Iris Johansen - Chasing the Night

“I’m not going to get in your way. I won’t be any trouble. I’ll help you.” She paused. “We need to help each other.”

“You can’t help me.”

“Yes, I can.” She hesitated. “I’m smart, Catherine. Very smart. That’s why my mother doesn’t want me around. Daddy said that she had an idea of what she wanted in a daughter, and I wasn’t it. I make her uncomfortable. I try to hide it, but sometimes it tumbles out. But maybe you can use me.” Her lips firmed. “No, not maybe, I’ll make sure you can do it.”

“You can’t help me,” Catherine repeated.

“Venable told me that you’re looking for your son. He told me all about it. I’ll help you find him.”

Catherine muttered an oath beneath her breath. “He had no business telling you anything. You’re a kid, for heaven’s sake.”

Kelly shook her head. “I don’t feel like a kid.”

“That damn Munoz. I told you that you shouldn’t let what he did make you-” She shook her head. “What am I saying? It’s your father. His death alone was enough to make a big change in you.” She shrugged. “And you may not feel like a kid, but it’s the responsibility of the adults around you to recognize that you still have the right not to have to confront adult problems.”

“Do I have that right?” Kelly gave her the ghost of a smile. “Did you, Catherine? Not according to what Venable told me.”

“Did he give you my life history?” Catherine asked in disgust. “I can see him doing that. He wouldn’t care that you have problems of your own.”

Eve could see Catherine’s irritation growing by the moment. She wasn’t angry at Kelly so much as the situation, but Kelly might misinterpret. Time to step into the picture. “Kelly, you were supposed to go to your mother’s after you left the hospital. What happened? I can’t believe she wouldn’t be concerned.”

“She was concerned,” Kelly said. “But she didn’t want to deal with me. After the social worker explained what had happened and all the care and attention she should pay me for the next few months, she panicked. She set her secretary to trying to find a good rehabilitation home to stash me in for the next few months.” She added quietly, “She’s not a monster. It would have been a fine, luxurious rehabilitation home with wonderful psychiatrists. But I wouldn’t have been able to take it. And there’s no way I could persuade her not to send me there. She’s always sure she’s right when she wants something badly enough.”

“Bitch,” Catherine said.

Kelly shook her head. “No. You don’t understand. She doesn’t mean any harm. She just wants me to go away.”

“She’s your mother,” Eve said.

“Maybe the stork got the babies confused.” She met Eve’s gaze. “Don’t pity me. Because sometimes I want her to go away, too. Does that make me a terrible person?”

“It makes you human,” Eve said gently.

She nodded. “That’s what Daddy said. But Daddy was angry with her most of the time himself, so I couldn’t be sure.”

“Be sure,” Catherine said. “So you called Venable, and he came and picked you up?”

“He didn’t want to do it. He argued with me. He even hung up on me. But he called back. He said he’d thought about it, and my place was with you.”

“After he realized that you’d be the perfect roadblock to my plans,” Catherine said dryly. “He threatened to do everything he could to stop me from upsetting their plans for Rakovac. Then here you come, and it’s a golden opportunity.”

Kelly nodded. “You’re probably right. He was kind to me, but I think he may be a devious man. But I didn’t care, he gave me what I wanted.”

“A trip to Atlanta and the chance to be dumped on Eve’s doorstep.”

“Yes, and he promised to talk to my mother and convince her that he’d placed me in a secure home where I would receive excellent therapy.” She smiled wistfully. “It won’t take much to convince her. It’s what she wants to hear.”

“Eve’s home may be secure, but I’m leaving it within the next few days,” Catherine said. “And I’m as far from being a therapist as I could possibly be. I’m pretty screwed up myself right now. I could strangle Venable.”

“You’re not screwed up. You’re one of the sanest people I’ve ever met.”

“Your experience is limited.” She pushed the mug closer to Kelly. “Drink your chocolate. Then we’ll talk about where you’re going to spend the next six months.”

“Here, with you.”

“I can’t take care of you.”

“I don’t want you to care for me. I want breathing space until I can figure a way to run my life myself.” She lifted her chocolate to her lips. “I think the best thing for me would be to go and stay at school. I attend the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Then no one would have to bother with me.”

“A college?” Eve said. “But you’re only fourteen.”

“I’m very smart. All the professors decided that I should be at a think tank. Some of them wanted to send me to Harvard, but Daddy said he didn’t want me at a place with that high, edgy profile. He thought the pressure would be less on me in a Southern school. I like it okay there.” She paused. “Daddy told me that I was going to be all right as far as money was concerned. He set up some kind of trust for me. But public opinion matters to my mother, and she wouldn’t let a bank be my guardian. I’m too young, and she’d get a lot of bad press. But if enough time passes, maybe I can work it out.”

“Then perhaps Venable could persuade your mother to send you to school instead of a rehabilitation home,” Catherine said. “I’ll get on the phone and talk to him.”

“It won’t do any good. She won’t give in while there are still media stories about me. And you said that Venable wants me here. He’s not going to help you.”

“No, heaven forbid that he gives me a break.” Catherine drew a deep breath. “Kelly, being with me wouldn’t be good for you. If I thought anything else, I’d take a chance and let you stay with me. But it might even be dangerous. Venable knew that, and he still sent you. I can find you a safe place. I know a lot of people who owe me favors.”

Kelly smiled slightly. “Did you save their lives, too?”

“Look, I’m not some saintly do-gooder. I only went into Munoz’s camp because Venable and I had made a deal.”

“I don’t care. And I don’t think you’re a saint. I made Venable tell me all about you. He told me about Eve, too, so I wouldn’t be upset seeing bones from her reconstruction lying around.”

“Then, blast it, why did you come to me?”

“I like you,” she said simply. “I feel…at home with you. I don’t have to pretend. You don’t pity me, and if you find I can help, you’ll let me earn my way. That’s important to me right now.”

Catherine stared at her helplessly. “Kelly.”

“Let her stay the night,” Eve said quietly. “It’s no use arguing with her. You’re not going to toss her out in the rain. You’ve both had your say. Now you can both let everything simmer until morning.”

“Let? Me? This isn’t even my house. I’m not going to impose her on you. If she stays, we’ll both go down to my tent for the night.”

“You will not,” Eve said firmly. “It’s raining. Rakovac’s man may still be wandering around out there. I’d worry too much to sleep, and I’m much too selfish to permit you to do that. You can have the guest bedroom, and Kelly can sleep on the couch.” She turned to Kelly. “I presume you brought a suitcase.”

Kelly nodded. “It’s on the porch.” She got off the stool and headed for the door. “I’ll go get it.”

Catherine turned to Eve. “I never meant this to happen.”