by Laura Scott
As a result of their combined incomes, they’d had a substantial amount of money saved up. Enough that he’d been able to continue paying the mortgage while he was behind bars. With Jack’s help he’d listed the house on the market, but apparently no one was anxious to buy a home where a murder had taken place.
Not that he could blame them.
The amount of cash he had would probably only last them a week, maybe more if he was frugal. He considered calling Jack for assistance in getting more money, but decided he’d wait until the following Monday. Considering it was a Saturday, there wasn’t enough time to get back into Milwaukee before the banks closed. Besides, he didn’t really want to head back into town so soon after leaving. Not when he suspected the cops would be looking for him and for Noelle’s SUV.
He was sure to be a person of interest despite Jack’s assurances that he was a victim. When he’d been arrested after Heather’s death, he’d assumed that he’d be found innocent because he was. But then the eyewitness had stepped forward and he had no choice but to grapple with the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars.
No way was he making the same mistake twice.
The bathroom door opened, letting a cloud of steam into the room. Noelle’s hair was damp from her shower, and Kaitlin was wearing her previous clothes. He quickly stuffed the money back into his wallet and turned toward them. “Ready for breakfast?”
“Absolutely,” Noelle said cheerfully. For a moment her gaze locked on his and he wished he knew what she was thinking. Had she changed her mind about him at all? Or was that wishful thinking? And why did he care?
“Let’s go,” he said, crossing over to open the motel room door. Kaitlin eagerly dashed outside, as if the nightmare from last night was already forgotten. Noelle seemed content to walk beside him.
After they reached the car, Noelle helped Kaitlin into her booster seat before taking her place beside him up front without his having to ask. He headed down the road to a well-known chain restaurant that served breakfast, trying not to read too much into Noelle’s small gesture of trust.
No matter how much he wanted to.
* * *
Noelle finished her breakfast, a yummy veggie omelet, before she realized that she hadn’t once looked for an opportunity to escape.
Was she crazy to put her trust in Caleb? She sipped her coffee, trying to sort out her feelings.
Caleb’s despair last night hadn’t been faked. He’d truly felt awful about Kaitlin’s nightmare. But did the fact that he loved his daughter make him innocent of the crime he’d been arrested for? Of course not.
So why did she suddenly believe him?
She closed her eyes for a moment and prayed. Dear Lord, I don’t know what to believe. Please help guide me. Please show me the way.
A sense of peace settled over her and she realized that if Caleb had intended to hurt them, he would have done that already. Instead he’d done nothing but provide food and shelter. Not to mention, finding a pool to make his daughter happy.
Even now, he was coloring the paper cartoon place mat with Kaitlin, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“No, Daddy, purple,” Kaitlin insisted, shoving the green crayon aside. “Not green, purple.”
“You’re right, Katydid, purple is way prettier than green,” Caleb agreed.
Noelle hid a smile behind her coffee mug. If she wasn’t seeing the way he tried so hard to bond with his daughter with her own eyes, she wasn’t sure she would have believed it. Especially when she hadn’t watched Caleb interact with his daughter very much before he’d been accused of murder.
“Kaitlin, why don’t you finish your scrambled eggs and bacon before they get cold,” she suggested.
“We’re almost done,” Kaitlin muttered, filling in the last of the cartoon character’s bright purple dress. “See?” She held the paper up high. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“Very pretty,” she agreed. Caleb set down his crayon and reached for his own cup of coffee.
“Here, this is for you, Daddy.” In a surprise gesture, Kaitlin handed the picture to Caleb and then picked up a piece of bacon.
“Thanks, Katydid,” Caleb murmured in a husky tone. For a moment she thought there was a glint of tears in his eyes, but then it was gone. He gave Kaitlin a broad smile and carefully set the place mat in the center of the table, where it wouldn’t get stained with food or drink. “This is the best present, ever.”
She simply couldn’t believe a man who cared so much about his daughter that he nearly cried after getting a picture from her was cold and callous enough to kill his ex-wife. In the past twenty-four hours, there’d been no sign of his so-called hair-trigger temper, either.
At this point, she had no reason not to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Do you want anything more?” Caleb asked.
“No way, I’m stuffed,” Noelle murmured, sitting back in her chair and feeling a bit guilty at how much she’d eaten. “That was delicious. Thanks, Caleb.”
“You’re welcome.” He quickly finished his own meal, and then gestured for the waitress to bring the bill. He glanced at the amount and pulled out his wallet, leafing through the bills.
For the first time since this mad escape had started she found herself wondering how long they could stay on the run like this. She didn’t have her purse, so she couldn’t help pay for anything. What would happen when they ran out of cash? What if they messed up and the shooter who’d tried to kill Caleb found them?
She shivered, suddenly cold. Should she tell Caleb about the black truck that had been following her in the days prior to his release? Should she tell him about the man who’d accompanied his wife to pick up Kaitlin the Friday evening before she’d died? She’d told the police, but since she didn’t have a name, there wasn’t much they could do. The officer she spoke with assumed the guy was the same man Heather was having an affair with.
Wasn’t it possible that man had killed Heather, rather than Caleb?
