by Wanda Dyson
“He wants to shake you up, Zoe.”
“He already did that,” she replied. “This is nothing but overkill.” Turning on her heel, she disappeared inside the house, leaving JJ to follow or leave.
“Wait here,” JJ instructed Wayne. He stepped inside the house and closed the door. He found Zoe in the living room, pacing.
“You can’t stay here until we catch this guy. Do you have a place to go?”
Zoe nodded. “Daria asked me to stay with her.”
“Good.” Thinking the subject dealt with, JJ turned and headed for the door. “I’m going to take this down to the station. I doubt we’ll find anything, but it’s worth trying.”
“Okay.” She followed him, her sandals barely whispering across the carpet.
At the door, JJ looked back at her, taking in the dark shadows in those pretty eyes. It was fear. For the first time since this had all begun, he realized just how afraid she truly was. In that moment, he didn’t think about his motives, his intentions, or even his actions. He reached over and pulled her into his arms.
She was stiff and unyielding as he held her. “It’s going to be okay, Zoe. We’re not going to let this guy get to you.”
She placed her hands lightly on his shoulders. “You won’t be able to stop him, Josiah. I’ve invaded his garden. He wants me dead.”
“I don’t care what he wants. He’s not going to touch you.”
Later, he would say it was the scent of jasmine and roses. Or the look in her eyes—the incredible need that could turn any man into a mindless idiot with visions of white horses and slaying dragons.
But at that moment, all he could think of was how well she seemed to fit in his arms.
His lips came down on hers as soft as a whispered promise. There was a moment of hesitation before he felt her yield. Her arms slid around his neck and her fingers curled in his hair. And he was lost.
He tasted her mouth, his lips moving over hers in a ritual as old as breathing and just as instinctive. And if he felt those fingers wrapping around his heart, he didn’t notice. He was far too consumed with the way she felt, tasted, breathed.
When he broke the contact, he was breathing hard. She opened her eyes slowly, and while the look of fear had abated, the look that had replaced the fear was far more potent.
He dropped his arms and stepped back reluctantly, trying to break those tiny threads that seemed to bind him to her.
“That was a mistake. I’m sorry.”
Zoe turned her face away. “Don’t sweat it, cowboy. A moment of insanity, right?”
“Right.” He held up the doll. “I’d better go.”
Zoe merely nodded. “You have a good day.”
“Yeah. Uh, you, too.”
#
It wasn’t until she heard the front door close that she sat down and let the tears well up in her eyes. A mistake!
For the first time in her life, she felt a connection with a man that didn’t involve seeing his every dark secret or the motive of his heart or the lust in his soul. For once, all she felt was wonderful. And he called it a mistake.
Arrogant, self-centered, judgmental, self-righteous. . .
And this was the man she was depending on to protect her from a killer? She’d lost her mind. The sight of her sister’s bracelet glittering on her pillow still shimmered in her mind. The killer had left two messages for her with that bracelet. I killed your sister and I can kill you. And I can get to you anytime, anywhere. You are not safe from me.
Suddenly Zoe snapped to attention. What was it? Something her mother had told her about a man coming into the store. She jumped to her feet and ran down the hall. “Mom?” She tapped on the guest room door.
“Come on in, honey.”
Zoe pushed open the door. Her mother was sitting on the freshly made bed, brushing her hair. She smiled up at Zoe. “You know what I was just thinking about? Belgian waffles. The kind with strawberries and whipped cream all over the top. You always loved those. How about we go down to that waffle. . .”
Zoe cut her off. “Mom. The other day. You called me and you told me a man had come into the shop. A weird man. Do you remember?”
Denise shoved her brush into her purse. “Well, of course I remember. He was way beyond weird. He said something about what a shame it would be if I lost both daughters. That’s what sent those creepy crawlers up my spine.”
Zoe spun on her heel and ran back into the living room. She grabbed the phone and stared at it a moment before she realized that she didn’t know the phone number.
“Who are you calling? What’s wrong, Zoe? Did that man come back again?”
“Mom, what’s Dad’s number?”
Denise lifted a finely arched brow as she rattled off the number to Zoe. Zoe dialed it without answering the questions in her mother’s eyes.
“Dad? I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“Zoe? Uh. . .no, you didn’t wake me. I was just about to make some coffee.”
“Mom is here. I need you to come here now. Now, Dad. Do you understand?”
“Well, yes, of course I understand. I can be there in ten minutes.”
“Make it eight.” Zoe slammed down the phone and started pacing again.
“Zoe, what is going on?”
“I’ll tell you as soon as Dad gets here.”
Denise frowned in that delicate way she had and folded her arms across her chest. Zoe could see so much of herself in her mother. They were both as stubborn as twenty-year-old mules. This wasn’t going to be easy.
Keyes Shefford arrived a shade under ten minutes. Zoe opened the door and waved him in before he even had a chance to knock. She was stunned to see how he’d aged. Gray threaded through the thick, curly brown hair that had begun to recede from the corners of his forehead. He’d always been slim, but now he was almost too thin. The way his shoulders slumped, it was as if life had finally succeeded in wearing him out.
