Guilty

by Karen Fenech

  Ryan kissed his son softly then turned to Jenny. “Tell me everything Tina told you about her appointment.”

  Jenny rubbed her hand up and down her throat. “She didn’t say anything more than I told you, only that she had a hair appointment and then something else after and could I watch Jeremy for a while.”

  “Did she say how long she’d be?”

  Jenny shook her head. “No.”

  “Why did you wait until today to call me? Why not call me earlier?”

  Jenny bit her lower lip. “I know you and Tina are fighting over Jeremy. I didn’t want to take sides, Tina over you, and I didn’t want to be the cause of more trouble. All of this has been rough on you both and I figured maybe Tina needed a bit of time to herself.” Tears welled in Jenny’s eyes. “I love Jeremy. I don’t mind looking after him. But when I didn’t hear from Tina, I got worried.”

  “Has Tina mentioned meeting anyone new recently? Ended a friendship with anyone?”

  “Not that I know of. She tends to keep things to herself.”

  Ryan no longer knew Tina’s personal habits and she had not shared much of her routine with him even when they had been together. “Do you know of places she normally goes?”

  “I know of a few.”

  Jenny got a pen and paper from the kitchen, then Ryan read her list. Tina had standing Saturday appointments, one of which was at the Hair Today beauty salon, as Jenny had mentioned. Ryan called the station and got his people on the task of tracking down the salon owner, and the owners of the few other places listed.

  “I’ll take Jeremy with me.” Ryan bent over Jeremy, intending to place him in the care of the good people at the station daycare.

  Jenny said, “He’s sleeping. Why not let him stay? I’d love to have him with us. He’s part of our family too.”

  Ryan knew Jenny would take good care of Jeremy. “I’ll be by to get him as soon as I can.” At Jenny’s front door, Ryan said, “Call me if Tina gets back or if she calls you.”

  * * *

  A short while later, Galbraith entered the conference room Ryan had set up as a command post. Ryan ended the call with Milt Lofton whom he’d contacted about Tina, along with the police chiefs of other neighboring counties.

  “The salon owner says Tina did not keep her Saturday hair appointment.” Galbraith’s tone was grim. “That was for one-thirty in the afternoon. Forty minutes later, her credit card was charged for gas at a service station off Oak Road. Ryan, the last call we got about Gaines being spotted was near Oak Road. Two of our uniforms checked it out. They didn’t find anything but Gaines may have eluded them, then circled back when it was clear. There are cabins up there, most probably closed up for the winter, where he could hole up.”

  Gaines. Could he have come across Tina on her way to the salon, jacked her car and forced her to drive him to Oak Road? Or could he have wandered onto her street, made himself at home in her car, and then when she left the house, abducted her? Ryan rubbed the back of his neck where it felt as if a lead weight pressed down on him. “Frank, mobilize a team.”

  * * *

  There were only a handful of cabins in the Oak Road area. The moon lit the mist that had formed in the air. Galbraith had been right that the cabins were closed up in preparation for the winter, all but one. It was isolated, nestled in a thicket of tall trees on a large stretch of land that was miles from the nearest road. It was unlikely that anyone not looking for the place would find it and the cover that nature had provided made a stealthy approach difficult.

  Tina’s car was parked in front of the cabin, the only car there. No way to see inside. Shutters covered the windows. But someone was in there. Smoke curled into the air from the chimney. As remote as the cabin was, if Gaines was in there, he didn’t need to be concerned about anyone seeing the smoke.

  Ryan’s people were positioned around the cabin. He spoke into the mic on his shoulder. “Any movement?”

  The responses all came back negative. No sounds carried beyond the cabin walls. No screams. Ryan wanted to hold on to that as a sign that if Gaines was in there with Tina, he hadn’t harmed her yet, rather than a possible indicator that Gaines had already finished with her. She was the mother of his child. Don’t make it be like that. Ryan blew out a tense breath, then gave the signal to go in and led the way to the cabin.

  He kicked in the door. “Police!”