“Are you all right?” Caleb asked with a slight frown.
“Sure,” she said, forcing a smile. The way he seemed to be tuned in to her emotions shouldn’t make her believe in him even more. But it did. She reminded herself that Caleb wasn’t her type. She didn’t date men, especially handsome men. There was no way she should even think about Caleb on a personal level. Trusting a man enough to have a relationship was far too difficult for her.
“All finished, Katydid?” Caleb asked his daughter.
The little girl nodded and pushed her plate away. She’d eaten most of her food this morning, which gave Noelle some encouragement. Maybe if they kept things calm today, the little girl wouldn’t suffer another night terror at bedtime.
They left the restaurant and stopped at the strip mall that was only a couple of miles away. Despite her concerns about money, Caleb seemed determined to get them each a change of clothes, including sweatshirts for the cooler nights, swimsuits and toiletries. Kaitlin was thrilled to have another sparkly swimsuit, jumping up and down with excitement when Caleb agreed to buy it for her. Noelle winced at the total, but he readily paid in cash.
It wasn’t until they were walking back out to the parking lot, with Kaitlin skipping between them, that she noticed the license plates on her car. She stopped abruptly and stared.
Caleb instantly noticed her reaction. “Noelle, I only swapped them to keep us safe.”
Logically she knew that, but he’d broken the law just the same. Apprehension swelled in her chest. “What if we get caught?”
His gaze was full of empathy. “Please try to trust me in this. I won’t do anything to hurt you or Kaitlin. We’ll take Kaitlin swimming and then hit the road. We’ll be far away from here soon enough.”
She took a ragged breath and gave a jerky nod. When Caleb opened the back of her c
ar she stored the bag inside, hoping he didn’t notice the way her hands were shaking.
Never in her life had she committed a crime. She always followed the rules. As a preschool teacher she took her job as being a role model for her students seriously. Granted she wasn’t perfect. After all, she’d failed her previous foster child. She’d thought for sure she was getting through to the youngster but Stephanie had run away and had been found dead of a drug overdose.
No matter how much she’d prayed for peace, Noelle still carried the guilt over Stephanie’s death. She’d done her best to make amends by helping Kaitlin.
She lifted Kaitlin into her booster seat and wondered if she’d made a grave mistake by trusting her instincts as far as Caleb was concerned.
* * *
Caleb glanced over at Noelle for the third time in five minutes, wishing she would say something. Anything. But she didn’t. She merely sat there, looking devastated. The shadow of fear was back in her eyes and he knew that his actions had put it there.
He shouldn’t care what she thought about him, but he did. For so long, no one had believed him. Not the D.A. Not his teammates. Certainly not the media. He wasn’t sure that Jack had really believed him, despite what the lawyer had claimed.
Even his closest friend, Declan Shaw, hadn’t believed him.
So why was he surprised that Noelle, a virtual stranger, was suddenly acting as if he deserved to go back to prison?
The silence between them stretched as they made their way back to the motel. Most of the cars that had been parked outside were gone, probably because it was near the designated checkout time.
But he wasn’t leaving until Kaitlin had a chance to swim. He parked in front of their room and slid out from behind the wheel. “Why don’t you change into your swimsuits and I’ll meet you out at the pool?” he suggested.
“Yay! I getta swim in my sparkly suit!” Kaitlin shrieked. He smiled grimly. At least one of them was happy.
“Sure.” Noelle’s less than enthusiastic response made him feel bad, but there wasn’t much he could do to change what he’d done. Especially since he wasn’t about to apologize for swapping out the plates. As far as he was concerned it was a small price to pay for keeping his daughter safe.
He carried the bag inside and then left them to change. He walked down to the office, relieved to see a woman sitting behind the counter, rather than the crabby old guy. He waited for her to finish with another couple who were checking out before he stepped up to the counter.
“Hi, we’re in room twelve and we’re checking out today, but would you mind if we did a late checkout so my daughter can swim before we leave? It would really mean a lot to her.”
The woman scowled and shook her head. “Rules are rules. I’m afraid I’ll have to charge you an extra fee for a late checkout.”
He narrowed his gaze, but didn’t bother arguing with her. He wondered what she and the old man had to be so crabby about anyway? “Fine, I’ll load up the car now, then. Here’s the amount we owe.” He handed over the cash, tapping his foot impatiently as she took her time counting out the bills.
“Leave your key in the room,” she instructed.
“I will.” He turned and left, trying not to be annoyed. The girls were finished changing by the time he arrived. Noelle had a towel draped over her shoulders. “We’ll just head out to the pool, okay?”
“Sure. We have to pack our stuff and vacate the room, so I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Noelle didn’t meet his gaze, but took Kaitlin’s hand and headed outside. He quickly changed into a pair of swim trunks and a T-shirt before putting everything they’d purchased back in the plastic bag. He moved the car so that it wasn’t right in front of the room, and parked it off to the far side of the parking lot, but within view of the pool. Then he took the bag to the pool area with him, figuring they could change their clothes in the restrooms located in the small building adjacent to the swimming area.
When he arrived he found Noelle and Kaitlin in the shallow end of the pool. Noelle was holding Kaitlin as she moved around in the water, while his daughter giggled and splashed.
