Susan didn’t budge. “Ian, what’s going on?”
Ian inhaled, long and hard, taking his time as if he were having an internal argument with himself. “Ethan is my son.”
“I see.”
All eyes rested on Susan, waiting for a scene. She said nothing and dropped into the chair Pete held for her.
“I’m not ready to be a grandmother.”
Her ex-husband moved to the seat beside her and clasped her hand. “Susan, this is about Ian and Nora. Not you, okay?”
His soft words told Pete that Gavin knew how to handle Susan.
Susan contorted her expression into a mask without feeling. She shifted in her seat and faced Nora, moving as if she were wearing a back brace. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Nora brightened. “Would you like to hold Ethan?”
Pete nudged Susan and prodded her toward Nora. Susan cupped Ethan to her chest and caressed his cheek.
* * *
Nora stepped out of the shower and heard murmuring from the baby monitor. Ethan was probably hungry again. His healthy appetite woke him and her several times a night, and after only a few days at home exhaustion settled through her. She rubbed her shoulders, trying to release the tension that had been in them since the awful scene with Susan Reed. Poor Ethan didn’t win the lottery when it came to grandmothers.
A female voice drifted from the monitor, and Nora’s mind sharpened.
Her heart rate soared. She reached under her bed and found the baseball bat she kept there. In her gut she knew who was in the room with Ethan. A monster had arrived, and she had to deal with her. She snatched her robe off the doorknob and threw it around her shoulders.
Nora pressed her fingers against her lips, terrified any sound might set off the woman. She stood in the doorway to Ethan’s room and watched with horror as the woman raised Ethan from his crib.
The mobile hanging above Ethan jingled when the woman’s arm brushed the translucent strings. Her jeans sagged off her bottom, and a plastic belt cinched the extra material tight around her waist.
“He looks so much like my Ethan,” Janet Wood said.
Water dripped from Nora’s hair, and she wiped her eyes. “Get away from him.”
Janet turned and faced Nora. “I just wanted to see him.”
Evil held her son. Nora needed to stay calm. Not panic. She wanted to run forward and grab Ethan but couldn’t move her feet. She would not let Janet hurt him. He was helpless, asleep in a monster’s arms with no way of knowing the danger he was in. “You have no right to be here.”
“He’s my grandson.”
“No. He’s Lisa’s grandson. You’re nothing to him.” Nora tightened her palm around the baseball bat but kept her arm behind the wall. Her entire body trembled. “How did you know where to find me?”
“Lisa called right after the cops told you I was alive. She figured I deserved a little warning.”
The orange sweater hanging loosely from Janet’s bony shoulders reminded Nora of a prison uniform. “Ethan needs his sleep. Why don’t you put him back in the crib, and we can talk?”
Janet snugged her arms around Ethan, her skin tight around her knuckles, her talon-like fingers clutching his back. She placed her nose on his scalp and inhaled. “I just want to hold him.”
Ethan’s eyes fluttered, then he settled, content to be resting in a person’s arms.
Nora’s pulse ran hard. A predatory creature sniffing out prey or a grandmother breathing in the scent of her grandson? She had no way of knowing. Sweat created a sheen above her upper lip, and she couldn’t seem to breathe. She took one step into Ethan’s room and let the bat hang straight beside her leg.
“What are you planning to do with that?”
Nora looked at her with dead eyes. “Whatever I need to for you to put Ethan back in his crib.”
Janet let out a heavy sigh, and her shoulders sagged. With one hand supporting Ethan’s head and neck and the other supporting his back, she placed him on the mattress.
Nora held the bat with both hands and angled the end to the floor in front of her.
Janet smiled a smile that showed her stained teeth and wrinkles caused by smoking. The gesture didn’t make her look friendly. She just looked worn out. “You won’t need that. I’m your mother.”
“You were Ethan’s mother too. That didn’t seem to mean much.”
“You don’t know what it was like.”
Nora raised the bat parallel to the floor. She positioned her bare feet in a wide stance. “I don’t want to know. Get out of my house.”
