by Woods, Karen
“I grew up as a Marine Corps brat. I can likely out cuss nine out of ten people,” she said, feeling happy. “I simply choose not to, most of the time.”
He nodded. “Were you serious about taking independent action against the stalker?”
“If I knew who he was, I might. I don’t have great confidence in the legal system.” She heard the starkness in her own tone and knew she’d just given him a hint at a place for him to dig.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve seen it fail.”
“When?” he demanded.
Images she thought had long been forgotten flooded back into her mind. She felt ill. It was as if she was standing there again, just inside the doorway to the apartment, with her friends behind her, looking at the violence, seeing the blood, and hearing Janice’s last ragged breath. It was as if she was confronting Bill all over again, dodging the bloody baseball bat that he swung at her. She didn’t want to think about that at all. She had put all that out of her mind for so many years. She didn’t want to relive it now. But, Josh wouldn’t be satisfied with any less than a full answer.
She looked at him and saw his expectant look. She was going to have to tell him something. “My grad school roommate, Janice, was murdered by her boyfriend. He should have received a minimum of life in prison without parole. Instead, they committed him to a mental hospital.”
“Is he still there?” Josh asked.
“He’s in a half-way shelter care home where they make sure he gets his medicine and stays under control.”
“Are you sure?”
“Detective Matthews checked it out.”
“I’ll check it out myself. I need the man’s name.”
“William Albert.”
“This was in Massachusetts?”
“Yes,” she said, her tone more sharp than she had intended. “My roommate was Janice Thomas. He beat Jan to death with a baseball bat fourteen years ago. Three of my friends and I walked in on him just as she lay dying. We took the bat away from him and detained him until the police got there.”
“Somehow, I doubt it was as simple as you make it sound.”
“It wasn’t,” Geri admitted. “It wasn’t simple at all. It was vicious, brutal, intense, and bloody. He fought like a wild animal, taking down two of my friends in the process. Yet, he had to be detained, so I did what had to be done. I don’t like thinking about this.”
Josh wrapped his arm around her shoulder. That simple gesture of support touched her deeply.
He said, his voice gentle, “No. I don’t imagine that you do. You’ve experienced more than your share of violence.”
She shook her head and sighed. “What is, is. We can’t change reality.”
“Did you know him well, this Albert fellow?”
Geri wrapped her arms around herself, placing her hand over his. She squeezed his hand. And he squeezed back.
“Not really. Well enough to utterly dislike him. He was engaged to my roommate and spent more time than I wanted him to at our apartment. Two months before he killed her, he moved into her bedroom with her. But, she took over two-thirds of the rent and we each bought our own food. So as long as they left me alone and did their share of the housework in the communal areas, I had no right to tell her how to run her life.”
“But you didn’t like him.”
“No. Not at all. He’d given me the creeps from the first moment I met him. I was looking for someplace else to live.”
“What did he do for a living?”
“He was a graduate student in mechanical engineering. Bill told us he’d been orphaned when he was nine. Turned out, and we didn’t find this out until after Janice died, Bill had murdered his parents when he was nine. He spent twelve years in the juvenile correctional system in Iowa as a model prisoner and was released on his twenty-first birthday. Apparently, he’d earned a dual bachelor’s degree in Math and Mechanical Engineering with high honors while he was in the juvenile system there, through a directed study program. Then he was admitted to MIT to graduate study. Now, can we please change the subject? I don’t like thinking about that.”
* * *
Josh listened to what she said with both her words and her tone. There was more to the story. He could well imagine it. She would have been about a year out from an assault that had nearly taken her own life. It had to have been a difficult time.
“Is Albert crazy?”
“Like a fox,” she replied, her voice low, pained, disgusted. “He worked the system. Had the psychiatrists eating out of the palm of his hand. He always knew what he was doing. I have no doubt he knew what he was doing and the consequences when he killed Janice. Now, please, may we change the subject?”
Josh heard the growing desperation in her voice. This was obviously a very painful memory for her. He tightened his arm around her. She placed her head on his shoulder. He said, keeping his voice gentle, “Rest now. Just relax. You’re safe with me. Rest now.”
Within the space of a few seconds, he felt her relax into sleep.
Josh was happy she trusted him enough to be able to relax this completely. She needed all the rest she could get.
He let her sleep until they had nearly returned to the ranch.
“Hey, sleepyhead.”
“Oh, Lord, please tell me I didn’t conk out.”
“You needed the rest.”
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“You shouldn’t be. It’s fine. My shoulder is yours anytime you need it.”
Images of her cuddled up with him in bed flashed through her mind.
She shook her head. “That’s kind of you. But, I’ve imposed quite enough on your generous nature.”
“It’s no imposition. Trust me.”
“That, too, is kind of you.”
“I’m not an especially kind or generous person,” he said.
“You always have been kind to me.”
“You’re an easy person to be kind to.”
“Yeah, right,” she dismissed.
“Betty will have lunch ready? Are you hungry?”
