The Truth About Family

by Kimberly Van Meter

  “Watch it,” she growled. “I’m the one with the gun, remember?”

  Colin didn’t need the reminder. Where the hell was that backup? Sliding against the wall he froze as the worn floorboard groaned in protest, but Missy was too wrapped up in her conversation with Erin to notice. He breathed a sigh of relief and strained to listen.

  “When he died, my momma blamed Caroline, said if it weren’t for that bitch he’d still be around. All my life I listened to my momma pine for the man that was taken from her and when she died I promised payback.”

  “You weren’t trying to kill Charlie that night?” Erin’s voice was so faint Colin almost didn’t catch it. Missy’s laughter was her answer.

  “That old drunk?” Missy snorted. “No, but I knew they’d be together on account of his AA meetings. Caroline always rode with him into town. All it took was a slice to the brake line and the icy roads did the rest. Fitting, don’t you think? My daddy died on the same stretch of road almost thirty years ago. It’s almost damned poetic, if you ask me.”

  Clearly Missy didn’t know the whole story or else Caroline wouldn’t have been the target.

  “Great story. What does this have to do with me?” Erin asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious? If you hadn’t gotten involved with Colin, things would’ve blown over and no one would’ve looked twice at the accident. Case closed.”

  “That’s not true,” Erin countered. “Colin was already suspicious. He’s a good cop. He would’ve pieced it together eventually whether I was here or not. What then? Were you going to kill him, too?”

  “Who knows? Accidents happen in the field all the time. Now, shut up. I’m through talking to you.”

  Colin tensed, sensing things were about to get ugly.

  “You should’ve stayed in San Francisco,” Missy said, the cocking of her gun rivaling the loud rush of blood in Colin’s ears. “Look on the bright side. Now you can finally meet your mother.”

  Colin couldn’t wait for backup. The moment was now. If he didn’t do something Erin was going to die.

  “Reznick!” Colin roared.

  “Barrett, is that you?” Missy called out. “C’mon, now. Don’t be unsociable. It doesn’t have to be this way. You’re a good cop. Come out now and I won’t blow your girlfriend’s head off.”

  “Colin, watch out, she’s nuts!” Erin shouted.

  Colin tightened his grip on his gun and inched forward along the wall. “You don’t want to do this, Reznick. Think about it.”

  “Shut up, Barrett. You don’t know jack about what I want.”

  “This isn’t her fight!” he shouted, sweat beading his forehead. “Let her go!”

  “Sorry. No can do.”

  He peered around the corner cautiously, ducking behind the wall before Missy spotted him. Erin was standing stock-still, her face pale but anger radiating from her normally cool eyes.

  “If it weren’t for McNulty trash I might have grown up with a father. Maybe I might have turned out better.”

  The last part was dropped as a joke, but Colin wasn’t laughing. She had nothing to lose at this point. Her career was ruined and she knew it.

  “You ought to thank your lucky stars Hank Walker was never in your life,” Colin said, hoping to either pique her interest or incense her enough to make a mistake. Backup would be arriving any second. Perhaps he could keep her talking long enough to stall for their arrival. He wasn’t disappointed.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked sharply.

  “From what I gather he was a mean S.O.B. He used to beat Caroline and the night he died—” he closed his eyes, wishing there was a different way to tell Erin of the events leading up to her mother’s death “—he brutally raped Rose McNulty.”

  Colin peeked around the corner just in time to catch Erin’s horrified expression. He closed his eyes but the image remained. Swearing under his breath, he focused on holding Missy’s attention.

  “You’re lying. My father was a good man.”

  Colin managed to snort despite the tight feeling in his throat. “Really? Cuz he doesn’t sound like a man up for Father of the Year to me.”

  Silence bounced back at him and he sensed he’d hit a sensitive spot. He pressed a little harder. “It’s just a guess but I’d say growing up without Hank Walker was a blessing. If you don’t believe me, just ask the chief. There’s no telling what the man was capable of.”

  “He was a rotten son of a bitch.”

