Tainted Mind

by Schultz, Tamsen

When Ian didn't respond, she turned to look at him. A look of disbelief and confusion fixed on his face.

  “Someone shot my tire?”

  Vivi nodded.

  “Why would someone shoot my tire? And that's a hell of a shot.”

  Her eyes locked on his. He was thinking of the immediate questions, but she knew the bigger implication would sink in. His eyes fell to hers and, second by second, she watched as they began to clear and focus in on her like a laser. When his jaw ticked, she braced herself for the fallout, knowing he'd come to the same conclusion as Nick.

  “Because you're his obsession.”

  CHAPTER 20

  “GODDAMN IT, VIVIENNE. Is this what you and Nick were talking about at The Tavern?” Ian demanded. She bit her lip and nodded. He vaulted out of bed and started pacing.

  “So, what?” he paused and pinned her with a look. “He came after me because he's after you?”

  She swallowed. “Yes, that's what Nick and I think. The shot fired at your Jeep was too professional, too good to be an accident. And unless you have any enemies we don't know about, Nick thinks that since he can't come after me, or won't come after me, he's going after you. You need to be careful, Ian.”

  Ian, who had resumed his pacing, stopped abruptly and shot her an incredulous look. “I need to be careful, Vivienne? I told you from the beginning that those women looked like you and you wrote it off. Now we think he's killed over twenty women and you're pretty sure he's doing it because it's you he wants? And I have to be careful?”

  “Ian.” His jaw clenched and she had no doubt he was fighting hard to hold his tongue. Vivi took a deep breath. “Look, Ian. You're right. I wrote you off. I noticed the resemblance, but what were the odds of me finding a body in a place I've never been, buried three years ago, by someone obsessed with me? You have to admit it's pretty far-fetched.” He didn't look prepared to admit anything.

  “I'm sorry, Ian. What more can I say? Nick came to this conclusion tonight. I'm still not sure I completely buy it. He's convinced me to consider it because there are too many similarities and coincidences. But after your day, after both of our days yesterday, I didn't want to talk about it tonight. I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference if I told you tonight or in the morning. And, at least if I told you in the morning, you'd get a good night's sleep. And I was planning to tell you.”

  “Well, sleep sure as shit isn't going to happen now, is it?”

  She sighed. “I'm sorry, Ian. I should have told you when Nick told me.”

  He paced a few more times, then seemed to come to some conclusion as he stopped at the end of the bed. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. After a pause, he started speaking.

  “You don't need to apologize, Vivienne. I probably would have done the same thing. And I'm not mad at you. I'm—” he stopped. His eyes landed on hers and softened. His shoulders dropped. “This just scares the hell out of me, Vivienne.”

  All she could hear was the sound of crickets in the fields beyond the house. And the only thing that mattered was this moment. This moment when she could lie and say everything was fine, that she was fine. Or this moment when she could tell the truth to him and herself. She was aware of the rise and fall of her chest, of Ian's eyes watching her.

  Then a single tear slid down her cheek. “I know, Ian. It scares me, too.”

  * * *

  Ian froze for a split second. He'd seen Vivienne cry over her parents and her brother, but this was different. This was her own fear, her own vulnerability. He thought to go to her side, to lie down beside her and hold her, but something stopped him.

  Instead, he held out a hand, asking her to come to him. Asking her to make a choice. Telling her that he knew, even in her own vulnerability, that she was strong and capable.

  She eyed him for a moment, then rose from the bed and crossed over to him. Her arms wrapped around his waist as his came around her shoulders. She tucked her head under his chin and he rested his cheek on her hair. He held on for a long time, just holding her, feeling her, before he spoke.

  “I wish I could tell you that nothing is going to happen to you. I wish I could say I'm not going to let anything happen to you,” he said.

  “But you can't promise me that, and I'd rather you be honest than make those kinds of promises.”

  “I wish to god I could, though.”

