“Why is he a jerk?” she asked.
“Really? You really need to ask me that? After what I heard him say? He’s lucky I didn’t put him on a terrorist watch list and only froze his bank accounts.” Among his myriad of hobbies, Teddy liked to “fiddle with” computers, as he put it.
“You’re really making it sound a lot worse than it is.”
He turned over and glared at her. “Diana Hunter, the idiot bet his friends that he’d get, and I quote, “the freaky smart girl into bed!” That is called being a massive jerk, okay? How could I let him get away with it?”
Diana rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t have gotten away with anything because that would imply that I am susceptible to his charms.”
“What charms?” Teddy interrupted with a snort.
“Precisely. The day I fall into bed with Richard Morton is the day we get hit by an asteroid that obliterates the entire planet.” When Teddy opened his mouth to say something, she held a finger up to silence him. “And even then, knowing I was about to die, I wouldn’t sleep with him if he was the last man on earth.”
Teddy chuckled then sobered. “He still deserved it,” he mumbled.
Diana smiled and rolled over to give him a hug. She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for always looking out for me,” she said with a grin.
“Well, what am I here for? I’m your bodyguard. And that’s official. Your dad said so.”
Diana grinned. It was true. Her dad adored Teddy. The first time she’d brought him home for dinner, her father had scowled. Teddy didn’t look like a geek at first glance. He’d been bullied as a child and as a teen, especially when the other kids figured out that he was gay. So, he started working out. A lot. He reasoned that if he were bigger than everyone else, they’d be too scared to bully him. And he’d been right. He’d left for summer vacation in ninth grade a scrawny kid. By the start of the next school year, he’d gained a lot of muscle mass, and by the middle of tenth grade, he was built like a tank. The bullies gave him a wide berth.
When she’d told her dad that Teddy was gay and would never be a threat to her virtue, he’d promptly declared Teddy her official bodyguard. And Teddy had been more than happy to oblige, claiming that her youth and naiveté in “matters of the heart” meant that she needed his protection. It was sweet. It really was. Except for when the two of them ganged up on any potential date she might have had. Between Teddy and her dad, it was a miracle she had any social life at all. Oh, wait, that’s right, she didn’t. Well, not much of one. Her IQ was already a huge impediment, since she found most boys her age boring as dirt and tended to avoid them. Anyone who seemed a little more interesting, from an intellectual point of view at least, was either way too old – as in they-could-be-her-dad-old – or felt the need to compete with her, which sucked.
“I’m going to die alone,” she groaned.
Teddy looked at her in surprise. “Don’t be stupid. Of course you’re not going to die alone. We’ll find you some hot, genius superstar who will worship the ground you walk on,” he said with a grin.
Diana rolled her eyes. “You do know you are talking about someone who doesn’t exist, right?”
“Just you wait. Everyone has a soul mate, and you will find yours,” Teddy said knowingly.
She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Are you insane? I don’t need a soul mate. I just want to have some fun.” She huffed. “And maybe lose my virginity sometime before I’m a hundred years old,” she muttered under her breath.
Teddy’s eyes widened. “Oh, no! No! No! You will be a virgin until the day you die. Your father’s orders. I really don’t want to spend the rest of my life locked up in isolation somewhere.”
Diana rolled her eyes. “He was kidding when he said that.”
“It didn’t sound funny when he growled at me while cleaning his gun.”
She laughed. “Yeah, Dad can be a bit overprotective.”
“A bit? I mean, okay, I get it. I’d be the same as him if I had a daughter like you.”
“Like me?” she asked.
“Fishing for compliments are we? Come on Di, you’re hot as sin, you can kick most guys’ asses – I really gotta thank your dad for that one – and you have a sick sense of humor. If I were straight, I would have married you by now.”
Diana giggled. “Teddy, you do amazing things for my ego. If you were straight, I would have married you too,” she said with a wink.
“I’ve got a brilliant idea,” he said, sitting up excitedly. He repositioned himself cross-legged on her bed and looked at her expectantly. She moved into the same position.
“Go on, I’m listening, oh, Great One.”
“Let’s make a pact. If we haven’t found our soul mates by the time we’re thirty-five, we’ll get married to each other.”
Diana’s eyes widened. “What kind of idea is that? What, do you think people die at thirty-five?”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. But I’d rather spend my life with you than alone.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel really good,” she said with a laugh.
“That’s not what I –“
The sound of her phone ringing interrupted him. She rolled over to look at the caller ID. “Hi, Liam, what’s up?” she said when she answered.
“Diana, we need to talk to you.”
The grave tone didn’t sit well with her. “Is Dad alright?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. He’s here with me.”
“Well, then, spit it out. What is it? And why are you calling me and not Dad if he’s there with you?” she asked suspiciously.
“Diana, could you come outside, please? I’d rather we not do this over the phone. We’re parked right outside your building.”
“I’ll be right out.” She hung up and stared at her phone for a moment.
“Everything okay?” Teddy asked.
