Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

He lifted his eyes to find Davies facing away, talking to the uniforms as they cuffed two teenagers. Then Davies turned and Steven saw the man wore no shirt under his jacket. It didn't take a damn detective to put the pieces together. While he'd been speeding away, Davies had come back and done his job.

Protected his woman.

Protected Jenna, who just now realized he was standing there. He didn't know what to say, didn't even hope Davies had kept his little tantrum secret. Because that's what it had been. A tantrum. She looked up at him. Then deliberately looked away.

He dropped to his knees next to her on the ground. "Jenna, I'm sorry."

She shook her head. And said nothing. Then she cleared her throat and said in as strong a voice as he'd ever heard her use, "Go away, Steven. Just go away."

"Jenna, honey, I'm here." They looked up to find a silver-haired man standing above them and she crumbled right before his eyes. The older man knelt beside her and held her while she cried.

The sound of her sobs tore at Steven, made him want to kick his own ass, and knew a kicking would never be enough. He reached out and touched her torn sleeve. She jerked her arm away.

"Jenna," Steven tried again. As soothingly as he could considering his heart was hammering right out of his chest, "Let me take you home."

She cried harder and shook her head. 'Take me home, Dad. Please."

Dad. This was Seth. Seth met his eyes. Frowned. "Your apartment's not safe, honey."

"No, Dad. Take me home . Your home. And please tell him to go the hell away."

Seth's eyes narrowed, realizing Steven had hurt his girl. "You heard her. I'm taking her home."

Steven watched as Seth lifted Jenna to her feet and into his car. And drove away.

Someone stepped to his right and Steven knew it was Davies. "Thatcher, you're a fucking idiot," he said, his tone low.

Steven watched the taillights of Seth's car disappear, taking Jenna away. "I know."

Friday, October M, 9:45 A.M.

Her head ached, worse than any hangover. And to make it worse, she had company. She winced at Allison's overly cheerful screech telling her to come downstairs. Coming home with Seth had seemed like a good idea last night, but now, in the light of day, she doubted its wisdom.

Neil stood in Allison's living room, holding a bunch of red roses. "I didn't know what you liked," he said, holding out the flowers. "I went for tradition."

She smiled, then winced when her split lip burned. "They're lovely, Neil. Have a seat." And when he did, she said, "I never got the chance to thank you for last night."

"I wish I'd gotten back sooner," he said, then blurted, "I told Thatcher he was a fucking idiot."

"That about sums it up."

"He's outside, sitting in his car," Neil added. "He was there when I got here."

"He's been there all morning," Allison said, sweeping in to get the flowers. "I've told him three times to leave, but he won't."

"He knows he fucked up," Neil said and Jenna lifted her brows.

"You're defending him? Last night…" Jenna faltered and shook her head. Then winced at the searing pain. "Never mind."

"Look, Thatcher's not number one on my hit parade, but I know what he looked like when you drove away. And I know how you looked when you said you loved him. At least hear what he has to say."

Jenna sighed. "Fine. Then everybody leaves so I can take these painkillers and go to sleep."

Neil went to the front door and gestured. "He's coming. I'll be going now."

Jenna squinted at the light of the open door. "I thought you were going back to Seattle today."

Neil frowned. "I changed my mind. Thatcher may have eliminated Rudy Lutz from his list of suspects, but my gut still tells me there's something there."

The room spun. "Rudy Lutz?"

Neil turned, still frowning. "I thought Thatcher would have told you."

She shook her head, every movement feeling like a thousand knives. "No. No, he didn't."

"Well, he was right not to," Neil said. "It would have contaminated the case."

Jenna felt like she was going to throw up. Rudy Lutz ? Well, wasn't that just jimmy cricket? Rudy Lutz ? He knew all this time. Damn him. Damn them both. She waited until Steven was in the living room before leveling both barrels at both men. "You didn't think it was important to tell me I had a serial killer after me? Did you think I was too stupid to understand?"

Steven looked at Neil with murder in his eyes.

Neil shrugged. "I thought you would have told her. Pillow talk."

"I run a clean investigation," Steven gritted. "No loopholes for overeager defense attorneys."

Neil scowled. "My investigation was every bit as clean as yours."

" Shut up !" Jenna pushed her fingertips against her temples. 'Tell me, if you don't think I'm too feebleminded to comprehend, are there any strange chemicals at work in this case?"

Steven narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Yes or no, dammit," she snapped, then gobbled down the painkillers Allison silently put in front of her. "Thank you, Allison."

"You're welcome." Allison faced the two men. "Well, answer her question."

"For God's sake," Steven grumbled. "Yes, yes there are. Ketamine, if you must know. Why?"

"Because I found some chemicals missing from my storeroom yesterday. I had an inventory, but it got lost somewhere in the fighting. I know I was missing silver nitrate and some of the basic ingredients of ketamine. But your killer would have had to have access to sophisticated lab equipment. Not the kind in my classroom and certainly not the kind you'd assemble from a drugstore chemistry set. If the silver nitrate is involved, your killer is developing his own photographs. And for the record, there is no way under heaven that Rudy Lutz is smart enough to pull all of this off." She massaged her temples. "To pull any of this off. His father, maybe, but football boy? No way. That is all. Now please, both of you go away ."

Neil gave Steven an intense look, then left.

"You too, Steven," she said. "I've had enough."

"You heard her," Allison said and Steven's face went red with anger.

"I will talk to her," he said softly, "and you will please leave."

"This is my house," Allison started, then Jenna waved her hand.

"Let him stay long enough to have his say." When they were alone, Jenna sat back and closed her eyes. "Let's get this over with."

"My wife left me for another man," he said and her eyes flew open.

"What?"

He was looking at her evenly. "The day my wife died I came home from work to find Brad watching Matt and Nicky. Brad was thirteen, Matt was nine, and Nicky was three. Melissa had gone to the mall, Brad said. Except I went to our bedroom and found a note lying on the bed. She'd said she left me for another man and that by the time I got the note she'd be halfway to Miami. She didn't love me, had never loved me, and was tired of chicken nuggets, soccer games, and diaper changes. The boys were mine and I was welcome to them." He was reciting the note in a monotone and Jenna knew he'd memorized every word. Stunned, she had no idea what to say to him.

"I sat there looking at the note for an hour, then figured I needed to tell the boys something. She wasn't coming home." He looked away. "I'd made it downstairs when the doorbell rang. It was a uniform from the third district, looking solemn, and I knew what he was going to say. She'd been in an accident on the way to the airport. She was in the car with another man. The married CEO of a Raleigh company, who had a blood alcohol level of point one eight. He lived, she died."

"The drunk driver whose insurance was so eager to settle with you," Jenna murmured and Steven shrugged callously.