The Reclusive Widow (The Widow Taker Book 3)

by Kennedy Layne

  “Good morning,” Lily greeted after Ridge had acknowledged the agent. The state police detective remained silent as they all walked into the elevator. “Is there anything new on the search for Alan Harrison?”

  Agent Roche shared a look with Ridge that was hard to decipher. Lily was prevented from asking anything more when two other men tried to enter the elevator before the doors could close all the way. Surprisingly, it was the state police detective who stepped forward and blocked their progress.

  “This one’s full,” he said unapologetically as he stood directly in front of her. “Catch the next one.”

  “We’re still searching for Harrison,” Agent Roche said as if nothing unusual had just occurred. There was that underlying tension in his tone that she found very familiar. He and Ridge were definitely cut from the same cloth. “I’m actually catching a plane in a few hours to West Virginia. I’d like to speak with Paul Harrison’s mother. I’m aware that she has advanced Alzheimer’s, but I’m hoping that she still has moments where she is lucid enough to provide some details on Alan and his own mother.”

  “Do you still believe that he’ll try to finish what he started?” Lily asked, not needing to clarify her question. Ridge and Agent Malone had already expressed their belief that Alan Harrison would attempt to come after her again, but she really wanted to hear what Agent Roche had to say on the subject. Everything in his profile was in alignment to who and what Alan Harrison stood for in his quest to kill the widows of Winter Heights. “Even with Paul and I having twenty-four-seven protection?”

  “Yes.”

  Agent Roche didn’t mince his words, and he answered more directly than Lily had been expecting. She appreciated his honesty, though. His demeanor was very much in line with Ridge’s mannerisms. This side trip to the hospital seemed rather senseless now.

  The elevator doors opened, and the state police detective stepped out first, shifting so that he could hold the door while maintaining his ability to observe anyone within close range. She hadn’t expected Agent Roche to stop them from getting off of the elevator, though.

  “Listen, go straight home after this,” Agent Roche advised quietly. “I’ve been working this profile for months, and there’s something off with the direction this case is heading.”

  “Are you saying that Alan Harrison isn’t the individual you should be looking for?” Ridge asked as he gently pressed his hand against Lily’s lower back.

  “Actually, I do believe Alan Harrison is responsible for the murders. I just don’t believe he’s gone into hiding. Somehow, someway, the man is keeping close tabs on this investigation without anyone being the wiser. I’m just asking that you continue to take extra precautions. The second your guard is down will be the exact moment that our unsub strikes.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Both Ridge and Linc both stood outside the open hospital room door while Lily stood next to Teresa Harrison a few feet from the bed. From the way that she was standing and holding her lower back, she was more than ready to go into labor. The baby seemed to have other plans, though.

  “…sorry that he did that to you,” Paul replied, shifting in bed to achieve a more comfortable position. “I couldn’t believe it when Alan showed up out of the blue. It’s one thing to suspect. It’s entirely different to be confronted by it.”

  “You saw Alan’s face?” Lily asked Teresa, sounding somewhat surprised by the idea that Alan would have let Teresa go, whether she was pregnant or not.

  “Oh, no,” Teresa replied with a shake of her head as she moved over to her husband. She rested her free hand on his shoulder. “I’d asked Paul to pick me up some strawberry ice cream from the grocery store. When he didn’t return after a couple of hours and wouldn’t answer his phone, I called his boss. That’s when I found out that Rhonda had been killed, and…”

  Ridge listened to the conversation while he surveyed the nursing station, not seeing anything or anyone out of the ordinary. He figured fifteen minutes max before they were able to leave the hospital, without any appointments in the foreseeable future. They’d be able to hunker down at his cabin and wait out the manhunt. Unfortunately, having Lily tucked away at the cabin where no one could reach her was only going to be acceptable for a certain period of time. It wasn’t like he could encase her in bubble wrap and keep her safe forever.

