Shadow Keeper

by Feehan, Christine

Sasha frowned at Giovanni. “Who’s he talking about?”

  “Hell if I know. Buddy, you’re going to have to be more precise. Who felt funny to you?”

  “He was just here,” Sandlin insisted, scowling at them, beginning to look petulant. “Right before you. He interrupted my reading, too. I don’t like that. Not when it’s at a good part. How am I supposed to figure out who did the killing when I’m interrupted?”

  Beside him, Sasha had begun to tense up. He slid his hand under her fall of curls to wrap his fingers around the nape of her neck, massaging gently in hopes of easing the tension out of her.

  “He gets agitated sometimes,” she whispered. “And he mixes things up. He might have been reading about someone coming into a room and interrupting the hero.”

  Giovanni didn’t think so, and apprehension grew in the pit of his stomach. He leaned toward Sandlin. “Can you describe the man who came to see you tonight?”

  Sandlin looked puzzled. “No. He was a man.”

  Giovanni was silent, trying to think how to get Sandlin’s cooperation. “Can you give us clues and we’ll try to guess?”

  Sandlin’s face lit up. Once more he looked like the sweet child he’d been when they’d first arrived. “Yes. We can solve the mystery. He wore a brown coat. A big one, with a hood.”

  Sasha frowned, her eyes meeting Giovanni’s. “Do you think someone was really here tonight? We don’t know anyone here.”

  “Don’t they have to sign in?”

  “I thought so. They know me here and I’ve not signed in for the last month or so. Maybe they’ve changed their policy.”

  “We’ll ask. I’ll want to speak to someone in charge,” Giovanni said. He knew once a Ferraro was involved, the Center would do just about anything to keep him happy. He represented the potential of millions of dollars coming their way in donations.

  “You didn’t figure it out,” Sandlin said. “You need to think about it.”

  “We need another clue.”

  Sandlin looked deflated. Clearly, he didn’t have anything else he remembered. His face suddenly lit up and he fished something out of his pocket. Giovanni heard Sasha gasp. She went pale and leaned toward her brother to better see what he had in his hand.

  Sandlin stared down at the object and then held it out. “I think this belongs to her, not me. He said it was mine and he was returning it to me, but it isn’t.”

  “It’s the key chain. The one taken from my apartment.” She got up and crossed the short distance to take the key chain from her brother. “Thanks, Sandlin, you’re right, this is mine. You gave it to me. See?” She showed him the picture. “That’s me on the horse the year I won the championship for barrel racing. That same year, you won at bull-riding. You wanted to go on the circuit and you were good enough, too, but then Dad got sick.”

  There were tears in Sasha’s voice, but not in her eyes and that broke Giovanni’s heart. She turned back to him. “He was here. How did he know about Sandlin? How could he possibly know about my brother?” Her voice was swinging a little toward hysteria.

  “He was in your apartment, going through your things. Your mail. He would have found bills and correspondence from the Center.”

  She took a breath, desperately trying to be calm. “What if he’s in danger? I don’t know what to do now.”

  Giovanni stood up and drew her into his arms. “I’ll take care of this, baby. He’ll be safe. I’ll go now and talk to the front desk.”

  “They can’t do anything,” Sasha protested. “It’s late and no one is ever here that can answer questions or make decisions.” Frustration laced the fear in her voice.

  “They’ll get their administrator on the phone and he’ll come down.” Giovanni bent to kiss her. She tasted like cinnamon candy apples. He didn’t know why that appealed to him so much, but suddenly that was his favorite flavor. He smiled at Sandlin. “You’ve stumped us, Sandlin. I don’t think we’re good at figuring out mysteries.”

  Sandlin smiled angelically. “I’m not very good, either,” he admitted. “I forget the clues.”

  “Do you want me to read to you?” Sasha asked.

  Sandlin nodded eagerly. “Yes. I remember you now. You read to me and you do the voices. I like that.”

