“Out with her friends. She’s leaving tomorrow to go back to North Carolina. Her vacation time is up.”
“You hear from Joseph?”
Her father snorted. “Every other hour or so, checking on you.” He nodded to the BlackBerry he kept by his side.
“Keep telling him I’m fine, okay?”
Anxiety flashed and he reached over to grip her hand in a tight squeeze, signing with the other, “Are you fine?”
She sighed. “Yes, I think so. Alonso scared me to death earlier, but…” Marianna paused, debating whether to say anything about her younger brother’s nocturnal activities. No, she’d talk to him herself, first. “G’night, Dad.” She leaned over and placed a kiss on his balding head. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, sweetie.”
She made her way upstairs to her bedroom, thinking about Ethan She noticed she spent a lot of time doing that lately…thinking about Ethan.
The haunting she saw in his eyes when he didn’t realize she was looking made her wonder if it was a result of Ashley’ s death or something else. The man sure had his secrets. As if he had things he needed to deal with. His sister’s death had certainly been hard, but she had a feeling his angst went deeper than that. Twister jumped up on her bed to settle at the foot of it, snout resting between his mammoth paws, but he perked his ears and watched her movements.
Stepping over to her closet, she pulled out clothes to wear to work tomorrow and hung them on the hook on the door. Turning back, she noticed Twister had shifted his attention, his head cocked, his brown eyes trained on the window. She reached to close the miniblinds and stopped. Leaned closer. Twister leaped to the floor and moved under the window. Marianna laid a hand on his head, feeling the rumble of his growl.
A shadowy figure darted behind the bushes to her left. Anger and frustration warred within her. Alonso. She’d hoped her brother would have chosen to do the right thing. Obviously, he’d decided to go his own way, regardless of what his big sister thought.
Immediately, her teeth clamped down on her lower lip, chewing. Resolve stiffened her spine. Turning her lip to mush by pondering her next move would accomplish nothing except for a sore lip. Spinning from the window, she shot from the room, pulling the door shut behind her. No sense in letting Twister out when he was still recovering. She bolted down the steps, bypassing the den where her father now dozed, the kitchen where her mother still puttered, and out the door.
Not bothering to yell because Alonso was totally deaf, she sprinted to the bushes where she’d seen him disappear. A small skipping stone walkway led from the bushes next to the house, to the back part of the yard. Two oak trees towered over her, casting her into the shadows now that she was away from the outside lights of the house.
The walkway connected to the neighbor’s backyard. Once in their yard, it was an easy jaunt around to the front of the house, where he could hop in a waiting car.
Only she was too late. The front yard lay empty, the silence surrounding her; the darkness pressing in. Clenching her fists in frustration, she retraced her steps back to the house, walked in the door and stopped.
Alonso’s favorite jacket hung on the coat rack. Trepidation bloomed. Her brother wouldn’t leave the house without that coat. But just to make sure…
Marianna took the steps two at a time, made a right at the top of the stairs and stopped at the first door on her right. It was cracked open, a sliver of light snaking its way out into the hallway.
She peeked in and gasped.
Alonso lay on his bed, texting on his Sidekick. No doubt complaining to one of his friends about Marianna’s interference in his after – dark plans.
When the fear leaped up to grab her, she had no defense, no excuses, no arguments with which to chase it away. Because if Alonso wasn’t the person in her parents’ backyard, who had she just sought out in the dark?
Friday morning finally brought some news for Ethan. Catelyn had spent time with the crime lab, pushing, begging, being obnoxious – and getting results. The DNA found at Marianna’s house had come back, and the man was in the system because he’d been arrested for DUI. A Gerald Chambers.
The name meant nothing to him, but it might to Marianna. Which was why he was on his way to the school to see her. He didn’t want to text her and break the news to her without being there to be a sounding board for her questions. None of which he probably had the answers for. He was hoping she might provide him a few. Like who this guy was.
Texting her, he said, “On my way. I have something I need to discuss with you about the case. Can you meet with me when I get there?”
A few seconds later he read, “Sure. It’s a teacher workday. No problem meeting. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Five minutes later he pulled up to the side of Marianna’s building. She waved to him from the window and motioned for him to come up. At the sight of her, his heart did things it shouldn’t be doing.
Getting emotionally involved with someone who needed protection – from him. Not a good idea. He’d learned his lesson the hard way. If you cared about someone, you wanted to protect them.
And if you failed, sometimes that person died. He couldn’t take that chance with Marianna. There was no way he’d live through something like that a second time.
Things had gone well on the trip to Beaufort for the funeral, thank goodness, but he’d been tense the entire time. When his boss had informed him that he was going to be responsible in making sure nothing happened to Marianna on that trip, he’d told his boss he wasn’t a bodyguard. His boss countered, “No, you’re a homicide detective. Make sure we don’t wind up with another homicide to our caseload.”
The thought of Marianna ending up like Suzanne had sent him racing to her side – even if he didn’t want the load on his shoulders.
