Identity--A Tale of Murder, Mystery and Romance

by H. D. Thomson

  “Yes. We’ll contact you if we have any further questions.” The police officer stepped further into the room and smiled down at Tyler. “You’re some amazing boy.”

  Frowning, Tyler wrapped both arms around his drawn up knees. “No, I’m not.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You survived. Not many kids your age, never mind adults would be alive right now.” The man shook his head, his thick jowls quivering. “You were up against a brutal killer and won.”

  “He tried winning. He really did. He acted as if we were best friends. But he lied about my mom being dead. I knew my mom was alive. I just knew it.” Tyler glanced up at Skye with large, solemn brown eyes before resting his chin on one raised knee.

  “Well, you’re a brave kid. Your mother must be really proud of you.” The officer waved a hand and turned back toward the doorway.

  “Words don’t even come close.” Skye wrapped an arm around Tyler’s thin shoulders and closed her eyes, undone by the fierce love in Tyler’s voice. Tonight she could have lost it all.

  They’d managed to survive. The police would have been too late if she hadn’t managed to knock out Peter with the butcher’s block. Strange how the police had somehow known they’d been in trouble. Skye frowned. Too odd. None of them had dialed 911, and her son wouldn’t have been able to with his vision disabled. How could the police possibly know they were fighting for their lives? Peter had used a silencer, muffling any gunshots that might alert the neighbors.

  “Officer,” Skye called out before he disappeared from the room.

  The man turned and raised a thick, gray brow.

  “How did you know that we were in trouble? Neither one of us called the police.”

  David sat down on the arm of the sofa beside her and placed a comforting hand over her shoulder. “You’re right. How did you know anything was going on?”

  “Some guy called it in.”

  “Some guy?” Skye asked. “Do you know who?”

  “I think it was Logan. He said something about knowing you when you were kids.”

  Skye nodded, too stunned to reply with any sane or logical answer as she watched the officer slip from the room. The man from the hotel. The one that had locked her inside the vending room and shown up at October House.

  Though David didn’t say a word, she sensed his gaze on her profile, his curiosity, his silent strength.

  Finally, she shook herself mentally and glanced up to David with wonder and uncertainty. “Logan thought I might be his sister. He made out that there were others just like us. Could it be possible?”

  “Anything’s possible. I’ve found that out because of you.” Gently, David squeezed her shoulder. “As a foster home, the October House had more secrets than either one of us imagined.”

  “It all started there, all those years ago. And here I thought I was alone.”

  David withdrew his hand from her shoulder and slipped a wisp of hair from her brow. “I want you to know that even though I might not have been there for you in your childhood, I’m right here with you now and in the future, hell or high water. You can count on it. You’ll never be alone again.”

  The tenderness of his touch, the heat of his eyes dissolved the horror of the previous hours. Her chest expanded with wonder and excitement. All these years she’d relied on no one else but herself, and now she realized she didn’t have to. Not anymore. She could always depend on David. He’d proven that these last twenty-four hours.

  She loved this dynamic, private man. This man who expected nothing of her but to be herself. If she’d stopped hoping, she would never have reached this pinnacle of joy with David on one side and her son on the other.

  Life. Until this moment, she’d never realized just how wonderful it could be.

  Epilogue

  “Why don’t you come with me?” David asked in the hallway on the third floor of Las Vegas General Hospital as he drew to a stop. Eight days had passed since Weaver’s arrest and they’d walked out of Ferguson’s house. Until that day, David never believed in miracles.

  An overcast sky pressed against the wall of windows to the right and clouded the waiting room even with the overhead fluorescent lighting. Two people seated in the corner of the waiting room sat huddled, whispering in earnest, frightened tones. The dark mood of the room hung heavy against his shoulders and magnified the dread in the pit of his stomach.

  “How about I join you in a bit?” Skye murmured. She twined her fingers with his and nodded toward Gordon’s hospital room. “He needs just you. The both of you have a lot to talk about, and right now I’ll just get in the way. They’ll be time enough. Ty’s in school until 3:30.”

  David glanced toward the closed double doors but still hesitated. He’d been in to see his father previously, but on both occasions, he had been asleep or disoriented. Today though, the nurses insisted his father was lucid. The swelling inside his skull had subsided, and he’d pulled out of the chemically induced coma with all his faculties.

  He couldn’t delay seeing his father. When the hospital staff had put his dad into a coma, the idea of never having another opportunity to talk to him had torn at David’s guts, but now that it was time for a face-to-face meeting, David hesitated. He’d always believed in his father, expected him to tell the truth, to have a code of conduct to look up to. The lies of David’s childhood left him floundering, though, and questioning everything he’d ever believed of his dad.

  Skye tugged at his hand, nodded encouragement, then gave him a quick, hard kiss. “Go.”

