Without thinking, Connor pulled her beside him and wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. Her muscles trembled beneath his fingers, but she kept her body straight. Rigid. Threw her shoulders back. Made herself into a weapon, as if she were preparing for a tae kwon do match. He pulled her closer and glanced at her, unable to read her expression.
Had she realized Northrup would be here?
"What are you doing here, Peter?" Raine's voice was hard. Cold. And the laser-like intensity of her stare could cut through metal.
"Raine. How lovely to run into you again. I'm celebrating Genie's grandmother's birthday, of course." His cold smile matched his unblinking gaze, like a snake coiled to strike. An irrational urge made Connor's hand twitch for the gun he'd left in the car. He curled it into a fist instead. "I'm glad we have this opportunity to catch up. We never got a chance to finish our last conversation."
Raine held his gaze for a long beat, then nodded once. "You're right. Maybe we'll find time to end it later."
Northrup smiled, his eyes full of anticipation. Connor tightened his fingers on Raine's waist and pressed into her taut muscles. It was either that or shove her behind him and beat the shit out of Northrup. The sick fuck was getting off on taunting Raine in front of her grandmother.
In front of Connor.
And she was throwing down the gauntlet to Northrup.
He wanted to shake her, too. Then haul her against him. Keep her safe. She was basically telling a murderer to bring it on.
As foolish as she was being, he loved her courage. Her spine of steel. He loved... He swallowed. He loved her single-minded pursuit of justice for her sister.
Raine finally switched her gaze to the woman next to Northrup. Her long red hair jiggled something in Connor's memory. He tucked it away for later to focus on Raine. And Northrup.
"And who is this, Peter?" Raine asked. "Genie's replacement?" She studied the woman, then asked her, "Aren't you afraid you'll end up like Genie?"
The redhead gasped and Beatrice's mouth went even thinner. Northrup watched Raine, the barest flicker of a smile playing with his mouth. "You're so prickly, Raine. Do I have to worry that you're going to use some of your tae kwon do moves on me? Should I be scared?"
"Maybe you should be, Peter."
Northrup's smile disappeared. His gaze scanned down Raine's body, then back. As if assessing her. "So noted," he said very softly.
Adrenaline rushed through Connor's body, and it was all fight, no flight. Northrup knew Raine. Down to the specific martial art she practiced. As if he'd studied her. Prepared for her.
Connor's fingers twitched. His hands fisted. His whole body tensed, preparing to annihilate Northrup. Connor could barely control the urge to destroy him.
Raine was his. Northrup wouldn't get anywhere near her.
She wouldn't be safe until Northrup was locked up. And Connor would make sure he was.
Northrup's gaze drifted toward Connor. His eyes narrowed. Connor saw the recognition in them. "You brought a friend, too, Raine. Detective Donovan, I believe?" He extended his hand.
Connor nodded, his jaw clenched. He held Raine's hand more tightly in his left hand and kept his right at his side. Northrup finally dropped his hand. "You were always dramatic, Raine," he said. "I hope you," his gaze shifted to Connor for a moment, "and your friend haven't upset your grandmother."
"Upset her how? By telling her you killed Genie? She already knows that." Raine switched her gaze to her Grandmother.
"Don't you, Grandmother?" She stared at her grandmother. Clenched her teeth. Unclenched them. Clenched them again.
Beatrice Talbott stiffened. But Connor saw a shadow flicker across her eyes as she said, "Don't be crude, Lorraine. Peter couldn't possibly have done such a horrible thing."
"Why not?"
Connor leaned closer and caught the sweet scent of Raine's skin. "Back off, babe."
She ignored him and watched her grandmother.
"Because he's an intelligent man," Beatrice said, but her eyes flickered toward Northrup. Then quickly away. "He knows it would have been a lot easier to divorce her."
Connor clenched his teeth. Men didn't murder their wives because it was easier than divorce. Their motivations were more complex than that. Power. Control. Rage. Evil.
He glanced at Northrup. Sometimes all of the above.