And in spite of the reason he’d been there, he’d enjoyed the time with her. And he had to admit, in different circumstances, he would have already asked her out and been anxious to get to know her.
Like you’re not now?
Refusing to answer himself, he finally arrived at her door, his hand raised to knock, when he heard, “And that’s the way we’re doing it. If you don’t like it, there are several other schools here. Go work in one of them.”
He barely had time to move out of the way before a short slender figure barreled from the room. She saw Ethan standing there, gasped and flushed a bright red. “Excuse me,” she muttered, then disappeared into the next room down the hall.
Ethan made his way into the classroom where Marianna stood, hands on hips, lips pressed tightly, flames spitting from her dark eyes. Oh, man, she was beautiful.
When she turned that gaze on him, he wondered if he should take cover or run. Thankfully, her eyes softened, sparking something he couldn’t identify but definitely wanted to explore. “Problem?”
Marianna mumbled something under her breath. It sounded…Italian.
“Come again? English or sign language, please. I don’t do Italian.”
A smile peeked at him from the corners of her lips. Then she sighed. “I just don’t know why that woman has a problem with me.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was line when we first started working here, but obviously I’ve done something to warrant her wrath. Now she’s blatantly hostile I may have to report her to my supervisor if this continues.”
Warning signs flashed in his brain. “Did she know Suzanne?
Would she have any reason to want you out of the picture?” Marianna blanched. “No, in fact I never once considered it.”
“I’ll do a little background checking.”
She came around the desk to shut the door. “You had something to
tell me?”
“Where’s your assistant?”
“She called in sick today.”
“So, no interruptions, good. Okay, here’s the deal. The DNA from your house matched up with someone in the system.”
With eyes wide, her j
aw dropped, then snapped shut. “Who?”
“Gerald Chambers.”
“Who’s that?” She cocked her head to the side as though the action would help her to think.
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
A hand slapped to her forehead as she walked in a little circle, processing the information. “Gerald Chambers. Gerald Chambers.” Dropping her hand, she shook her head. “I’ve got nothing.”
Frustration ate at his gut from the inside. “I thought for sure you’d recognize his name.”
“No. I sure wish I did, though.” She tapped her chin. “I also probably need to mention that I think someone was hanging around my house last night.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Because I couldn’t decide if it was really someone wanting to cause more problems, or if it was one of Alonso’s friends trying to get him in more trouble.”
“It doesn’t matter, Marianna. I need to know these things. Now it’s too late for me to do anything about it.”
She dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
He reached out a finger and lifted her chin. “It’s all right. But next time…”
Julie popped her head around the door, catching Marianna’s attention. Guilt pierced her. She’d been so wrapped up in trying to figure out who had killed Suzanne and who was after her, that she’d been neglecting her good friend. Pulling away from Ethan’s sweet touch, she said, “Hi, Julie. Come on in.”
“I can come back later if you’re busy.” Julie’s eyes said that “later” would include a grilling. Marianna waved toward Ethan. “This is the detective investigating Suzanne’s murder. Ethan O’Hara, this is Julie, my friend and fellow teacher.”
Ethan held out a hand and Julie shook it. “So, you’re the reason I haven’t seen much of Marianna, huh?”
Flushing, Marianna met Ethan’s amused gaze and shook her head He grinned, shallow dimples peering out from the beginnings of his semipermanent five-o’clock shadow. “I’ll never tell.”
“Come on, Julie, you know how the gossip vine gets going around here. Don’t add to it, okay?”
Julie turned serious. “You know me better than that.”
Relieved, Marianna gave her friend a gentle smile. “I know. Sorry, I just…”
A grin cut a path on Julie’s expressive, almost pretty face. “No explanation necessary. Not to change the subject, but I just stopped by to see if you were interested in going to lunch.”
“Not today, thanks.” Marianna wanted to spend as much time as possible working on figuring everything out. She refused to admit that she hoped Ethan would suggest eating somewhere.
Julie gave a small salute, then signed behind Ethan’s back, off to the side where Marianna could see, “He’s cute! Definitely a keeper, but if you don’t want him, throw him my way.”
Trying to act as if she hadn’t caught every word, Marianna turned an innocent gaze on Ethan – who had a smirk on his face and was trying not to blush. “What?” she asked. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he knew what Julie had said.
“Guess she forgot about the mirror on that wall over there.”
Marianna whirled to look and realized he had seen everything Julie had said. She slapped a hand to her head again and groaned. Oh, brother.
Ethan let out a laugh loud enough for her hearing aids to pick up, and she rolled her eyes.
Still chuckling, he reached out to grip her hand. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go eat.”
Ethan drove them to a nearby restaurant, still chuckling. He had enjoyed the lighthearted moment, glad to have seen Marianna flustered, embarrassed and able to laugh at herself – and him. It was a side of her he found extremely attractive and wanted to see more of.
While they ate, they bounced ideas off each other. Marianna insisted she had no idea who Gerald Chambers was or why he would be in her house. Ethan knew Catelyn was busy scouring every resource she had in order to find out everything there was to know about the man. Hopefully, she would call soon with some news. In the meantime, he would enjoy a few stolen moments with this intriguing woman he was coming to care for a lot.