  Giovanni left them to it and strode down the hall to the front desk. Within a half an hour—and he paced the entire time—the head administrator and his assistant were locked in an office with him viewing the security tapes. There was no way to identify the man who had come to see Sandlin. He hadn’t signed in. The woman at the front desk had waved the stranger on through, still wearing his hoodie, chatting a couple of minutes and then giving him directions to the lounge.

  Giovanni’s jaw tightened. He swung his gaze to Sonny Goodman’s. The man ran the entire Center, and it was clear he was embarrassed and angry at his employee’s behavior. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ferraro. She was hired a month or so ago and it’s clear she isn’t doing her job.”

  “This man is a stalker. He’s been stalking my fiancée and now he’s here, with access to her brother. He’s a dangerous man, and this is a threat. I believe Sandlin is in danger.”

  “We’re so sorry this slipped through,” Goodman repeated. “Sandlin will be protected.”

  “I want to talk to his doctor, and I want a full report of this incident given to the police. Sandlin had better be protected. I will be hiring extra security for him as well. No one should get through to see him other than his sister, me or one of my family.”

  “I had no idea Ms. Provis was connected to your family,” Goodman said.

  “Information like that would make her a target of every kidnapper in the country. I would appreciate it if you kept it under wraps.” He looked at Goodman’s assistant. Harriet Perkins was about thirty, and she kept staring at him and blushing. Goodman wouldn’t tell a soul, but Harriet probably wouldn’t be able to stop herself. She would want all her closest friends to know she’d met one of the famous Ferraros. “Ms. Perkins?”

  “I would never tell anyone,” she said. “Not a single word of this.”

  “I don’t mind you telling your friends that you met me, but please don’t connect my name with Ms. Provis or her brother.” He gave her his most charming smile. He knew from the nearly excited look in her eye that he didn’t have a prayer she’d keep her mouth shut. She would want to be in the spotlight.

  He cursed under his breath, holding on to his smile grimly, but trying one more time. There would be fallout from this. “You have no idea,” he told Goodman, but mostly for Harriet’s sake, “the circus that would ensue if reporters found out the connection between Sandlin and my family. They would be bribing your staff, sneaking in and making things up about your facility. This really needs to stay quiet.”

  “I understand,” Goodman said, bobbing his head. He looked at his assistant. “Harriet is very discreet. She’s been with me five years.”

  Giovanni could have told him those five years meant nothing if bribery were involved. Still, he’d done what he could to protect Sandlin from Sasha’s stalker. He’d given Goodman the name of a security company his family trusted and assured he’d pay. He wanted Goodman to check them out thoroughly because Giovanni would be sending men over to help keep Sandlin safe. At first Goodman had assured him they could handle it, but Giovanni insisted and Goodman capitulated under the pressure at the thought of the Ferraros being patrons of his Center. Money could be a pain, but in the end, it always talked.

  Goodman escorted him back down the hall to the room where he’d left Sasha. Sandlin was stretched out on the couch he’d been originally on when they came to visit. Sasha sat with his head in her lap, her fingers running through her brother’s hair while she read to him. Sandlin had his eyes closed, but there was a smile on his face. The long bank of lights overhead shone down brightly, like a spotlight, illuminating the two of them so that with their blond curls, they looked almost angelic.

  Twice, while Giovanni watched them, Sandlin caught at Sasha’s
wrist and said something, his entire body quivering with excitement. She nodded and made some kind of animal sound, a dog barking, a cat meowing, whatever the story called for. Satisfied, Sandlin would subside again.

  “How’s he doing?” Giovanni asked.

  “He’s not going to recover,” Goodman said, not beating around the bush. “The Center is helping him learn to walk and put on his clothes, but he’s never going to be able to live on his own outside a facility. I know that’s his sister’s ultimate goal. She thinks she’ll be able to bring him home with her, but it won’t happen. Most of the time Sandlin is sweet and agreeable, but he has periods of agitation and he strikes out at the staff. He has seizures as well. His medication is extremely important and sometimes he refuses to take it.”

  “When you say agitated, could he hurt Sasha?”

  Goodman frowned and stroked his salt-and-pepper beard. “I would hope not, but of course it’s possible. He has periods of time where he’s in a great deal of pain. The headaches are so severe that we have to sedate him. Unfortunately, they’ll grow worse as time goes on.”