  Startled, Colin peered around the corner and saw Roger with his gun drawn and three officers flanking him similarly armed. Never in his life had he been so happy to see another man in uniform. Colin came out from his hiding spot, sending a wordless communication to Erin that it was going to be okay.

  “Now, drop that gun!”

  For a tense, horrified moment Colin worried that, knowing she was busted, Missy would try to go out in a hail of gunfire. But just as Colin’s teeth threatened to shatter from the pressure he was exerting from his clenched jaw, she dropped the gun and raised her hands in surrender.

  As the other officers swarmed around Missy, clapping her in handcuffs, Erin seemed to lose the strength in her legs and sank to the chair behind her.

  Sparing a brief second to send an appreciative nod the chief’s way, he immediately went to Erin. Her eyes were wide and glazed, and Colin worried she was going into shock.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said, feeling helpless. “I didn’t want you to find out that way but I needed to distract her.” He searched her face. His voice broke as a fierce desire to protect her rolled through him. “She was going to kill you. I had to do something.”

  Without a word, she allowed him to gather her in his arms and Colin inhaled deeply as if he couldn’t get enough of the feel or smell of her. Seeing Erin with a gun to her chest, knowing she was seconds away from death, had rattled him, causing him to take a hard look at what he was feeling for her. It was scary but it frightened him more to think of watching her walk out of his life.

  Roger appeared beside Colin and cleared his throat. He laid a hand on Colin’s shoulder. “We’ll talk later,” he said, swiveling on his heel to leave. Suddenly pausing, Roger turned to give Colin a look full of respect. “No matter what, you’re a good cop, Colin Barrett.”

  Colin acknowledged the compliment with mixed emotions. They both knew sooner or later they’d have to deal with the issue of Hank Walker’s death. But for now, he wanted to focus on Erin.

  “On second thought, why don’t you take the day off,” Roger suggested, giving Colin a pointed look. “The rest can wait until tomorrow.”

  He wished it could wait a lifetime but Colin accepted the offer with a nod and pressed a kiss to Erin’s forehead. He didn’t think another day was going to make him feel better about what he had to do but he was willing to take it. Returning to Erin, he noticed she was trembling. “Are you all right?” he asked. She gave him a cynical look and he almost chuckled. Stupid question. “Let me rephrase that…are you going to be all right?”

  Erin pulled away. She stared out the window and watched as the marked units navigated the slushy driveway toward the highway until they disappeared. “Is it true? What you said to Missy?”

  Colin nodded grimly.

  An aggrieved frown creased her forehead as she looked at him with questions in her eyes. Colin grasped her hand tenderly, wishing he could soften the telling somehow.

  “I found a newspaper article in the archives at the library. It suggested Hank Walker didn’t die in a car accident as the police report said.” He drew a deep breath. “I confronted the chief about it and he told me what really happened that night.”

  Erin listened intently as Colin related what Roger had shared, including his and Charlie’s involvement with Hank’s death, and he held his breath as he awaited her reaction.

  “So, Missy doesn’t know what really happened to her father?”

  “No,” he answered, wishing he knew how to proceed. If he brought Roger and Charlie
up on charges for Hank’s murder, everyone would know.

  “Good.”

  Colin refrained from offering an opinion but his silence prompted another comment from Erin.

  “Whatever Hank Walker got, he deserved.”

  Erin’s expression gave him the chills. It was almost…vicious. The tug of war he was feeling inside must have shown on his face, for her tone became incredulous.

  “You don’t agree?”

  Now wasn’t the time to get into this particular discussion. He didn’t know where he stood with his feelings. A part of him understood the rage that had prompted two men to commit murder, but the other part was appalled justice had been sacrificed in the name of personal vengeance. The fact that he couldn’t come to a clear position on what to do about the chief made him bite back a frustrated oath. “Listen, it’s been a helluva day. Let’s just leave it be for now. Okay? We have plenty of time to pick apart the whys and hows later.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” she returned, surprising him with the cool quality to her voice. “It wasn’t your family he destroyed.”

