The Guarded Widow

by K M Gaffney

  Panic starting to rise up in her throat as she comprehended the implication of the missing postmark. Just the thought of that awful man being so close to her children, their home, terrified her.

  The yellow school bus’s high pitched squealing brakes caught their attention as it lumbered to a shaky stop and four rowdy, excited boys spilled out. Gavin swore, threw the card onto the dashboard, and then stepped out to meet the kids. He swung open a rear passenger door, allowing the boys to clamber into the backseats. Once they were inside, he closed the car door and stood outside in the cold, silently weighing his options.

  As he contemplated the next step, his cell phone rang inside the SUV. Olivia partially lowered the driver’s side window and passed it out to him with an outstretched hand.

  I’ve got to get over this feeling of shock, she thought as she slid back into her seat. I knew this whole drama wasn’t over. That’s why Gavin’s still here. It was just so easy to push it out of my mind these last couple of weeks.

  She took a deep breath, preparing to push it out of her head once again, at least temporarily, and then turned to offer a dazzling smile to her sons as they all talked at once in the back of the SUV.

  Gavin noted it was Ron before he answered his phone.

  Perfect timing, he thought dryly.

  Greeting his friend, he shifted his gaze in order to study the surrounding woods.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  Ron was quick, to the point.

  “Gavin, I’m going to need you to bring Olivia in. I think I’ve narrowed her attacker down to four men, all of whom worked with Tom Jones during the last five years he was alive. But one of them, he recently took a leave of absence within the last few weeks. I want to see if she can identify him. I believe this is our guy, Gav,” he said enthusiastically and then fell silent, waiting for Gavin to reply.

  “Are you still there?” Ron asked him.

  “Yeah, I’m here. I’ll tell you what. We’ll be going out to lunch first and then I’ll bring her by afterwards. But Ron, the boys will be with us.”

  Ron nodded his head up and down as if Gavin could see him.

  “I understand. They won’t know what’s going on.”

  Gavin ended the call and walked over to Olivia’s side of the car.

  As he approached her, she could tell by the expression on his face that something, other than the card, was now bothering him.

  When he’d stepped out for the boys he’d been mad, now he seems burdened, Olivia thought as she climbed out to join him in the frigid air.

  “Ron just called. He asked me to bring you by the precinct this afternoon. We need to see if you can identify your attacker from a group of four men’s photographs,” Gavin said as he watched her face, trying to gauge her thoughts. “We can go to lunch first, and then head over. But, only if you’re up to it,” he told her, tilting her face up toward his.

  He desperately wished he knew what was running through her head. Her face, expressionless, was telling him nothing.

  “Yes, of course, I’m up to it. I just want this to end,” she whispered.

  Olivia got back into the car as Gavin took a deep breath and released it again.

  He could hear the two younger boys happily screaming their rendition of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.

  If she’s okay with this, I need to be okay with it too, he decided.

  With an amused grin, he slid behind the steering wheel.

  “Wow! I could hear you guys outside the car. Hey, quiet down, listen a minute. We’re going to grab some lunch in town, and then we need to swing by the station.”

  Tommy piped up over the increasing noise in the car. “Can we go into the police station too?”

  Gavin tilted the rear view mirror down to see Tommy’s face in the third row seat.

  “Of course, I’d love to have you guys take a tour,” he said and caught a quick glimpse of Olivia’s expression. Noting the grim set of her mouth, he decided she needed some time to mentally prepare for this afternoon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Totally psyched to get over to the police station, the boys devoured their lunches in record time. Gavin laughed and joked with them while they ate, all the while noticing how quiet Olivia seemed, not too mention how little she actually took in during the course of their meal.

  Ron was waiting for them when they arrived and led them, single file, down a long, narrow hallway to the spacious open area where their desks were located. As Gavin followed behind Olivia and her sons, he nodded greetings to fellow officers.

  “Okay, let’s see who’s available to give you guys a tour,” Gavin said as he nodded acknowledgment in Ron’s direction.

  Gavin kept his eyes on his friend as he escorted Olivia down another hallway. Once they were out of sight he focused on four enthusiastic faces.

  “I figured you’d want the grand tour and maybe even want to see the cells,” he said with a smile and then gently placed a hand on the twins’ shoulders as their excitement for seeing real jail cells produced loud whoops of delight.

  “Bill, come on over,” Gavin said after making eye contact with one of the newest members of the force.

  Officer Bill unhappily sauntered toward them. Gavin soundly pounded him on the back. “Officer Bill, can show you boys around. Any question at all, he’s the man with the answers.”

  Gavin watched all four boys noisily shuffle down the hall in Officer Bill’s reluctant wake before following after Ron and Olivia. When he entered the interrogation room and soundlessly closed the door, he realized that Ron had waited for him.

  He owed his partner one. As he crossed to sit down beside Olivia, she offered him a weak smile.

  Ron angled his head, briefly noting the familiar exchange between them, but then dismissed it since he was anxious to proceed.

  “These are photographs of four men who’d worked closely with Tom during the last five years he was alive,” Ron explained as he continued to watch them both with mounting curiosity.

