Sandra Robbins - Trail of Secrets

She nodded. “When I wrapped my arms around his neck, the medical face mask he was wearing slipped to the side. He had a jagged scar that ran down the right side of his face from about the bottom of his ear to his chin. And he had a star tattooed on his neck.”

“Was there anything else? Was he short? Tall? Skinny? What was his coloring?”

Callie thought for a moment before she responded. “Dark hair and tan skin—maybe Latino, but I can’t be sure. He was about Seth’s height, and he was very muscular. He had broad shoulders, and I felt his muscles flex when he threw me off. He reminded me of the guys you see constantly working out in a gym.”

Captain Wilson nodded. “Good. That ought to help us.” He smiled at her. “You’ve done well tonight, Callie. You survived two shootings and you fought someone who seemed intent on killing your uncle. It’s good to see that it’s not only the men in the Lattimer family who can hold their own with the bad guys. You can, too.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t think so, Anthony. I just want to teach school. I’ll leave chasing crooks to men like you and Seth.”

He smiled. “I think you’ve had enough excitement for a while. You go on home now. I need to talk with Rob Grant and make sure nothing like this happens again.” He turned to Seth. “Can you see that Callie gets home?”

“I will, sir.”

Without another word, Captain Wilson strode down the hallway and through the doors of the Critical Care Unit. The elevator doors opened again, and Seth and Callie stepped inside. Neither of them said anything until they had exited the hospital and stood in the parking lot outside the E.R. Seth pointed across the rows of cars to where his sat underneath a lamppost. “That’s my car over there.”

He led her to his car and unlocked the door for her to crawl in before he walked around to the driver’s side and slipped behind the steering wheel. He glanced over at her as he started the car, but she had her head resting against the back of her seat and her eyes closed. He thought she must have been asleep before they drove from the parking lot.

Thirty minutes later he stopped in the driveway of Dan’s house and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Callie,” he said as he gently shook her, “we’re at your uncle’s house.”

She sat up, rubbed her eyes and looked around. “I’m sorry. I must have fallen asleep.” She reached for the door handle but frowned and hesitated. “I thought we were going to get my bags.”

He laughed and opened his door. “Already done, ma’am. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t wake you for the pickup. I have your bags in the trunk. I’ll take them in and check the house before I leave.”

He started to get out of the car, but she reached out and touched his arm. “Seth, I really do appreciate all you’ve done for me tonight.”

Seth smiled. “No need to thank me. Dan is special to me.” He didn’t mention the way that Dan had filled the void in his life after his father walked out on them when he was a boy. Back when he’d dated Callie, he’d told her the whole story, about how he’d always envied his friends who had fathers who came to their ball games and had time to take them fishing or work on cars in the backyard. He’d never had anything like that until Dan became the father he needed. Tears threatened to fill his eyes, and he turned his head to stare out the car window so she wouldn’t see.

“I know,” she said. “He’s often told me you’re the son he never had. After I went to college and on to graduate school, I didn’t come home very much. I should have. I know he was lonely at times and I’m glad he had you.” Her voice broke on the last words.

“Don’t blame yourself for anything,” Seth replied. “He’s proud of you and what you’ve made of your life. He tells everybody about his smart niece who’s got her Ph.D. and is a big-time professor at the University of Virginia.”

She chuckled. “I don’t know about the big-time part, but I do love my job.”

“Just as Dan and I do ours, Callie. Try to remember that.”

She stared at him for a minute before she took a deep breath and opened her car door. “I get your point, Seth, but nothing’s changed since we last saw each other.”

“I know,” he said. “I’ve moved on, and I hope you have, too.”

She regarded him for a moment before she spoke. “I have. Now I’d appreciate it if you’d check out the house before you go. I don’t want another encounter with Scarface tonight.”

“You’ve got that right,” he said as he stepped out of the car. “I’ll do a walk-through and then be on my way, but I’ll come back tomorrow and take you to the hospital.” He glanced at the clock on the dash. “Since it’s nearly three o’clock in the morning, tomorrow will be here before we know it.”

She nodded and headed toward the house. “I don’t think I’ll have any trouble falling asleep.”

She’d already opened the front door by the time he arrived on the steps with her bags. He put them down in the entry and proceeded to search the house before he let her enter.

As he walked through the rooms, Callie’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach. The house exuded a hollow feeling as if her uncle’s absence had sucked out all the life it usually possessed. Seth must have felt it, too, because she knew it had become the home away from home he’d come to love.

He stopped just inside the den, and his gaze raked the room. Then she saw his lips move and knew he was offering a prayer for his friend’s life. Callie turned away and shook her head. That was something else she and Seth had never shared, and she doubted they ever would.

Ten minutes later she stood at the front door and watched Seth get in his car. Then she locked the door and walked back into the living room. The lamp by the window she’d turned on when she’d first entered the house still lit the room.

She turned the light off and stood there in the dark room for a few minutes, staring out to the quiet cul-de-sac where she’d first learned to ride her bicycle. Sweet memories of her uncle holding her upright until she learned to balance drifted into her head, and a tear slipped down her cheek.

She was about to turn away when the lights of an approaching car caught her attention. It moved so slowly she wasn’t sure whether she imagined it or not when it seemed to come to a stop in front of her house.

A small circle of red lit the interior for a brief second. A lit cigarette. Callie’s skin prickled at the feeling that someone inside that car had stopped to study her uncle’s house. After a minute, the car moved slowly to the end of the street and made a circle in the cul-de-sac before driving past her uncle’s house once more.

This time she studied the outline of the vehicle more carefully. Her knees trembled, and she grabbed the table to steady herself. Was this the car she’d caught a fleeting glimpse of before Uncle Dan shoved her head into her lap?

THREE

Callie rose in bed and pounded her pillow again in an effort to get more comfortable. Her statement that she wouldn’t have any trouble falling asleep had come before a strange car had stopped in front of her uncle’s house. Even though she had watched it drive away, every time she closed her eyes, she either relived the gunshot blasting into the car, the scene of a man with a pillow over her uncle’s face or a dark car with its engine idling in front of the house.

She glanced at the cell phone lying on the bedside table and sighed. Four a.m. It would probably be sunup in an hour or so, and she hadn’t slept a wink. Groaning, she sat up on the side of the bed and rubbed her tired eyes. She wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes open at the hospital when she went back later today, but she couldn’t help it. Her raw nerves refused to let her relax, and she climbed out of bed.