Karen Rose - I’m Watching You

Friday, February 27,

4:45 p.m.

„Leah’s mother is dead,“ Abe announced when they’d gathered in the conference room. „She died of cancer three years ago.“

„Leah hasn’t been seen for a year by anyone we talked to,“ Mia went on. „Her pastor said she’d become more and more depressed, then one day she didn’t come to church. They found she’d moved and left no forwarding address. I’m sorry, Kristen.“

Kristen tried to push aside the sadness, but it was hard. „Poor Leah.“

„We searched Paul Worth’s house,“ Jack said. „Found a bunch of different prints, but still none that match the partial Julia found on Conti’s body, which she released to the family today, by the way. In Worth’s garage we found the Oldsmobile without its plates and between a table saw and a rolling tool chest there was an empty space just the right size for that Craftsman vise that was used on Skinner. The house itself was deserted. They have a cleaning service come in every other week. Nobody saw anything.“

„Well, I can tell you Paul Worth himself is not involved,“ Miles said. „He’s not lucid and hasn’t been since his stroke last year. I saw him at the nursing home myself.“

„Any visitors?“ Abe said.

„None.“ Miles looked sad. „Hell of a way to spend the end of your life.“

„Oh,“ Mia said, „and Zoe Richardson is missing.“

This caused a bit of a buzz until Spinnelli raised his hand for silence. „Nothing we can do until she’s declared a missing person. Let’s not get sidetracked from our goal here, people. We know that Robert Barnett is the illegitimate son of Hank Worth and Genny O’Reilly, and that Barnett is Paul Worth’s nephew, but what is the connection between the Worth family and Leah Broderick?“

„We haven’t been able to find any yet,“ Abe said tightly.

„There were no pictures of her anywhere in Worth’s house,“ Jack added. „Sorry.“

Spinnelli sighed. „What’s next?“

„Murphy and I started checking area death certificates for Leah,“ Kristen said quietly. „Murphy sent out her picture to the State Police before I sent him home to sleep and Julia helped by sending copies to ME and county coroner’s offices in Illinois. She was thinking there might have been an unclaimed Jane Doe.“ Kristen’s throat closed. Such a waste .

Friday, February 27,

6:00 p.m.

„Looks like the gang’s all here. Mom’s having a little family party tonight There’s a big party following the christening tomorrow,“ Abe said, squeezing the SUV between Sean’s minivan and Aidan’s Camaro. Then he sighed. „This should be interesting.“

There was a high-end Lexus parked in front of the mini-van, and instinctively Kristen knew to whom it belonged. „Debra’s parents?“

„Yeah.“

„You never did tell me what happened last night,“ she said gently.

Abe rested his chin on the steering wheel. „They asked me to forgive them.“

„Really?“

„Yeah, really. I about fell out of my chair. Said they’d been wrong. In everything. That they’d realized the day Debra finally died that they couldn’t have ended her life either, even if I’d allowed them to. But that they couldn’t get in touch with me to let me know because my parents weren’t telling anybody where I was.“

„So what did you say?“

„I said I’d have to think it over.“

„And have you?“

He looked over to find her green eyes filled with gentle understanding and unrelenting support and something shifted inside him. He’d known it was coming from the start, from the moment she’d tried to fell him with a pathetic can of pepper spray.

He loved her. He watched her face heat and he knew what he was feeling was written on his face for her to see. „Yeah.“

She reached out, letting her fingers trail down his cheek. „And?“

„Of course I will. Life’s too short, Kristen. I’m ready to move on. With you.“

Her mouth curved. „Are you now?“

„I am.“ He caught her behind her neck and pulled her closer. „Will you come?“

Her eyes danced. „Not in front of your parents’ house. But maybe later.“

Laughing, he kissed her hard. „Tart. Let’s go in and join the others.“

The kitchen was controlled chaos, as usual. Sean’s kids ran circles around the floor, while his mother was smacking Aidan away from the pie she’d just pulled out of the oven. Annie was standing at the sink peeling potatoes and the television blared ESPN from the living room. The pie was cherry. All was right with the world.

„Hi, Mom,“ Abe said. „Got enough for two more?“

„We can’t cook in my kitchen,“ Kristen added wryly. „Somebody stole it.“

Aidan and Annie looked at each other, coconspirators, and Kristen surprised them all by walking right up to Aidan and pulling his head down to kiss his cheek.

„Thank you,“ she said. She put her arm around Annie’s shoulders and hugged. „That was the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.“

Annie beamed and quickly recovering, Aidan grinned wickedly. „If that’s the nicest thing anyone’s done for you, then I really do need to have that talk with Abe.“

Her cheeks crimson, Kristen looked at his mother. „Hit him, please.“

Becca arched her brows. „You’re no longer a guest. Hit him yourself.“ Sobering, she turned to Abe. „You’ve got company in the living room.“

„Yeah, I know. I’ll be back later.“

Kristen watched him walk away. He was ready to put aside the last ugly remnants of his past so that he could get on with his future. A future he wanted to share. With her. Will you come ? he’d asked. She knew where this was leading. A man like Abe Reagan didn’t have affairs. He wanted a wife. A family. How desperately she’d wanted to say yes . But there were things he had to know first. Things that might change his mind. So she’d made light of his beautiful offer. She needed to tell him. Soon. And men, if he still wanted her, she’d give him the answer her heart was screaming.

Shaking herself, she turned to Annie. „So what do you think about the kitchen? Country hearth or French Provincial?“

Friday, February 27,

6:30 P.M.

Finding him had been no trouble at all. Few mayors of small Kansas towns were running for the state legislature and only one of them had gone to the University of Kansas. Figuring out that Geoffrey Kaplan was the man who had hurt Kristen had taken all of one hour. Getting from Chicago to Kansas, unfortunately, had taken fourteen. He’d managed to catch a few hours of sleep while Kaplan was in town tending his mayoral duties.

He now waited for the man to come home to his pretty house which sat isolated on ten acres of land. An old barn made a handy cover for his van. Kaplan’s trusting wife left the garage door wide-open all day, so it was no problem to slip inside and wait. It was a basement garage, like his own, so there were lots of places to hide. At least two televisions blared upstairs, and his gun had a silencer. There would be no noise of consequence.

He felt a tightening in his chest when the bastard drove in. In a few seconds, he’d see the face of the man who had raped a young woman and left her in the dirt at the county fair. The headlights switched off, leaving them in darkness. The car door opened, the dome light illuminating the interior and Kaplan climbed out. And his first thought on seeing Kaplan was that Kristen had been right. He was a totally ordinary-looking man. Five-ten, average build, slight paunch. He was balding. Badly.

He waited until Kaplan had leaned into the backseat to retrieve his briefcase, then emerged from his hiding place, his revolver drawn. In his other hand he held Kaplan’s own tire iron. Soundlessly he approached.