He wished he was the one holding his daughter. He’d been secretly thrilled when she’d given him the coloring picture at the restaurant, but that brief moment of closeness seemed to have vanished.
And he would have done anything to bring it back.
He set their bag off to the side and joined them in the water, swimming laps while Noelle and Kaitlin played. After about an hour, he noticed his daughter was shivering and decided it was time for them to leave.
“But I don’t wanna leave,” Kaitlin wailed.
Noelle wrapped a towel around his daughter. “Kaitlin, you’re shivering and your lips are blue. Let’s go and change our clothes, okay?”
“B-but I’m n-not c-cold,” Kaitlin protested, despite the way her teeth were chattering.
He had to smile at his daughter’s stubborn streak. He had no idea how much she enjoyed the water, and he knew that he needed to find another hotel with a pool. Maybe if he acted as if this was nothing more than a fun vacation, she wouldn’t have any more nightmares.
He took his own clothes inside the men’s room and quickly changed. When he returned he wrapped his wet things in one of the smaller plastic bags.
Noelle and Kaitlin emerged from the women’s room a few minutes later. “Here, I’ll take your wet things,” he said.
“Thanks,” Noelle murmured as she handed over their wet clothes. Some of the tension seemed to have eased between them as she lifted her face to the sun. “Feels good to be warm.”
“I know.” He felt bad about dragging them away from the cozy motel, but he couldn’t help the nagging feeling that they needed to keep moving. Even though he’d changed the license plates, it wasn’t as if they still couldn’t be found. For all he knew, the guy whose plates he swapped with had already informed the authorities. The cops could already be, right now, looking for the stolen tags he’d put on Noelle’s car.
“No, I don’t wanna go for a ride!” Kaitlin ran in the opposite direction, toward the plastic deck chairs lining the far side of the pool. Today, Noelle had dressed her in purple, his daughter’s favorite color, with matching purple barrettes in her hair. Her cleft chin was thrust forward in a stubborn way that made him smile. Maybe he was a tad biased but he thought Kaitlin was the cutest kid on the planet.
Noelle let out an exasperated sigh at his adorable daughter’s antics.
“Do you want me to get her?” he offered.
“No, I’ll do it.” Noelle walked slowly over to where Kaitlin stood, halfway hidden behind a deck chair. He lifted the plastic bag over his shoulder and followed.
A loud explosion caused him to instinctively duck and rush over to where Noelle and Kaitlin were standing. “Are you okay?” he asked hoarsely.
Kaitlin was crying but Noelle nodded. “Look!” she said with a gasp, pointing over his shoulder.
He turned and stared in shock at the ball of fire that engulfed Noelle’s SUV.
Horror seeped through his bones. If not for Kaitlin’s refusal to go along with them, they all would have been killed!
FOUR
Noelle couldn’t tear her gaze away from the terrible black smoke and orange flames obscuring her car. How could this happen? Who had blown up her car? How had they been found?
“Come on, we have to get out of here!” Caleb picked up Kaitlin. “Grab the bag,” he said as he headed over toward the fence. She picked up their meager belongings and hurried after him, trying to think logically.
“We can’t just leave!” she whispered.
“Yes, we can. Whoever lit up your car could still be around.” Caleb’s terse tone made it clear he wasn’t about to be swayed by any argument. “You go over the fence first, and I’ll hand Kaitlin
over.”
She hadn’t crawled over a fence since she was a teenager on the run from her foster home, but fear was a strong incentive. Caleb gave her a boost and she scrambled up and over. When she was safe on the other side, he lifted Kaitlin up and held her over the other side until Noelle had her. When she set the child on her feet, he tossed her the bag. Within moments he’d vaulted the fence and was standing beside her.
“See that outcropping of trees over there?” he asked in a low tone.
The trees were about fifty yards away. “Yes.”
“I’ll take Kaitlin. You take the bag. Keep your head down and run as fast as you can.”
Miraculously Kaitlin didn’t put up a fuss when Caleb scooped her into his arms. Noelle grasped the bag, took a deep breath and ran.
She stayed hunched over as much as possible, bracing herself for the sound of gunfire. She could feel Caleb’s warm breath on her back as he ran behind her. When they reached the relative safety of the trees, she stopped and bent over to catch her breath.
“We have to keep going,” Caleb urged, lightly grasping her arm. “Follow me.”
She swallowed hard and nodded. She followed in his wake, running as best she could, darting between the trees with the plastic bag bumping against her legs along the way. She toyed with the idea of dumping it but figured she’d hang on as long as she could.
The woods ended abruptly in front of a cornfield. The stalks of corn weren’t very high, but Caleb went into the narrow path between the rows regardless. She followed, darting a glance over her shoulder.
She didn’t see anyone following them, but then again, she hadn’t seen anyone before her car blew up, either. What choice did they have but to put as much distance between themselves and the motel as possible?
Strangely enough, she trusted Caleb to lead them to safety.
The wailing sounds of police sirens split the air and she saw Caleb tense before he increased the pace. She was already running as fast as she could, but she struggled to keep up. She wasn’t a runner by nature. She hated jogging.
