Eden's Baby

by Adrianne Lee

  “What are you jawing about, Mac?” Bertha moved aside, giving them all a clearer view of the porch.

  Mac pointed down. “There. You smashed to smithereens the pretty white rose that was lying on the welcome mat.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Mac scooped up the destroyed rose. Shunning his grasp, the white petals fell apart, fluttered through the air and landed at Eden’s feet. She jumped back as if they were a nest of deadly spiders. Heat drained from her face. Her heart thudded.

  Bertha squatted and reached for the scattered petals. “Oh, my, I’m a clumsy old fool. Lookit what I’ve done to your lovely rose. I can’t blame you for being angry, dear.”

  She lifted the petals to Eden.

  Eden recoiled.

  David intervened. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no loss to us. We don’t know how the flower came to be on the porch.”

  But they did know, Eden thought. She put it there. She’d found them.

  Her expression clouded with uncertainty, Bertha’s eyes narrowed at Eden. “If you say so, Dr. David.”

  Eden shook herself, embarrassed to have treated this jolly woman so poorly. Even Mac was frowning at her. They had been out of town when she’d been arrested, and hadn’t shown the slightest recognition of her, couldn’t know what she’d been through or why a single flower would turn her insides to mush. “Please forgive my rudeness. Lately I’ve grown quite allergic to white roses.”

  Bertha’s eyebrows shot up. “Just the white ones?”

  “Yes,” Eden answered, gesturing toward the kitchen. “Come on, the rolls are getting cold.”

  “Can’t have that.” Mac caught Bertha by the arm and came inside, shutting the door behind them.

  “And we gotta phone Mac’s doctor,” Bertha said.

  The next hour passed unbearably slowly for Eden. There wasn’t enough coffee and cinnamon rolls in the world to alleviate the horror at finding yet another rose. She could no more follow the conversation than she could answer all the questions somersaulting through her mind. Had the stalker left the rose as a warning that she knew where they were? Or because she’d killed again?

  David grasped her hand under the table, and Eden relished the warm, reassuring contact. She knew he was as tense as she was, but he was a master at getting people to talk, and Bertha and Mac recounted with glee their summer excursion into Montana and the Dakotas.

  How Beth was holding up was a bigger worry. Eden glanced at her sister. Finding the rose had obviously shaken her; she was shredding her napkin into teeny puffs of paper, and her complexion seemed more sallow than normal. The small portion of cinnamon roll Eden had managed to swallow felt like a glob of petrified dough in her stomach. She had yet to tell Beth about Valerie. The kid was already trembling. Was she strong enough for all this stress?

  The telephone rang. Eden jumped as if she’d sat on a tack. So much for her own nerves. Was the caller Rose Hatcher again?

  But David handed the phone to Mac, stating that it was his doctor’s office calling to confirm the appointment he’d set up. Mac and Bertha excused themselves and went back out to the motor home.

  The next second, questions popped from Beth like tennis balls from an electronic server. “Where are we going to go now?”

  “I don’t know, sweetie.” Eden gave Beth’s hands a reassuring squeeze.

  “We can’t stay here.” Beth’s voice rose an octave. “She’ll come back. She’ll kill you.”

  “We’ll be long gone before she has the chance.” David scooted out of his chair. “The best thing we can do now is let the McFaddens have the house back today. I’ll make a few calls and arrange a new hiding place.”

  He took the cellular phone into the living room, and soon—although they could not make out the words—they heard the soft modulation of his soothing tones.

  Beth started to stand. Eden reached a hand toward her. “Sit with me a minute longer, Beth.”

  She waited until Beth was resettled, then drew a bracing breath. “Yesterday, when David and I went to the Issaquah PD... well...we didn’t tell you the entire truth.”

  Alarm filled Beth’s eyes. “Is this more bad news?”

  “I’m afraid it is, sweetie.”

  “What? Are they going to arrest you again?”

  “It’s not about me.” Eden tugged at the back edge of her hair. “It’s Val, sweetie.”

  “What?” The word was impatient. “Just tell me.”

  “She’s dead.”