Janet smoothed Ethan’s pajamas, letting her fingers linger over his stomach, then moved away from the crib.
Nora gave her space to leave the room.
“I’d like to get to know you,” Janet said.
Nora stepped between Janet and Ethan. She motioned to the door with the bat. “Not a chance.”
Nora locked the front door behind Janet and ran back to Ethan’s bedroom. He slept peacefully unaware of the danger he’d been in. Nausea attacked her, and she threw up in the garbage can beside the door. She needed to act, not give in to her own weakness. Using the back of her hand, she wiped her mouth and stumbled to Ethan’s crib.
She lifted Ethan, and his head settled on her shoulder. She carried him into her bedroom, turned around and went back for the baseball bat. Holding Ethan tucked in one arm and the bat with her free hand, she slipped from room to room, making sure every window and every door was locked.
The dark atrium could hide anything. Until that moment, she’d loved the room. Until that moment, she hadn’t thought the endless row of windows could be smashed, giving the evil woman access to her home. She couldn’t seem to put down Ethan or the bat, so using her rump, she pushed the kitchen table in front of the door to the atrium.
She sat on her bed, listening to the silence and fingering her cell. She remembered the moment Constable Miller told her who her birth mother was. The shock of finding out Janet was alive had thrown her off balance. She’d had a good life with Lisa Hudson. Lisa may have been her adoptive mom, but in Nora’s heart, she was her real mom. She didn’t want this other woman to intrude, to devalue her memories of Lisa.
After Miller had broken the news, her anger had been so strong, the fierce emotion scared her. She agonized over her feelings, wondering if she had the same tendencies as Janet. Ethan didn’t need to ever find out who his grandmother was. Nora wouldn’t let him grow up with the same doubts that had been eating at her for months.
She didn’t want Gavin or Susan Reed to ever know her birth mother was a child murderer. What if they tried to take Ethan away from her? Gavin probably wouldn’t, but Susan might.
Deciding not to phone the RCMP, she placed her cell on the bedspread. It was the only way to keep this private.
CHAPTER EIGHT
After a sensual night in bed, Susan rested her head against Pete’s shoulder and pretended to sleep. Remnants of her favorite incense lingered in the air. She’d eaten dinner at Pete’s place again, and she’d ended up in his bed. He hadn’t yet been to her home. Too much of Gavin still haunted her house. Twenty years had passed since she’d woken up with someone other than her husband lying beside her, and she wasn’t sure how she felt. Flattered, maybe. Attractive, just a little bit. Heartbroken her marriage was truly over, definitely.
Pete hadn’t brought up the incident in the deli, and she guessed he was going to let her talk about her family when she was ready. What a crazy way to find out Ian was a father. Her son and her husband had no right to hide something of such importance from her.
She didn’t think the secret had been her daughter’s idea. Melanie had a temper and could lash out, but she wouldn’t plan something so mean. Either Ian or Gavin had come up with the idea. Didn’t they know how cruel they were being? Of course she’d want to meet her own grandson. Not that she was ready to be a grandmother yet.
Pete’s cell rang, and he nudged Susan off his shoulder.
She opened
her eyes and took a moment to compose herself. She read the clock on the DVD player and couldn’t believe the time. Ten in the morning. They’d slept in, he was late for work and she was late for, well…for nothing.
“Yeah,” he answered in a gruff voice. He placed his bare feet on the floor and leaned over and opened the bedroom door. His dog burst through once the crack was wide enough for him and rushed to Pete, resting his head on Pete’s knee and wagging his tail. “Hey, Farley.”
Farley seemed to sense Susan wasn’t a dog person and stayed away from her. He followed Pete everywhere and whined when they locked him out of the room the night before. Even though the dog slept on the floor, Susan hadn’t wanted the furry creature in the room. Pete said he didn’t shed, but really, what did that matter? A dog was a dog no matter how much it shed. Now cats, they were different.
“What happened?” Pete rubbed Farley’s ears as he listened. “For Christ’s sake. Have you called an ambulance? Hang up and call them. I’m on my way.”
