Leann Harris - Guarded Secrets

Ann’s mom stood behind her daughter. “Since they worked so hard today, I thought an afternoon in the pool was what they needed.”

“Can I, Mom?” Penny turned on her acting ability and played a poor, deserving soul.

Lilly nodded. “Okay, but—”

The girls’ shrieks filled the air.

“You don’t have your bathing suit,” Lilly said.

Penny’s expression fell.

“Ann has several suits,” Ann’s mom said. “Penny can use one of them.”

Her father’s death had knocked Penny for a loop. This was the first time since Peter’s death that Lilly had seen her daughter excited. “Okay.”

Penny hugged her mother’s waist. “You’re the best, Mom.”

“I’ll be at Ann’s house at six,” Lilly said.

“Okay,” Penny agreed. The girls bounced around.

“You can have my new suit,” Ann told Penny as they walked away.

Ann’s mom walked behind the girls, shaking her head.

With her daughter occupied this afternoon, Lilly could go to Peter’s apartment and continue packing his things up.

After letting the pastor know where she was going, she left the church. The drive to Peter’s place took less than ten minutes.

She’d talked with Pastor Kent about what to do with Peter’s things. He’d found several needy families in the parish that could use clothes, dishes and a television. All she needed to do was go through Peter’s things and see what she might want to save for Penny.

She pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex and found a spot near Peter’s apartment. Pulling boxes out of the backseat, she wrestled them up the stairs. She fumbled with Penny’s key and dropped it. Picking it up, she unlocked the door and dragged the boxes into the living room. As she turned around, she spotted a man hiding behind the door.

Before she could yell, his fist shot out, hitting her on the chin, and darkness descended.

S omething gnawed at his gut. Jon flexed his hands on the steering wheel of their police-issue sedan, trying to sort through the tension. He’d learned a long time ago not to ignore his instincts.

“What is it?” Dave asked.

Jon threw his partner a glance. “What?”

“You’ve got that look.”

He could try to deny it, but Dave and Jon had been partners long enough to read each other’s body language. “Something’s wrong.”

“Well, that clears things up.”

“You’ve followed hunches, and I’ve not complained,” Jon retorted.

“Yeah.”

“Before we pay Sunbelt a surprise visit, let’s run back to Peter’s apartment. Maybe we need to talk to the manager about that incident the neighbor mentioned. See if he has a tape of the incident.”

Dave didn’t hesitate or complain. “Let’s go.”

Jon turned the car around and headed toward Peter’s place. It was only a couple of streets away from their current position.

When they arrived at the apartment complex, Jon spotted Lilly’s car parked in the lot. Suddenly a man ran out of Peter’s second-story apartment and raced toward the stairs.

Jon slammed the car into Park, jerked the keys out of the ignition, and both men ran toward the stairs. The man spotted them, turned on the stairs and ran back up them. On the second floor, he darted in the opposite direction from Peter’s place.

“I’ve got him,” Dave yelled, reaching the second-floor landing.

Jon raced up the steps and to the open door of Peter’s apartment. “Lilly,” he yelled.

Inside the door, he saw Lilly sprawled on the floor. He knelt by her side and swept a glance over her body. She didn’t have any obvious wounds, and there was no blood. It was a good sign, but he’d encountered more than one murder victim who had died of internal injuries. Carefully, he ran his hands over her torso and limbs, searching for any hidden wounds. Finding nothing to cause him alarm, he ran his hands over her head. She wasn’t bleeding, but he noticed the red welt on her chin.

“Lilly, wake up.” He gently ran his hands through her hair.

She moaned. Jon welcomed the sound.

“C’mon, Lilly. Open your eyes.” He brushed away the hair from her face.

Her eyes fluttered open.

He let out the breath that he’d been holding. Thank You, Lord, he thought.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” he asked in a quiet voice.

She tried to focus on his face. He saw her struggle to make sense of things. Finally, things snapped into place. “My jaw feels like an elephant sat on it.” She tried to smile, but winced instead.

She struggled to sit up. Jon helped her.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I came to finish packing up Pete’s clothes and things. When I opened the door and stepped into the living room, a man appeared behind me and punched. That’s the last thing I remember.” She tried to get up.

Jon caught her arm, helping her to stand. He directed her to a kitchen chair. “Take a moment to gather yourself.”

“How is she?” Dave asked from the doorway. Jon glanced at his partner. Dave shook his head, letting Jon know that the suspect had got away. He motioned to Lilly. “Is she okay?”

“I’m fine. I just got punched in the face,” Lilly answered. She moved her jaw and winced.

Jon went to the refrigerator and removed several ice cubes from the ice bin. He took a kitchen towel, wrapped the ice cubes in it and brought it over to Lilly. “Here. Put that on your chin.”

She took the towel and followed his suggestion. “What does the guy who did this to me want?” she asked after a minute.

That was the burning question that Jon was mulling. “Obviously, whoever he is, he’s looking for something he hasn’t yet found, and he came back to look for it again.”

“I don’t understand.” She put the towel on the table. “Pete doesn’t have anything worth taking.”

“You sure?” Dave asked. “He wasn’t into anything illegal?”

Lilly shook her head. “I don’t know. But it wouldn’t make sense given the fact that there were so many signs that he took his faith seriously. Penny commented recently that her daddy had started reading her children’s Bible to her when she spent the weekends.”

Jon pointed to the towel with the ice and pointed at her chin. “Keep it on your face. You don’t want Penny to see her mom with a huge bruise on her face.”

She obeyed and placed the towel on her chin again.

Jon sat down at the table. “Whoever was in here today, yesterday, and at your house yesterday is looking for something. We need to figure out what it is, because it looks like this guy isn’t going to quit until he gets what he wants. Do you have any idea what this person is looking for?”

Worry colored Lilly’s eyes, turning them deep chocolate. “I don’t know.”

Jon placed his hand over hers. The electricity that ran up his arm shocked him. He pulled his hand back. “Can you call someone to come and help you with things here at the apartment? I’d feel a lot better if someone was here with you. And I know Penny would appreciate it, too.”

He got the smile out of her that he wanted.

“Who can you call?” Jon asked, pressing the matter. They weren’t leaving until someone was here with Lilly.

“I can ask the pastor to come and help me. And he knows several people who would gladly help.”

“Then do that. Dave and I will stay here until someone arrives.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she protested.

“I do.” Jon’s tone made it clear that he would brook no argument. “Remember the condition of your house?”

He had a point. They didn’t know what was going on and until they did, there was danger.

“You got security cameras?” Jon asked Mark Rodgers, the owner and manager of the apartment complex.