Once Pined

by Blake Pierce

  Riley chuckled sadly and shook her head.

  “No, this is new—and different.”

  Riley and April looked at each other for a few seconds.

  “It was just some stupid yogurt,” April said. “I shouldn’t have yelled at her about it.”

  “Maybe not,” Riley said. “But she’s got to learn to live with us. And we’ve all got to learn how to deal with her.”

  Riley looked around at April’s room, which was surprisingly neat and orderly. Maybe Gabriela had helped with that, but April must have been doing her share.

  “Just tell me that you’re not getting into any trouble,” Riley said.

  April laughed.

  “Not unless doing my homework and getting good grades and not having a boyfriend and hanging out with Crystal is trouble.”

  Riley chuckled.

  “That’s what I want to hear. How is Crystal?”

  “She’s fine. She says her dad asks about you a lot.”

  Riley remembered that text message she had gotten from Blaine a couple of days ago.

  “Hope all is going well. When do you think you’ll be getting back? I’ll make dinner.”

  She hadn’t answered it. Perhaps it had been rude of her, but she just hadn’t felt like it. Besides, a family dinner at Blaine’s restaurant would probably have to include Ryan now. Surely that would be awkward.

  Riley said, “Well, I guess you can tell Crystal to tell her dad … I’m fine.”

  April looked at her with a quizzical smile.

  “You’re still mad at him, aren’t you? About moving away, I mean.”

  Riley was surprised. She hadn’t realized her feelings were so transparent.

  “I’m not mad at him,” she said, not sure that she was being truthful. “But I’m disappointed, I guess. I thought he’d still be around.”

  “Well, I’m kind of mad at him,” April said. “I mean, moving away like that, on account of a silly little thing like getting beaten up by a psychopath right here in our house.”

  It was a joke, of course, but Riley didn’t laugh. It cut too close to home. Riley worried that her own dangerous life was toxic to anyone and everyone she loved and cared about. She often wondered if she had any right to a family and to anything like a normal life.

  “Anyway,” April added, “I think you’re better off with Dad. You are getting back together with Dad, aren’t you?”

  Riley let out a burst of startled laughter.

  “Don’t be nosy,” she said.

  “Hey, it’s my family too.”

  Riley and April sat looking at each other for a moment.

  “I don’t know, April. Let’s just give things some time.”

  Riley turned her head and looked toward Jilly’s room. She wondered if maybe she should knock on her door again and see if she was OK. But no, it didn’t seem like a good idea. If Jilly was ever going to feel at home here, she was going to have to be allowed some privacy.

  April asked, “Are we going to adopt Jilly?”

  Riley looked at April and saw that her expression was worried. Did April feel threatened by the possibility of having a younger sibling in her life?

  “I don’t know yet, April.”

  April’s eyes widened.

  “Mom, we’ve got to adopt her! We’re all she’s got now! We can’t send her back to her old life. She’s told me such horrible things, and—”

  April stopped short, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have said. Riley felt oddly pleased. It seemed that Jilly had been confiding in April, like a real sister would. And that was a good thing, even if it meant that the two girls had secrets that Riley couldn’t know.

  “I worry, April. And I’m not sure it’s fair. I’m gone a lot of the time, and I know that Jilly’s a lot of responsibility for you, too.”

  “I’m OK with it. Really.”

  Riley gazed at April in quiet amazement. Not long ago, April had been impossible to deal with. She had gotten involved with a vicious punk who had drugged her up and tried to turn her into a sex slave. She’d grown up so much in such a short time.

  Thank God, Riley thought.

  “We’ll see, April,” Riley said, stroking her daughter’s hair. “It’s going to take some time. Anyway, it’s late, and I’m sure you’ve got homework to do.”

  “I guess,” April said with a make-believe teenage whine.

  “Goodnight. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Riley left April’s room and went back downstairs.

  *

  A short time later, the house was quiet and peaceful. Riley and Ryan were sitting in the living room having a drink together. They didn’t say much for a little while. Riley appreciated the quiet, and she sensed that Ryan did as well. After all, his day hadn’t been a whole lot easier than hers.

  “How did things go in Seattle?” Ryan finally asked.

  Riley sighed. She hadn’t thought much about the case since she’d been home. “The case is closed,” she said.

  Ryan tilted his head and looked at her curiously.

  “You don’t sound very convinced.”

  Riley was surprised that Ryan had picked up on her misgivings.

  He knows me better than I realize, she thought.

  “No, I’m not,” she said. “But it’s not up to me.”

  She took a long sip from her drink.

  “How are you feeling about this thing with Jilly?” Riley asked.

  Ryan thought for a moment.

  “Scared,” he said. “But kind of—well, exhilarated, I guess.”

  He looked into Riley’s eyes.

  “I’ve screwed up a lot over the years, and I’m sorry. And I feel like I’m getting a second chance. I’m exhilarated … and I’m grateful.”

  Riley smiled.

  “April thinks we should adopt her,” she said.

  Ryan threw back his head and laughed.

  “Well, I guess it’s decided, then.”

