by Jane Godman
“Anything you want to. Take a bath. Read a magazine. Go for a walk.”
“A bath would be nice,” she said longingly. “I can’t remember the last time I soaked in some scented bubbles.”
“That’s settled.” He placed a hand at the small of her back and steered her toward the door. “We’ll be fine.”
Before she left the room, she looked back over her shoulder. Griffin was seated on the rug with Maya and the baby was trying to poke him in the eye. Of course, they’d be fine.
Griffin’s master bathroom had a huge roll-top tub and Abigail eyed it with pleasure as she turned on the faucet. She’d just removed her clothes and was preparing to step into the steaming water when Griffin yelled for her.
“Abigail! Come quickly.”
The panic in his voice had her running naked into the den.
“There’s something wrong with Maya.” He was on his feet, his face ashen as he pointed to the baby. “I think she’s having a seizure.”
Maya was lying on her back on the rug. Every few seconds, her body would jerk and her spine would arch upward from the floor. Each time it happened, she let out a squeak. When Abigail knelt beside her, the little girl grinned at her, then rolled away. The jerking and squeaking continued as she moved.
Abigail bit back a smile, determined to reassure Griffin instead of laughing at him. “There is nothing wrong with Maya. She has the hiccups.”
“Seriously?” He ran a hand through his hair. “That’s all it is?”
She nodded. “It happens a lot.”
He started to laugh. “I guess I overreacted a little.”
Abigail got to her feet. “Just a little.” She raised an eyebrow as his gaze roamed over her body. “What are you doing?”
His eyes twinkled. “Just admiring the view.”
She wagged a finger at him. “That’s not allowed when you’re minding the baby.”
He held up his hands. “I was only looking.”
“How about you look in that direction?” She pointed at Maya, who was on her way out of the door. “And let me get back to my bath?”
Muttering an apology, he hurried to retrieve the baby while Abigail returned to the bathroom. While she knew that Maya would be fine with Griffin, she spent most of her “me time” listening for the sounds of chaos.
Although there were a few bumps and thuds, she didn’t hear anything that caused her any alarm. Finally, she relaxed and lay back in the scented bubbles. Half an hour later, she emerged. After taking time to dry her hair and dress in clean sweatpants and a T-shirt, she wandered downstairs.
“That was wonder—” she broke off. “What happened here?”
Griffin’s den looked like a scene from a disaster movie. An earthquake, or possibly a hurricane, Abigail decided as she surveyed the scene. Possibly even the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.
Griffin was seated on the floor, picking up the pieces of a shattered picture frame. He looked like a man who had stared into the abyss and no longer had anything left to fear. For some reason, his hair was wet. Maya was trapped in a corner between the coffee table and a chair, but she seemed happy enough as she bashed one of her dolls over the head with a rattle.
“Her diaper was dirty,” Griffin said. “I mean, industrial-level dirty. So I started to change her. I was doing a good job until I realized I didn’t have a bag to put the dirty one in.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I only moved away for a second. Just long enough to get a bag.”
Abigail placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t tell me. She got the dirty diaper?”
“You’ve been there?”
“I think most parents have.” Her voice was sympathetic.
“There was poop everywhere.” He shuddered at the memory. “All over Maya, the rug, the sofa, the TV. And, when I tried to stop her, she grabbed me by the hair.”
“Oh, Griffin.”
“Abigail...” His eyes were round with horror. “I had baby poop in my hair.”
She sat on the floor next to him, picking up a few shards of glass that he’d missed. “What did you do?”
“You mean when I’d stopped retching?” She nodded. “I took her through to my room and we both got into the shower. Then I cleaned up in here. I tried to hold onto Maya with one hand but she still grabbed a few things and tried to trash the place.”
“So, um, did you enjoy looking after her on your own?”
He gave her a suspicious look. “Are you laughing at me?”
She tried to keep a straight face, but the laughter bubbled up. “Maybe a little.”
Griffin stared at her in disbelief for a moment or two, then a slight smile touched his lips. “It would have been just my luck if John Jones had arrived while this place was Poop City.”
“At least if the police had turned up to arrest me, the stink might have put them off.” Abigail leaned against him, chuckling.
As they toppled onto the rug, giggling uncontrollably, Maya, who was clearly tired of being left out, threw her rattle at them.
* * *
Although Charlize had made a chicken casserole, Griffin noticed each of his siblings brought a contribution to the evening meal. As a result, the table was overloaded with food at the family dinner that took place before the CI meeting. Maya, who was refreshed after a long nap, ate even more than usual and enjoyed having an audience.
Maya was seated on Griffin’s knee and he stopped her as she leaned over and offered the dog a piece of cornbread. “No, don’t give that to Pal.” Giving him a radiant smile, she carefully rubbed her buttery fingers over the front of his shirt instead. “Thank you for sharing.”
He looked up to find his sisters watching them. All four of them wore the same expression. It reminded him of the way they’d looked when they were kids and the family cat had given birth to a litter of kittens.
“You’re so sweet,” Sadie said.