  Giovanni stiffened. “What are you saying? Does Sasha know this?” He didn’t care that it sounded as if his “fiancée” hadn’t shared all the facts with him.

  “The head injury is very severe. His prognosis isn’t good. At most, he might live another three years. We’re giving him the best possible environment, but there is nothing to be done for him. She’s consulted the best surgeons in the country, but the answer is always the same. There was too much damage. She doesn’t want to accept that diagnosis, and I can’t blame her. She loves him, and he’s the last of her family. I can see that they’re very close. Sandlin doesn’t recognize her face, but somewhere inside him, he remembers her because if she can’t visit for longer than three days, he becomes extremely upset.”

  “Have you told her that?” Giovanni asked.

  Goodman shook his head. “What’s the use? She works two jobs just to pay to keep him here. Making her feel guilty when she’s already trying to do her best for him wouldn’t do her any good.”

  “It’s about her understanding that he does remember her. Not the way we would like, but the memory is somewhere inside him. She needs to know that.” Giovanni felt his heart clench in his chest when Sandlin suddenly pushed the book to one side and waited for his sister to look down at him. His smile was beautiful, reminding Giovanni of an innocent child’s. “He’s still very intelligent, isn’t he?”

  Goodman nodded. “Very much so. It’s strange what brain injuries can do. It’s wiped his memory so we had to teach him to walk and talk again, yet he can solve incredible math problems. He can read at any level, but he doesn’t always remember that he read a book the night before.”

  “Is he good with the nurses?”

  “That’s the other remarkable thing. We had to teach him to talk. He doesn’t know his sister, but he never fails to remember manners. The brain is still such a mystery.”

  Giovanni held out his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Goodman. You have my number if you should need it. I’ll be checking in regularly, as will my people.”

  “I’m very sorry that Tammy, at the front desk, allowed a total stranger through.” He turned back, looking toward the front of the building, anger building all over again. “She won’t be very long in her job.” He clearly planned to fire her right away.

  Giovanni had to agree with the administrator’s decision. All the patients or clients in the facility were vulnerable. It was Tammy’s duty to guard them, not just wave people through. “Make certain you get a full description of the intruder from her if at all possible.” He suspected that wouldn’t happen. Watching the tape several times had him believing Tammy was more interested in doing drugs and talking on the phone to her friends than doing her job. He’d been a rider too long not to recognize all the signs.

  He crossed the room to stand behind the couch, one hand sliding into the thick silky curls tumbling down Sasha’s back. “It’s past visitors’ time, honey. They want Sandlin in his room.”

  She closed the book reluctantly. “I was thinking maybe he should come home with me just for a few days so I know he’s safe.”

  Sandlin sat up, a frown on his face as he took his book from his sister’s hands.

  Giovanni smiled to reassure him. “It’s under control, Sasha. This is home to him and he’s comfortable here. He’s gotten to know the staff and the routine. Moving him would only make it difficult for him. Easier for you, but much more difficult for him and you don’t want that.”

  Sandlin’s fingers bit down on Sasha’s arm hard enough to hurt her. He could see the whiteness in the knuckles. “His shadow tells me things.”

  Giovanni knew that others would think Sandlin was lost in his mind if he spoke of shadows, but nevertheless, it made him uneasy. He couldn’t talk to Sasha about his work, not until she had committed. Breaking with a shadow rider had long-reaching consequences once his or her shadow tangled together with a chosen partner’s. Already, he could feel Sasha mixed with himself. It was oddly potent, adding to the emotional high he got just from being with her. It also added, evidently, to the intensity of sexual attraction. He’d never been so physically attuned to a woman. It was all he could do to keep his mind from straying to thoughts of her.

  “I know, sweetheart,” Sasha said gently. “We’re good at reading shadows.”

  “What does it tell you?” Giovanni asked.

  Sandlin leapt up, snatched the book from Sasha’s hands and hurried out of the room. Sasha stared after him, getting to her feet much more slowly. Tears swam in her eyes, and Giovanni immediately pulled her into his arms. She hadn’t cried for herself, but this—this with her brother—was threatening to crush her. He felt the weight of her sorrow. Goodman might not think she knew her brother’s prognosis, but she did.

