by Joanne Fluke
“I’m ready.” Maura nodded quickly. “And I’m willing to try almost anything. Are you going to hypnotize me?”
“No. I’ve got something even better than hypnosis.” Steve reached in his pocket and pulled out a videotape. “It’s Hank’s rough cut of his student film. I want you to watch it, Maura . . . and just let your mind float free.”
“All right.” Maura nodded. “I’d like to see it anyway. But I don’t see how watching Hank’s film could possibly . . .”
Steve stopped her protest with a kiss. It wasn’t just a peck on the forehead this time. It was a kiss on the lips that left her breathless and wanting more.
Maura sighed as Steve got up to put the tape in the machine. And then she blushed. Did he know how she felt about him? Or was he simply being kind to a sister-in-law who was terribly upset?
“Here we go, luv.” Steve took a seat on the couch next to her. “Just watch and we’ll see what happens.”
* * *
The scenes rolled by, one by one. Hank had put them in chronological order, and Maura was amazed at how it all fit together. The story was no longer a series of disjointed dreams. It was a plot that she seemed to know. She trembled as she saw the interior of the hotel room, exactly as she’d described it from her dream. And she gasped as she heard the assassin approach the door. As she scrambled under the bed, she felt the rough texture of the rug on her legs and arms, and she felt like sneezing as the loose fibers from the carpet tickled her nose.
Maura held her breath, just as she’d done that day in the hotel room. And she watched his shoes, praying that he wouldn’t lift the edge of the bedspread and discover her. And when he’d left, and she climbed out on the ledge to try to get down to the alley below, she felt a jolt of terror that made her gasp and clutch Steve’s hand in dizzy fright.
“I was there, Steve.” Maura’s voice was shaking. “I remember now! This actually happened to me!”
Steve nodded. “You’re right. Just watch, Maura. Watch and remember. It’s very important.”
As the other scenes rolled by, Maura sat there, watching and reliving what she now knew was her own past. It was Jan in Hank’s movie, but Jan was just acting out the story of her mother’s life. Maura’s emotions were in constant turmoil, changing as each moment on the screen passed by. There was joyful anticipation as Nick gave her the ring. She’d loved him so much. And there was fear as he came to get her in the forest pool, and they raced for the safety of the sheepherder’s shack. The scene in the restaurant was full of terror. She felt her body tense as Peter signaled to her, and she bolted from her chair to push Nick down, out of range. And then there was fear mixed with exhaustion as Peter drove them away on that long trip to the farmhouse where the others were waiting.
She saw Peter’s face in the light from the dashboard, but he wasn’t the actor who was playing the part in the movie. He was someone she’d known for years, someone who had traveled back to the States many years later and assumed an important role in her life....
Maura gasped and grabbed Steve’s hand. “Peter! Peter is . . . Grant!”
“Yes, luv.” Steve held her hand tightly. “Just watch . . . and remember.”
Maura saw herself huddled in the backseat of the car, traveling over the bumpy road. And she cried with deep, heart-wrenching sobs as Nick and Peter decided she had to leave. And then she heard Nick’s words, and they sent her mind reeling.
“Do this for me. It’s what I want most in the world. Go back home and take my baby away from all this. I want both of you to be safe.”
“Jan.” Maura’s voice was no more than a whisper. “Jan is Nick’s child. I remember everything now.”
Steve nodded. “Yes. Hush, luv . . . just watch and listen.”
Now they were at the airport in Helsinki, and Nick was reaching up to retrieve her bag. They’d just come back from a weekend ski trip, with two wonderful nights in a mountain lodge. She’d managed to talk Peter and Nick into letting her finish out the semester. They’d finally agreed that it would look suspicious if she left before her finals. That meant she had two more weeks to make them change their minds, and she was confident that she could persuade them to let her stay.