“Cigarettes,” Marianna murmured.
“Huh?”
Staring down at her plate, fork held midair, she didn’t hear his confused response. He reached out and tapped the hand with the fork.
She jerked, looking up, eyes unfocused. He tapped again, absentmindedly noticing the fragility of her slender hand and the silky softness of her skin. He cleared his throat. “What about cigarettes?”
Marianna blinked, focused in on him, eyebrows shooting up. “He smelled like cigarettes.”
Senses sharpening like a dog on the trail, Ethan leaned closer. “The man who attacked you?”
“Yes, cigarettes and – ” she closed her eyes, forehead creasing in concentration “ – something else.”
“What? Think.” With eyes still closed, of course she didn’t hear his insistence.
Then she opened them and sighed. “I just can’t think of what it was.”
“Was it body odor? Some kind of food?”
She gave a negative shake of her head with each question. “No, it almost smelled like cologne, but I don’t think it was. It was…it was…something I recognized but can’t put a name to.” She gave a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know. It’ll come to me. And probably when I least expect it.” A quick glance at her watch had her sighing. “I guess I’d better get going. I have to be back for an afternoon in-service training session.”
Ethan stood, regret filling him. Each time they were together, he noticed he wanted more moments. The time always flew when they were together and it constantly surprised him when it was time to part ways. “Come on, I’ll take you back. Keep thinking about that smell, okay? And if you can put a name on it, text me.”
She nodded. “Sure, no problem.”
Marianna stood, stretching the kinks from her frame. The in-service training had been informative, and any other time she’d have been interested, but today she couldn’t focus. No matter, it was finally over. Now she’d have to deal with the issue that had been on her mind since last night before she could look forward to the thought of seeing her younger sister, Catherina, who was flying in from New York tonight.
Alonso refused to leave her thoughts all day.
She had to know why his fingerprint had been found on her newly detailed car when there shouldn’t have been any fingerprints at all, not even from the guys who’d cleaned it; she knew they wore gloves to protect their hands from the constant exposure to the harsh chemicals. Her prints were probably on the driver’s door, handle and the back door since she’d gone out to her car after the guys had finished working on it only because she’d needed to change out of her teaching clothes into the clothes she wore for coaching.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t come up with a good explanation for Alonso’s print to be there.
And that worried her.
Pulling the BlackBerry from her clip, she texted Alonso. “Hey, I need to talk to you. Do you mind meeting me at home?”
While she waited for his response, she climbed into the compact rental. The insurance company would have an estimate on the cost of repairs for her damaged car at the beginning of next week. Until then, she had to make do with the rental.
Settling in, she buckled up and reached for the buzzing BlackBerry attached to her belt. Alonso responded, “Busy right now. C U later.”
The brush-off. Lips tight, aggravation with her brother gripping her, she muttered, “Oh, you’ll see me later, all right. You’ll be lucky if you don’t see me with my hands around your neck.”
Instead of typing that message and having him refuse to even answer her, she punched in, “I need to see you now, please. If you’ll meet me up the street at McDonald’s, I’ll buy. And give you an extra twenty for your trouble.”
“See you in ten.”
Bull’s-eye. She’d targeted his weakness – money – scoring a direc
t hit…another reason for more worry. She just prayed he didn’t let that influence him into making some stupid, possibly life-threatening decisions.
Although if what she needed to talk to him about was any indication, her worries had already come to fruition.
Pulling into the restaurant parking lot, she dodged mothers and toddlers, teens and ball teams, to make her way inside.
Alonso stood in line waiting to hand the cashier the order he’d already written down. The restaurant was located near the deaf school, and the McDonald’s staff were accustomed to deaf customers, which made the process of ordering and collecting food easy.
She joined him in line, noticing once again how tall he’d gotten. Her baby brother had grown into a man. He even needed a shave. Alonso shared her dark eyes, but instead of the straight, heavy hair she’d inherited from their mother, he had the thick curls of their father.
He saw her and signed, “Can we make this fast?”
“What do you need to do that’s so important?” she signed back.
“Nothing.” He rolled his eyes, then turned to gather his food.
Marianna bit her lip. His attitude continued to worsen each time she saw him. She wished she could pinpoint the reason why.
But first she needed to know why his fingerprint had been on her car.
Sliding into the booth opposite Alonso, who’d already dug into his fries, she rested her head on her hands and said a short, silent blessing.
When she looked up, Alonso was staring at her, a faint flush on his cheeks. “Sorry.”
Marianna shrugged, knowing it would do no good to lecture him.
That would only drive the wedge deeper. “That’s between you and God.”
“So, what do you need to talk to me about?”
Changing the subject. An avoidance tactic she recognized, but an effective one. “Why was your fingerprint on my car the day it was vandalized?”
“What?” he demanded. “What are you talking about?”
Marianna’s heart sank.
A Silent Terror Page 11