Raine's gaze switched back to the woman accompanying Northrup. "I'm Raine Taylor. Genie's sister. Who are you?"
The redhead paled, washing all color out of her already porcelain skin. "I'm, ah, Meredith Pullen." She shoved a lock of her hair behind her ear, and her hand trembled. "Nice to meet you, Raine."
Raine stared for a long time at the redhead, as if memorizing her. Uneasiness squirmed in Connor's belly. What was she planning?
Finally Raine turned to her grandmother. "I'm going to show Connor the beach." She glanced at Northrup. "The company has become distasteful."
Without waiting for her grandmother to reply, Raine turned and walked toward the lake, gripping his hand so tightly that his fingers ached.
There was a small cabana near the dense hedge, with more flowers planted around it. Its white paint was bright and shiny, but the building looked unused. Next to it, an opening in the hedges led to stairs down to the beach.
No one else was out here. Everyone was clustered close to the house, near the buffet tables and bar stations on the patio.
When they reached the far corner of the property, where the walls of the cabana shielded them from the other guests, she turned to him. "Where are the crime scene photos from Genie's murder?"
"They're in my desk at the station," he said warily. "Why?"
"We need to go look at them. Now."
"How come?"
"Did you notice the necklace Meredith was wearing?"
"I saw she had something sparkly around her throat." What he knew about women's jewelry wouldn't fill the head of a pin.
Raine gripped his wrist. The wind off the lake was cold and her fingers were icy, and she held on as if he were a life raft. "Genie had a ring. Our father gave it to our mother, then it went to Genie. She always loved that ring. After Mom and Dad died, she wore it all the time. All. The. Time. Every day."
A frisson of excitement curled in his gut. The same kind he got when a crucial piece of information in a case fell into place. "And?"
"The necklace that Meredith woman wore had four small sapphires surrounded by a bunch of small diamonds. The ring Genie used to wear was one big sapphire, the same color as those smaller ones. It was surrounded by four good-sized diamonds. Bigger than the ones in Meredith's pendant."
He was pretty sure where she was going with this. "So what are you thinking?"
"I need to see if that ring is on Genie's finger at the crime scene. Because if it wasn't, her murderer must have taken it. Maybe Peter had the stones cut down and made into that pendant."
Alarm bells shrieked in his head, as loud as the shrill of a smoke detector. "Maybe she didn't wear it that night."
"She never took that ring off."
"Okay," he said slowly. "If you're sure you can handle it, we'll go look at the pictures."
She stared out at the lake, her face shadowed by the large oak tree to their left. "I don't want to see those photos again. But I need to. Something has been bothering me since the night I first saw them. Maybe it was the ring. Not being there."
"Okay. We'll go to the station." But instead of turning around to leave, he stared at the waves crashing onto the beach below them. He should put it aside. Raine's information could be valuable. Critical to solving the case. He should bury his fear and drive straight to work.
But he had to know. It had been gnawing at him since he'd seen Northrup walk up to them.
He drew a deep breath. "Did you know Northrup was going to be here? Is that why you insisted on coming?"
She sucked in a breath and turned sharply to face him, her colorful dress spinning around her. "Is that what you think? That
I came here to confront Peter?"
He curled his fingers around the wrought iron fence and squeezed hard enough to put angry red lines on his palms. "Wouldn't be the first time."
Her jaw clenched. She swallowed and looked away. "I promised I'd stay away from him. I keep my promises."
"So you had no idea he was going to be here?"
Her throat worked. "Am I on the witness stand? Do you want me to swear on the Bible?"
"Just answer the question. Yes or no."
Raine stared at the lake for a long time. Finally she said, "I had no idea he would be here. I didn't think even Peter had brass balls that big."
"So why did you come? It wasn't to enjoy your grandmother's company, that's for damn sure."
"This was the last year. I won't come again."
"Why this year?" he prodded.
Raine's gaze was unfocused as she stared straight ahead. "I wanted to make sure Grandmother knew that Peter had killed Genie. She thought he was such a great catch. The perfect grandson-in-law. She'd never hear a word against him." She swallowed again. "Still won't."
