They were ushered into a small room that was bare except for a single table and three chairs. Her heart began pounding in her chest with the force of an atom bomb and she felt Cole’s arm slip around her waist as he pulled her up against his side. Thank God for this man.
Cole pulled out one of the chairs and guided her into it, his fingers brushing against her back as he sat down beside her. He rested his hand on her thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze, and she looked at him gratefully. What had she ever done to deserve this man entering her life, she wondered for what had to be the millionth time. How had she gotten so fortunate?
The door opened and in he came, his hands and feet shackled, and Katherine swallowed hard. Stewart’s hair was much longer and he had matured into a very nice looking man. A light stubble of beard covered his face, but his eyes were exactly the same. Those haunted grey depths hadn’t changed at all. He still looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. And she knew in that instant that he was as tormented by their past as she was.
His gaze met hers immediately and he gave her a gentle smile as he shuffled across the room and sat down opposite them.
“Hello, Katie.”
***
Cole felt Katherine’s entire body tense up at the use of that name and gave her leg another squeeze. “She goes by Katherine now,” he informed the man sitting opposite them softly. Stewart’s eyes left Katherine’s and briefly landed on Cole. He gave him an almost knowing nod and looked back to Katherine.
“You’re even more beautiful now then you were back…then,” he said, a small, sad smile touching his lips. “You’ve changed your hair.”
Katherine nodded and Cole saw her take a steadying breath, her spine straightening. That’s my girl he thought as he watched that strength of hers he admired so damned much come rushing forward.
“I’ve wanted to come and see you so many times, Stewart,” she choked out. Her eyes glistened with tears as she fought to speak. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. I’m just so very sorry.”
“For what, Katie?” Stewart caught Cole tensing slightly from the corner of his eye and cleared his throat. “Sorry…Katherine. What would you ever have to apologize for? You didn’t do anything.”
Katherine shook her head, wiping the tear that had escaped from her cheek with a quick swipe of the back of her hand. “I should have done more. I should have made them listen to me.”
Stewart studied her a long moment, the silence of the room almost deafening. “There was nothing that you could have done to make them listen. They just didn’t want to hear. You tried. I know that.”
“Stewart, do you remember seeing anyone at all that night? Any strange vehicles? Something that just didn’t seem right to you?” Cole asked, leaning forward slightly.
Stewart looked back to Cole, his gaze steady. Finally, he shook his head. “I was coming home from the store,” he said quietly. “Katie’s…Katherine’s front door was open and I went up to see if everything was okay. When I got to the entryway, I could see Mrs. Philip’s lying there…” he broke off, his eyes going back to Katherine and looking at her with so much pain in his expression that it caused her heart to slam against her ribs. Katherine’s face had gone pale, but she squared her shoulders and it was enough to give him the courage to go on. “She…she was gasping for air and I ran in and knelt down beside her. I didn’t know what to do to help her. There was so much blood…everywhere.”
Katherine shuddered and Cole wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close against his side, silently reassuring her.
“She…she was, God, she was motioning to the knife in her chest…and I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared and I panicked and I…I pulled it out. Blood sprayed everywhere.” His eyes welled up as his Adams apple bobbed up and down. “I’m sorry,” he choked out, shaking his head sharply. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t save her. I just didn’t know what to do. The next thing I knew I was being cuffed and thrown into the back of a police car.”
Katherine choked back a sob and reached over and laid her hand on top of Stewarts, her face filled with a pain that mirrored his. “Why didn’t you tell them that?” she asked desperately. All he had ever said was that he was only trying to help. Other than that, he had remained completely silent, refusing to speak about it at all. “You wouldn’t talk. I tried to tell them…but they didn’t believe me.”
Stewart smiled at her, his expression one of quiet acceptance. “Katie, my life at home was a living hell. Jail for me was a step up. It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t have believed me anyway. They didn’t believe you.”
Cole leaned forward, his face grim. “Stewart, you don’t belong here.”
“Yeah, well. I’m paying my penance,” he whispered with conviction, his eyes never wavering from theirs.
“For what?” Cole asked; his voice strong and even despite the sinking feeling that was developing his gut.
Stewart studied him in silence for a moment, his mouth turning down into a resigned frown. He looked back to Katherine and shook his head, his expression tortured, as if begging her for forgiveness. “For not protecting you.”
***
Katherine was quiet. They had left the prison and headed right for the airport, and she hadn’t said two words since. She just stared out at the passing city, and Cole knew that this had been extremely difficult for her. Not just seeing Stewart after all this time, but just being back in the town that had started her nightmare. He needed to get her out of this God-forsaken area. Away from the memories that haunted her every waking moment.
They pulled up in front of the terminal and Cole helped her from the cab, keeping her held securely against him. He wanted her home and away from this shit as quickly as possible. He wanted her home and safe.
Katherine slept most of the flight back, her body curled up against his. Cole quickly got her to the house and settled in. He made her relax on the sofa while he got her some wine and began to throw something together for dinner. Shit! He thought with a shake of his head and a small grin. Just when in the hell had he become so domesticated?
