. The moment she did, she knew it was a silly question. “You were on the list for the fundraiser. So, you have money and properties,” she thought aloud. Suddenly, something else hit her and she grinned. “It was you who gave the money to Derek Hartley.”
“What, are you a detective or something?” he chuckled. “Yes, I gave him the money. In a way, I felt responsible for what happened to him. Not only should I have put two and two together long before he was taken, my brother was the man he had been butchered to look like. After I heard about his attempts to sue the department, I knew I needed to do something. Money will never make up for what he’s lost, but it’s a start.”
Rilynne looked up and stared deeply into his eyes. Never had she felt so lucky. She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him toward her. When their lips met, she felt the world disappear around them. Nothing else mattered.
“You should have told me when we were making the wedding plans,” she said after they drew apart. She let her head rest against his arm as the cool breeze surrounded them. “That way we could have had a pre-nup drawn up. I'm sure the thought must have crossed your mind. With that much money, you should make sure you’re protected.”
He grinned at her almost in an amused sort of way and kissed her forehead. “Why, are you planning on leaving me and taking all of my money?”
“Well, now that I know you have some…”
He pushed her with his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “No,” he said. “I love you and want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you. Besides, my money doesn't really mean that much to me. If you decided to leave me and take half of everything I have, I would only be upset about losing you.”
Rilynne felt the blood rushing to her cheeks. Ben noticed it and grinned.
“Are you sure?” she asked timidly, several minutes later.
He nodded without hesitation.
Rilynne turned back to the puppy and avoided his gaze. “You still lied to me,” she said playfully.
“Well, you lied to me,” he countered.
She grinned and turned back toward him. “Did I?”
“More so than I did,” he chuckled. “I just avoided bringing it up. You had to make up stories to explain yours away. Although, if memory serves, you were pretty good at avoiding answering questions. Like the first day we met, for instance.”
“You remember a conversation from the first day we met?” she asked.
“Are you kidding?” he laughed. “Our stunningly beautiful new detective was standing alone in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by body parts. How could I ever forget that?”
Chapter Eighteen
“You have no idea how lucky you are,” Amber said, straightening the back of Rilynne’s dress. “I thought you were making a mistake when you said January. I never would have thought you’d luck out and it would be in the seventies.”
“That’s the joys of living in Texas, Mom,” Rilynne chuckled. “Just wait, it will probably be freezing by this time next week.”
She turned and looked into the mirror stretching out in front of them and stared down at the long, white dress wrapped around her. She slid her hands gently down it. The silky material was so soft against her fingers that it felt almost unreal.
“You look beautiful, sweetheart,” Amber said. “You look even more amazing than I could have ever imagined. How do you feel?”
Rilynne turned around to face her, the dress swaying with a soft crinkle as she moved.
“Happy,” she said softly. “Everything is the same. The dress, my hair; this is exactly how it happened.”
Amber looked up at her with a puzzled expression that made Rilynne’s smile only grow. Rilynne turned back around to face the mirror. The dress was exactly the one she had always pictured herself wearing. Her loose curls had been pulled up off of her shoulders, leaving only the ones that framed her face.
“I saw this,” she said. “I saw all of it. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but it was this moment.”
“When?” Amber asked as she reached up and adjusted the back one last time before looking in the mirror at her daughter.
“Ben and I went hiking when we were in Colorado and I fell and hit my head,” she said as she thought back. “While I was unconscious, this is what I saw.” Even thinking about it made her heart jump. She and Ben hadn’t even gotten through their first date at that point. They hadn’t even had their first kiss.
“That was a year ago,” Amber said, not trying to hide her astonishment. “You saw something a full year before it happened?”
“It’s Ben,” Rilynne smiled. She knew it was true without having to think it over. “When I see ahead, it’s always about Ben.”
* * *
“We’re supposed to be on our way to the airport for our honeymoon,” Rilynne said as she threw him an amused glance. “I don’t recall seeing detours on the itinerary.”
“It won’t take long,” he said.
“What, felt like taking a walk down memory lane?” she chuckled. Before he could respond, the large house came into view. “Wow,” she said. “It looks almost finished.”
When they had been to the house seven months before, it wasn’t even close to complete. Half of the walls inside hadn’t been built and the exterior stood bare.
“It’s beautiful,” she said as they stopped in front of it. “I had wondered what they were going to do with the exterior. White stone was definitely the perfect choice. It’s…stunning.”
She paused for a moment until Ben pushed his door open before doing the same, not knowing if he intended to actually get out.
“Care to see the inside?” he asked.
Rilynne looked up and down the deserted driveway before turning back toward him, eyeing him as if he were crazy. He grinned.
“We’re not on the run anymore,” she said. “We can’t
just pick locks and break into a house.”
“We don’t need to,” he said. He chuckled at her bemusement. She was just about to ask him what he meant when he held something up. “We have the key.”
Before Rilynne could even start to make sense of what he was saying, he took her by the hand and led her to the front door. With one last smile, he slid the key in and pushed the door open.
Afraid to hazard a guess as to why they were there for fear of being wrong, she just stared at him as they walked in. As she looked around the finished house, though, she suddenly found her mind filled with entirely different questions.
Like the first time she walked into the house, she found it incredibly familiar. It wasn’t until she made it through the first floor and walked into the master bedroom that she realized what it was.
She stared at the spiral staircase in the corner of the room for several long seconds before she turned to face Ben. “But how…” she started, but couldn’t find the words to finish. Ben’s eyes were on her face, watching with wonder as each emotion she felt showed. It had been years since she looked over the plans she had drawn up, so it wasn’t entirely surprising that she hadn’t recognized it earlier. It was the strange layout of the master bedroom that sparked it for her.
“You know having to climb up that staircase to get to the master bathroom when you get old is going to be a hellish task,” Ben said.
She stared at him in disbelief for several seconds before responding. “I know, but when that happens, we can just put in a little elevator. It will be entirely worth it just to have the private loft area up there with it.”
He took her by the hand as they climbed up to the second floor to look around.
“Anything you don’t like can be changed,” he said as they stepped into each of the three upstairs bedrooms. “Floor plans don’t really cover flooring or fixtures. I wanted it to be completely done, though, so I went with my gut.”
“They’re perfect,” she said without hesitation. “Everything’s… How did you do this? How did you even…?”