  Tina and Congressman Alan Gillingham were stretched out on a thick rug in front of a roaring fire. They were both naked. Ryan had never met Gillingham but recognized him from photos taken by the media. Gillingham was tall, with an athlete’s leanly muscled body. His brown hair was threaded with silver at the temples.

  Tina shrieked at Ryan’s entrance. Ryan blocked the door, keeping the rest of his people out and shouted, “Stand down.”

  He closed the door and holstered his weapon. Tina’s eyes and mouth narrowed to angry slits. Her shoulders heaved with indignation. She scrambled for her clothes, but there wasn’t anything within her arm’s reach. She abandoned the attempt to cover herself and straightening her posture, rose off the blanket to her full height and faced Ryan.

  “What do you think you’re doing here?” she said. Her eyes glittered with rage.

  More modest than Tina, Gillingham yanked on dress pants with knife edge pleats then went to stand beside Tina. “Chief Crosby, what is the meaning of this?” Gillingham sputtered.

  Ignoring Gillingham, Ryan said to Tina, “I got a call from Jenny Gardiner. She was worried when you dropped Jeremy off for your ‘appointment’ and then never returned. That was Saturday and by the way, Jeremy is fine.”

  Her gaze sharpened to daggers. “I knew he’d be fine with Jenny.”

  While he was obviously relieved to have found Tina alive and well, Ryan’s temper reached boiling point. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

  Tossing her head back, she glared at Ryan. “Actually, no, there is something else I have to say. Alan and I have reconciled. We’re getting married the moment I’m legally free of you. We’re going to be traveling as Alan is going to run in the next presidential election. I won’t have time to be a full-time mother to Jeremy.” Tina jutted out her chin. “I’ll be signing over full custody to you.”

  So much for motherly love, but Ryan hurt for his son. “Just like that, you can give him up?”

  Her chin rose higher. “My life is with Alan now. One day any children we have will be ours. Jeremy will be out of place.”

  Ryan’s fury felt like a powder keg ready to explode. But her ice cold response cemented to him that Jeremy didn’t need her in his life.

  He turned away from his soon-to-be ex-wife and her lover. “I’ll set up a meeting with the lawyers.” He snorted. “Don’t let me interrupt you any longer. Finish what you were doing.”

  Ryan left the cabin. He took a deep breath of the cold clean air to clear the stink of the last moments. His team had remained assembled out front. He gave the order to return to the station.

  While he was on the phone with Jenny, letting her know that Tina had been found and was fine, Galbraith called again. Ryan ended his conversation with Jenny. “Frank?”

  Galbraith said, “We found Gaines’s hideout.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Went to work. I love you.

  Faith read Ryan’s note in her bed by the glow from the screen of her cell phone. She heard the front door close as he was leaving. She didn’t call out to him. She was glad that he’d left while she’d been asleep, that there hadn’t been the tender touches and soft caresses of morning passion. That she’d been able to avoid the talk she knew would follow if they’d awakened together.

  I love you.

  She smoothed her fingertips over his bold scroll. Tears burned her eyes.

  Memories of the last hours flooded her mind. The hot water trickling down their bodies and the steam rising around them as Ryan had entered her, a gentle coming together that had her heart stuttering and her eyes growing misty with the b
eauty of it. After, he’d kissed her, a soft meeting of their mouths in a tenderness that had her throat closing tight.

  She’d turned to him with the pain of her self-doubt. And he’d given her love, and comfort, and strength.

  One night. She’d taken one night for herself. She’d set aside her insecurities and her fears of being with him. What she hadn’t considered was how would she be able to walk away from him after the night was over?

  With him gone, the bed now felt too empty, too cold. She fumbled in her dresser and pulled out cotton pajamas with a pattern of purple pig ballerinas that were last year’s Christmas gift from Dee’s daughters. There would be no going back to sleep now, not with her mind spinning with thoughts of Ryan. Needing something to do, something to think about other than him, she went downstairs to where she’d left her laptop to try to work.