***
They sat at the table, quietly sipping wine as they both picked at their meals; neither one having much of an appetite. Their visit with Stewart weighed heavily on them both, and Cole knew that it had drained Katherine emotionally as well as physically.
“Katherine,” Cole said, breaking the silence, and she looked up from her plate and gave him a small smile. A smile that caused his heart to skip a beat. Christ, she was beautiful, he thought with a shiver. What did he ever do to deserve this woman walking into his miserable life? “Do you think that you would be able to recognize this asshole’s voice if you came into contact with him?”
Katherine set her fork down and shrugged her shoulders, her brows furrowing together slightly. “I…I don’t know. He always whispers.” She shivered; her body tensing as the memory of that voice ran across her mind. Mine.
Cole watched her quietly, wanting so much to take her fear away. This woman had been living like a ghost for the past ten years and it was high time that she just lived. She deserved to be happy. She deserved to know what it was like to be at peace. Not constantly afraid.
He set his own fork down, slipped off the chair, and knelt down beside her, taking her hand in both of his. “Did he have an accent, or something that stood out to you?”
Katherine shook her head, her eyes looking into his in silent apology. “Nothing that I can think of. He…he never says much. He just plays that song,” she finished with a shudder and Cole pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back soothingly as they knelt on the floor together. She buried her face against his neck and took a deep, cleansing breath, finding strength in the fact that his strong arms were wrapped around her. There was peace here in his embrace. A peace that she had never thought could have ever existed. When Cole held her as he was, her world seemed normal.
Cole stood, pulling her with him, and swept her up into his arms, walking
toward the bedroom. He just wanted to get her into bed and hold her. She needed to rest, and he’d be more than content to just lay there with his arms around her. Jesus, who would have thought?
He set her down beside the bed and carefully removed her clothing. Pulling back the covers, he eased her down onto the mattress and covered her up. He shed his own and crawled in beside her, pulling her up against him.
“Get some rest, Sweetheart,” he whispered against her mouth before kissing her gently.
Chapter 7
Cole walked out of the bathroom to the sound of his cell phone beeping. He dashed over to the night table and grabbed it, glancing down at Katherine as she slept peacefully… looking like a freaking goddess. Her hair was fanned out around her face, giving her an angelic, almost ethereal look that nearly shook him to his core. She was beyond anything he had ever seen before, quiet, peaceful…beautiful.
He hit the button and walked toward the door, not wanting to wake her. Their visit with Stewart had drained her more than she was willing to admit and she needed to get some much needed rest.
“McKenzie.”
“Cole,” Captain Newman spoke from the other end of the line, and Cole could tell from the tone of that one word that this was not going to be good. Christ, talk about a goose walking over your grave. “I need you down here…now.”
Cole’s jaw clenched as that sinking feeling hit his gut with the force of a bazooka. “What’s up, Captain?” he asked, trying to keep that deep, sickening feeling at bay. But it was a strong, gnawing presence that just wouldn’t be ignored.
“Shit, Cole,” Mike murmured, sounding utterly exhausted. The tension in his voice was rolling through the damn phone line like a physical presence. “We think we may have found a link between your girl and some unsolved murders.”
Cole felt his entire body turn to ice. He hadn’t been expecting that one at all. “What?” he ground out, his fist clenching at his side.
“We did some digging and it seems that there have been girls murdered in every city that she’s lived in. The bitch of it is; is that they all bear a striking resemblance to her…except for one thing.”
“And what’s that?” Cole asked, although he really didn’t need to; the feeling as if he was going to be sick proved that. He knew what was coming. He knew it deep down to the recesses of his soul.
“Hair color.”
“Fuck,” he breathed, knowing that Katherine was naturally a strawberry blonde, but had changed it to try and hide from this bastard. “How many?”
“Just get your ass down here and I’ll brief you.”
“I want a black and white sent over to watch the house until I get back,” he informed him, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he ground his teeth together so tightly that he feared they would shatter. There was no way on God’s green earth that he was bringing her down to the station to hear this. Not until he knew what was going on. “I’m not leaving her unprotected.” It was a simple statement of fact.
“It’s already on the way,” Mike replied, and with that he ended the call, leaving Cole to stand there, grinding his teeth, a very bad feeling sweeping over him. If Mike was sending over a cruiser…this was far worse than he had even thought. Fuck!
“What’s going on?” He swung around to find Katherine standing there in the doorway behind him, looking like a damned vision. Her beautiful eyes were still hooded from sleep and she had thrown on one of his T-shirts; and damned if his body didn’t instantly take notice. Christ, she looked like a damn dream standing there with her sleepy eyes and mussed up hair -and he felt a sharp tug right to his heart.
“I need to go down to the station,” he informed her, walking back toward the bedroom, trying hard to keep the panic from his voice. He had to keep a clear head and he knew that if he looked at her for one more moment standing there; he wouldn’t. She followed behind him, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“What’s happened?” she asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed as she watched him move around the room and gather up his clothes. She could feel the tension radiating off of him as if it were a palpable thing, and it was seriously freaking her out. Something in his demeanor just wasn’t right.