  Linc had told Lily to go ahead and speak with Paul first. Ridge figured the agent had done so on purpose so that he could listen in on what was being said in the conversation. He was currently leaning a shoulder on the opposite side of the doorway, his gaze trained on the trio.

  “There’s trouble in the marriage,” Ridge murmured, ensuring that his voice didn’t carry inside the room. “Did you see the way Paul shifted away from his wife’s touch?”

  “Rumor has it that Mrs. Harrison believed her husband was having an affair with Rhonda Benson while being pregnant at home.”

  Linc Roche was as professional as they came. Well, with the possible exception of Agent Dean Malone. Either way, the agent standing next to Ridge wouldn’t throw something like that out at a stranger if there wasn’t meaning behind his words.

  “Were they involved?” Ridge asked, figuring they’d already crossed the line. If he was a betting man, he’d put money on that little tidbit of information being tucked somewhere in the case files at the cabin. “I don’t see what that has to do with the case.”

  “Me, either. At least, not at the moment.” Linc clearly didn’t like that there were loose ends associated with the investigation. “Has Ms. Hudson recalled anything new from the night of her attack?”

  “No.” Ridge studied Lily as she continued to talk with Paul and Teresa. “Nothing yet.”

  Linc nodded somewhat subconsciously, still studying Teresa Harrison as he waited for Lily to finish her conversation. Ridge wasn’t sure what the man’s fascination was with the woman, but she seemed completely absorbed with her husband.

  “I heard that the infamous Townes Calvert was in town.”

  “I was waiting for you to ask,” Ridge said with a hollow laugh. “Calvert has already flown back to Florida. He owed me a favor, and I collected on a debt.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’d love to check out the system that he put in along your property line. State of the art, according to the state police detective’s description.” Linc finally glanced Ridge’s way with what could only be admiration. “That must have been one hell of a favor he owed you.”

  “You and I both know that the military is a close-knit circle, especially the few numbers of special operators who the Marines select, given how many members there truly are in the other various branches. Calvert and I met a long, long time ago. Old business, for which we’ve finally sounded Endex as far as I’m concerned.” Ridge didn’t have to explain that Endex was military slang for End of Exercise or mission complete, pack your gear and move out. He also figured since they were crossing professional lines that he might as well step over one with his own boot. “Do you really think that an Alzheimer’s patient can give you operational insight on a man who she probably never even met when he was a child?”

  Linc took his time answering. For a brief moment, Ridge wasn’t even sure that the man was going to respond to his question at all.

  “Why would Paul Harrison move back to Winter Heights after fifteen plus years?” Linc asked, not really expecting an answer. “He claims that he hasn’t been in touch with his half-brother since they were in elementary school. Hell, they never even spoke that much back then, from what I understand. Frank Harrison left Paul’s mother right after he was born to marry another woman and father another child. That doesn’t happen without the first wife knowing more than the public.”

  “Are you saying that Paul somehow knew his brother was going to return to town?” Ridge asked warily, not liking where this discussion was heading, especially with Lily standing less than a foot away from the man. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I’m not suggesting anything. I state
d a fact as I know it. Paul Harrison moved back to Winter Heights, leaving his mother alone in a nursing home somewhere in West Virginia. He came here, met up with some old high school friends, and took a job as a manager in a pub where he was able to reintegrate himself back in with the residents. He and Rhonda Benson became close at some point, only she ends up dead in the back alley on the same night that he barely survived with his life intact. Someone clearly wasn’t happy with them.”

  “Paul somehow figured out that his half-brother was off the rails, even though he hadn’t had contact with him in years,” Ridge alleged, following the trail of breadcrumbs that Linc didn’t want to say aloud. “If he came here to stop him, why not tell the authorities last year, when all of this started?”

  “Would you sell out your—never mind.”