Diana shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. Liam and my dad are here. They want to speak to me outside.”
Teddy knew enough about her family to know that something was very wrong if both Liam and her father had shown up.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
She looked up at him. “Please,” she said.
Teddy slipped his hand into hers. She squeezed his hand hard. “Okay, let’s find out what’s going on,” he said, trying to sound a lot more confident than he felt.
As they made their way outside, Diana could feel the icy fingers of fear squeezing around her heart. And they were getting tighter with every step she took. When she finally saw her father and Liam, her heart plummeted. Her father looked like death warmed over, and Liam didn’t look any better. She stopped in her tracks, pulling Teddy back.
“I don’t want to go over there,” she whispered at Teddy’s questioning look. “They’re going to tell me something I don’t want to hear. I just know it.”
Teddy nodded. “It doesn’t look like they’re here to give you good news.” He tried to start walking, but Diana’s feet were planted.
“Di, baby, we have to go over there. Standing here won’t change anything, whatever it is.”
“I know, but it will delay it.”
“You’re only putting off the inevitable. Come on, Di, whatever it is, I’ll be here for you. Always.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and tugged her forward. Her feet moved of their own volition.
“Dad?” she asked softly when she reached him. She saw the tears in his eyes, and the panic began to well up inside. Her palms were clammy, yet her hands felt frozen.
“Oh, baby,” her father managed to get out.
“What’s going on?” she demanded, her voice sounding just as panicky as she felt.
“Your mother—“ her father’s voice broke.
“Mom? What’s happened to Mom? Dad, tell me what happened to Mom!” she was already screaming. She didn’t care that everyone milling around the campus was staring at her. She didn’t care that Teddy was trying to calm her. She wanted to know why h
er father looked as though her mother was dead.
“Baby, I’m so sorry. She was found a few hours ago at work…” he trailed off, unable to talk.
“No! No! No! You’re lying!” she flew at her father, hitting his chest with her fists. “You’re lying! Why are you lying to me?” she sobbed.
John looked down at his daughter. He had to be there for Diana. He was her father. He was supposed to be the strong one. He controlled his emotions as best he could, burying his pain deeply so he could focus on supporting her. Squaring his shoulders, he gathered her into his arms, holding her tightly. “I wish I was, Didi. I wish I was.”
Diana broke down in her father’s arms, her legs giving way. He held her up, holding her tight, realizing finally that he could no longer protect her from the world around her, from the pain, as he’d always tried to do. “Daddy,” she sobbed into his chest.
“Shhhh,” he soothed as he petted her hair. “It’s okay, sweetie, Daddy’s here.” And in that moment, he made a promise. Whoever had done this to his wife, he would find him. He would find him, and he would destroy him.
CHAPTER FOUR
EXCUSE ME?” JOHN growled, his tone so menacing that Nico Stavros, the detective who’d been assigned Lydia Hunter’s case, paled and took a step back.
“Lydia’s death has been declared a suicide. I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“My wife did not kill herself.” John’s jaw clenched. He could feel his temple begin to throb in earnest.
“I’m sorry, but that’s what the evidence points to.” Stavros was practically mumbling, looking for all the world as if he wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
“What evidence?” John snapped. He was moments away from throttling the small man standing in front of him.
Stavros’ Adam’s apple bobbed like crazy. “There was no evidence of a break in, no one’s fingerprints but hers were found on the hypodermic, and her therapist said she was suffering from depression.”
“And just based on that, you think my wife killed herself? How the hell have you closed so many cases if you take just five minutes to rule this a suicide? If you’d looked a bit deeper, you would have discovered my wife didn’t even have a therapist!”
Faced with the towering fury that was John Hunter in that very moment, Stavros practically squeaked. “Some of the nurses said she saw one of the psychiatrists from the hospital every now and then. Something to do with dealing with all the death at the hospital,” he said quickly.
“That doesn’t mean she was seeing a therapist on a regular basis and it definitely doesn’t mean she was depressed or that she killed herself.”
“She left a note,” Stavros said quickly.
“What?” John froze.
No, it wasn’t possible. His wife could not have killed herself. He would have known something was wrong. But she had seemed just as happy as she always had. He’d have noticed. He would have.
Stavros nodded quickly. “She left a suicide note.”
“Don’t call it that!” John roared, causing the man in front of him to go white as a sheet.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “Let me get it for you.” Moments later, he returned with the note.
John yanked the plastic bag containing the piece of paper from Stavros. “Has it been dusted for prints?”
Stavros opened his mouth but then stopped. “Well?” John demanded. He hadn’t even looked at it yet.
“No one else’s prints except Mrs. Hunter’s were found on the note,” Stavros said quickly.
John nodded and paused before finally working up the courage to look at the piece of paper he held in his hand.
My dearest John,
I know this will come as a shock to both you and Diana, but I can’t deal with life anymore. There are so many things you don’t know about me, my dear, sweet John. If you really knew me, knew about my past, you’d never look at me the same way again. I couldn’t bear the thought of you knowing how weak I am, and that’s why I never told you how much I was suffering. I couldn’t. I wanted you to be happy, and if you’d have known how much I was hurting, I know you would have suffered right along with me.