Griffin got the feeling she was talking to him as well as Maya. Ordinarily, he’d have been uncomfortable at being the center of attention but, all of a sudden, he got it. This was what it was all about. This was family. His sisters were watching him interact with his little girl.
His little girl? Where had that come from? He was fostering Maya on a temporary basis to help Abigail through a difficult period in her life. There had never been any suggestion that it would become anything more. He knew, from his foster parent training, that it would be easy to form bonds with a child in his care. He also knew that, when the time came, he would have to let go. But this felt different.
He knew why. It was because of Abigail. He looked across the table at where she was talking to Charlize and his heart constricted. He’d never known emotion like this existed. And it terrified him. Because he didn’t know how to deal with it. All his life, he’d maintained a distance from those around him, scared that his craving for love would be overpowering.
He’d told himself that dating was enough. He didn’t want more than a casual relationship now and then. But in Abigail, he’d met a woman who had turned his whole life upside down. A woman who’d made him rethink everything he knew about himself. Because now he knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted her. And Maya. He wanted a family. He wanted everything. And with that knowledge, the old doubts resurfaced. Was this about her? Or his longing for love? How would he ever know the difference?
When he held her in his arms, when he kissed her, and drove deep inside her, his fears vanished. In those instants, she was his and there was no need for words. It was when he tried to rationalize his feelings. That was when he was transported back to the night his mom died and he just knew that everyone would be snatched away from him sooner or later. So why bother with love? It was so much easier to do without it.
“Ugh.” He was brought back to reality as Maya seized a handful of his hair and tugged hard.
“Hey.” Moving swiftly around the table, Abigail
came to his rescue. “That is no way to treat Griffin after everything he’s done for us. His hair has been traumatized enough for one day.”
She leaned against his shoulder as she released him from Maya’s eye-wateringly tight grip. Her hair tickled his cheek and her scent invaded his nostrils. As she turned her head to smile at him, he knew his own warnings were a waste of time. He was lost in her, sinking deeper by the minute, and enjoying every second.
* * *
After dinner had been cleared away, the family gathered around the table once more for a business meeting. Abigail had brought toys for Maya, and the baby played happily on the rug with her wooden animals.
Griffin started the CI meeting with a summary of what had happened since the team last got together. There were shocked faces around the table as he gave his sisters more details about the murder of Evan Hardin and the various attempts to frame, or discredit Abigail.
“Surely the police can’t seriously believe that Abigail killed her boss?” Pippa asked.
Griffin shrugged. “You know what a police inquiry is like. It takes time for them to examine every lead.”
“An anonymous note and a bracelet found in Dr. Hardin’s office?” Kiely shook her head. “It’s not enough evidence for them to consider Abigail as a suspect.”
“The police haven’t gone that far,” Griffin said. “To be fair to Detective Iglesias, he is pursuing every angle.”
“Good. Because I’ll be asking him to track down a certain research scientist.” As he spoke, Riley held up his electronic tablet to show his siblings a photograph. “I’ve had no luck finding him so far.”
The image was of a tall man with a beer belly. His blond-gray hair was tousled, and his blue eyes peered at the camera from behind silver wire-rimmed glasses.
“This is Dr. Landon Street. He is credited by Wes Matthews in his glossy brochure as the person who devised the RevitaYou formula.”
Vikki pulled a doubtful face. “I know it’s only one picture, but he does not look like someone I’d trust to design a brand-new vitamin that people would take hoping it will change their lives.”
“Your instinct would be right,” Riley said. “Abigail has first-hand knowledge of Landon Street’s dubious methods, but the guy has basically broken every rule there is. It’s a miracle that he’s avoided jail. He appears to have been saved each time by his employers’ reluctance to draw attention to their own shoddy practices. Rather than face justice, he quietly moved on and, as a result, he’s continued his dodgy behavior in the next place. Then the next. In the case of RevitaYou, his carelessness has reached the point where someone might die as a result.”
“Is this because of the ricin you found in the pills?” Sadie asked Abigail.
“Yes. Ricin is an extremely deadly, naturally occurring poison found in castor beans. It can be created from by-products of the making of castor oil. The compound Landon Street created and added to RevitaYou causes cell death and does wonders for smoothing wrinkles. Not everyone who ingests it will die and they will look younger.”
“But they’re dicing with death,” Sadie said.
“Exactly.” Abigail nodded. “We don’t know who, and we don’t know when, but people will die as a result of the ricin compound in RevitaYou.”
“Do we know how Wes Matthews and Landon Street met?” Vikki asked. “Have they been friends for a long time, or did they only make contact recently?”
“As far as I know, they didn’t know each other when Landon worked at Danvers University,” Abigail said. “Neither of them mentioned knowing the other to me and I think Landon probably would have. He’d find any excuse to chat rather than work.”
“Landon offered his services as a freelance researcher.” Riley found a web page and again held it up so that everyone could see it. “Is that something you’ve seen before, Abigail?”