  Linc had been about to ask Ridge if he’d turn his own brother into the police if he’d murdered someone in cold blood. Damn straight he would have, but not because he didn’t love his brother. Quite the opposite. He’d get his brother into custody where he wouldn’t be able to cause more harm. Ridge would have not only saved the lives of several women, but he would have sought help for his brother once he was in custody. Everyone had different ways of showing their love for family members.

  “I agree that it wouldn’t be selling out a brother, either,” Linc said without regret and a shake of his head. “We have diametrically opposed mindsets than most civilians, though. Paul Harrison claims that he originally had no idea his half-brother had returned to town or that he was mentally ill and dangerous. He said he began to put the pieces together after the profile was released to the press. Dean questioned Teresa separately, and she swears that she knew nothing about Alan. Dean believed her.”

  “So, you’re left with constructing the truth, which is why you’re flying out to see Mrs. Harrison yourself.” Ridge would have said that Linc should save himself a trip and send one of the local deputies, but Linc was a profiler who saw more than most and tended to ask the important questions before they even became apparent. He would not only speak with Mrs. Harrison, but he’d study her room and look for any hidden clues that were hiding in plain sight. He’d handle the fact-finding mission much like Ridge had done when he’d been given a target during one of his deployments. It was imperative to know one’s targets and observe their movements in their native environment whenever possible. He’d spent days doing reconnaissance in some locations that most people would consider hostile, studying every single layout and scenario possible before finally settling down in one spot and resting his finger on the trigger. “I know that you didn’t have to share any of this. Hell, you probably shouldn’t have, given that I’m now a civilian who just got tangled up in this by happenstance. Just know that I appreciate it.”

  “…glad they are releasing you tomorrow,” Lily said softly, catching both Ridge and Linc’s attention as she picked up her purse and jacket that she’d laid over a chair.

  “I still can’t believe that Alan would have done something like this.” Paul shook his head in disbelief. “I was really hoping that I was wrong. I mean, Rhonda was my—”

  “I know what you’re going through,” Lily said in commiseration when Paul choke up with tears. She reached for his hand in solidarity. “You’ll spend almost every minute of the day wondering if you could have prevented all of this somehow. You’ll go over different scenarios in your mind, you’ll wonder if a simple sentence or sentiment would have changed the direction of his life. I’m here to tell you that nothing you could have said or done would have stopped Alan from committing those murders. He is the only one responsible for his actions. I know that Rhonda was your friend, and I’m truly sorry for your loss. Alan took her from you. He is the one responsible for all of this…not you. You did nothing to cause this. It took me close to a year and a lot of self-reflection to let go of some of the self-doubt and guilt that still rears its ugly head from time to time. You have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way, so please don’t give Alan any more control over your life than he already has taken.”

  Ridge had seen enough over the years to know that life worked in mysterious ways. He wouldn’t consider himself an overly religious person, much to the chagrin of his mother, but he thought of himself more as spiritual. Lily had been through a lot in the last few years, and she had mostly dealt with the entire blowback of her husband’s actions by herself. She was seeing a bit of herself in Paul Harrison, and she was passing along to him what she’d learned trudging through the ditches of her ordeal.

  Lily was paying it forward, which meant that she’d gotten to the point that she could leave her past behind. Her future was bright, and maybe she was realizing that not everyone blamed her for her husband’s crimes. There had only been a few unprofessional hospital employees he had overheard from time to time during the days that Lily had been in her room. The rest of the staff harbored no ill will toward her and had gone out of their way to treat her with the same kindness that they would afford anyone else.

  The tension that had settled over her shoulders on the elevator ride up to Paul’s floor had him believing that she was still wary of the setting her husband had worked in for years. She still wasn’t fully healed from the trial and the subsequent aftermath, but she was closer than before. Paul would probably never know how his ordeal had helped Lily see hers in a different light.