  Riley laughed too, then said, “Let’s take things a few steps at a time.”

  “Yes, let’s.”

  Another silence fell, and this time it seemed to be full of all kinds of unasked and unanswered questions. Life was changing so much and so fast. Riley didn’t know what to do next, and she knew that Ryan felt the same way.

  Finally, he said, “I’ve been staying in your room since you went to Seattle, and I’ve got a few things up there. I’ll go get them. It’s about time for me to go home.”

  Riley felt a pang of sadness at his words. But she didn’t argue.

  Yes, that’s best, she thought.

  Ryan got up and walked toward the stairs. Without quite knowing why, Riley followed him. Then she stood watching him in the bedroom as he gathered his things together.

  “Thank you for being here through all this,” she said, her voice catching with emotion.

  He looked up from his belongings and smiled. Then he walked over to her and hugged her.

  Riley felt as if she were melting as a world of worries and anxieties slipped away. She’d forgotten what it was like to feel this way. When she felt him start to draw out of their embrace, she held him tighter and put her head on his shoulder. Her body was warming with an old, familiar passion.

  Riley felt tingles of pleasure as he stroked her back with his fingers. She slid her hand up under his pullover shirt. When she touched his bare skin, familiar electricity shot through her body.

  She felt herself smile. Ryan was definitely not going home tonight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  When Riley woke up the next morning, she groggily became aware that something was different from her usual rising time. She wasn’t alone in bed.

  She rolled over and saw Ryan’s naked back as he slept beside her.

  She smiled at the pleasant memory of what had happened last night.

  It was enough to make her forget all that had gone wrong in Seattle. Well, not forget it, maybe, but enough to make her feel quite a bit better.r />
  She got out of bed and put on her robe. As she walked downstairs, she heard the clatter of someone making breakfast in the kitchen.

  Oh, dear, she thought.

  She’d almost forgotten that there were three other people in the house. And pretty soon, all of them were going to know that Ryan had spent the night with her. The thought made her blush.

  I guess I’ll have some explaining to do, she thought.

  When Riley got to the bottom of the stairs, she heard singing and whistling coming from the kitchen. She went into the kitchen and found April and Gabriela fixing breakfast together. Gabriela was singing a song in Spanish and April was whistling along.

  They both looked at Riley with broad smiles.

  “Well,” Riley said, “the two of you look very happy.”

  Gabriela’s smile widened.

  “Y tú también,” she said.

  April giggled.

  “That means you do too,” April said.

  “I know what it means,” Riley said.

  They know! she realized.

  But how? Riley remembered how passionate things had gotten with Ryan last night.

  Had everyone in the house heard what was going on?

  Riley’s blush deepened considerably.

  Seeming to sense Riley’s embarrassment, April said, “We saw Daddy’s car out front.”

  Riley breathed a sigh of relief.

  At that moment, Jilly came bounding into the kitchen.

  “Hey, I just ran into Ryan upstairs,” she said.

  Then looking at Riley, she added with a mischievous grin, “Way to go!”

  Riley blushed all over again.

  Well, at least it seems to be OK with everybody, she thought.

  Her cell phone buzzed in her bathrobe pocket. She saw that the call was from Bill. She stepped out of the kitchen and answered it.

  Bill’s voice sounded worried.

  “Riley. How is everything there?”

  Riley gasped slightly. She realized that she hadn’t called Bill last night to tell him that Jilly was home safe and sound.

  “Oh, Bill, I’m sorry, I should have let you know. She’s OK. She’s home. I’ll tell you what happened later.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. So I take it you’ll be able to make it to that meeting with Meredith this morning.”

  “Absolutely.”

  A brief silence fell.

  Then Bill said, “Riley, I think this Seattle thing is working out for the best. Our coming back, I mean. We made a good arrest, and Solange Landis is probably guilty. If not … well, it’s a local thing and we should stay out of it.”

  There was something forced in Bill’s voice. Riley knew that tone. Bill sounded like that when he was trying to talk himself into something without quite succeeding.

  He doesn’t believe that for a second, Riley thought.

  She also knew that his conscience was nagging him about it. Still, there was nothing they could do about it now. With some luck, Meredith would assign them to a new case this morning and they could leave Seattle behind them and forget all about it.

  “I’ll see you in a little while,” Riley said.

  “Right.”

  They ended the call. Riley realized that Ryan had come downstairs while she’d been talking to Bill. There was a burst of delighted laughter and conversation as he joined the others in the kitchen. He was getting a hearty welcome from Gabriela, April, and Jilly.

  Riley smiled.

  Maybe Bill was right after all. Maybe things really were working out for the best.

  She went into the kitchen to join her family for breakfast.

  *

  After breakfast, Ryan left to drive the girls to school on his way to work. Gabriela went out to buy groceries. Riley got dressed and readied herself for her meeting with Bill and Meredith.

  Then she sat alone in the living room. She had a few minutes to spare before she had to leave. Try as she might to keep the case out of her mind, it started to nag at her again. She hated leaving things so unfinished.

  And she felt a growing doubt that Solange Landis was the serial poisoner.