  Beth looked as stunned as a rabbit cornered by a pack of hungry coyotes. “How?”

  Eden swallowed. “M-murdered.”

  Beth gasped and tears sprang into her eyes.

  “Kollecki told us she’d been stabbed”

  “But...why?”

  “David and I are guessing that the stalker feared she might be able to identify her.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me this last night?”

  “After the scare you’d been through?”

  “It seems I had good cause to be afraid. Even more than I realized. But I’m not a child, Eden. My life is in as much jeopardy as yours. Quit keeping me in the dark.”

  Eden wasn’t sure she could make such a promise, not if it meant sparing Beth more pain. She said nothing, watching Beth’s face crumple in sorrow.

  “Poor, jealous old Val. She only wanted to be loved for herself.” Tears streamed down Beth’s cheeks, and she scrambled from the room. Her footsteps clattered up the staircase.

  Eden’s heart ached for her, but she didn’t go after her. Beth needed to grieve on her own, in her own way. She cleared the table. Her gaze drifted over the lake as she absently washed the dishes, fretting over the meaning of this latest rose, wondering if David had found them a new hideout.

  DAVID COULDN’T GET the rose off his mind. Had the stalker killed again? He dialed the Issaquah PD, got Kollecki on the line and told him about the rose.

  “Not another one, Doc” Kollecki’s voice echoed down the line like a high-pitched, annoying buzz.

  “But people unrelated to the case discovered it.”

  “I don’t care if a hundred people witnessed the finding of the damned thing. Find me one person who saw it placed there—other than yourself and Mrs. Prescott, that is—and you’ll catch my attention.”

  “By then it may be too late,” David growled, and slammed the Disconnect button before realizing he hadn’t told the cop they’d be leaving the area today.

  Eden was putting the last dish away as he came into the room. She smiled at him, and his insides warmed, his tension ebbing marginally. He said, “I heard Beth sobbing. You told her?”

  Eden nodded. “Did you have any luck?”

  “Great luck. A friend of mine has a cabin in a remote area of eastern Washington. He keeps the key hidden outside, so all we have to do is pack and take off.”

  “Terrific.” Eden folded the dish towel, then stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. He pulled her closer, folding her to him and kissed her properly. She came away breathless. “We’d better save that for later.”

  “You ever made love in a rustic cabin?”

  She gave him a mischievous laugh. “Before you, I never made love anywhere but in a bed,”

  “Then, for as long as we’re together, we’ll avoid a bed whenever possible.”

  As long as they were together? Nothing mentioned about forever. Hurt pricked Eden’s heart. Nothing more permanent than this day-to-day existence. Was that the stalker’s fault? Or had she misjudged the depth of David’s love for her? She moved out of his arms. She’d be damned if she’d tell him about the baby until she was certain how he felt. She wouldn’t use the fact that she might be pregnant with his child to trap any man into a commitment.

  “I’ll tell Beth,” she said. “The sooner we’re away from here the better.”

  David nodded. “And I’ll let the McFaddens know they can move back in when they return from the doctor’s.”

  An hour later they were headed up I-90 toward Snoqualm
ie Pass in Eden’s minivan. Beth sat in the rear seat monitoring the three and four lanes of traffic behind them.

  Knowing that there was nothing she could do to ease her sister’s anxiety, Eden tried easing her own by concentrating on the passing hillsides, the breathtaking array of golden, green, and orange-red leaves, the occasional waterfall and the high, jagged rock formations. The day held the lingering fragrance of summer, but she detected a promise of autumn spicing the air. It was her favorite time of year in the Northwest, a season best spent with good friends and loving family at some wonderful place...like a remote cabin in the mountains...enjoying wholesome activities.

  Not running from a killer.

  The thought stole what little enjoyment she’d culled from the day. She hunched down in the seat, her gaze scouring the large side mirror as, like Beth, she kept her own vigil on the constantly shifting traffic. A tight knot of frustration pained her chest. How long could they keep running from this woman? How long before they couldn’t take it anymore?