Cole slipped into a pair of jeans and walked over to her, sighing. “Katherine, I need to know something,” he spoke softly, not wanting to let his fear for her show. But it was twisting at his gut to the point that it was making it difficult to breathe. He just had a very bad feeling about all of this.
“Anything,” she whispered, her voice shaking slightly. She didn’t like the tenseness of his body, or the worry in his eyes at all. There was definitely something going on, and it wasn’t good.
“How many cities have you lived in?” His tone was soft, yet there was that underlying worry that had her hands trembling instantly.
“Three,” she answered quickly, trying to take a calming breath. “Not counting…home.”
“And did you change your hair color each time that you moved?” he asked, and a small part of her couldn’t help but feel as if she was being interrogated.
Katherine nodded slowly, causing that damn vice in Cole’s stomach to twist another notch. Christ!
“I…I was a red-head, then blonde…and now, this,” she told him, looking up into his eyes in confusion. “Why? What does my hair color have to do with anything? I mean, I also changed hair styles. I only did it to make it harder for him to… Cole, please tell me what’s going on.” Desperation was seeping into her voice and Cole took her by the arms and pulled her up against his warm, solid frame…needing more than anything at that moment to feel her heat, to hear her heart beat against his in that strong, steady rhythm that made his knees weak. He needed to know that she was safe.
If this bastard had indeed been killing women that looked like Katherine… well then, shit! When was it going to be that the surrogates were no longer going to be good enough for him… and he came after the real thing? He knew that he was escalating from the simple fact that he had been in her house when she had been there. From what she had told him, he had never been that brass before. What was next? That thought sent a chill up his spine. You won’t get near her you son of a bitch!
“Baby, it’s just a lead right now. I’ll know more once I talk to the Captain.”
“I’ll go with you.” She tried to pull from his embrace but he held fast, burying his face in her hair, just needing to hold her for a moment longer and feel her warmth against him. He was suddenly chilled to the bone. This woman was breaking down walls that he hadn’t even realized that he had built, and it was throwing everything off. She was tilting his world on its axis like nothing ever had before, to the point that he didn’t know which end was up anymore.
“Stay here…please,” he breathed against her ear, his words a gentle plea. “I have someone coming to watch the house. I promise that I won’t be long.”
Before she could even think to voice a protest, he turned his head and his lips were on hers, firm, demanding…almost desperate, and she had no choice but to respond in kind. Her hands slid up into his hair and pulled him closer, her tongue sparring with his for dominance, each one feeding their own hunger. This was life she thought with a shiver.
Much too soon there was a soft rap on the front door and he broke away, cursing under his breath darkly as he looked at her in apology.
He grabbed a shirt and slipped it on as he made his way out of the bedroom, leaving Katherine standing there, worrying at her bottom lip. Wondering just what in the hell was going on. She grabbed a pair of shorts and tugged them on, following behind him.
***
She found Cole standing at the front door, talking to the uniformed officer, barking out orders to the man, who only stood there silently and nodded, looking extremely uncomfortable. Cole turned and saw her, his expression softening in an instant when his eyes met hers.
“Matt, do you see this lady?” he asked pointing to Katherine, and the man nodded. “I don’t want you to let her out of you
r sight; got it? No one but me is allowed anywhere near this house.”
“Of course, Detective,” the young man responded, nodding to Katherine with a nervous frown.
Katherine felt her cheeks heat when Cole walked back over to her and kissed her once again; deeply, obviously not caring in the least that the young officer was watching them intently, and she couldn’t help but wonder if this was his way of staking claim. Cole was a strong, dominant male and it seemed as if he didn’t care who knew that he was screwing around with her.
As much as that thought should have thoroughly pissed her off, it only caused a sense of peace to wash over her for some odd reason. Most likely, she surmised with a shaky sigh, because it made her feel safe, wanted… something that she had not felt for a very long time. She hadn’t really felt safe since her mother had been alive, and she had never before felt this protected or cared for. She knew that she was sliding down a very slippery slope with this man. She could so easily fall for him…but she couldn’t allow that. He didn’t need her craziness invading his world…poisoning it as it had hers. He had disrupted his life way too much as it was already because of her. It wasn’t fair to him to let him keep get in deeper and deeper. She knew that there was the strong possibility that she would have to move yet again, and when that time came, she silently wondered–would she be able to give him up?
He lifted his head and met her eyes, and she could see the emotion in his expression…the worry. “Stay in the house,” he commanded softly, and smiled that earthshattering grin when she nodded. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised. “And make sure to lock the door behind us. Matt will be right outside in the car…if you need me, call.” He kissed her again quickly before ushering the officer out of the door ahead of him, but not before telling her to lock up once again.
Katherine bolted the door as asked and headed to the kitchen, needing a cup of coffee desperately. Her nerves were shot. What the hell could have happened that Cole was needed down at the precinct? Katherine stared out the kitchen window, not liking this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach at all. It was a sense of foreboding that was sucking the air from the house, only to leave a dark, oppressing feeling of doom.
I'll Be Seeing You Page 9