  “He’ll be safe,” he said. “I’ve already put in a call to a security company we use sometimes. They’re all former soldiers, good men, very well trained. Sandlin will have round the clock protection. Goodman has agreed to use them. The woman at the front desk is supposed to have every single visitor logged in, but she hasn’t been doing her job. She’ll be fired. She’s a terrible liability for them. Patients might have wandered off, and if this intruder was looking to harm Sandlin, he could have hurt not only your brother, but any of the other patients as well.”

  He walked her from the room, down the hall toward the front door, shielding her as best he could with his body when some of the night staff came out of rooms to gawk at them. Really, he knew, at him, but she wouldn’t want to be seen crying. She stuck her chin out and kept walking, not looking at anyone as they made their way outside.

  Emilio and Enzo were waiting. He lifted his eyebrow, but Emilio shook his head. They hadn’t found him. Giovanni was fairly certain they wouldn’t. Whoever was stalking Sasha was very clever, a cockroach, Giovanni thought him. One that disappeared into cracks and came out when no one noticed. Emilio walked ahead of him, Enzo just behind. They made a show of it, wanting whoever it was, if he was observing, to know that Sasha wasn’t alone anymore.

  “Has anyone ever made you uneasy?” Giovanni asked as they walked through the parking garage toward his car. “Anyone at all. In a grocery store. A clerk. Bumping into someone at a bank or perhaps a teller. In the club, someone fixating on you.”

  She looked up at him and, to his astonishment, those sapphire eyes held amusement and a hint of mischief. “Only you.”

  He felt the smile start somewhere around the vicinity of his heart. “I guess I had that coming. I did fixate on you, didn’t I? Someone other than me.”

  The amusement faded and she shook her head. “No, but then, I’ve been so busy the last couple of months. I set up my brother in the facility and found my apartment. I was lucky, the former tenant moved right before I applied. Pietro said she wanted to go to Salt Lake to be with her grandson and his wife. I got the job at the club and then the deli. I wouldn’t have noticed someone fix
ating on me if they came up and bit me.”

  He glanced over his shoulder as if he could still see the Hendrick Center. “What about when you visit your brother? When you first brought him there, you had to be very aware of anyone who came near him.” He paused by the car, reaching for the passenger door.

  “I wanted to investigate everyone,” she agreed, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

  It was the only real sign of nerves she’d given. He opened the door, glanced into the car as he stepped back to allow her entry and froze. The bomb was sitting right out in the open, on the driver’s seat. There were wires looped all through the steering wheel and going across to the passenger seat.

  “Wait.” He caught her arm and pulled her back behind him, away from the car. He’d practically thrown her, using more force than he intended.

  “Damn it. He got into my car. You can’t just break that easily into these types of cars. Emilio. Enzo. Move back. Fast.” Even walking, he was already sending a mass text to his family. “We can’t stay here,” he said, hurrying her back toward the elevator. “If he has a remote detonator, he could kill everyone.” The bodyguards closed around them, taking them to the outermost section of the garage.

  “This is getting out of hand, Emilio. I want her somewhere safe where this psycho can’t get to her.”

  “Detonator? Is there a bomb??” Her voice was very steady. “Giovanni, I’m not the fainting type. If he’s done something else and I see it, there’s a possibility that I can identify him through something he’s used, or the way he does it. You know that. I don’t fall apart easily.”

  She didn’t, but he wanted to protect her from everything. What was the use of his family? Of all his training? He might not be able to ride shadows because of the hardware in his leg, but he still was lethal as all hell. He had money. Power. None of that seemed to matter. All the security at his disposal and Sasha was still being terrorized.

  “I’m not calling the police this time, honey. I’m sending you back to the hotel to stay with Francesca.”

  Sasha remained at his side, not moving around him, not trying to fight him, although her gaze continually strayed toward the car. She waited patiently until he was finished with the text messages and then looked at him expectantly.