  I could be wrong, she told herself. Maybe she’s guilty.

  Besides, she reminded herself, there’s nothing you can do.

  She was all the way across the country now, under orders to stay away from Seattle. She couldn’t affect the outcome of the investigation one way or the other.

  Worst of all, Riley felt alone with her questions. Even Bill was trying to put the case behind him. Was there anybody in the world she could talk to right now?

  She felt something pulling at her inside—something dark, something she knew she should put out of her mind.

  Even so, she walked up the stairs into her bedroom. She took a box down from a closet shelf and opened it. Inside was a heavy letter-sized envelope with her name written on it.

  She shivered as she took the envelope out of the box.

  Put it back, she tried to tell herself. Better yet, throw it away.

  But she knew she couldn’t do that.

  The envelope was heavy and bulky. And of course, Riley knew exactly what was inside. She’d opened it right away after it had been thrown against her front door not long ago.

  And now she opened it again.

  It contained a gold bracelet chain folded in a piece of paper. She unfolded the paper and read the message again.

  Just a little gift in honor of our new partnership. It’s been a pleasure working together.

  I bought another bracelet that matches this one.

  I’m going to wear mine all the time.

  Will you wear yours?

  Both the letter and the chain were from Shane Hatcher.

  And no, she hadn’t worn it. She hadn’t even shown it to anyone else.

  But she hadn’t thrown it away either.

  “Shane the Chain,” she murmured aloud, remembering his nickname.

  The bracelet was a grim reminder of Hatcher’s fascination with chains of all kinds.

  He was obsessed with chains and the pain they could inflict. As soon as he’d escaped from prison, he’d tracked down a nemesis from his gangbanger days, beaten him to death with tire chains, and duct-taped his mangled body to a post in an abandoned warehouse.

  It was the last murder he had committed—and the last one Riley expected him to commit.

  But he was still at large, and in a disturbing sense he was still Riley’s responsibility.

  She looked at the bracelet closely. It was nicely wrought with a fancy clasp. She figured it was an expensive piece—the kind of thing sold at high-end department stores and jewelry shops.

  Turning it over in her hands, she saw something she hadn’t noticed before.

  Something seemed to be engraved in tiny letters on one of the links.

  She hurried to a drawer and took out a magnifying glass. She peered through the lens at the tiny engraved writing. She wrote it down on a piece of paper. Then she studied it closely.

  “face8ecaf”

  What did it mean?

  Because it had to mean something.

  After all, Hatcher typically communicated with her in riddles. Sometimes it was hard to figure out the answers to those riddles. But she had a feeling that this one would be easy. Hatcher really wanted her to figure it out.

  For one thing, she had a hunch about what the “8” meant.

  It was a symbol.

  It represented a chain.

  And of course, the first four letters were a simple word “face.”

  And the last four letters—“ecaf”?

  “Face” spelled backwards, Riley realized.

  But what did that signify?

  Riley thought for a moment. The word followed by the reversed letters suggested a mirror.

  She felt a chill at the thought.

  For as long as she’d known Hatcher, she’d bitterly told him that she wasn’t like him, that they had nothing in common. He’d always smiled as if he knew bette
r. And deep down, Riley also suspected the same.

  Sometimes looking into Hatcher’s face was like looking into a mirror—a mirror that displayed her darkest self, her own cruelest demons. And right now, she felt that darkness rising inside of her …

  The darkness she’d known when she’d caved in a killer’s face with a rock.

  The darkness she’d known when she’d been tempted to hack another killer limb from limb with a butcher knife.

  The darkness she’d known when she’d tracked down the young man who had drugged April, smashed his hand with a baseball bat, then further crushed that hand under her heel until he screamed for mercy.

  Of all the people Riley had ever known, only Hatcher fully understood the darkness that lurked within her.

  Her hand shook as she held the bracelet.

  No, she told herself.

  Put it away.

  Throw it away.

  But she couldn’t.

  And now she knew the answer to the riddle.

  “Face to face,” she murmured aloud. “That’s what he wants.”

  She opened up her laptop and logged on to her chat service.

  She typed in the cryptic characters and waited, holding her breath.

  Just a few quick seconds passed.

  And then there he was, his dark visage facing hers—Shane Hatcher.

  She exhaled sharply and couldn’t breathe for a moment.

  Hatcher was sitting in front of a gray background that offered no hint of his location. His intense dusky features looked amused as he gazed at her over the tops of his reading glasses.

  It was exactly as if he’d been expecting Riley’s call that very moment.

  And maybe he was, Riley thought, trying to regain her breath.

  Maybe he knows me exactly that well.

  “It’s good to see you, Riley,” he said, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. “We’ve got some catching up to do.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  Riley was speechless. Hatcher appeared to be relishing her astonishment.

  “Are you tracing this call?” he asked.

  “I might be.”

  He let out a sardonic growl of laughter.

  “I know you’re not,” he said.

  Riley felt her resistance to him wither. There was no point in trying to persuade him otherwise. He knew her too well. She simply couldn’t lie to him.