“Of course. I don’t purposefully miss many meals.”
“You’d never know it by looking at you. You’ve always been a little on the thin side.”
“I’m healthy. But, speaking of people not changing, you haven’t changed much in the last few years, either.”
“Except to go completely gray,” he dismissed.
“On you, it looks good.”
“You think so?” Josh asked.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but the certain members of the secretarial pool have a nickname for you.”
“They do? What do they call me? Or do I want to know?”
“‘The Silver Fox’.”
Josh laughed, in spite of himself. “You’re kidding me.”
“No. God’s honest truth. You are considered, by many, to be easily the most handsome man around.”
“‘The Silver Fox’,” he echoed, hearing the amusement in his voice. “Oh, Lord! I’ve seen the reflection every day when I’ve shaved. I’ve yet to gaze on anything remotely beautiful.”
“Then you are truly blind.”
“We should be back at the ranch shortly,” he said, changing the subject in an effort to make her feel more comfortable, because she was blushing. The silver fox, he thought, trying not to laugh. Then the reality of what she had just said sunk in. Geri thought that he was “beautiful”. That was encouraging.
After Betty’s delicious lunch of oven fried chicken, baked sweet potato fries, and salad, Josh offered, “How about some tennis?”
“I’d rather have a nap. Excuse me, please.”
He nodded. “Of course, get some rest.”
When she had gone upstairs, Josh went to his den. He dialed a phone number from memory. There would be a major quid pro quo for this. Yet, that couldn’t be helped. This didn’t sit right with him. And he needed to know, quickly, if he had something to worry about or if his imagination was simply w
orking overtime. “It’s Josh Sutherland. I need a favor.”
An hour later, Josh reread the report that had just come to him via fax. He didn’t like the news contained there. Albert had been released from the hospital into a shelter care home for mental patients over two years ago. He had walked away from that home in early February, this year, about the time Geri’s harassment had begun. Why Detective Matthews hadn’t picked up on that was beyond him.
It was a simple solution. Albert had vowed to kill her. But, was it too simple? And why hadn’t the detective found this out?
Josh picked up the telephone and dialed Detective Matthews’ work number. Expecting to get an answering machine, he was surprised to hear the man himself answer.
“Matthews.”
“This is Josh Sutherland,” Josh replied.
“Yes, Mr. Sutherland. What can I do for you?”
“Does the name William Albert mean anything to you?”
“Sure. Albert is the looney who murdered Miss Erikson’s roommate years ago.”
“Did you check his location?”
“Yes. He’s in a nursing home in Massachusetts. Why do you want to know?”
“The man walked away in February.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve got the report in my hand.”
“I’ll check this out again. I do need to bring her up to date today on the investigation of the bombings.”
“You want her to come there, or will you come out?”
“I’ll come out,” the detective offered. “Probably in a couple of hours. Give me the directions.”
“Okay.” Then Josh gave the man directions to the ranch. “We’ll be here the rest of the day.”
Josh felt in need of a large amount of exercise. He went up to his room and changed into tennis clothes. He wanted to look in on Geri, but didn’t trust himself enough to do that. His confidence that he could keep his hands off her was nearly as low as his confidence she would welcome his attentions. Instead, after he changed, he went downstairs and took out his frustration on the tennis ball machine for over an hour.
He’d worked up a sweat. So he grabbed a quick shower and changed into well-worn jeans and a t-shirt emblazoned with the Marine Corps emblem. He still didn’t trust himself where she was concerned, but he looked in on Geri anyway.
She was in bed, with her back to the bathroom door. The covers draped just enough down her back that he could easily see she was naked in that bed. All he wanted was to climb into that bed with her and to love her until neither one of them were capable of rational thought. Leaving her last night had been profoundly difficult. Turning around and leaving now was going to be impossible.
* * *
Geri was aware of him as soon as he opened the door. Actually, she had been aware of him since the water had run in the shower a few minutes before. She debated about pretending she was still asleep, in hopes he would just go away. But that would be the coward’s way out.
“Is something wrong?” she asked as she turned over to face him, adjusting the covers so that she was relatively modestly covered.
He was so handsome. Long, lean, and strong. Josh’s pure masculine strength called out to all that was feminine in her.
* * *
This woman made him feel like an adolescent with his first crush. “The detective will be by in a while, Geri. He wants to talk with you.”
“I’ll be down shortly. Thank you.”
“Have you gotten any rest?”
“A little, thanks. After all the months lacking sleep, I need about a week with nothing to do except sleep. But even though I’ve tried to sleep, I still can’t do more than catnap. No longer than an hour at a time, it seems.”
* * *
Geri expected him to leave the room. When he didn’t, when he just stood there looking at her lying there, she asked, “Do you need anything?”
The smile he gave her made her heart skip a beat. “Oh, yes, I need something.”
Before she could reply, the phone rang. As she reached for the phone on the night table behind her, the covers slipped, leaving her breasts exposed to him. She felt her face grow hot as she quickly pulled the sheet up over her.