  The floor was cool under his feet. If it weren't for the threat on Vivienne, the moment would have been one of perfect peace and quiet. The crickets chirped outside, the house was still, Vivienne was solid and real in his arms. He could feel her breathing against his chest; the shirt she wore pressed against his bare skin and through it he could feel the heat from her body.

  “How sure are you?” he asked.

  “I don't know. I still can't wrap my mind around it. Nick seems convinced, especially after looking at the Boston files and talking to Lucas.”

  “I bet Rancuso wasn't happy.”

  Vivienne let out a soft laugh. “You can say that again. I think the only thing keeping him from storming out here is the fact that he doesn't have any leave and is in the middle of a triple homicide.”

  “I'm sorry he's caught such an ugly case, but I have to say, I think we have enough outsiders in on this already.”

  Vivienne drew back and looked at him. “You know there was never anything between Lucas and me, right?”

  “Even if there was, there isn't now. But my guess, from the way he talked to you, is he's like a brother to you. Or more like a brother-in-law, right?”

  She drew even further back in surprise. Then her eyes turned wary. He sighed and pulled her back to bed with him. Once they were tucked under the sheets, he spoke.

  “I figured, he and your brother?”

  Vivienne sat up on her elbow to study Ian's face. Probably looking for some sort of censure or judgment. She wouldn't find any, he wasn't hung up on people's sexuality. Well maybe Vivienne's, but that had already been established.

  She let out a breath and tucked herself back in beside him. “Yes, he and my brother had been together for over six years when Jeff died. No one knew except me, my parents, and Lucas's parents. They were waiting for the “don't ask, don't tell” law to be repealed, and then were going to get married.”

  “And they just missed it.” Ian hadn't known Vivienne's brother, but any couple prevented from getting married, only to have one die before they could, was tragic.

  “They did.” Vivienne was quiet for a long moment and then Ian felt her smile. “The funny thing was, Lucas was planning on it. He always said that he would walk into the bull pen after getting married, announce it to everyone at once, then tell them that if anyone had any objections they could meet him in the alley after work.”

  Ian laughed, he could easily see the guy doing that. “Do you think he would have had any takers?”

  “I doubt it, but it would have been interesting.”

  Then something occurred to Ian. “When your brother died, Lucas had to mourn in private, didn't he?” Adding to the tragedy.

  Vivienne nodded against him. “Yeah, he did. We spent a lot of time together right after Jeff died. A lot of folks probably thought he was comforting me in more traditional ways, and we let them think that. It was easier than anything else.”

  “That's why you said you were sorry for not calling him?” he asked, recalling something Vivienne had said when they'd first met Lucas in Boston. Again, she nodded.

  “I don't know if I forgot, or if it was denial. But I should have called him on the anniversary of my brother's death. I know I have my whole family to count on. They know what I lost. But only Lucas's parents and I know what he lost.”

  Ian pulled her tighter to him. He wasn't ready to call it love yet, but the woman at his side had something. And whatever it was, it was calling to him, telling him that he, and she, were exactly where they should be.

  “So I don't suppose there is anything we can do about my accident and you being the target
of the obsession tonight, is there?” he said.

  Vivienne shook her head, tickling his nose with some of her hair. “Nick can give you the particulars tomorrow. We should probably do it with Lucas on the phone, if he can get the time.”

  “He's going to have a hard time staying away.”

  “I know, but he's already skating on thin ice so, unless he wants to lose his job, he doesn't have a choice,” she responded.

  “Because he's taken so much time off this year?”

  “And because, even when he's there, he isn't always there, if you know what I mean. For all intents and purposes, he lost his spouse. And, as if that isn't enough to deal with, he has to pretend everything is fine.”

  “That's shitty.”

  “No kidding,” she agreed.

  “Maybe he can come out and take my job.”

  Her head popped up. “You're still second guessing yourself?”