  Olivia had instinctively reached for Gavin’s hand while he’d immediately began rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, subtly trying to comfort her.

  Ron smothered a grin and wondered, what’s been going on with these two?

  “Olivia, are you able to identify any one of these men as the man who attacked you?”

  She took the first photograph from Ron, after a quick glance, she dismissed it.

  The second photograph provoked a sharp intake of air. It bore the image of the pock marked, greasy, leering face she’d been trying so desperately to forget during the last few weeks.

  Gavin, noting her reaction, snatched the photograph out of her hand. Studying it for himself, he tried to burn every feature of the sleazy face into his memory.

  So this is the man I’m looking for, he conceded, bitterly.

  With a frown on his face, Ron immediately reached over and swiped the picture from his partner’s clenched hand.

  “That’s the man,” Gavin stated as Ron threw him a look which told him to shut up and then turned to address Olivia. “Is this the man who attacked you?”

  “Yes, that’s him. Who is he?”

  Ron was more than pleased to be able to answer her question.

  “His name is Jonathon Johnson, also know as Johnny Johnson. The FBI started investigating Viccerroy Malpractice Group about six months ago after they’d received numerous accusations from various hospitals and medical providers, throughout the country, claiming to be victims of insurance fraud. Two months ago, they discovered a possible connection between your late husband and this guy, Johnny Johnson. It wasn’t concrete evidence though. Apparently it was just a suggestive email between the two of them, found on an old computer hard drive. But, their discovery must’ve been enough to have Johnny running scared. I think he wants the information Tom had so he can destroy it. From what I understand from the FBI, they believe Tom would wine and dine the potential clients, or victims, while Johnson was the man behind the scenes, dealing with
the money. Unfortunately, this theory explains why no one at the hospitals or private practices was able to identify Johnson.”

  Ron leaned back in his chair and seemed to mutter almost to himself. “The FBI will be coming in on this one.”

  Olivia released Gavin’s hand and removed the ominous greeting card she’d received earlier in the afternoon, from her purse.

  “This just arrived at the house today,” she stated and then stood up. “I want to go home now, Gavin.”

  Ron watched her stride out of the interrogation room and then he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at his partner.

  “So what’s been going on between the two of you?”

  Gavin stood up, intending to go find the boys.

  “Mind your own business,” he growled, casting a quick glance at his so called friend.

  Snickering at him, Ron chewed on the cap of his pen and watched Gavin follow Olivia out the door.

  Throughout most of the ride home the boys exuberantly retold stories Officer Bill had shared with them during their tour.

  Much to their dismay, their mother didn’t seem to hear much of what they were saying. As they neared the house, Olivia finished giving herself a stern talking too and decided absolutely nothing was going to dampen their holidays. So when they arrived in front of the stone farmhouse, she donned a huge smile and announced the Christmas tree hike would take place today.

  Everyone was excited, except Tommy, he was the only one to question her decision.

  “I thought our new tradition was to do it on Christmas Eve,” he complained.

  “Well, we’re going to do it a day early this year,” his mother said as they all piled into the house to find hats and gloves. “Tomorrow, we’ll have house guests arriving. Gavin’s parents will be coming to stay with us, like Grandpa does.”

  Her nonchalant statement stopped Tommy and Michael in their tracks as they exchanged concerned glances.

  “Are you guys like getting married or something?” Michael asked.

  Gavin had been wrestling gloves onto Luke’s hands but upon hearing the question he paused to listen, his interest now piqued. Deliberately, he turned to focus on Olivia, watching for her reaction to this question.

  “Oh boys! No, we’re not getting married,” she gushed, laughing nervously. “We, Gavin and I, decided to invite them here because no one should be without family over the holidays.”

  Her answer seemed adequate enough for Tommy and Michael so they dropped the topic by racing each other out the front door.

  Olivia did notice, however, that Gavin was studying her in a way that was making her feel uneasy.

  He began following the boys outside, but then seemed to change his mind and walked back down the hallway, stopping in front of her.

  “It’s something to think about, isn’t it?” Gavin asked as he took the knit hat from her hands and tugged it down over her unruly waves of hair. She peered up into his striking blue eyes and suddenly realized he was dead serious.

  Caught off guard by the gravity of his words, she stammered, “Gavin, I don’t know. I…” Not in the least offended by her response, he merely winked at her as she stood before him, dismayed and speechless.

  Then he casually strolled out the front door as if it’s every day he tosses about the idea of marriage.

  Stunned by even the slightest mention of that word, she wandered into the garage to find a saw to use for cutting down the tree. As she perused the garage she held a firm conversation with herself.

  We can’t get married. We’ve only known each other a few weeks, she rationalized. He only wants to get married so we can have sex and that’s certainly not a reason to marry someone. There needs to be love. He doesn’t love me. I mean there’s a huge difference between lust and love. Not only that but I have my boys and they need me, it’s already hard enough to share myself evenly with all of them. He’s just in lust, Olivia decided as she stepped into the kitchen holding a bow saw.