Only those gray eyes of his snapped with energy, and most of that was curiosity and bewilderment. “What’s going on?”
Zoe took a deep breath and waved him over to the sofa. “The man that killed Amy is now after me.”
She watched the color drain from his face and, for the first time in years, felt her heart ache for her dad. And for the relationship she’d once had with him. She longed for him to hold her tight and keep her safe. But she knew he couldn’t keep her safe. He hadn’t been able to keep Amy safe.
“It gets worse,” she continued as her mother sidled over and sat down next to her father. “He’s been leaving me messages, letting me know that I have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. But that’s not what I’m worried about right now. It dawned on me this morning that he left another message for me and I almost overlooked it.”
“What message, Zoe?” Denise reached for Keyes’ hand and held it tightly.
“He was in your shop, Mom. Remember? He was right there in your shop telling you that it would be a shame to lose me.”
Keyes’ head jerked back as he stared first at Zoe and then at Denise. “He was letting you know he could get to your mother.”
“Yes. Dad, I need you to take Mom away. Someplace safe until this is over. Mom said you bought a cabin somewhere in Ohio—on one of the Great Lakes, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I. . .”
Zoe cut him off. This was no time for specifics. “Just take her there. Stay there. Fish, swim, picnic, explore, buy her all the antiques she wants. I don’t care what you have to do, but keep her away until I let you know it’s safe to come back.”
Denise shook her head. “Not unless you come, too. It’s you he’s after, not me.”
“He’ll follow me. He won’t follow you. The police and I can handle this. I just need to know you’re safe.” She wasn’t so sure the police could handle this situation. Nor was she certain she could. The lie was necessary, however, to get her mother to cooperate.
“I don’t know, honey.” Denise shook her head. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it
at all. I’ll be worrying the whole time.”
“I can handle this, Mom. I’ve been handling this world for a long, long time. Trust me. Trust the police. We’ll catch this guy.”
“You’re going to set yourself up as bait, aren’t you?” Her father’s voice cut right to the heart. She could only hope he believed she wasn’t alone in this.
“We have it all worked out, Dad. I’ll be safe the entire time. We have to stop this guy before he takes another little child. It’s the only way.”
Keyes wrapped his arms around Denise. “I’ll keep her safe, Zoe, but I want your promise that you’ll do exactly what the police say and nothing else. No rash heroic moves. Don’t take any unnecessary chances. I’ve already lost too much in my life. I won’t lose you, too.”
Zoe stood there and stared at her father. Didn’t he realize that he’d already lost her? He’d lost her twenty years ago.
chapter 18
Saturday, April 22
Sitting at the kitchen table, Karen tried to ignore the incessant ringing of the doorbell. “Go away,” she kept whispering as she buried her head in her arms.
The ringing finally stopped and silence fell around her like a warm mist. Images kept swimming through her head. The police searching her house, asking her questions, insisting that Ted’s car had been found in the river, his body swept away.
Impossible. He couldn’t be dead. God couldn’t be so cruel as to take her baby and her husband.
A bloody knife in the dishwasher? She couldn’t remember using it. Couldn’t remember the last time she’d even seen that knife. It wasn’t one of her regular cooking knives. It had been one of her mother’s and was usually left unused in a kitchen drawer. Karen didn’t like the way it cut.
How did it get there? Whose blood was it? It couldn’t be Ted’s. It was absurd for anyone to think she had killed him. She loved him. Respected him. Needed him. She loved Ted. Sure, he could be overbearing sometimes, but. . . She pressed her knuckles against her mouth to keep from crying out in despair. Her head hurt and she felt sick to her stomach.
She knew Ted was only hard on her because she needed someone to keep her focused. But to kill Ted? Ridiculous! Beyond belief! She couldn’t even stand the sight of blood!
Idiots! That’s what they were. Complete idiots! This was all a major misunderstanding. The kidnappers dumped Ted’s car. He probably had to go with them in their car somewhere, and now he was trying to hitch a ride home with Jess.
Karen sat up in a rush. Of course! That had to be it!
Footsteps in the hallway penetrated her thoughts, and she jumped to her feet. “Karen?”
Her father’s voice echoed through the house. Karen slapped a hand to her chest. “You scared the daylights out of me, Dad.”
“Why didn’t you answer the door? I had a heck of a time finding my key.”
She sank back down in her chair. “I didn’t answer the door because I didn’t want company.”
The hint was ignored as he pulled out a chair and joined her at the table, his eyes hard and condemning. “Why didn’t you call me? I had to hear it on the news?”
Karen shrugged. She had no desire to answer his questions any more than she wanted to be pounded on by the police. There was very little difference in the impact on her heart and mind.
“You’ve finally snapped, haven’t you?” His voice slapped at her, stinging. “Gone around the bend.”
Karen looked over at him, still saying nothing.
“Why did you do it, Karen? Did you just get tired of being a wife and mother? Is that it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Dad. I didn’t do anything.”
“Of course not. Ted and Jessica are just missing, right? Someone took them, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered. What else could she say?
“Just like someone took Kipsey, right?”
Karen felt the words hit her like a fist, knocking the breath out of her. “What?”