"You went to her birthday party every year?"
"Once Genie married Peter, we both did. He insisted they go to the party. He told her it was good for business. My grandmother has a lot of influential friends."
"And you went to protect your sister."
"We protected each other."
It finally dropped into place. "Today was still about protecting your sister."
She nodded once. "I had to do this for her."
He turned her to face him. "You were taunting him. Daring him to come after you."
She shrugged. "He's going to come after me anyway. I wanted to let him know I was ready for him. Unlike Genie."
"It was a damn foolish thing to do." He touched her face. "And one of the bravest things I've ever seen. Now let's get the hell out of here."
Raine's grandmother was still talking to Northrup and the woman. Pullen. Meredith Pullen. Connor made a mental note to check on her. They passed the trio without slowing, but Beatrice called from behind them. "Lorraine. Wait, please."
Raine stilled, then stopped and turned to her grandmother. "Yes?"
Beatrice put her hand on Raine's arm, and Connor wanted to knock it off. He didn't want the woman touching Raine. "There's something I need to talk to you about." She glanced at Connor. "Privately."
He tightened his hold on Raine. She wasn't going anywhere without him.
Raine glanced at Connor, a plea for patience in her eyes. He didn't want to let her go. "Raine?" he asked quietly.
"I can give her five minutes, Connor. All right?"
The painful hope in her eyes made his stomach twist with anxiety. His instincts screamed 'no'. Told him to keep Raine close. But in his years as a cop, he'd seen that look on the faces of too many abused women. Hope that this time would be different. That this time, her husband would love her. This time, everything would work out.
Raine was the strongest woman he knew. But he suspected she'd been emotionally abandoned by her grandmother as a kid, and the wound was still there. As well as the need for the woman's acceptance. Her love.
He could have told her she wouldn't get it. That Beatrice Talbott was manipulating her again. But he squeezed her hand and nodded slowly.
"Five minutes," he said, glancing at his watch. Letting her know he'd pay attention to the time. Keep an eye on Northrup.
"Thank you." She slid her hand out of his slowly, as if she didn't want to break contact with him. Her fingertips lingered on his for a long moment, then she turned and followed Beatrice toward the house. He watched until they disappeared into a back door, then turned back to Northrup and Meredith.
"Detective." Northrup smiled, as if he understood Connor's reluctance to let Raine go and found it amusing. "Don't worry. She's just having a moment with Grandma." He glanced at Connor's clenched fists. "You seem...close to our Raine. Can I ask about your intentions?"
"She's not your Raine." She was his. And he protected his own. Connor clenched his teeth with the effort to keep his hands at his sides. "My intentions? Not your business, Northrup."
"I'm her brother-in-law. Asking is my job."
"Former brother-in-law. And my answer is go fuck yourself."
For a moment, malevolence gleamed in Northrup's eyes. Then he glanced over Connor's shoulder. "I see one of my business contacts on the other side of the lawn. Excuse me while I say hello to him." He turned to the redhead. "Meredith, why don't you keep Detective Donovan company? I'll be back in a few minutes."
Connor turned so that he could watch Northrup, and Meredith moved to face him. She slid the pendant up and down its golden chain. "Um, where do you work, Detective?"
"In Chicago," he said, watching as Northrup wove his way through the throngs of people. He lost sight of him for a moment, then he reappeared. He stood in front of another man, shaking hands. "How about you?" he asked Meredith, switching his gaze from Northrup to her.
"I work in Chicago, too," she said. Her throat rippled as she swallowed.
"Is that right?" Northrup was gesturing as he spoke to the other man, and Connor glanced at Meredith. "What do you do?"
"I'm an executive assistant." She flushed, color spreading over her fair skin and down her chest. She let go of the pendant and clasped her hands together. Connor studied the pendant Raine had mentioned. Dark blue stones in the middle, sparklier ones around it. Diamonds, probably. Similar to Genie's ring, according to Raine. "For one of Peter's associates."
"Really." Connor snapped his attention back to Meredith. "The same firm?" When she nodded, he asked, "How long have you worked there?"