Nick smiled at her as he retrieved her light blue suitcase from the conveyer belt and presented it to her with the flourish. She laughed and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Then he picked up his brown, leather bag, slung their skis over his shoulder, and they walked, arm in arm, out of the baggage area.
“No!” Maura started to tremble violently as they went through the double glass doors and out into the street. She could still remember how the night had felt, cold and frigid, with lightly falling snow that had stung her cheeks. The parking lot loomed in front of them, and she put her hand to her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
Maura closed her eyes, but the scene continued behind her eyelids. It wasn’t a movie, it was real. As they started to get into their car, the lights went out in the parking lot, plunging them into darkness. Something was very wrong!
“Easy, luv.” Steve slipped his arm around her shoulders, but Maura couldn’t stop shivering. And she couldn’t stop the images that flashed behind her closed eyelids. She was back there, reliving what had happened that awful night.
“Run!” The word was a command, and Maura obeyed it instantly. She rolled from the open door, and raced across the parking lot toward the safety of the airport. She heard an explosion, a loud booming noise that drowned out the sounds of the busy airport, but she didn’t turn around. He’d taught her that turning to look would only slow her speed.
And then she was inside, clutching her blue suitcase as she mingled with the crowd. Her mind was a terrified blank, but her training carried her straight to the ladies’ room, where she locked herself in a stall and changed to another outfit, complete with a brown wig and horn-rimmed glasses. The light blue soft-sided suitcase was reversible, and she took out her things and zipped it back up so the brown side was showing. She took a chance then, tucking her lovely ring into her pocket. It was against the rules, but she couldn’t give it up. Not now. Not ever. Nick had given it to her.
The clothes she’d been wearing went into the bottom of the trash container, wrapped in a department store bag. And then she was walking out of the ladies’ room, glancing at the plain silver watch she’d slipped on her wrist, and frowning.
She went straight to the restaurant and ordered a cup of coffee. She took a sip, glanced at her watch again, and went to the pay phone against the wall.
The number the international operator dialed was answered on the second ring. The operator repeated her Russian words in English. “Will you accept a collect, person-to-person call for Mr. Phoenix from the Leningrad Airport?”
There was a moment of silence as the line crackled with the weather, and then Peter’s voice came back on the line. He sounded very grave and his voice shook slightly. “I’m sorry, operator. Mr. Phoenix just stepped out. Could you have your party call again in fifteen minutes?”
“I’ll do that, operator. Thank you.” She spoke the words in Russian and hung up the phone, knowing that Peter had heard her voice. And then she went back to her booth and ordered a sandwich she couldn’t force down. And watched the reflection of the police cars in the mirror behind the counter. And waited for the man who would come to collect her in fifteen minutes.
Maura’s eyes opened with a snap. Steve had put the tape on pause, but she already knew the ending. There were tears on her cheeks as she turned to him and spoke the words he was waiting to hear. “You can stop now, Steve. I remember everything. And I know why they want me dead.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Maura hurried up the staircase to her room. Her thoughts were filled with memories of Nick . . . memories she knew were real now, of the love they’d shared together.
She’d met Nick on a warm fall day in her junior year of college. She’d been listed on his class roster as Rawlins, first initial “M.” He hadn’t known her
first name back then, but he’d thought of her as “Em,” or “Emmy.” Even after he’d found out that her name was Maura, he’d continued to think of her as Emmy. It had become his pet name for her, the name he used when they were alone together. She’d loved it so much, she’d had it inscribed on the wedding ring she’d given him in the simple ceremony at the farmhouse.
Now they were gone, Nick’s whole family, including his best friend, Grant. They’d died for a cause, but it made their deaths no easier to bear.
Nick had explained it all, right after she’d climbed to the top of the class in his Russian language seminar. The handsome visiting professor had been in most of the female students’ dreams, but he hadn’t been interested in anyone except Maura. He’d been very impressed with her gift for languages, so impressed that he’d personally recruited her into their select group.