  Lips firming, David nodded, squeezed her hand briefly, then turned and opened the door with a cautious hand. Rain peppered the window as he stepped into the private room, and weak light filtered through the open blinds. A television in the corner of the room glowed against the bedding. His father lay propped against a pillow and raised bed with bright, crisp sheets folded over his lap. David was glad to see more color in his cheeks today.

  His dad didn’t acknowledge David. Instead, he lifted a remote control in one hand and flipped channels until he reached a football game.

  “You’re doing better today,” David ventured as he stepped deeper into the room. He grabbed a plastic chair. Metal legs scraped against the linoleum as he pulled it to the head of the bed. He sat down on the cushioned bottom.

  “Yes well, no thanks to the staff,” he muttered over the roar of the fans as he glared at the television where a player slammed a football to the ground in the end zone. “I swear if they stick me with another needle, I’ll sue them for abuse.”

  “You almost died, you know.”

  “That’s what I’ve heard.” His father’s gray brows dipped, and he waved the remote in no particular direction. “Did you go after her?”

  David blinked. “Skye?”

  “Well, who else am I going to mean?”

  David’s lips tightened, struggling for patience as he folded his arms across his chest. His father never had been the best patient. “Why are you asking me this? And why are you so upset?”

  His father glared at the television. “Because even though I knew you had to help Skye out, I never wanted you to go back...”

  “To Boston,” David finished for him. “You were afraid of what I’d find.”

  The skin around his knuckles tightened as he gripped the remote and continued to glare at the television. “Are she and the boy okay?”

  David wasn’t going to be dissuaded or ignored. They’d been dodging David’s past for too many years. “Why didn’t you tell me about October House, Miltronics and everything else? And turn off the television. I can’t have a conversation with it blaring like that.”

  The muscles across his father’s neck visibly constricted as he swallowed. He hit the off button of the remote, dousing the room into sudden silence. He then raised his chin and turned to face David. His eyes widened. “What the hell happened to your face?”

  David shrugged a shoulder. “Long story. I’ll tell you after you tell me about October House.
”

  His father opened his mouth as if to argue, but then he sighed and appeared to sink deeper into the pillow and mattress. “Because I was afraid. Afraid of your reaction. Afraid that you’d walk away and never talk to me again.”

  David shook his head, unable to mistake the moisture in his father’s eyes for anything other than tears. Now he finally understood. Fear had kept his father silent. “Dad. I’d never turn my back on you. You might not say it, but I’ve always known how much you care, and how you’ve tried to be the best father you could be.”

  Gordon grunted, looking as if he really wanted to believe David.

  “Why are there no adoption papers? I think it’s about time I deserve the answers from you, the real truth and not some fabricated story from someone who wasn’t there.”

  His father ground his index finger and thumb against his brow and took in a ragged breath. After a moment, his hand fluttered to his lap. “There was a robbery at a local restaurant, and the thug had a gun to this man’s head. I was off duty at the time, and I did what any cop would have done. I disabled the punk, and the victim—Ferguson was his name—felt he needed to repay me. We’d kept in touch since then. He worked as a scientist.”

  “Where at?”

  “A pharmaceutical company called Miltronics, but he had connections to people at a foster home nearby called the October House. I don’t know how or why for sure—but I always assumed it was because the company he worked for gave them thousands in donations. Hell, I wasn’t going to ask questions to make waves. He’d learned I’d always wanted a child, you see, and crap, he felt he owed me after I saved his life. He wanted to return the favor.”

  “So he offered me up as that favor,” David whispered, unable to keep the shock from his voice. Ferguson had given him away like a commodity. David couldn’t understand how that could happen in the United States.

  “Yeah, and don’t judge me because—”

  “I’m not. I couldn’t.” David wasn’t going to tell him about the groundwater or the experiments or how he suspected that same water had affected many of the children’s genetics, including himself. Maybe in time, but right now, he hated the idea of adding more guilt to his father’s shoulders.

  His father’s lip trembled. “He offered me this dream after we’d given up on trying to have a biological child. I couldn’t refuse. It was wrong. I knew that, but I didn’t care. My God, do you have any idea how much I dreamed about having a son? The minute I saw you, I wanted you.”

  “But Mother? Did she want me?” David watched as a pulse throbbed along the side of his father’s jaw. He waited but already knew the answer. The strange part was he didn’t care anymore. Skye had shown him what real love entailed between a mother and son, unlike his own mother who would never be able to fathom that connection.

  A tear tumbled from the corner of his father’s eye. “I never wanted to disappoint you. You had it tough there with the divorce, your mom leaving, and I always felt that you blamed her.” He cleared his throat, and he crumpled the bed sheet between his fingers. “But I was just as wrong when it came to our marriage and what I did to her. I expected more from her than she was willing to give. She didn’t want to be hemmed in, tied down with a family. I pushed that on her and more. I made her keep quiet as to how we got you. She wanted none of that.”