* * *
He looked at her, his breath burning in his throat. She was so incredibly lovely, lying there. Although she would never apply the terms delicate and feminine to herself, that was precisely what she was—delicate, feminine, and strangely fragile. He couldn’t ever remember wanting anyone the way that he wanted her. He was at the end of his ability to withstand temptation where she was concerned.
“Erikson,” Geri spoke into the receiver as he crossed the room and sat down on the bed beside her.
He heard his housekeeper’s voice over the phone, “Miss Geri, it’s Betty. There is a Detective Matthews from Houston here to see you.”
Josh stroked her face. Then he leaned down to kiss the corner of her mouth.
Geri drew a shuddering breath as Josh’s lips brushed hers. “I’ll be down in a few minutes,” she told the housekeeper just before she dropped the phone when Josh’s lips moved from her face down to her neck.
“Joshua!” Geri moaned his name.
* * *
Downstairs, Betty Henderson smiled slightly as she hung up the phone. She turned to the detective. “Miss Geri will be a little while coming down. Would you like a cup of coffee and some of my homemade German chocolate cake while you wait?”
* * *
“The detective is here, I take it?” he asked as he raised his head.
Geri nodded as she touched his face. Oh how she loved him. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted to. Do you want an apology?”
“Only because you stopped.”
“Then you enjoyed my lips on you?”
“Why don’t you try it again?” she teased. “I might be able to give you a better answer, then.”
He smiled at her. “If I do, we’ll be keeping the detective waiting a very long time.”
“Let him wait.”
“Geri, no. I don’t want either of us to feel rushed when we actually do make love. I want to make this so special for you.”
“When he’s gone, we need to have a serious talk about what we want out of this relationship, before it goes any further.”
“We need to do a lot more than just talk, woman! I’ll leave and let you get dressed now. Otherwise, you won’t get out of this bed for days.”
“Promises, promises,” she teased.
“Woman! Behave!”
“I’ve behaved all my life.”
“You’re making it hard to leave you, Geri.”
“Good. That means I tempt you.”
“Woman, temptation is a mild word for what you do to me. I need you like a dying man needs salvation.”
She smiled at him. “That little huh?” she teased.
At his crooked smile, she chuckled. The man’s smile always made her feel so much better, no matter what was going on, otherwise. “Go on downstairs. Tell the detective I’ll be down in a few minutes. After he’s gone, we’ll pick up with this conversation. But in a setting with far less temptation.”
“Honey, there is no such thing. Not for the two of us. I was even tempted in Church this morning.”
“And you think you’re the only one?”
His answering smile warmed her all the way through.
Chapter Seven
He sat behind his desk, trying not to devour Geri with his eyes. She wore a simple discount store navy blue cotton shirtdress that accentuated her slim strength. Her blond hair hung in a ponytail, fastened at the nape of her neck by a blue cross grain ribbon. Josh wanted to take out the ribbon and thread his fingers through her hair, preferably while kissing her senseless. He wanted to unbutton that dress and pull her to him. Yet, he forced himself to look at the detective and listen to what the man had to say.
* * *
Geri listened carefully to the detective, as she sat on the edge of Josh’
s desk. The news wasn’t really surprising. The best guess of the fire marshal’s team had determined that the destruction of the apartment building was caused by several sets of explosive charges set around the foundation the building and near the gas lines coming in for the water heaters. The explosive wasn’t yet determined. Forensic excavation of the building was still ongoing.
What did disturb her greatly was the news that the body count was up to twenty-three. Another ten people were in the hospital. Yet, the final casualty count would not be known until the excavation was complete. She could have lived for a very long time without knowing at least twenty-three people had died in the apartment complex that night. The number of deaths bothered her more than she would ever admit to anyone.
She walked over to the French doors that opened onto the patio. She opened the vertical blinds and looked out. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon. She longed to be in the pool, swimming. In fact, she longed to be anywhere but here, listening to this report.
* * *
“Gerianne,” Josh said, standing just behind her. He placed his right hand on her shoulder.
She covered his hand with her own.
“I’m okay, Josh.”
“You are far from fine and you know it.”
“Maybe,” she admitted with reluctance as she turned to face him. Naked misery was written on her face. Her brown eyes were pools of deep despair. “But, it does no good to complain about things that can’t be changed. All I can do is just find a way to get through this with minimal damage.”
He wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything was going to be fine. “You’ve got friends to help you. You’ll make it through this with both dignity and grace.”
* * *
Geri wasn’t at all sure. She expected at any moment she was going to disgrace herself by being dreadfully ill. “Thirty-three people hurt or killed because of someone with a vendetta against me. I don’t know I can stand it.”
“You’ll stand it because you are strong.”
“Am I?” she wondered aloud. “There are times I wonder.”
“Don’t. You’re the strongest woman I know.”
“I wasn’t aware you had lived such a sheltered life.”