Maura’s senior year had involved intensive seminars in four different foreign languages. She’d passed proficiency tests in all four with flying colors. Because of Nick’s recommendations and her outstanding grade point average, she’d won a full scholarship to the University of Helsinki. And that was where it had all begun.
The University of Helsinki had an exchange program with the one in Leningrad, and she’d applied to take several classes. Nick’s contacts at the Leningrad University had approved her application, and Maura’s life was divided between the two cities, one in Finland, the other in the Soviet Union. Her studies as a graduate student were perfect cover for her real work. She brought coded messages from the Soviet Union to Finland, where they were sent on to the United States. Steve had been their stateside contact, and a good friend of Nick’s. Maura had flown to meet him several times, carrying important documents that couldn’t be trusted to their usual pipeline.
Nick and Maura had been full of plans and dreams, just like any other young couple, and they’d been very much in love. But three months after their small family wedding, things had turned very ugly.
Someone had discovered what they were doing. The scene in the restaurant had been the first attempt on Nick’s life, and there had been several more after that, ending in his death at the Leningrad Airport. Maura had escaped, but their whole operation was in jeopardy, and it had to be closed down.
Somehow, Maura had managed to take her finals and fly home. She’d been two months pregnant with Nick’s baby, and she’d been planning to get a good job and raise the baby alone. She hadn’t even considered terminating her pregnancy. Her child was Nick’s legacy, and it was a tangible way of keeping their love alive.
Steve had met her at the airport. He knew about the baby. Nick had told him. And he had a perfect solution to Maura’s problem. His brother, Paul, needed a wife. There was no reason why they couldn’t help each other and gain the benefits from such a marriage.
Maura had listened carefully as Steve explained the situation. Paul was a gay naval officer, and his superiors had begun to raise questions about his sexual orientation. There was no way Paul would earn a promotion if the Navy found out he was gay, and he might even be drummed out of the service. Paul needed a wife just as much as Maura needed a husband.
Steve had explained that, as Paul’s wife, Maura would receive excellent medical benefits. And he’d promised that Paul wouldn’t infringe in any way on her life. It was the perfect solution to both sets of problems, and after Maura had met Paul and liked him, she had agreed to the marriage.
Paul had been a wonderful husband, kind and considerate with a marvelous sense of humor. As the months had passed, he’d grown very fond of Maura, and she’d felt the same about him. Both of them had been looking forward to the baby’s birth. And then tragedy had struck when Maura had entered her eighth month. Paul had been killed on a routine training mission, and Maura had been left alone again.
Steve had come to the rescue, and he and Maura had been the only ones to know that Jan was not Paul’s child. Not even Donna had suspected that her niece wasn’t really a Bennett. Steve and Donna had set Maura up in business, and life had gone on rather smoothly. And then Maura had found out that Steve was involved in another assignment for the government, and she’d begged to become part of the old group again.
Steve had resisted. It was too dangerous. This time they were dealing with a drug cartel. But Maura had insisted that Nick would want her to carry on his work.
It had taken months of argument, but finally Steve had given in. Because Maura traveled so much on business, she was a perfect courier. Nita had known what Maura was doing. It had been impossible to keep the secret from her. But Nita had been sworn to secrecy, and she’d agreed to keep Jan completely in the dark. The less Jan knew of her mother’s actions, the safer she’d be.
Everything had gone very smoothly for a long period of time. And then, just as they were about to close in on the leaders of the cartel, everything had gone sour.
Grant had given her a message when he’d come to take her to the airport, a message he’d told her was vitally important. She’d run back upstairs to hide it in the usual place, and she’d planned to call Steve from the airport to tell him where to retrieve it. But she’d never reached the airport. And she hadn’t remembered the message until now.
Maura’s legs were trembling as she entered her room and hurried straight to the footstool. As she smoothed her hand over the lovely needlepoint design, she felt for the catch that was hidden under the material. She squeezed the two metal parts together and there was a sharp click. She lifted the top and exposed the small hollow space that was carved into one leg.