  “I know how it feels to lose everything precious to you,” he countered. Erin conceded his point by offering a barely perceptible nod but the look in her eyes remained resolute. He tried not to pass judgment but he was having a hard enough time reconciling the fact that his own boss was guilty of covering up a crime, much less accepting that given the choice Erin would’ve probably helped kick the shit out of Hank Walker right along with them. Hell, in her current state of mind she probably would’ve thrown the first punch.

  Silence stretched between them until Butterscotch ambled over to Erin and nudged her with her nose, leaving a slightly wet spot against her jeans. Cracking a reluctant smile, Erin reached down and scratched between the dog’s ears. “So much for that killer instinct, huh?” she asked with a wry twist of her lips. “Guess I won’t be playing up your watchdog skills.”

  She met Colin’s gaze and the small smile she wore slowly faded. There was still a lot left unsaid between them. “Can we leave?”

  He nodded. “Just say the word.”

  Somehow her frozen lips formed a smile, and after calling Butterscotch to her side, walked out the door still unable to believe what had just happened both now and in the past.

  THE RIDE TO HIS HOUSE HAD BEEN silent but he could almost feel the turmoil that was surely knotting Erin’s insides. Her expression was that of a traveler lost in a foreign country with no passport or friends to call, and Colin desperately wanted to reach out, to let her know she wasn’t alone.

  He’d called ahead to ask his sister if Danni could stay the night so Erin could have a measure of privacy and Sara willingly agreed, despite the fact that the last time Danni was supposed to hang around she’d happily ditched Sara to hang out with her loser friends.

  Erin followed behind him and he quickly unlocked and opened the door for her.

  Once inside, he turned up the heat and headed toward the kitchen. “Erin, can I get you something to eat? You’ve got to be hungry by now.”

  Erin shook her head but Colin brought her a glass of orange juice just the same. “Here, drink this. It’s full of vitamins.”

  He was rewarded with a small smile but she took it. She headed for the sofa and sat down, the glass still in her hand, untouched. As if remembering, she slowly lifted it and took a sip. She nodded then put the glass down on the end table. “Where’s Danni?” she asked, her voice scratchy.

  “At my sister Sara’s house,” he answered, wishing she’d drink some more but knowing not to push it. “Her husband is stationed in Iraq, so she’s always happy for a little help with the baby.”

  Erin gave a slight nod then looked up at him. “I’m sorry for disrupting your life,” she said, her voice catching. “I never meant…”

  Unable to take another minute, Colin shushed her gently and pulled her into his arms. Somehow he knew she was talking about more than just what had happened with Caroline and it worried him. She hadn’t disrupted his life, she had enriched it. His mouth burned to tell her that somewhere along the way, he’d fallen in love with her but the knowledge she’d probably bolt made him keep his confession to himself. Instead he pressed an urgent kiss to the top of her head and held her tight.

  “It’s not fair,” Erin said, shaking her head. “My mom, Caroline…Charlie…such tragedy.”

  A shudder went through her body and Colin held her tighter. When Colin felt the shivers stop, he loosened his hold but didn’t let go. A few moments went by before she lifted her head to meet his stare. The loss reflecting back at him was more than he could stand. Tenderly, he cupped her chin and brought her lips to his for a soft kiss. Resting her head against his chest, she went on, “To think I’ve lived my entire life in the dark about what happened to my own family. Why didn’t Caroline tell me?”

  “I’m sure she was trying to protect you,” he answered, hearing the echo of the excuse he’d given to her about Danni. He pushed the uncomfortable comparison aside. “Caroline was that type of person, always thinking of others before herself.”

  Erin sniffed back impending tears. “She was, wasn’t she?” She laughed softly, though the moment was fleeting. “Damn it, Caroline. Why couldn’t you have been just a little less selfless? If I’d known…”

  “Nothing would’ve changed,” Colin countered quietly. When she pulled away and gave him a look of protest, he continued, “You needed to go. Even though I don’t believe in stuff like destiny, I have to believe you were meant to find your place somewhere else. To find yourself. You have an amazing talent, one you wouldn’t have fostered if you’d stayed here.” A talent that was bigger than this town could contain.