It would have been just like that time when we went hiking and I fell and broke my leg. It wasn’t your fault, and there was nothing you could do to take the pain away, but you suffered with me. Remember what I told you then? Well, I meant every single word and still do.
I just want you and Diana to know that I love you both dearly, and I’m sorry to hurt you like this. I’m just tired, John. Tired of fighting every day to put on a face that isn’t mine. To act like someone I’m not. This is the best solution.
I don’t want you and Diana grieving over me. You have to move on with your lives. It is best this way. Please believe that.
Your loving wife,
Lydia
John’s hand was shaking by the time he’d finished reading the letter. There was no way this was happening. Lydia had been fine. She had been happy. They’d had coffee that morning. She’d laughed. They were planning a vacation to Paris, the most romantic city in the world. Lydia had not been suicidal, no matter what anyone said to him.
Then he glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand. His heart was screaming that Lydia would never do this, but the cop in him was shouting at him to accept the facts. He had physical evidence in his hands that Lydia had been deeply unhappy and that she’d managed to hide it from him so well that he hadn’t noticed a thing until it was much too late. Tears were running down his cheeks. It took every ounce of strength he had not to fall to his knees.
He felt someone snatch the letter out of his hands. “You idiot!” Liam snarled. “You choose the middle of the bullpen to tell him this? To show him this! You don’t deserve to wear that badge.”
Liam turned to John. “And you! What are you doing here? You should be at home with Diana. It hasn’t even been two days!”
John looked up at him, his jaw clenched, “I needed to know what happened.”
Liam nodded. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
“How am I going to tell Diana?” John asked.
Liam looked at him. “The only way you can tell Diana anything. Clearly and to the point.”
John smiled sadly. “That’s our Diana. No beating around the bush, or she’ll take our heads off.”
“Exactly. So, come on, let’s go.”
John had a sinking feeling that the news would change Diana irrevocably. But what could he do? He couldn’t lie to his daughter. And even if he wanted to, Diana was a walking, talking lie detector. At least with him. She knew every single tell of his and would figure out he was being less than truthful within a second.
He stopped walking. “Get a copy of the letter, or she won’t believe it.”
Liam didn’t wait for a second invitation. He turned and stalked back into the bullpen, shouting at Stavros. Within a few minutes, he’d returned, a manila envelope clutched in his hand.
Diana sat on the couch in the living room, her back ramrod straight. Dressed all in black, she was struggling to hold her emotions in check. She felt like breaking down and crying every second she spent in the house. Everywhere she looked, she saw something that reminded her of her mother, and it hurt. It hurt so badly.
And now, she was sitting here as Liam and her father loomed above her. Thankfully, Teddy was sitting next to her, holding her hand. He had been a steadying presence ever since she’d found out about her mother’s death. And she had never been more grateful for his friendship than right then.
“What is it you want to tell me?” she asked, though she feared the answer. She thought back to the last time they’d given her news together; it had been the worst moment of her life.
Her father sighed, running a hand through his hair. “They’ve discovered what happened to your mother,” he said softly.
Diana’s eyes widened. “They found whoever did this to her already? Are they sure?” The sad look on her father’s face stopped her. “Wh
at happened to Mom, Dad?”
He looked at her. “All evidence points to the fact that she took her own life.”
Diana froze. “Excuse me?”
“Diana, it looks like your mother killed herself.”
“No, that’s not possible. Mom would never… No, you’ve got it wrong.” Diana looked back and forth between Liam and her father. They really believed what they were telling her. That didn’t mean it was true, though. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d made a mistake.
But then Liam handed her an envelope. She took it with trembling hands. She tried to remove the piece of paper that was inside, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t grasp it. Teddy took the envelope from her gently and pulled the paper out, handing her the white sheet.
She took it and began to read, her hands clenching the paper tighter with every word. She looked up at her father. She had no doubt that this was real. She knew her mother’s handwriting.
“She left us,” she said with a sob. As he had many times over the past two days, her father sat down and pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly.
“I know it hurts, baby girl. But think how much pain she was in if this was the only way out she could see,” he tried to soothe her.
“She never said anything. Why didn’t she say anything? We could have helped her.”
“I know, Didi. I know. I wish she’d said something. I wish…”
He pulled her onto his lap. She curled up against his chest as she had when she was a little girl. It felt so good to let her father comfort her like this. She’d tried to be stoic and strong, but losing her mother and now finding out she had abandoned them made her feel just like a little girl again. A little girl who wanted her mommy but would never see her again.
“You won’t leave me, too, will you, Dad?” she asked, her voice small and terrified.
John was torn between grief at losing his wife and resentment at her for doing this to them. For taking the coward’s way out. And to hear his smart, courageous nineteen-year-old daughter revert to a little girl begging him not to leave her made him angry. So, so angry at Lydia for being so selfish.
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