  How long? Were they supposed to walk away from their former lives forever? Would David be forced to miss the opening week of fall classes at the university? What would happen to his career if this went on indefinitely?

  She rolled her tense neck, knowing as surely as the tires clacked on the concrete pavement that indefinitely would never come to pass; one or all of them would break before that time. Then what?

  “David, did you clear our leaving the county with Kollecki?” she asked.

  David’s gaze flicked from mirror to windshield to mirror, scanning the vehicles on all sides of them, his eyes peeled for a black compact. “I meant to, but the obnoxious guy ticked me off and I hung up without mentioning it.”

  “Hadn’t we better take care of that now?”

  “We’ll call him from the cabin”

  “Knowing Kollecki, he’ll order us right back.”

  “Well, we aren’t going back,” David stated firmly. “But you can call him now if it will make you feel better.”

  They rounded the corner, and Snoqualmie Summit came into view, the ski lifts idle, the grassy mountainsides snowless. Three months would change that. She reached for the telephone. A loud beeping startled her, and she frowned at the cell phone. But the sound wasn’t coming from it. “What is that?”

  “Probably my beeper,” David said, wondering where he’d put it.

  “It’s my beeper.” Beth’s voice was a falsetto squeak.

  Eden spun around. “Your beeper!”

  Beth’s eyes were the size of silver dollars, and her hand trembled as she tugged the beeper from her jacket pocket.

  David eased the van into the outside lane. Silence vibrated around them as Beth read the message. Finally she looked up at Eden. “It’s the hospital.”

  “We knew that,” David said, pulling onto the shoulder of the road. He and Eden exchanged glances. There was no way they could escape to the remote cabin now, but this was the best news Beth could have. He flipped on his blinker. “A U-turn isn’t legal, but I’ll risk the ticket for you, kiddo.”

  He waited for a break in traffic, then maneuvered into the westbound lanes. Eden reached back and squeezed Beth’s knee. Beth looked as she had the day Peter and Eden married and it appeared they’d belong to a close family again, as they had when Mom and Dad were alive; she looked hopeful yet afraid to hope. “You’d better call Dr. Ingalls.”

  The telephone conversation confirmed that there was indeed a donor kidney for Beth. Eden beamed at her sister, but Beth wrung her hands in her lap. “What if this one isn’t a match, either?”

  “Oh, no, you don’t. Sometimes good things happen to good people. And we are all going to hang on to positive thoughts, you hear me?”

  “Positive thoughts?” She laughed bitterly. “What about the stalker? What if she finds out and comes to the hospital?”

  David’s gaze met Beth’s in the rearview mirror. “We’ll see to it that security keeps a close watch on you at all times.”

  “If the hospital can’t promise us that, we’ll provide private protection,” Eden reassured her. “The only thing you’re to worry about is getting well.”

  “I’m not worried about me. The stalker has no reason to fear me. It’s David and you who need the protection.”

  Eden’s joy over the possible kidney for Beth dimmed. A double-edged razor of fear cut through her. Beth’s operation was a serious one that might not work, and she was right—by abandoning their plans to hide out, they were walking into God knew what jeopardy.

  But maybe that was for the best. Hiding wouldn’t draw the woman out of the shadows. Maybe this would force her hand, and they could put an end to her tyranny.

  The Emergency room was as deserted as a mall at midnight. The same jolly nurse who had admitted Beth the day of Eden’s release from prison was behind the desk. She greeted Beth and David with a toothy smile, her clown’s-cap hairdo bobbing. Her greeting to Eden was less cordial, her attitude bordering on rudeness.

  So, Eden thought, she’s finally figure out why I looked so familiar. Her memory was probably jarred by the media coverage surrounding Valerie’s death. Although Eden hadn’t seen any newspaper or television reports on the murder, she was sure speculation had dragged her name, and her photograph, back into the limelight.

  Well, she didn’t care a whit how this woman treated her... as long as she was kind to Beth. But Beth didn’t miss the disdain in the nurse’s eyes. She mouthed “I’m sorry” to Eden, then insisted David and she meet her on the fourth floor later.

  “She’s in good hands,” David assured Eden when they were down the hall walking away from Emergency.