The message was there, rolled up in a tube, and Maura hurried down the stairs again. When she entered the living room, she found Steve pacing the floor anxiously, and she smiled. “Here it is. Grant told me it was vitally important. I was planning to call you from the airport to tell you where it was.”
Steve nodded and reached out to take the message. He unrolled it, and then he started to frown. “Do you know what this is?”
“No.” Maura shook her head. “Grant didn’t tell me. He said I’d be safer if I didn’t know.”
“He was right. These are the names of the four kingpins in the drug cartel. And one of them is a U.S. senator.”
Maura’s eyes widened. “Will you have them arrested?”
“Of course. But that might not call off the hit on you. They know that Grant passed you their names. And now that they suspect your memory’s returned, they won’t take any chances.”
“Then I’m still in danger?”
Maura shivered and Steve reached out to hug her. “I want you to stay right here in this house until I get back. Don’t let anyone in or out. Have you got that?”
“How about Jan? She went out with Hank, and she’s not back yet.”
“You can let them in. How about Nita? Is she coming back tonight?”
“No.” Maura looked a little worried. “I gave her the night off so she could babysit for her sister’s children. Do you think I should call her and warn her?”
Steve shook his head. “That’s not necessary. She’s not in any danger. Here. You’d better take this, just in case.”
“A gun?” Maura looked down at the revolver Steve placed on the table. She picked it up and her fingers automatically snapped open the cylinder to check for bullets.
“You remember how to use it?”
Maura nodded quickly. “Yes. Can you leave me a speed loader, just in case?”
“No problem.” Steve was grinning as he reached in his other pocket and handed her a speed loader. “You were pretty good with this the last time we went out to the range. Now remember, don’t let anyone in except Jan and Hank. Got it?”
Maura nodded solemnly. “I promise.”
“I’ll be back just as soon as I can.” Steve stood up and pulled her into his arms. Then he walked to the door with her and leaned down to kiss her. “Lock up tight after I leave. And turn on the security system. I love you, Maura.”
“I love you, too.” Maura’s voice was shaking a
s she spoke the words that had been in her heart since that first morning in the hospital. And then he was gone, standing for a moment outside the door, to make sure she slid home the dead bolt and activated the keypad for the security system.
As she walked back to the living room, she felt very lonely and she called for Cappy. The little puppy came running and jumped up on the couch, crawling into her lap when she sat down. Maura held him for a moment, running her fingers through his silky fur, and then she set him down on the floor at her feet. “Guard, Cappy.”
Cappy’s body tensed at the command, and he looked very alert as he listened for any sound outside. It was clear he knew the command that Maura had taught him. He would growl, low in his throat, if he heard anyone approaching a door or window. A well-trained dog was more effective than any security system, and Maura had taught him the necessary commands.
As she sat there, revolver at the ready, Maura thought about Keith and their hasty marriage. When she’d realized that she loved Steve, she’d married Keith in a desperate attempt to separate herself from Steve and Donna. Her marriage had been a mistake. She’d realized that from the very beginning, but she’d done her best to make it work. She might have been successful, if Keith hadn’t had an agenda of his own.
Keith had married Maura for her money, and he’d managed to skim a small fortune from her boutique business to funnel into Liz’s accounts. But Liz had gotten too greedy. She’d wanted it all, and she’d talked Keith into taking foolish risks with the books. Grant had caught Keith red-handed, and he’d told Maura about it on the way to the airport.
The accident hadn’t really been an accident. Maura knew that now. She remembered how Grant’s brakes had gone out, and she knew it hadn’t been a simple mechanical failure. Someone had tried to assassinate both of them, but she had survived. And now that she remembered what had happened, they were after her again.
Cappy growled, and Maura got up, gun in hand, to look out through the drapes. A car was coming up the driveway, but it wasn’t Hank’s limo.