  “…hope you find peace, as well. Thanks for stopping by today. It means more than you know,” Paul said with a small smile of gratitude. He’d lost a dear friend in Rhonda Benson, and he probably wasn’t sure the reception he would receive from those who worked at the pub once he returned. Would they blame him, or would they commiserate with his grief? “Keep in touch, Lily.”

  Ridge had mixed feelings regarding Paul Harrison, but right now the man had given Lily some closure that she probably hadn’t even been aware that she needed. The fact that he might be keeping information about his half-brother from the feds was a matter that Linc and Dean would handle as swiftly as possible. Until that point, Ridge would do everything in his power to keep Lily safe.

  “Do you have an up-to-date photograph of Alan Harrison?” Ridge asked the agent beside him as Lily finished saying goodbye to Teresa and Paul. “Even a computerized, aged-progression photo that I could see so that I know who we’re looking out for?”

  “I put in the request to Quantico, asking them to use Alan Harrison’s third-grade school photo. We should have something back in the next day or two.” Linc motioned toward Paul. “The boys had the same blond hair and freckled skin when they were young, so I’m assuming they have similar features now. Both of the boys resembled their father.”

  Linc’s response didn’t help Ridge at the moment. In the meantime, anyone who even remotely resembled Paul Harrison would be kept far away from Lily. The fact that the investigation was still moving forward allowed Ridge a little bit of breathing room. He’d take Lily to her place to grab her laptop and anything else that she might need for the next week or two. He couldn’t imagine Alan Harrison lying low without attempting to gather some type of intelligence, but the cabin was now outfitted for that very possibility.

  “I’ll keep you posted on what I find in West Virginia,” Linc said, pushing away from the doorframe as Lily began to walk toward them. “In the meantime, call Dean if you have any concerns.”

  Ridge nodded as he shook the man’s hand, eventually moving out of the way so that Lily could walk out of the room. She smiled, really smiled, for the first time this morning.

  “Why don’t we pick up a pepperoni pizza from your favorite pizzeria and then drive to the cottage?” Ridge offered, wanting to keep that pretty smile on her face for a little bit longer. It wouldn’t kill him to be on high alert for the next thirty minutes, especially if it meant that she could experience a bit of normalcy. “My treat.”

  Lily began to talk earnestly about her visit with Paul, not revealing anything that Ridge hadn’t overheard. It seemed almost therapeutic for her to
recount the details, so he listened intently while nodding toward the state police detective who had turned toward the elevator bank. They’d spoken briefly when Lily had first gone into Paul’s room. Deputy Chen would be taking over the protective detail once they reached their vehicles in the parking lot.

  Everything had been going according to plan until they hit the front door, where they were greeted by three separate news crews. Ridge and the state police detective used their bodies to block the reporters from reaching Lily. It was quite the chaotic scene until Deputy Chen pulled up, shoved his cruiser in park, and then came around to open the passenger side door.

  Ridge hated the fact that he would be separated from Lily for a short period of time, but he had no alternative but to lead her out of the crowd to safety. It wasn’t long before she was safely inside the deputy’s cruiser and being driven out of the parking lot. The cameramen and reporters scrambled to their respective vans, but Deputy Chen knew better than to drive straight to the cabin. He would lose the tails before taking her back home.

  No one was aware that she was staying with him except those closely related to the case, and it needed to stay that way. Lily’s safety depended on it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lily paced in front of the fire that she’d made upon arriving home close to two hours ago. It had given her something to do beside wring her hands, waiting for Ridge to come home. He’d all but shoved her into the police cruiser, telling her that she would be okay over and over again. He didn’t seem to understand that she was more worried about him, especially after he’d practically thrown one of the cameramen to the ground after he’d blocked their way.

  The morning had been going so well, from her doctor’s appointment to the hospital visit. Speaking with Paul about his feelings in regard to his half-brother had brought back a lot of emotions that Lily had thought she’d already dealt with over the course of the last year. It had been very healing to help someone in a similar situation by giving advice that would have been nice to hear herself back then.