Impressions

by Barbara Winkes

  “I am. I promise.”

  Kate took a sip of her cocktail before she hit the button again to start the wheels spinning. This time, seven dollars were added to their win. Surprisingly, another twenty after that.

  “There will always be those fuckers that thrive on other people’s pain. The important thing is that we don’t let them win.”

  Ellie was well aware that Kate’s words encompassed more than Natalie’s con. She agreed wholeheartedly.

  “Never. So let’s do some more winning.”

  It turned out their philosophy didn’t work so well on the machine. However, Derek and Jordan joined them a moment later, and he was waving a check with a triumphant smile.

  “Keep this one,” he told Ellie with a nod to Jordan. “She’s good luck.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Yeah, I know. And modest, too.” Ellie knew she had plenty of reasons to feel lucky and grateful. She almost wasn’t jealous over the numbers on that check.

  “More champagne for all,” Derek declared, and no one disagreed.

  Perhaps this was what Natalie hoped to achieve someday, but had never managed: Finding a circle of people who loved her for who she was.

  Ellie couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry for her, but the realization went a long way to ease her own pain.

  * * * *

  It had taken Ellie a while not to think of the relative calm of the next few days as the calm before just another storm. She was happy for Kate and Derek who seemed to have taken the right turn for good, even with all the challenges they faced. Work was never slow. She had exactly the life she had chosen. No one could take that away from her.

  They had met at the Night Shift again, where Jordan revealed that Jack was almost ready to open the re-built Code 7 under a different name.

  “I’m so glad he gave up on calling it Carpenter’s.” She laughed. “I would have never lived that one down.”

  “If we go by cases closed, he should have called it Carpenter & Henderson at least,” Derek deadpanned. “No one’s going to come close to the record in the next few years.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Casey Lyons pulled herself a chair and sat at the table. “Harding seems to be well on her way.”

  “No offense, but that’s not even close.”

  “We’ll talk again in a couple of years. She always gets what she wants,” Casey declared. “In any case,” she directed at Jordan, “Your Dad’s doing a great job. It will be good to go back there…and for the neighborhood.”

  “Yeah. I think so too.”

  “So what else is on the horizon?”

  “I don’t know,” Ellie said. “There’s not a lot going on at the moment, and that’s a relief, after everything. Two years from now…many things could happen.” She caught Jordan’s smile on her. The number had almost become code…and here, with her closest friends, she felt safe enough to say it out loud. “We might even have a child.”

  “Yeah, you just got married, take your time with that,” Casey advised. “You know what’s going to happen. No more sex.”

  She earned some laughter. Ellie thought that was fairly unimaginable. Smile still on her face, she reached for her phone when it buzzed in her purse. The caller ID, however, put a frown on her face. She appreciated April keeping them up to date about the investigation, but frankly, she didn’t need to know every little detail as long as there was no solid lead on Natalie.

  “Excuse me. Hi.” She had caught April before her call went to voicemail. “What’s up?”

  “Looks like our girl is still in the county. Face recognition software is a magical thing.”

  “Where is she?” Ellie asked, and all of a sudden, everyone at the table went silent.

  “We don’t know exactly, but we’re close.”

  “That’s good news.”

  “It is. You want to meet us? I’ll text you an address. We’re about to set up something.”

  “Sure, I’ll see you in a bit.”

  When she hung up, everyone’s expectant gazes were on her.

  “That was April,” she said. “They have a lead.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Natalie hummed to herself as she drove along the scenic route early that morning, nothing to distract her from the beautiful landscape. She loved driving. It cleared her mind, from the latest persona, the latest connections she was about to leave behind. It worked every time. Her peace of mind was disturbed by the sudden appearance of a police car. She sat straighter in her seat, still expecting the vehicle to pass her by.

  It didn’t.

  When the lights indicated for her to stop, Natalie let out a curse, but she pulled up on the side of the road, keeping a cordial smile in place. She had nothing to be worried about. If the cop ran a quick check, they wouldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Natalie always made sure of that, and, well, it had worked the other time. She’d known that either Jordan or Ellie would try to be on the safe side, not that it had helped them.

  She rolled down the window, realizing the young man seemed barely out of the academy. Natalie relaxed. This should be easy.

  “Good morning, Officer,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

  “License and registration, please.”

  “Of course. Can I ask what this is about? I’m pretty sure I wasn’t too fast.”

  Stop, she told herself. She knew better than to argue with the officer, even if he looked no older than twenty.

  He studied her papers and then looked back at her. “Ms. Nadine Sawyer?”

  “Yes. Is there a problem?”

  “Please wait. I’ll be right back.”

  Natalie tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, resisting the impulse to cut her losses and run. She knew those papers were perfect. It would be stupid to hit the gas pedal and draw any more attention to herself.

  After a few minutes that felt like an hour, the young officer returned.

  “Ms. Sawyer? Please step out of the car. I need you to come with me to the station.”

  “Wow, that sounds serious. Can’t you just write me a ticket? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

  “Step out of the car, now,” he repeated.