  The rest he left unsaid. It was selfish of him to want her to stay but he did. He wanted much more than she was offering. But at the very least he had this moment and he was going to take it. Pulling her to him, he took her mouth with all the fierce emotion twisting his insides and confusing his brain.

  He groaned as her tongue slipped into his mouth to twine with his own and he was lost to all reason. Cradling her bottom with his hands, he picked her up without breaking the kiss and strode into his bedroom.

  They fell onto the bed, their hands touching and stroking, while their mouths tasted and devoured, and soon both were burning to feel skin on skin. Their clothes were left in a discarded pile at the foot of the bed and Colin reveled in the perfect texture of her skin, the unique, intoxicating scent of her body.

  The urge to possess her was nearly equal to the ferocity of her passion to receive him. Pausing only long enough to grab a condom from his nightstand drawer, Colin delighted in her excited moan as he slipped inside, burying himself within her hot folds. Her breathing became shallow and her body stiffened, arching, and his release followed seconds later. His body exploding into a million pieces.

  Pulling from his last reserve of strength, he reluctantly rolled from Erin’s body to lie beside her with one arm thrown across her naked belly. His eyelids drooped and a fatigue unlike any he’d ever known dragged on his body. His last thought before dropping off to sleep was inadvertently mumbled against her shoulder. I love you.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ERIN AWOKE EARLY TO find herself curled around Colin’s body, momentarily content with the delicious and comforting feel of his solid warmth. The sound of his deep, rhythmic breathing told her he was still fast asleep. Closing her eyes briefly, she savored the stolen moment for as long as she dared before carefully sliding from the bed and quietly gathering her discarded clothing.

  Making love had been a temporary balm to the bone-wrenching pain spreading like a cancer through her body, but she knew reality would eventually awaken the beast curled inside, waiting to devour her soul. She gulped down a sob and jerked her clothes on. If she stayed another minute in Granite Hills, she’d lose her mind to the grief that at this very moment threatened to snap her in half. She had no choice but to return to San Francisco. She’d bury herself in work, she
reasoned, when something deep inside broke and wept at the thought of leaving Colin. “He’s better off without me,” she whispered to herself. But even as the words left her mouth she felt a part of her growing cold and brittle inside.

  Shaking her head, she mercilessly turned her mind to the issue of leaving and blocked all feelings that protested in response. There was much to do before she could leave this nightmare behind. First, she needed to make some phone calls.

  When Colin awoke an hour later, Erin had already given instructions to the hospital for Charlie’s care, and called Granite Hills’s only taxi service to pick her up.

  “Morning,” he said, his voice still husky from sleep. The sound threatened to coax a smile from her lips until she reminded herself of what was to come. “Want some coffee?” he asked.

  She checked her watch. The taxi should be here in about fifteen minutes. She probably had time for one cup. “That would be great,” she said politely.

  At her tone, Colin’s vision seemed to clear and all remnants of sleep disappeared. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

  His grim tone told her an answer wasn’t needed but she nodded anyway. She swallowed and waited for his response but he gave her none. Instead, he walked to the kitchen and began to prepare the coffee. The sound of fresh coffee beans grinding sounded altogether too comforting, almost homey, and Erin had to blink back the tears springing to her eyes. This was what she wanted. This felt like home.

  He took a seat opposite her. “Do you need a ride?” he asked, drawing her eyes to the bitter set of his jaw.

  She gave a small shake of her head, almost not trusting her voice not to waver when she replied. “I called a taxi.”

  He snorted and looked away. “I’d hardly call an old beat-up Buick a taxi. Why don’t you let me take you?”

  Because if I spend too much more time with you I won’t leave.

  Her heart contracted and she forced herself to say the exact opposite of what she felt. “Because I don’t want you to.” At the sudden hurt shining in his eyes, she quickly amended. “It’s not personal…. I just think it’s time for me to go.”