Marilyn Pappano - Criminal Deception

I’ve got time, she always answered Emilia.

Maybe you do, but I don’t, her mother always retorted. I want grandbabies while I’m still able to play with them. As if she weren’t in such good shape that she could outlast her husband and all her kids at everything.

Liz did want children. She’d always imagined herself, well-invested in her career, in a supervisory position that would allow her a more regular work schedule and going home to her husband and at least two kids most nights. The husband had always been faceless, but the kids hadn’t: one dark-haired, dark-eyed devilish little boy and the other a dark-haired, dark-eyed princess, though without her mother’s curls, thank you very much.

But as she stepped into the shower under the rush of hot water and closed her eyes, the kids in the picture that formed were between dark and fair, and their eyes were blue blue blue. Like Joe’s.

Damn.

By the time the hot water ran out, her body was more relaxed, even if her emotions were still tied in knots. She dressed in capris and a sleeveless top with sandals, added makeup, earrings and perfume, slung her purse over her shoulder and headed out the door.

Natalia sat on the steps of her house, watching the dogs at play. Bear glanced Liz’s way, but Elizabeth was too intent on stalking a butterfly to pay her any attention, and he was reluctant to leave the other dog’s side.

“Good morning,” Liz called.

“Morning.” Natalia drew her knees a little closer and wrapped her arms around them. “How do you feel?”

The question surprised Liz. When she’d called Mika the night before to report the incident, Mika hadn’t asked Are you all right? or Was anyone hurt? She’d gone straight to, Did you get a description? “I’m fine. Just a little bruised.” Liz slid on her sunglasses, then impulsively said, “I’m going downtown. Would you like to join me?”

For an instant, Natalia looked tempted, then she shook her head. “I hate to keep the puppies locked up too long.”

Liz looked at the dogs, who had given up on the butterfly and stretched out in a patch of sunlight that had dried the sidewalk from yesterday’s rain. Their eyes were closed, and Elizabeth ’s head rested on Bear’s hip. “I imagine they can sleep inside the house as well as they can outside.”

Another instant of hesitation was followed by another headshake. “I don’t think so.”

With a little more coaxing, Liz thought, she might change her mind. But maybe not. Maybe Lizwas the only weak one around.

“I’ll see you later, then.” She turned, heading for her car, but when she reached it, she didn’t open the door. It wasn’t far downtown, and it was a beautiful day. Her sandals were comfortable enough for walking, and she wouldn’t be contributing to the emissions that dirtied the air.

That last thought caught her off guard. Watch out , Joe had said. Before you know it, you’ll be giving up paper towels for real ones. Not likely. But an occasional walk instead of driving…why not?

It was a pleasant walk. People working in their yards spoke to her, and she spoke back. In between, though, her thoughts remained on the phone call last night with Mika. Do you think they meant to kill Joe?

Liz’s gut instincts said no. With the weight of the vehicle and the speed at which it was traveling, the decorative iron fence at River’s Edge would have collapsed like toothpicks. The driver could have run them down without delaying his getaway by more than a few seconds. If he preferred to avoid damage to the truck, his passenger could have shot them both and, again, they could have disappeared within seconds.

Which meant it was either a warning or a random occurrence. Mika didn’t like randomness; it didn’t fit neatly into her structured view of the world. But the near-miss could have been nothing more than a prank, as Liz had first thought. Kids with more booze than sense. God knew, the world was full of irresponsible people causing unintended consequences.

And you haven’t seen anyone you know around town, Mika had confirmed. Any likely suspects?

Liz had a passing familiarity with pretty much everyone who worked for the Mulroneys. There might be newcomers other than herself in Copper Lake, but no one she knew from Chicago. Granted, the Mulroneys could have easily hired someone from Atlanta or Augusta or anyplace else. Long-distance hiring for bad guys, especially with the Internet, was no more difficult than for anyone else.

Before she realized it, she was standing across the street from the coffee shop. About half the tables inside were occupied, and the line at the counter hid Joe from sight. Was it better to face him for the first time since that kiss with an audience or alone?

Depended on what she wanted the outcome to be.

Esther was still working, though it was nearly ten-thirty. Her orange hair clashed badly with her pink T-shirt, but she seemed unaware as she greeted Liz with a broad smile and a wink. “Mornin’. I hear you’ve become quite a regular with Joe, and not just at the shop either. Burgers at SnoCap, pizza at his place, long walks in the rain…”

Small towns and their gossip. “Let me guess. Your granddaughter hangs out at SnoCap, and the pizza delivery guy is an old boyfriend of yours.” After all, he couldn’t have been more than twenty years old.

Esther laughed heartily. “My granddaughter does hang out at SnoCap-so did I fifty years ago-and the pizza delivery guys are all old students of mine. And I’m keeping my daughter’s yappy poodle while she’s out of town, and the creature has to go outside every hour on the hour. Do you know I actually have to hold an umbrella over her when it rains?”

“Have you considered diapers?” Liz asked drily as she joined the line.

“Yeah, but I’m too old to be changing ’em and too young to be wearing ’em.” Esther laughed again, nudged her with an elbow, then went to top off coffee cups.

In Dallas, none of Liz’s neighbors knew her well enough to bother with her comings and goings. As for all the places she’d stayed in the past two years, they’d deliberately kept a very low profile. No one had known anything about them, and apparently hadn’t cared. There’d been little curiosity, no neighborly visits, no friendly invitations.

She would appreciate the lack of anonymity in Copper Lake if she didn’t have things to hide.

Finally it was her turn to order. The teenager in front of her took his change and frozen drink and Joe’s gaze met hers and her lungs tightened. Sure, it was lack of oxygen that made her a little giddy, nothing more.

For a moment, he just looked at her, all serious and hard to read. Then he smiled, just a bit, just a quirk of his mouth, and said, “Hey.”

“Hi.” She watched him for a moment before remembering that she was supposed to order something. “I’ll have a-a-” Her gaze swept over the menu board, but the words didn’t make a lot of sense. “Surprise me.”

His smile grew a bit. “Hot or cold?”

“Hot.”

“Have a seat. I’ll bring it out in a minute.”

Her head bobbed several times before her feeble brain got her feet moving. She found a table next to the east-facing window, still lit by a sliver of sun. The seat was warm and felt good against her back.

At the counter, Joe was talking with the next customer in line, his voice a quiet rumble. A man’s voice was a comfortable thing. Her earliest memories were of awakening at night to the soft murmur of her parents talking in their room next to hers. The conversations were mundane-what he had done at work that day, which cases she was hearing, what kind of trouble the boys had gotten into-but the words hadn’t mattered. Just the sound of her father’s voice had made her feel safe and secure enough to sleep again.