  Natalie saw that his hand went to his gun. Easy, she told herself. This will all go away. After all, she’d lived with cops for weeks, and they didn’t suspect her. She’d gotten herself out of worse messes.

  “Okay. I’m sure we’ll clear this all up in a heartbeat.”

  “There are several outstanding traffic violations in your name, Ms. Sawyer. I’m sorry, but I need you to come with me.”

  Natalie felt her jaw drop. Acting demure for the time being, she mentally slapped herself. How was that even possible? Nadine Sawyer was a goody two shoes—no way had she not paid her parking tickets. From what Natalie knew, Nadine wouldn’t even let herself get a parking ticket.

  Yet, she was in the back of a police car.

  This wasn’t good.

  * * * *

  It wasn’t good, but Natalie was determined to make the best of her situation. They’d have to tell her what the damage was, and she’d pay them cash, at the worst. As long as she could stay Nadine, things were good. The cops at the small station were polite. This was routine—her fault that she hadn’t researched Nadine enough. This couldn’t happen again.

  She had to get herself out of here before they took fingerprints.

  Natalie was lucky to look the part of an allegedly harmless, middle-aged woman—they had brought her to an interview room instead of a holding cell. She assumed that in a small place like this, they’d handle things differently. After about ten minutes, a woman in civilian clothes joined her. She wore her curly blonde hair in a pony-tail, jeans and a white shirt.

  “Good morning, Ms. Sawyer,” she said.

  Natalie smiled. The other woman’s expression remained serious.

  “Good morning. Frankly, I still don’t understand why I’m here. Your officer said there were some tickets? Can’t I just pay
them and leave? You’re not mistaking me for an escaped felon, are you?”

  Now, the woman smiled back at her.

  “You tell me, Natalie. Oh, by the way, I’m Detective Cassidy. I’ll be right back with you, but first, there’s someone who’d like to have a word with you.”

  “That’s not my name! It’s Nadine!” Natalie called after her.

  “Yeah, whatever you say.”

  “You have no right to hold me!”

  At the door, Detective Cassidy turned.

  “Let’s see, there’s identity theft and fraud to start with. Don’t worry, I have lots of good reasons…and messing with friends of mine did not help.”

  * * * *

  Ellie stepped into the room and closed the door behind herself. They had been up all night, finding Natalie and setting the trap for her. She had expected a myriad of emotions for the moment she’d see Natalie again…but Natalie, the illusion she’d presented, was gone. The woman sitting in that chair, giving her that arrogant smile even though her foot was tapping the floor lightly, wasn’t her sister. She was a stranger, a criminal.

  Ellie was done mourning what had never been.

  “I assume you want the long story from me,” Natalie said. “How I found you.”

  “I already know what. You like to use newspaper articles for your research.”

  “Why you?”

  Ellie shrugged. “I’m sorry, but you’re overestimating yourself. We found the other victims. I have the answers I need. I don’t think you have anything to add.”

  “Oh, but you don’t know that. Aren’t you curious? I could have chosen to be a long lost relative from Jordan’s messed up family…of course they aren’t dead, but they never gave a damn either, so—”

  “Shut up,” Ellie told her, fairly proud she’d made Natalie flinch without even raising her voice. “Leave Jordan out of this. None of this is a surprise. Of course you’d go the easier route, and you know why? You aren’t that good after all.”

  “Oh no? I lived in your house. I cooked you dinner. I fooled you.”

  “For a while, yes.”

  Natalie looked pleased with herself.

  “You want to know why I came all the way here?”

  “I don’t know, to take another look at your almost sister? To imagine what could have been, little orphan Ellie no longer alone?”

  “See, that’s what you got wrong. I was never alone. For a moment, I might have thought I needed you, but I never did.” Ellie looked up to hold the gaze of the woman who had inserted herself into her life, a fake. “You’re done, Natalie. I wanted to be the one to tell you—for myself, and for all the others. Have a nice day.”

  She walked out of the room while Natalie sat in stunned silence.

  * * * *

  “Great job,” April said. “Now that the fun part is over, our local colleagues and I will have to deal with this egomaniac all day. What about you? You’re a long way from home.”

  Jordan looked over to Ellie who stood leaning against the wall, looking calm, but tired.

  “Yeah, I think we’ll stay for the night and head home tomorrow after breakfast. Why don’t you come join us at the hotel when you’re done here? We could have dinner.”

  “Sounds great,” April confirmed. “See you guys later.”

  They walked out of the building and down the concrete steps into the sunlight.

  “Now that it’s over for real, how are you feeling?” Jordan asked.

  “Lucky,” Ellie said and pulled her close for a kiss.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  April came by later for a quick update, but having an early start the next day, she didn’t stay for dinner after all. Jordan and Ellie decided on a quiet evening with room service, taking their meal out on the small balcony of their room.