  He thought about that for a long moment, then finally shook his head. “No, actually, I'm not. It's just that I kind of fell into this job and never really gave it any thought. It hasn't been until recently that I've thought about it at all. It was just something I did, like brushing my teeth and putting my socks on in the morning. I think that maybe, when this is all over, maybe I should think about what it is I want to do with the rest of my life.”

  Vivienne snuggled back down. “Maybe, when this is all over, we can take a trip to Tahiti and you can do all the thinking you need.”

  He smiled, liking the sound of that. “That your plan, DeMarco?”

  She leaned forward and kissed him. “One of them, that's for sure.”

  He gathered her close for a moment, then grunted and rolled out of bed, dislodging her from his arms. “I'm not going to sleep any more tonight. Why don't you get some rest and I'll watch some more of that video footage.”

  She eyed him from under the covers as he pulled on a pair of sweats over his boxers. “Ian?” He turned at the door. “Why don't you bring the laptop in here, and we can both watch. I'm not sure I'll be getting much sleep either.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Ian and Vivienne headed to the vet to pick up Rooster. Dash had called the day before, offering to keep Rooster one more night and administer his shots this morning, rather than make Ian bring the pup back in. Ian had missed his dog the night before, but given how he and Vivienne had spent their night together, he thought perhaps the pup had been better off in the kennel.

  “Have you talked to Naomi recently?” Ian asked as they made their way through town. “Not since she came out to the house when you were in the hospital,” Vivienne answered.

  He glanced over at her, turning left toward Dash's clinic. He'd forgotten about Naomi spending the night. “Want to tell me why she came over? Not that I mind, but since you didn't mention it, I'm curious.”

  She took a deep breath. “You're not going to like it.”

  “I don't like any of this.”

  Vivienne inclined her head. “Fair enough. When I got back to your place that night, something didn't feel right.” She told him about her instinct and why she'd opted to call her cousin.

  “What about Travis and Brian—not that I'm discounting two women together,” Ian said over her grumbled objection. “But it seems to me that if you were going to rally the troops, you'd rally all of them.” He fumbled with the turn signal as he made a right turn. Driving with his cast wasn't easy, but it was doable.

  “Travis was out. Brian was asleep. I didn't need protection, I wanted company.”

  He mulled this over for a long moment as he drove. Instincts were never disregarded in his line of work. He didn't want to scare Vivienne any more, but he made a mental note to have Nick go scout around his property and see if he saw anything out of place. Which reminded him of Nick.

  “Is Nick going to be in today?”

  Vivienne nodded.

  “Good, I want to know what he found. Exactly what he found.” He gave her a pointed look.

  “Hey, don't look at me. I've told you everything I know. Nick took what he found up to Sam yesterday. He might have more information today.” The hint of guilt in her voice made Ian smile. She didn't need to feel guilty anymore, but the fact that she did assured him that Vivienne knew how important it was to him to know about anything that concerned her safety.

  “Does anyone else know?”

  She shook her head. He played a couple scenarios over in his mind then gave a quick nod. “Good, I'd like to keep it that way, if you don't mind.”

  He could feel her eyes on him, studying him. Slowly, she nodded. “You don't want anyone to know not just about the cause of the accident, but about what we think about you being targeted because of me.”

  “I want whoever it is we're hunting to think we're still chasing false scents. And, make no mistake, Vivienne, we are hunting. We know he's in my territory, we know he's close enough to know about us. That, in and of itself, narrows things down a bit,” he said as he pulled into a parking spot at the veterinarian's.

  When he switched the ignition off and Vivienne didn't move, he turned to her. “Vivienne?”

  It took her a heartbeat or two, but she swung her gaze to his. “I hadn't thought that far ahead, Ian.” He didn't know what she was talking about, and it must have shown on his face. “I mean, I get Nick's theory about me being the target, although I still find it hard to believe. But even accepting that, I hadn't let myself think about what that really means.”

