Carol Ericson - Circumstantial Memories

“I guess my secret admirer doesn’t admire me anymore.”

She rubbed her arms to quell the shiver stealing across body.

Ryder squinted into the sun. “If he can’t have you, he wants to make sure nobody else does.”

RYDER SETTLED Julia and Shelby at the house. Now that Julia’s stalker had taken his show on the road, he could avoid the cameras. Who knew about the cameras besides Zack Ballard and Dr. Jim Brody? Hell, anyone hiding out with a pair of binoculars could’ve watched him install the cameras.

He tramped back up the trail, a slow blaze kindling in his gut. Julia had pissed off this maniac by not cherishing his pathetic gifts and then made things worse by keeping company with him.

Not that it mattered. The man stalking Julia had a tenuous hold on reality. There wasn’t much she could’ve done to appease him. Any action on her part would have resulted in the same outcome. The man wanted her or he wanted her dead.

Before the main trail narrowed, a smaller trail forked to the right, leading up to the craggy rocks and crevices that overlooked Silverhill. Ryder scrambled over the first rock to take this alternate route.

He crept along the trail, hunched over, peering at the foliage along the sides. Judging by the snapped twigs and crushed leaves, someone had recently climbed this trail, but imprints of hiking boots and running shoes criss-crossed each other, obscuring any clear set of footprints.

He reached the outcropping of rocks that rose above the narrow path of the trail below. Moist earth and moss marked the spot where the boulder had come loose. He examined the area and found a broken board. Had Julia’s attacker used that as leverage to dislodge the boulder?

Peering over the edge, Ryder had a clear view of the trail. The man loosened the boulder and then waited for Julia and Shelby. Ryder’s jaw tightened along with his fists. He had to protect Julia and their daughter from this madman. He had to take him out before he did any more damage.

He stirred the dried leaves on the ground with his foot. The corner of a shiny object appeared in the dirt. Ryder pounced on it, feeling like those old prospectors must’ve felt almost a hundred and fifty years ago when they struck a vein of silver ore in these hills.

Pinching his find between two fingers, Ryder shook the dirt from it. He cradled the rectangular silver case in his palm and then pressed a small release lever. The lid to the case popped open, revealing a stack of thick cards embossed with gold letters: Dr. James Brody, Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

Ryder clutched the incriminating case in his hand so tightly, it bit into his flesh. He had all the proof he needed to get Brody out of Julia’s life for good. And if he couldn’t count on law enforcement to lock him up, well, he had his own methods.

Shoving the card case in his back pocket, he clambered over the rocks and dropped back onto the trail. Once they dealt with this freak, he and Julia could discuss their daughter and their future…together.

BY THE TIME Julia placed the last bunch of wildflowers in a vase, Shelby had crashed on the sofa. She slipped off Shelby ’s shoes and carried her to the pink princess bed. Positioning a pillow beneath Shelby ’s head, Julia studied her daughter’s face.

She thought she’d memorized every detail, but now she noticed long lashes tipped with gold, like Ryder’s. How had she missed the resemblance between her daughter and the man who came to Silverhill to save her? Had she really missed it or had she stuffed the creeping realization that Shelby was McClintock through and through deep into the shadows of her mind?

Now the truth screamed at her from all sides. The electricity between her and Ryder from the first moment he touched her. Ryder’s interest and obvious pleasure in Shelby ’s company. Shelby ’s own comfort in Ryder’s presence.

She’d been a fool.

Even Dr. Brody figured out the connection between Ryder and Shelby or maybe he just imagined it in his paranoid state. How many other people in Silverhill realized the truth about Shelby ’s paternity? She knew it wouldn’t take long for word to spread.

The latch on her front gate squeaked and Julia peeked through a gap in the curtains. Ryder strode up her walkway, a frown marring his handsome features. Guess he didn’t find anything. Sheriff Ballard wouldn’t be sending any search parties out for a phantom.

She opened the door before he had a chance to knock. “You didn’t find anything.”

“Wrong.” He slid his fingers into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small, silver rectangle.

“What is it?” Her pulse ticked up a few notches. She hadn’t imagined that shadow over the sun.

Ryder flicked the case open and held it out.

A dull pain throbbed behind her eyes. Despite his unethical behavior and frantic phone calls last night, Julia had a hard time believing Jim had been stalking her. Now the proof swam before her eyes in black and white, or rather, gold and white.

“He must be out of his mind. Why would he risk everything, his career, his reputation?”

“You said it. Out of his mind. I’m calling Ballard right now, and he’ll contact the Durango Sheriff’s Department. I don’t know if this will be enough proof to arrest him, but it’s going to put a serious crimp in his skulking.”

“The phone calls.” Julia pointed to her answering machine. “Jim left several messages last night, desperate, drunken, rambling messages.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I-I didn’t want to talk to you last night.” A dark cloud passed over Ryder’s face and his pain sliced her heart. “I wasn’t ready…last night.”

Almost two hours later, after Sheriff Ballard came over and collected the card case and the tape from the answering machine and took Julia’s statement, she collapsed on the sofa. “It’s over. Dr. Brody won’t be able to hide from the Durango Sheriff’s Department.”

“Are you ready to talk now?” Ryder propped his shoulders against the doorjamb and folded his arms. “We have a lot to clear up, a lot to remember.”

“I have a better idea.” Julia curled her legs beneath her. “ Shelby ’s going to a sleepover tonight at the Stokers’ with their granddaughter. I’ll cook dinner for you, and we can figure all this out.”

“You cook?”

“I know I never cooked before, but I learned a few tricks since coming to Silverhill.”

“You remember?”

“Yeah, I do.”

From the wicked smile breaking across Ryder’s face, he was recalling a lot more than her inability to cook. She didn’t have to tell him she remembered their torrid affair. She planned to show him.

And that’s exactly what the old Julia would do.

RYDER SHOWED UP for dinner, clutching a bottle of French wine in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. Good thing Rod installed a wine cellar at the house and stocked it with pretentious labels. Julia always loved a good bottle of Bordeaux.

She opened the door a crack before swinging it wide, and he almost dropped the bottle of wine on the ground. A slip of a summer dress skimmed Julia’s curves and her dark hair danced along her shoulders, free of its customary ponytail.

“I come bearing gifts.” He thrust the bottle in front of him.

She snatched the wine from his hand and peered at the label. “Impressive, but the old Julia is not quite up to full speed. I don’t drink much anymore, not enough to do justice to this bottle. I didn’t need alcohol fuzzing up my already fuzzy brain.”

“Keep it for when Julia number one makes her triumphant return. Rod won’t miss the bottle. I take that back. He probably keeps an inventory of the wine cellar, but that’s tough luck for him.”

“Ryder, what if Julia number one never completely returns? I’m not the stylish, madcap, rich girl living among sophisticates in Paris anymore.”