  Ellie’s mind was still reeling from the events of the past forty-eight hours. Did she have all the answers she wanted? Maybe not, but Natalie wouldn’t be able to pull her scheme on other unsuspecting people in the future. The rest was for April’s team to figure out.

  “I think there’s someone I should call,” she said. “They’ll notify her anyway, but I feel like I should talk to her.”

  Jordan seemed to sense that she needed to get it out of the way right now. She just nodded, so Ellie picked up her phone and pulled up a number she’d found only recently, of a woman she shared a rather unique experience with.

  The phone was answered after a couple of rings.

  “Mrs. Dempsey, this is Detective Harding. I’m sorry to call you this late, but there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

  “Honestly, I didn’t expect to hear from you again…does that mean…?”

  “We arrested her today. The detective on the case will contact you, but I wanted you to know as soon as possible…We got her, and she’ll go to prison for what she did.”

  “That’s good news, then. Thank you so much, Detective. Did she say…why?”

  “My colleagues are still interrogating her, but I assume they’ll bring in a psychiatrist as well. It seems like people believing her stories was the gratification she wanted. Whenever someone was asked too many questions, she moved on.”

  “I guess that’s all we’ll ever know.”

  Mrs. Dempsey sounded wistful. Ellie could easily understand why: She hadn’t been able to solve a question that had been fundamental in her life.

  “Would you like to find your daughter?” That was perhaps a strange question to ask, but Ellie was in a strange mood today.

  “For a long time, I thought it would be better for her if I just let her be, let her live her life however she chose…and that I didn’t have the right.”

  Yes, Natalie had a knack for zooming in on these kinds of insecurities.

  “And now?”

  “Is there any way you can help me?”

  “I can asked around, check with a few friends. I’m sorry I can’t promise you anything.”

  “I understand that. Thank you.”

  “It’s no problem. I’ll email you if we find anything. Have a good night.”

  “You too, Detective.”

  Ellie looked up to find Jordan studying her, and she waited. For gentle criticism, maybe, because Jordan knew better than anyone else that dealing with one’s biological parents wasn’t always easy. This was different, though. Mrs. Dempsey had made a decision very early in her daughter’s life, and unlike Kathryn, she hadn’t exposed her child to neglect.

  Or maybe it wasn’t about that at all. They sure had been given a lot to think about, family, and what it meant to either of them. What it would mean for both of them, someday, in a year or two.

  She sat back down and picked up her glass and took a sip.

  “Something’s on your mind.”

  Jordan hesitated. “There has to be a lot on your mind right now.”

  “Most of it was sorted out the moment I walked into that room and saw her. There were no surprises after that—but I wasn’t kidding when I said I know who my real family is. You are.”

  “What if we don’t wait two years, or even one?”

  The question Jordan blurted out made so much sense to Ellie, it occurred to her that it had been on her mind as well, in the background, sometimes at the forefront. She felt calm about it, perhaps because for them, it was a logical next step.

  “That was never set in stone anyway. We could start by getting some information.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Yes, of course. I was serious when we tried to adopt Ariel…and I am now. I know a lot of people say it’s a bad world to bring a child into, but I still believe we can make a difference. We can raise a child that will be an adult who makes a difference.”

  “We talked about this before, a little. We never talked about who’s going to have the baby.”

  Ellie hadn’t missed the sudden anxious tone of Jordan’s voice. She thought she knew what it meant, and what she needed to say.

  “Talk to me.”

  “It
might be the case. It’s more than that, because there will always be a case. And your career is just taking off, this is why we said we’d wait in the first place, but for me, it might be the last chance.”

  “I understand. Let’s do it.”

  Jordan was on her feet the next moment, pulling Ellie up and into her arms.

  “I thought this would be more complicated,” she confessed.

  “Hey. When have I ever been complicated?”

  Jordan laughed. “You’re right.” As they sat back down, holding on to each other’s hands, she continued, “It might get a little complicated though. With the job and Kathryn both.”

  “But that doesn’t change two years from now, does it? I’m sure Casey can give us some tips once we’re there. Everything else, we’ll figure out. I promise you.”

  “I believe you.”

  Perhaps this had been the answer she’d hoped for, and it had nothing to do with this case and Natalie’s motivations—and everything with the future that lay ahead for Ellie and Jordan.

  It was looking bright.

  Books by Barbara Winkes

  www.amazon.com/author/barbarawinkes

  Suspense

  Killer Instinct

  The Amnesia Project

  Secrets

  The Carpenter/Harding thrillers:

  1. Indiscretions

  2. Insinuations

  3. Incisions

  4. Intrusions

  5. Initiations

  6. Intentions

  7. Infatuations

  Jayce & Emma (romantic suspense)

  1. Halfway Home

  2. Familiar Places

  3. New Rooms

  4. Close Quarters

  5. Honeymood Suite

  Paranormal/Suspense

  Rise

  Romance

  The Interpretation of Love and the Truth

  The Design of Everything Perfect

  Open Spaces

  Callie & Rebecca:

  1. Autumn Leaves

  2. Winter Storm

  3. Spring Fever