Pete disconnected and stared at the phone as if it were an alien object.
“Who was that?” Susan asked.
“Connor Olsen, my site supervisor. I have to go.” He grabbed the same clothes he’d worn the previous night and put them on while moving toward the door.
“Can I do anything?” Susan asked.
“No. I’ll call you later.” He was out of the room in less than a minute.
Susan walked to the bathroom without bothering to get dressed. At least Pete had good taste. The bathroom had been updated. In the business he was in, he’d have access to all kinds of contractors. No one else in the valley could get qualified help for small jobs.
She thought Pete spent too much time at work, mostly up at Stone Mountain, a place she hated. A place that had taken her husband and children away from her. All three of them lived at the resort. Melanie worked in the restaurant and Ian worked bike patrol.
She turned on the shower and twisted the dial to hot. She ambled down the hallway, letting the plush carpet caress the bottoms of her feet, and opened doors until she found a linen closet. She grabbed a couple of towels, one for her body and one for her hair, and returned to the shower.
Back in the bedroom and dressed, she tucked her lighter and incense into her purse, straightened the pillows and turned off the bedside lamp. A lifetime spent taking care of her family had gotten her nowhere, yet lately she had difficulty filling her days.
Pete provided an interesting distraction, but she didn’t know much about him. Without thinking about her actions, she opened a dresser drawer and discovered he organized his clothes. Underneath his sweaters, she found a photo album.
Filled with pictures of Pete, a woman and a child, the collection gave the impression of a happy family. The photos stopped when the girl was about eight. Maybe he was divorced. She slipped the album back underneath the clothes.
The discovery of something so personal didn’t deter her from snooping further. She moved onto the bathroom and searched his medicine cabinet. From the contents, she gathered he had no health problems.
His office. Maybe she’d find something revealing there. His desk was solid oak, stained a deep brown. A man’s desk. The matching chair swiveled and tilted. He’d tucked a dog bed deep underneath. If she continued dating him, she’d have to get used to the dog. She knew the name of every cat that passed through the foster program, but she had trouble remembering the dog’s name.
After searching the top two drawers, she tried the bottom one. Locked. She rummaged the top drawer again and found the key. Not very secure. She unlocked the drawer.
He had the usual files. His bank statement. Bills. Tax returns. She pulled a file from the back of the drawer. At first glance, she didn’t understand the contents. She took her time, placing the papers, one by one, on the desk’s surface. She read every word, and the information made her skin crawl.
* * *
Ben arrived at construction site twenty-seven. He’d driven the smallest of the department’s fire trucks and brought Alex with him. The volunteers of the Stone Mountain fire department were first responders for any emergency at properties near the resort not covered by security. The paramedics needed at least twenty-five minutes to drive on the single lane highway from Holden to Stone Mountain, so Ben and Alex were first on scene.
The desperate need for sleep had most of the firefighters holed up at home. Some had even taken a vacation. Ben didn’t want to be idle right now and volunteered to be on call. The fire chief and his wife were in Calgary, meaning as captain, Ben was the senior officer in charge.
The eight hundred square foot cabin at site twenty-seven was jacked up on three corners. The fourth corner sat wedged into the earth. Three construction workers frantically tried to get a jack to hold in the soft ground, but the metal plate kept sinking.
A pair of motionless legs protruded from underneath the building. The toes of the boots angled away from each other. Mud covered the cuffs of jeans faded soft. Ben clenched his jaw, squashed the urge to throw up, nodded at Alex to follow and strode to the edge of the lime-green cabin.
He angled around the corner, and his eyes blurred. He blinked several times to clear his vision. The cabin had fallen on Jason Tober’s back, leaving his legs and head untouched.
Ben dropped to his knees and reached for Jason’s neck. “No.”
Alex leaned into a tree and slid to the ground. “Is he…”
“He’s gone,” Ben whispered. Jason was married, was his best man and was only twenty-eight. This was so wrong. He understood Jason was dead but did his best to administer first aid from an awkward angle.