"Two years." She blushed again. "Peter was devastated by his wife's death."
The hair on the back of his neck rose, and Connor studied Meredith more closely. He didn't see any subterfuge in her eyes. She looked very young. Naive. "So you knew him before Genie was killed?"
"We occasionally ran into each other at lunch. We like the sandwiches at a deli across from our building. We'd talk about business."
Connor suddenly remembered why Meredith's red hair had triggered a memory. The night he'd gone to Northrup's house, right after he'd met Raine, someone else had been there. Someone with red hair. "How long have the two of you been together?" he asked.
Meredith swallowed and clutched the pendant around her neck. "We're just friends. Peter is still coping with his wife's death," she said, not quite meeting his gaze.
Not just friends. "I think that's wise," he said smoothly. "You're smart to keep your distance for a while. The rebound girlfriend never works out."
Her knuckles whitened around the necklace at her throat. "Yeah," she said, her voice almost a whisper. "That's what all the magazines say."
"Glad to see you're being sensible." Run, he wanted to shout. As far and as fast as you can, before you end up like Genie.
He needed to look at the murder book. He wanted to know who had given Northrup his alibi.
A thousand bucks said it was Meredith.
He glanced at his watch and saw that ten minutes had passed. Northrup was no longer talking to his 'business contact'. And Raine wasn't yet back.
"Excuse me," he said to Meredith. Then he turned and charged toward the house.
***
Raine followed her grandmother silently into her office on the first floor. The room looked exactly as it had when she and Genie had lived here – an antique desk that her grandmother swore had belonged to Abraham Lincoln. Bookcases lining the walls, filled with expensive first editions, even though Raine had never seen Beatrice read. Portraits on the wall that glowed in the golden light shining on them, all bearing the patina of age and money.
She stopped in the doorway. "What do you want, Grandmother?"
Beatrice waited, watching silently until she entered the room. Then the woman nodded. "I want you to stop being so judgmental toward Peter. He's part of our family, Lorraine."
That murderer was part
of Beatrice's family? Raine was her granddaughter, but Beatrice had been cold and distant her whole life. Even when she'd come to live in this barren, sterile house as a frightened, grieving child.
Anger bubbled up inside her, but Raine kept her face expressionless. She wouldn't give her grandmother the satisfaction of seeing her lose her composure. "Not part of my family. He killed Genie. And he's going to pay for that. Is that all you wanted to talk about? Because if it is, we're done."
Beatrice's gaze flickered over Raine's shoulder, and for a moment, she would have sworn she saw guilt in her grandmother's eyes. "No. Peter wanted to talk to you."
Raine spun around to find Peter standing in the hall. Smiling at her. She struggled to breathe, her chest frozen as if her grandmother had kicked her in the stomach. "How could you do this?" she whispered to Beatrice.
The woman stared at her, her expression unchanging. The betrayal was a killing blow, far worse than the punch she'd taken from Julio Abrietto. Abrietto hadn't been her only relative.
"You know how I feel about him." She shivered, ice cold.
"Which is why I agreed to bring you here." Her grandmother's gaze flickered between Raine and Peter. Was that uncertainty? "You need to work things out with Peter, Raine. Besides me, he's all that's left of your family."
The pressure of unshed tears behind Raine's eyes made her head throb, but her grandmother's face was composed and calm. There was no guilt. No regret. No recognition that she'd just destroyed the last tie to her only surviving granddaughter.
"He's not my family and never will be." She drew herself taller as she stared at her grandmother. "And neither are you. Not after this."
She headed for the door, but Peter blocked the way. "Give me a moment, Raine."
"I don't think so." She was trapped in the office, but she didn't allow the rush of fear to show. He wouldn't do anything here. Not in front of her grandmother.
Would he?
"You need to stop this campaign of yours against me, Raine." He edged closer, close enough for her to see the rage glittering in his eyes. "You sent that detective to my home. My home, Raine. And you brought him to your grandmother's party. One way or another, you're going to stop."
Trust Me (The Donovan Family Book 4) Page 21