  “I know, but I still want security alerted.”

  “So do I. I’ll call from my office.” He checked his watch. “If we hurry, we’ll catch the head of security before he leaves for lunch.”

  IN DAVID’S OFFICE, Lynzy was making coffee. She didn’t bother glancing around. “It’s about time you showed up. I was starting to think you’d been in an accident or some—” She broke off as she turned toward them and crooked her hair behind her left ear. Her brown eyes widened in surprise. “Ms. Prescott. Dr. Coulter. I thought you were Colleen.”

  David frowned, his gaze sweeping his secretary’s desk. The typewriter was still covered, the computer screen black. “You haven’t heard from her?”

  Eden crossed to the coffee machine and helped herself to a cup.

  “No, and that’s just not Colleen.” Lynzy strode to her desk and set her mug beside a pile of papers she’d apparently been working on before they came in. “She’s so particular about details.”

  “She wasn’t expecting me today.” David shrugged. “Maybe she’s playing hooky.”

  “That sounds more like me than Colleen. She prides herself on job attendance.”

  Lynzy was right. Where the hell was Colleen? The image of the white rose they’d found this morning jammed to the front of his brain, and his stomach did a nosedive. “Have you tried calling her at home?”

  “Half the morning. But all I get is her machine. I left a couple of messages.” She sat down and reached for her mug. “Say, what are you two doing here today anyway?” She paused, and her face brightened. “Tell me you’re going to be here next week after all, Doc.”

  The expectation in her voice reminded David how difficult Dr. Kenneth Levy could be to work with. Lynzy took her job seriously, but she had an irrepressible sense that it should also be pleasant. Pleasant wasn’t Dr. Levy’s long suit. But Kenneth had been the only one of his colleagues with ten free days to spare. He shook his head at Lynzy. “I’m afraid I’m still on leave.”

  “Beth is here for a kidney.” Eden set her coffee aside, untasted. Was David thinking what she was thinking? That the white rose they’d been left this morning meant Colleen was the stalker’s latest victim?

  Lynzy let out a disappointed sigh, then blushed. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, Ms. Prescott. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your sister, but this me
ans I’m stuck with Dr. Levy for ten more days.”

  Eden gave her a sympathetic smile, but her insides clamored to get David alone. “Don’t we have a telephone call to see to?”

  They excused themselves and went into David’s office.

  The second he closed the door, she said, “Where do you think Colleen is?”

  “I’m afraid to guess.” His face was ashen. “Let me take care of calling security, then I’ll deal with finding her.”

  He lifted the receiver and poked in the number. A man with an East Indian accent answered, “Security.”

  David identified himself and asked to speak to the head of security.

  “So sorry, Dr. Coulter. He leaves for lunch five minutes past.”

  “When will he be back?”

  “I am expecting him at one-thirty. Perhaps could I be of assist?”

  David outlined his problem. The man said, “I see. I have not the authorize for this, but I make the note and my boss he be calling you back when after he returns, please.”

  “Yes, please.” David thanked the man, gave him his pager number and hung up. He turned to Eden. Worry etched her beautiful blue eyes, and he strove to reassure her. “It shouldn’t be a problem. But he can’t authorize the watch. I should have called from the Emergency desk, but I didn’t want any more gossip circulating about this than necessary.”

  “It’s all right. I’m sure Beth will be okay until the man is back from lunch. She’ll be under constant scrutiny, and besides, like she said, the stalker has nothing against her. It’s you and I who need to be cautious.”

  “And Colleen?”

  “David, there’s nothing we can do for Beth for several hours. Would you feel better if we went to Colleen’s house and made sure she isn’t...is ... alive and well?”

  “You’re sure you wouldn’t mind?”

  “Positive. In fact, I’d feel better myself.”

  “I’ll try ringing her at home first.” He looked up her phone number and dialed. After four rings, Colleen’s recorded voice asked him to leave a message. He implored her to pick up the phone if she was there. The request was ignored. With a heavy heart, he set the receiver in the cradle. He started around his desk. “She lives in west Seattle.”