  It was on the kitchen table. A cold wind blew in from the next room. Faith shivered and hugged herself. Leaving her laptop to boot, she went into the living room.

  The back door was open. The curtain over the glass billowed in the stiff breeze. Someone had opened that door. Faith gasped and turned to run to the front door, outside to Officer Birch parked at the curb. A hand clamped over her mouth. Another wound around her waist, bringing her up short against a male body.

  She kicked back with the heel of her foot, but with no shoes, she didn’t hurt him enough for her captor to let her go. Still she went on kicking. She grabbed the hand covering her mouth with both of hers and dug her nails into the back of it. Her captor hissed but held firm. His arm tightened around her making it impossible for her to move at all.

  Against her ear, the man whispered, “It’s okay. It’s just me James. James Gaines.”

  There was an urgency in his voice that unnerved Faith as much as his refusal to release her despite her struggles.

  “We have to leave,” James said. “Go now.”

  His hold increased further, cutting into her stomach, becoming painful. He began to drag her to the open back door. Faith made a sound of protest and dug in her heels but she couldn’t stop him. Panic had her heart jumping like a live wire. She thrashed against him. He removed the hand around her waist. She fought to break free of him completely but before she could, he jabbed something into her neck.

  No! No. As her eyelids fluttered closed, she heard James say as if from faraway, “That’s all right. It’s all over now.”

  * * *

  Faith came awake slowly. Her mouth felt as dry as cotton. She felt disoriented. Up was down. Down was up. She felt weak. Opening her eyes took all of her strength. But she was alive. When James had injected her, she’d had no idea what he’d given her and if she’d ever open her eyes again.

  She tried to lift her arm, to raise her leg. She couldn’t move either. Her limbs were lead weights. Whatever he’d given her had immobilized her. Panic spread through her. Her head was pounding too hard and too fast. She smelled oil or gas. Her eyelids closed. She opened them again. Rotted wood plank walls were lit by a trio of lanterns and she realized what she smelled was actually kerosene.

  In addition to the lanterns, James had placed tall scented candles on overturned paint cans throughout the room and in a semi-circle around her. The flickering light hurt her eyes and the fragrance from the candles was overpowering. She narrowed her gaze against the glow, and inhaled through her mouth to reduce the cloying scent.

  Where was she?

  She was lying on a wood floor coated with dust, no, not dust but sawdust. The floor was further made filthy from dried mud and dirt. Particles of wood that had rained down from the rotted wood ceiling added to the mess. She heard the sounds of rodents scraping and goose bumps pebbled her flesh.

  She was wrapped in a yellow bedspread. Her bedspread she realized. She was still clothed in her pajamas beneath it but both the bedspread and the clothing weren’t sufficient to cushion her from the debris beneath her that dug into her back or to ward off the cold.

  A small tabletop grill sat in the doorway with a small fire burning, too far away to heat the room. There weren’t any windows but a draft blew in from somewhere above her. The flames on the candles flickered. A draft meant outside. Where? Before she could consider that further, James appeared in the open doorway.

  “You’re awake,” he said.

  Some of the numbness had left her facial muscles. She forced her mouth to open, forced her tongue to move. “Where am I?” Her words sounded slurred.

  “Don’t you worry about that. You’re safe now.”

  “How did we get here?”

  James’s eyes lit and he smiled. “Through the woods.”

  The woods? Was that where she was? Faith didn’t volunteer that because of her father, she knew the woods as well as her own house. The thought that she was in familiar territory gave her hope. Though she didn’t recall a structure such as this one being there.

  “I went in from the back and we left from the back. Don’t you worry. No one saw us.”

  Faith tried again, tried to make her voice firm but it came out thin. “There’s a police officer parked outside my house. He’ll be looking for me.”

  Gaines was shaking his head. “Don’t you be worrying yourself about him.”

  What did that mean? Had he hurt or killed the officer? A tremor went through her. “Did you do something to the policeman, James?”