“I’m not familiar with it, but I guess there are independents in every profession. It’s a worrying thought, however, because there would be no one to regulate the services offered on a site like that.”
“Clearly.” Riley nodded. “I compared Landon to some comparable experts. His credentials didn’t match up but he was cheap. I’m guessing that would be the appeal for Wes.”
“So we figure Wes went shopping for a scientist to make him some vitamins. He came across that site and he found Landon. They agreed on a price and Landon made him the formula for RevitaYou.” Griffin shook his head. “It was that easy for them to come up with a product that could kill people?”
“Yes. We know the FDA hasn’t seen RevitaYou, so Wes’s customers didn’t have that protection,” Pippa said. “Although it would never have reached the marketplace, of course.”
“I don’t think Wes and Landon set out to kill anyone.” Vikki sent a sympathetic glance in Abigail’s direction.
“But they didn’t care if they did,” she replied. “Don’t worry. I know what my father is.”
“And now Landon is missing. Just like Wes,” Kiely said. “Could they be together?”
“Since we don’t know where Wes is either, it wouldn’t help us if they were.” Riley ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
“I’ve been trying to think of places my dad might go.” Abigail withdrew a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her jeans. “He was born in Michigan and spent most of his life here, but I think he would move on if he felt cornered here. My mom was from Cuba, but they met here in Grand Rapids. They were divorced and I don’t think he had anything to do with her family after she died, but I suppose it’s always possible that he could have made contact with them.” She moved her finger down the list she’d written. “He used to talk about his cousins who lived in Texas, but I don’t know where exactly. I know that’s not helpful.”
“It’s very helpful.” Griffin covered her hand with his. “It gives us a starting point.”
“There was something else. It may be nothing, but he always talked about wanting to go deep sea fishing.” She looked around the table. Each of the Colton siblings was watching her with understanding and support. For the first time since her mom had walked out, she felt included. Even wanted. “I just wondered if he might go to a place where he could hide away on a boat. I’m sorry. I know it’s a big world out there, with a lot of boats...”
“Any information you can give us is helpful,” Riley told her. “We can start looking at whether Wes made travel arrangements in the past, or if he knew anyone who organized boat charters.”
“We also have to consider that Wes might do the exact opposite of what is expected and choose a place no one would ever think to look for him,” Griffin said.
“On that subject, FBI agent Cooper Winston, who is working the RevitaYou case, has asked me to call him. I’ll do that now so that you can all hear the conversation.”
The others waited in silence while Riley contacted the Grand Rapids field office. When he got through to Agent Winston, the two men exchanged greetings.
“Cooper, I’m in a CI meeting with my siblings. Wes Matthews’s daughter, Abigail, is also here and so is my fiancée, Charlize Kent. Is it okay if I put you on speaker phone?”
Once he’d secured the other man’s agreement, Riley continued the call so that everyone in the room could hear. “We’ve been discussing likely places Matthews might hide.”
“Since there’s no sign of him, we have to assume that he’s living under an alias and in disguise,” Cooper said.
“If that’s the case, we need to come up with a way to trap him or lure him back to Grand Rapids.” Griffin’s patience appeared to be wearing thin. It was clear he wanted a resolution and was frustrated that they couldn’t find one. Abigail was touched to realize that it was for her sake.
“We’ll keep trying to find him.” From the weary note in Cooper’s voice, the FBI were experiencing the same level of annoyance. “I’ll let you know as soon as I ha
ve any information for you.”
“We’ll do the same,” Riley said. Before he ended the call, he let Cooper know what they’d learned about Landon Street and promised to follow the details up in an email.
After Riley ended the call, the mood was despondent. It seemed that the RevitaYou investigation was stalling. No one had heard from Brody, and the siblings were growing increasingly worried about his well-being.
“We should consider two possibilities in regard to contact between Wes and Landon Street,” Griffin said. “Either they are still in touch and watching out for each other, or the stress of the investigation and the social media campaign has driven them apart. Either way, if one of them is caught, we should use that against the other.”
“What do you mean?” Sadie asked.
“If Landon is arrested first, we should put out a social media blast saying that he’s given police details about Wes, even if it’s not true. And vice versa.”
“Good thinking.” Kiely nodded. “Play the bad guys off against each other.”
“We have to catch one of them first, remember?” Pippa covered her mouth as she yawned. “Sorry, guys. I had an early start this morning.”
It was the cue for the meeting to wind down and, after exchanging a few more details, the siblings started to leave. Abigail gathered up Maya’s toys and carried the baby through to the kitchen to thank Charlize. After a few minutes, Griffin joined them.
“Are you ready to go home?”
She had never heard a sweeter question. For a moment her throat constricted. Then she managed a smile. “Home sounds like the best idea ever.”
* * *
When Maya was asleep, Abigail joined Griffin in his bed. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she twisted her fingers in the hair that grew slightly longer over his nape to draw him closer. His tongue licked hungrily over the seam of her lips, and her mouth parted eagerly for him. He slanted his lips over hers, holding the back of her head and tilting her into a kiss that became hard and deep.