“You killed that kitten and refused to admit it.”
“I was a child! Give me a break, Dad! It was an accident!” A terrible accident. The little tabby had been climbing on her mother’s curtains, and her mother had threatened to give him away if Karen didn’t control him. Desperate, Karen had put the kitten in a box and lined it with blankets so he would be comfortable. She’d sealed it shut to keep him from escaping.
She hadn’t realized that between the blankets and the sealed box, the cat had been smothered.
“You could never own up to it, could you? No. You had to tell everyone that someone had taken that kitten, that it had been stolen. That’s what you kept saying, because you couldn’t admit that you’d killed it. Are you doing it again, girl? Refusing to admit the truth?”
“Leave her alone, Dad.”
Karen jumped up out of her chair at the sound of the familiar voice. “Ray!”
He held out his arms and she didn’t hesitate. She flew into them and let him wrap her up in comfort. “Thank goodness you came.”
Walter lumbered to his feet. “And here you finally are. You don’t bother with any of us until there’s trouble, then the first thing you do is coddle that girl.”
“And as always, you have to beat her up rather than admit that you may have judged Ted wrong. You’re never wrong, are you, Dad? Heaven forbid. No, it’s always someone else’s fault—usually Mom’s or Karen’s.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know what’s been going on here.” He pointed to his daughter, his voice tight with anger. “First her daughter and now her husband.”
“And Karen is innocent. End of story.”
“So say you. You don’t have all the facts.”
“I have enough facts to know that my sister would never kill her child. Or her husband. She isn’t built that way.”
“You have no idea, Ray. You aren’t here to see her. Forgetting things, shifting blame, always shuffling around with her head in the clouds, neglecting the baby, not doing right by her husband.”
Ray gently extracted Karen from his arms. He looked down at her, and she felt a tremor run down her spine.
“Did you kill Jessica? Did you kill Ted? Tell me, Karen. Tell me the truth. Did you do this?”
#
He smoothed the ground with his hands and then rose, clapping his hands together to knock off the surface dirt. With a critical eye, he examined every aspect of the area. Nothing looked disturbed. Nothing to indicate that anything was amiss.
Of course, he wasn’t concerned at the moment. His superior thinking had the cops running in fifteen different directions and getting nowhere fast. He laughed out loud, picturing the police scratching their heads as they tried to figure out what was going on.
Oh, he was good. Smart. Far too smart for Johnson. It was utterly presumptuous of Detective Johnson to think that he could actually catch him.
No, Johnson would be chasing his tail for years to come. In the meantime, there was more work to be done. A few more warnings to that nosy Shefford woman and then he’d take her out of the equation completely. And of course, he would lay so many rabbit trails the good detective wouldn’t know which way to look. The bracelet was a stroke of genius. He laughed to himself. She probably still hadn’t noticed that he had taken something of hers. A little trinket to send the police running in the wrong direction again.
Fools. That’s what they all were. They didn’t understand him and they never could. None of them. He’d learned how to play the game, letting them think he was like them. But he wasn’t. Oh, no. Not even close. He was far superior. They looked him in the eye and never knew he was laughing at them behind that bland stare he’d perfected in front of his mirror.
And he would keep on laughing.
#
It had been a long morning, and the tension was still lingering on the edge of fear. Zoe’s father had called her from somewhere outside Columbus, Ohio, with an update on their travel. They had stopped for breakfast before hitting the road again.
He sounded upbeat. She could only imagine that the time alone together was giving them a much-needed opportunity to sort through relational issues.
Licking the mayo off her fingertips, she stacked the ham on the bread. At least her mother was safe. Carrying her sandwich to the table, she sat down and stared at it. Being relieved of one set of worries had only given her more time and inclination to dwell on another worrisome situation: her attraction to JJ.
Zoe shook her head. What was she thinking? Nothing was ever going to develop between them. He’d made that perfectly clear after kissing her.
She pulled the newspaper closer and perused the top stories. They had fished Ted Matthews’s car out of the river and he was presumed dead.
Karen Matthews must be at the end of her rope.
You use the devil’s powers and I can’t allow that. I’m sorry, but Karen is a Christian. Karen’s friend’s words echoed in her mind. Taunting her. Your gift is not from God.
Enough!
She was going to settle this once and for all! It took her almost fifteen minutes, but she finally found her old Bible—the white one her parents had given her as a child—tucked in the back of a closet with her old Nancy Drew books and a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Wiping off the dust, she carried it back into the living room. She flipped randomly through the pages.
Your gift is not from God.
You use the devil’s powers.
Zoe slammed the Bible closed. She didn’t know where to look—where to find answers to her questions. She hadn’t been able to find one word about psychics.
“Who do you call to, Zoe? Do you call on God?”
Zoe shook her head as if to dislodge Rene’s voice. “Is your life submitted to Him? Is your gift submitted to Him? All gifts come from God and are given without repentance. He has given mankind free will. How you choose to use your gifts, whether for Him or for His enemy, is up to you.”
“Stop it!” Zoe whispered forcefully. “Just stop it! I’m not using my gift for evil. I’m using it for good!”