  After setting the security system, she stepped out the front door and stood poised to go down the front porch steps. She stopped her descent as she watched Luke and James run up to Gavin and slide their gloved hands into his.

  “We want to walk with you,” she heard the twins say, practically in unison.

  Holding their hands, he led them down to the foot trails which meandered across her entire property.

  Staring after them, Olivia felt her heart falter within her chest. Maybe it’s not just lust after all, she conceded as she followed them all into the woods.

  Once the final ornament adorned the nine foot Frasier fur’s tree branches, Olivia joyfully exclaimed, “This is the most beautiful tree I’ve ever seen.”

  Tommy rolled his eyes at her. “You say that every year Mom,” he said, dryly.

  She just laughed and agreed with her son as she dropped down beside him on the family room couch.

  But Tommy was in no mood to be festive. He’d been eyeballing Gavin throughout the evening and noticed the cop watching his mother with a weird look in the grown man’s eyes. And since he’d noticed “the look” a few times before, Tommy was feeling hostile as he continued to glare with narrowed eyes as he watched Gavin smile warmly at his mother, again.

  “Can we still have our traditional taco night, tonight?” Tommy snidely asked with malice tingeing his voice.

  Olivia lifted her brows in surprise as she faced her oldest son, wondering what caused his sudden change in attitude.

  “Of course we can, Tommy. I’ll go start them right now. I’m certainly hungry. You guys must be starving,” she said and tried to affectionately run her hand over his hair.

  Not willing to give an inch, he ducked out of her way.

  “Come on, Mom,” he groaned.

  Shrugging it off, she figured he’s twelve now and he’s bound to stop wanting to be touched quite so often. I’m not going to take it personally, she thought. So to give him his space, she lightly patted his knee before walking off to start dinner.

  But Gavin had overheard the entire exchange.

  “Hey Tommy, give me a hand carrying these back down to the basement?” Gavin asked, gathering up the empty storage boxes.

  However the question may have been proposed, to an irritable twelve year old it sounded like a demand and Tommy wasn’t about to take it.

  So he stared directly at Gavin and flashed a surly smirk.

  “Nah, I’m too tired.”

  Gavin understood exactly what was going on and gave him a knowing grin.

  “Of course you are. I’ll ask one of your little brothers for help then. You guys will probably want to turn in early after the big hike today.”

  Tommy watched Gavin from the corner of his eye. Who does this dude think he is? Then on second thought, he conceded to helping, because who wants to go to bed early on their first night of Christmas vacation.

  Between the two of them, it only took two trips up and down the basement stairs before Tommy tried to head back up from their final trip.

  When Gavin laid a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him, Tommy realized there’d been a hidden agenda all along.

  “I want you to know how much I appreciate how you and your brothers take care of your Mom. How you listen to her. She’s so proud of all her boys and she loves you so much.” Gavin paused, and when he spoke again there was sincere understanding in his voice. “You know, I saw how you were watching me earlier, in regards to your mom.”

  Tommy cast his eyes downward to his shoes and acted like he was studying his laces. “Yeah, so what?” he grunted.

  Gavin gave his bony shoulder a sturdy, friendly squeeze.

  “You can tell I really like her, huh?”

  Tommy finally looked up and shrugged.

  “You know, you’re growing up, Tommy. You can see these things while your brothers are still a bit too young to take notice. I do like her. I mean I really care about her. She even shared her beliefs with me and I fully intend to honor her wishes.”

  Tommy ra
ised his eyebrows, asking him, “So you are going to get married?”

  Gavin tousled his hair. “I’m definitely open to the idea. But, I know your Mom’s first priority is you guys so I need to know if you’d be comfortable with the idea too.”

  The young man’s eyes widened in shock. “You care about what I think?”

  Gavin laughed, hooking an arm around Tommy’s neck, he playfully rubbed his knuckles over the boy’s head. “Of course, I care about what you think.”

  Tommy’s grin was swift and Gavin immediately returned it.

  “This is just between the two of us right now, though.”

  Tommy, understanding the importance of their conversation, nodded his head of wavy brown curls in agreement.

  Then they locked hands, man and child, and shook on it.

  She wasn’t sure what changed Tommy’s attitude but his mother was grateful to whatever it was, because the rest of the evening went smoothly. Gavin followed her upstairs when the boys headed to bed and went into their bedrooms to wish each child a good night. When he entered Tommy’s room, he thanked him for their previous conversation.

  Olivia overheard him as she walked in the doorway and offhandedly asked, “What conversation?”

  Tommy glanced warily at Gavin.

  “Nothing, Mom” he stated and caught Gavin’s quick nod of approval as he exited the room.

  After witnessing their brief, curious exchange, she wondered to herself, what’s going on with those two?

  Then she looked at her son, whose mood had improved dramatically, and decided to shrug it off. She wished Tommy a good night and made her way downstairs.

  Olivia hurried into the kitchen with the intention of completing a few remaining tasks before settling down for the evening and found Gavin already seated at the kitchen island. As she went about starting the dishwasher and sweeping up the taco remnants off the floor, she noticed him watching her.

  After a few unnerving seconds, she finally turned around and shot him a questioning glare.