  His mouth pulled tight. “Don’t you be worrying yourself about him. You think the police can keep you safe but they can’t. They’ve already proved that. You’ve already been beat. Almost shot. I’m the only one who can keep you safe. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

  Oh, God. Desperate now, she said, “I can’t stay here. I have to go home. You have to take me home.”

  He shook his head again. “You’re going to be staying with me from now on.”

  Fear cut off her breath. “I have a job to do. I have to defend you, remember? We have to go back. Running as you have isn’t helping.”

  “No need for that anymore. No need to bother with that.”

  His eyes were huge in his flushed face. Despite the cold, he was perspiring. “You don’t look well. You were shot recently. You need a doctor.”

  “No need for that.” He rubbed the top of his head back and forth vigorously in obvious agitation. “I’m okay and now you are too.”

  “I need a doctor too. Whatever you gave me is making me sick.” That wasn’t a lie. She was fighting an urge to vomit.

  “I didn’t want to have to drug you but you wouldn’t just come with me. My friend told me you wouldn’t. That’s why he gave me the drug.”

  Faith’s blood froze. “Your friend?”

  James nodded. “He’s helping me. He wants you to be safe too.”

  Was this friend real or the product of James’s imagination?Faith gagged. He reached out and stroked her arm. In her mind she pulled back from him, but in reality she hadn’t moved at all. And if she did manage to break his hold, how could she get away from him when she couldn’t even lift her head? Faith shivered.

  James removed the bedspread from her legs. Sharon Fahey had been raped. Faith made a soft mewling sound, but James only touched her bare feet, frowned, then covered her legs again.

  “You’re cold. I’m ever so sorry I didn’t bring you another blanket,” he said quietly. “I can’t go get you one now. I have to stay with you so’s you don’t leave. You don’t understand yet that you’re not safe without me. Once you do, I’ll go get you everything you need.”

  His eyes widened in what looked like genuine remorse. He was sorry for having brought only one blanket, but not about drugging her, abducting her. A ball of dread formed in Faith’s throat so large it threatened to choke her. Swallowing she said, “I understand now.”

  He shook his head slowly, indulgently. “Your mouth says yes, but your eyes say no. You don’t need to be afraid.” He gave her a shy smile and softened his voice. “I would never hurt you, Faith. You’re my own personal angel. I will keep you safe l
ike you kept me safe. I will protect you now like you protected me.”

  He spoke with a strength of purpose that had the fine hair on the back of Faith’s neck rising. But she had to continue to try to get through to him. “Let me go, James. You don’t want to hurt me. You said you don’t want to hurt me.”

  He patted her arm gently. “In time, you’ll see being with me is for the best.” He removed his hand from her arm and waved it, encompassing the room. “Ain’t this place nice?” His face beamed proudly. “This was a workshop for a timber mill before it shut down. I fixed it up real nice for you. I got you some things so’s you’d be more comfortable. Your own things. I got your blanket and a coffee mug from your kitchen.” He pointed to a workbench in one corner of the room where a mug sat beside a couple of plates, a short stack of towels, her hair brush, her shampoo and a plastic container of Kerosene. “I even brought your pretty candles that smell like flowers. I wanted the place to look pretty and to smell nice for you. I want you to think of this as your home too. No one to bother us out here and we won’t be here long anyway.”

  She was terrified to ask the question and maybe rush James’s plans for her, but was as terrified not to ask. “Where will we be?”

  “Don’t you be worrying about that.”

  Her voice shaking she asked, “For how long? How long are you going to keep me with you?”

  “As long as it takes.” His features pulled taut with the strength of his resolve. “Maybe forever.”

  * * *

  Galbraith told Ryan that Gaines had been hiding at the Wade County Shelter for the Homeless. When Ryan arrived, a soft rain was falling. His officers were on scene. The strobe-like roof lights of the squad cars lit up the night and reflected off the puddles in the asphalt. More cars were parked diagonally at each end of the street, blocking access.

  The shelter had originally been a warehouse used to store furniture. When the furniture store had expanded and sold the warehouse for a larger building, the county had acquired the structure and converted it into a shelter.