  David shoved his chair closer and clasped his father’s frail hand gently with both of his. “You’re the best father I could have ever hoped for.”

  His father shook his head as if overcome with emotion.

  “Don’t doubt your ability, Dad. You did what you could with what you had. Hell, I couldn’t have done better.” David realized he’d almost missed his chance to tell his father how he felt. He’d been so damn stupid. You didn’t take people for granted. “I love you, got that?”

  “So you forgive me?”

  David met the uncertainty in his father’s eyes and realized for all the bravado his dad portrayed over the years, the man masked a soft, sensitive side and was just as fallible as David and anyone else. “Jesus, Dad. There’s nothing to forgive. Everyone makes mistakes. God knows, I’ve done too many to count. Nothing’s changed. I want you around for when I have my own family.”

  “Family? Since when do you start talking about family?” His father shook his head and relaxed against the pillow, his eyes growing rueful. “Oh, I get it now. It’s this Skye. She’s going to be part of this family along with the boy. Am I right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Like I’ve told you before, she’s trouble.”

  “I know.”

  “And she’ll twist you all up in knots. But it’ll be worth it.”

  “I know.”

  His father arched a brow. “Are you up to that? Because right now I wouldn’t think it with the way your face looks. Jesus, did someone hit you with a baseball bat?”

  “No.” Still holding his father’s hand, David sank back in his chair, unable to stop the silly grin from spreading across his face even though the action tugged at his wounds. “And I’m up to anything with Skye. That is, if she’ll have me.”

  “She will,” Skye said softly from behind him. “She most definitely will.”

  Swiveling, David let go of his father’s hand. At Skye’s unexpected arrival, he rose to his feet and met her gaze. Her eyes shimmered with unmistakable love. For him. Hell, he felt moved, humbled and for the briefest of moments terrified that he’d never live up to what she expected of him. Then he realized she’d taken him just the way he was.

  Two steps and he reached her side, wrapping an arm around her waist, tugging her toward him. He dipped down and brushed his mouth over her uplifted lips. She tasted better than before. A tremor rolled through his body.

  Gordon grunted. “How about you guys take that outside?”

  David’s chest expanded as he looked down at Skye’s upturned face. “I’ll do more than that.”

  Her gaze darkened. “Is that a promise?”

  “Oh, yeah.” His voice thickened and deepened with raw emotion. “You’ve made me change, made me want to be the man I thought I never could be. I promise you, here on out, I will be that man.”

  The End

  Thank you!

  Thank you for reading Identity. I hope you enjoyed it.

  I need to ask a favor. Reviews are hard to come by these days. You, as the reader, have the power to make or break a book. If you are so inclined, I would love a review of Identity. Let me know whether you loved it, hated it. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

  For news on latest releases, contests and other news, you can sign up for my newsletter (https://www.hdthomson.com/newsletter-signup/). Also, if you feel like contacting me, you can always catch me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/authorhdthomson) or you can email me at thomsonbooks@gmail.com. I’m always excited to hear back from readers.

  Again, thank you for taking the time to read Identity. I hope you found it entertaining enough to try out my other books.

  With gratitude,

  H. D. Thomson

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  Complete List of Titles

  ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

  SMOKE & MIRRORS SERIES

  ANXIETY #1

  DUPLICITY #2

  IDENTITY #3

  PARANORMAL ROMANCE

  ONYX & MERCURY SERIES

  A KISS BEFORE DYING

  SHADES SERIES

  DEADLY SHADES #1

  SHADES OF HOLLY #2

  KILLER SHADES #3

  SHADES SERIES BOX SET - BOOKS 1 THROUGH 3

  CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

  THE LONG ROAD HOME

  PROTECTING KATIE

  About the Author

  Multi award-winning author, H.
D. Thomson, writes romantic suspense, paranormal and contemporary romance. She loves writing about tortured heroes and ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances. If you love fast-paced sexy thrillers with a great plot twist, strong women and exceptional men, then try Anxiety, the first book in her Smoke & Mirrors paranormal and romantic suspense series.

  H. D. loves everything by Dean Koontz, Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Christina Dodd and Linda Howard. Their fast-paced, twisting plots have all influenced her writing style. That and her love of romance.

  From Ontario, Canada, H.D. moved as a teenager to the heat of Arizona where she graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in accounting. After working in the corporate world as an accountant, H.D. changed her focus to one of her passions—books. She owned and operated an online bookstore for several years and then started the company, Bella Media Management. The company specializes in web sites, video trailers, ebook conversion and promotional resources for authors and small businesses. When she’s not enjoying small-town life in Spirit Lake, Iowa or heading her company, she is following her first love—writing. You can read more about her and her books at www.HDThomson.com.

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  Did you love Identity - A Tale of Murder, Mystery and Romance? Then you should read A Kiss Before Dying by H. D. Thomson!

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