  Ian clumsily unclipped his seatbelt and turned to face her. Taking her hand in his good hand, he raised her palm to his lips. He knew where this was going and it wasn't going to be easy. Not for anyone, but especially not for someone like Vivienne who ‘fixed’ things for other people, who based her career and life around helping to bring closure and some sort of peace to everyone she worked with.

  “If he's here,” she continued, looking straight out the front window. “And you were a target, then anyone close to me could be a target.” He felt her hand contract in his in protest of what she herself was saying.

  But she took a deep breath and shook her head. “But that's not right. If he's obsessed with me and it's sexual in nature, it makes sense that he'd only go after you.”

  Her eyes met his again and she added, “So, the good news is, most people around me are safe. The bad news is, you're not.”

  He thought about going all macho and saying he could take care of himself. But for him, the number one priority wasn't keeping himself safe, but keeping Vivienne safe. She'd object if he told her this so he said nothing on the matter.

  “The other good news is that he's on my turf now,” Ian added. “He may have dumped one body here and killed one woman when we weren't on the lookout. But we are now. And while I may not know everything there is to know about police procedure, believe me, I know how to hunt.”

  Vivienne's eyes searched his and Ian knew some of the feral, primal emotions he felt were clearly displayed on his face. But he hadn't been lying and he hadn't been talking about hunting deer.

  She nodded, leaned forward, and brushed a kiss across his mouth. “I'm glad you're on my side, Ian.”

  “I can say same the same for you, Dr. DeMarco.” She gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand before opening her door and sliding out.

  They liberated a lively Rooster from the kennel and, after dropping him off at Ian's parents’, headed back into town. When they entered the station, Wyatt was filing some paperwork and Carly was in an office on the phone.

  “Hi boss, Vivi,” Wyatt said, closing a file drawer. “Had some paperwork from last night to finish up.”

  “Anything I should know about?” Ian asked, taking off his jacket and hanging it up on the rack outside his office. He was never a big fan of his uniform, but even with his arm in a half cast, he much preferred this short-sleeved uniform to what he'd had to wear in the desert.

  Wyatt shook his head and his eyes trailed to the cast. “How's it feeling?”

  I
an shrugged as Carly exited the office. “Carly,” he said with a nod. “Anything new we should know about?”

  “No, not since last night. Daniel stopped by early this morning to talk to Nick, then left for Albany. Nick's upstairs doing something, and Naomi popped by earlier and brought everyone some bagels and mochas from Frank's. What's the plan for the day?” Carly asked.

  “We need to get the timelines up on the board, or in the computer so it can graph it out for us. After that, let's see what happens,” Ian answered.

  He ushered everyone upstairs where they found Nick hunched over at one of the tables—a folder in one hand, a pen in the other—madly scribbling something. He looked up at their arrival, but did nothing more than offer a gesture of acknowledgment before turning back to his file.

  Grabbing a mocha and ignoring the bagels, Ian turned to the board. He wanted timelines, knowing they would help establish a pattern and, when they caught the guy, would help establish guilt. But the name of the game had changed and Ian hadn't been making nice when he'd said he was hunting. All his old instincts kicked in and he could feel the familiar sense of anticipation growing, his senses sharpening, and his focus honing in. Up until now he'd been playing defense. That wasn't the case anymore.

  After making the appropriate comments and spending enough time on the details, Ian excused himself and, asking Nick to accompany him, headed back down to his office—ignoring Vivienne's questioning gaze.

  “Viv told you,” Nick stated as soon as the office door closed behind him. Ian stared at the other man. Nick cocked his head.

  “The man is a dead man, he just doesn't know it yet,” Ian said.

  “You were very good at your job, weren't you, guv?”

  Ian inclined his head. “Yes.”

  “So what now?”

  “Now, I want you to look into Brian, Travis, and Vivienne's Uncle Mike,” Ian directed.

  One of Nick's eyebrows shot up.

  “After she told me last night, neither of us were going to go back to sleep, so we watched some more video. All three of them were at the university; all three of them were at the fundraiser.”