Pete Chambers exploded onto the scene. He ran straight to Jason. His eyes watered, and he reached for Jason’s hand. Alex placed his palm on Pete’s shoulder and eased him away from Jason.
The ambulance arrived, and Ben let the paramedics take over.
The construction workers pumped the jacks, trying to lift the cabin.
Ben’s arms and legs shook. He couldn’t believe Jason died in such a horrible way. Even though there wasn’t anything for him to do, Ben had to get himself under control. He stood, his right arm leaning into Alex’s left, and listened to Alex’s erratic breathing.
“You okay?”
Without taking his eyes off Jason, Alex nodded.
“What the fuck happened?” Pete asked Connor Olsen.
Connor slouched his wiry shoulders forward, and even with his head tilted down he towered over Pete. “We couldn’t get the jack in the corner set.” Connor stared off into the trees with unfocused eyes. “Jason slid under to set a cross brace. The ground was soft. We tried to stop it.”
“Has anyone called Jason’s wife?” Ben looked at each man, one after the other. He understood the silence to mean no. “Did you call the RCMP?”
Connor squinted his steel-blue eyes. “No. Just the ambulance.”
Ben used his cell and reported the accident.
Pete glared at him.
“What? It has to be investigated. Alex, you stay here until the RCMP arrive,” Ben said. “I’ll go see Cindy.”
* * *
Ben parked outside the log cabin that housed the front desk and through the picture window saw Cindy standing behind the reception counter. He sat in the fire truck, breathing in air that still smelled of smoke. Jason had saved his life, and what he was about to tell Cindy would ruin hers. Jason and Cindy married a year ago, and the entire fire department attended the wedding ceremony in the fire hall in full dress. Now the same people would attend his funeral.
Ben decided against preparing his words. He’d use what came naturally. Taking his time, he stepped from the truck and shuffled into the building.
“Hey,” Cindy said, carrying a smile full of gleaming teeth. Her hazel eyes twinkled at the sight of Ben. When would she look as happy again?
“Is anyone else working?” he asked.
“Heather’s in the back.”
“Can you ask her to take your place?
I need to talk to you about something.”
An expression of uncertainty crossed Cindy’s face, but she did as he asked. They moved to a back room.
“What’s wrong?” Cindy asked.
“Jason’s been in an accident.”
A flush spread up her neck and across her cheeks. “But he’s fine, right?”
Ben shook his head.
Cindy balled her fists, turning her knuckles white. “How bad is it?”
“I don’t know how to say this.” Ben had a flashback to telling Nora her boyfriend had died in a skiing accident. Experience didn’t make this easier. It seemed terribly mean, what he was about to say. “Jason died this morning.”
“No. That can’t be right. You’ve made a mistake.”
Ben didn’t want to tell her what happened. The horrible image of Jason underneath the cabin would stay with him for the rest of his life. At least Cindy wouldn’t have to live with that. “There’s no mistake. I was first on scene. I’m sorry.”
Cindy’s fingers tightened around his collar. “No, no, no. I’m sure you’re wrong. Jason called me an hour ago. He’s fine. Tell me you’re wrong.”
Ben’s eyes blurred. The room tilted. How could he explain? There was nothing he could say or do to make this better for her. She didn’t deserve this.
Cindy raised her voice. “Ben, tell me you’re wrong.”
Ben opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“What happened?”
He stuttered through what he knew, trying to be vague, to not give Cindy a clear image of her husband’s death.
Cindy leaned into him and cried. He circled his arms around her until her sobbing subsided.
“Where is he?”
“By now, the hospital. Do you want me to drive you?” Even if Jason wasn’t there yet, Ben wasn’t going to take her to the accident site.
* * *
Kalin bolted from her office minutes after Ben called. She hopped into her Jeep and took off at high speed. Her Jeep skidded around a turn, the right wheel digging into loose gravel at the edge of the highway, then jerked and swung viciously back onto the road. She slowed down, arriving at the Holden Hospital without crashing.
Blaze (A Stone Mountain Mystery Book 2) Page 7
