He walked onto the porch, and Ann remained where she was.
“It’s me,” he said to her.
She gave him a cautious perusal and inched out of the doorway, only to duck down behind an old wooden bench that served as porch furniture. She was clutching a junk gun, a compact, inexpensive firearm she’d probably purchased on the streets.
“Do you want me to come back there with you?” he asked, aware of her nervousness.
“Yes,” she responded.
The space was tight, but he sat beside her on the floor. Although the slats on the high-backed bench didn’t obstruct them from police view, it provided a slight barrier, giving Ann a false sense of security.
She relaxed a little, and Daniel remained mindful of the gun.
“Why don’t you let me hold that,” he said.
She shook her head, keeping a tight grip on the weapon. Her overall appearance was eerily girlish. She was dressed in jeans, a simple T-shirt and tennis shoes, with her medium-length hair in a bouncy ponytail.
Silent, she watched him through doelike eyes. Her distorted crush on him was palpable, reminding him that Allie was in danger because of him.
He spoke again. “Tell me what I can do to make things better. To fix this.”
“You can tell the police to go away. I didn’t mean to fire at them. It was an accident.”
“It’s too late for them to go away. But it’s not too late for you to give me the gun.”
“But I need it.”
“What for?”
“To shoot Allie Whirlwind.”
His heart struck his chest. “Why would you want to do that?”
“To give you your memory back.” She explained her twisted plan, insisting that Allie was to blame for him changing the style of his hair, for not wearing his glasses anymore, for not remembering that he loved Ann. “If I shoot her at midnight, at the same hour you were shot, it will reverse the process and you’ll be the old Daniel again.” Still clutching the gun, she added, “I already killed Louise. I tore her face off, and now Allie has to die, too. It’s the only way.”
He didn’t comment about Louise, not yet. But to him, Ann tearing Louise’s face off didn’t sound like murder. It sounded like the removal of makeup and prosthetics. “Is Allie hurt?”
“A little bit. I hit her over the head and she passed out. Then I put her in bed, gagged her and tied her up. She woke up, but she seems dizzy.”
He prayed that Allie hadn’t sustained critical damage. He knew how serious head injuries could be.
Was McGhee thinking the same thing? Listening on the other end of the wire and preparing the medics to treat a concussion?
Daniel glanced toward the house. What if Allie developed amnesia? What if she lost her memory? How horribly ironic would that be?
He turned back to Ann, determined to earn her trust.
“I think you’re Louise,” he said. “I think you’re one and the same. And if you are, then that means that you aren’t a killer.” He took a chance, reaching out to touch her shoulder, doing what he could to save Allie and get Ann the help she needed.
Distracted by his affection, she almost put the gun down. But then she caught herself. “The voices said that you’d get your memory back after Allie was dead.”
The voices in her head, he thought. The schizophrenic blur between fantasy and reality. “What they’ve been telling you is wrong.”
Her eyes turned glassy. “I’m confused.”
“I know you are. But it’ll be all right. Raven has been guiding me.”
She tilted her head. “Raven? Like my name?”
“Yes, and he’s more powerful than the voices. He’s trying to help you. And Allie, too.”
“What about Louise?”
“He wants to help her, too.”
“Because he knows I was pretending to be her? I was. But only because the voices said I should.”
“You’re not a killer, Ann.”
“But the voices—”
“It’s okay. Just give me the gun, and I’ll take you to safety.”
“To Raven?” She looked past the porch. “He’s with the police.”
Daniel didn’t see a black bird, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t present in Ann’s delusional mind. Or maybe it actually appeared exclusively for her.
She gulped a shaky breath and turned over the weapon. Daniel made sure the cops knew that he had possession of the gun, and once he and Ann got to their feet, she held on to him.
“Don’t forget me,” she said. “Don’t ever forget me again.”
If he hadn’t been so emotional, so damn worried about Allie, he would have risked a smile. There was no way he would ever forget Ann, not after all of this.
He guided her down the porch steps and into a throng of police. He gave McGhee the gun and rushed back to the house, SWAT team and medics on his heels.
Allie was in the master bedroom, tied to the bed, mussed and disoriented. But he knew instantly that she recognized him. He could see it in her eyes.
She was confused, but not about him.
At that heart-defining moment, he almost wept. Now he understood how she’d felt at the museum, when he’d been injured and she’d realized that she loved him.
He rode to the hospital with her. In the ambulance, he whispered what she’d been waiting to hear.
“I love you, Allie.” He leaned closer. “But I was too afraid to admit it until now. To acknowledge what was happening.” Clearly he’d loved her before, the way he’d loved Susan, only more so. “I’m through keeping secrets. From now on, I’m going to express how I feel.”
How could he not love Allie? She was his best friend, his lover, the woman who completed the mixed-up man he used to be.
She looked at him, and he suspected that her vision was blurred. But she didn’t question his sincerity. She absorbed his declaration like a balm, squeezing his hand and letting him know that she understood every word he’d said.
At the hospital she was kept for observation. Daniel didn’t go home. He wasn’t about to leave her.
He stayed in a chair beside the bed. And although he’d watched her sleep many times before, this was different.
Because he knew that he loved her.
On New Year’s Eve, Allie and Daniel snuggled in bed. Sam was curled up with them, purring quietly. The cat was home, and so was Allie. She was recuperating just fine, but it was too soon to go out on the town. She’d been ordered to rest.
Not that she minded, especially with Daniel by her side. He’d prepared a platter of fruit, cheese and crackers, and they snacked while watching TV, waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square. Instead of drinking champagne, they sipped sparkling cider. Allie wasn’t permitted to consume alcohol, not until she was fully recovered.
“Do you think Ann is going to be okay?” she asked. The troubled young woman was being treated at a psychiatric hospital, rather than being sent to prison. She was in no condition to stand trial.
“She’ll always be mentally ill. Her condition isn’t curable.”
“I know. But I’m hoping she’ll go back to the way she was before all this happened. That she won’t ever get violent again.”
“Most schizophrenics aren’t violent.”
“I remember Ann’s mother saying that. But I guess Ann’s prognosis remains to be seen.” Allie studied Daniel’s profile. “You were the only person who figured out that she was Louise. Even I didn’t know, and I was her teacher. Of course now that I look back, I can see the signs I missed. But you know what they say about hindsight.”
He turned away from the TV to face her. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”
“That’s how I felt when you’d been shot.” She put her hand on his knee. They were looking directly into each other’s eyes.
“I’ll probably never remember the past,” he said. “Other than bits and pieces. But it doesn’t matter. We have the future now. We can get married and have kids….” He sta
lled. “Unless you aren’t into that.”
“Me?” Her heart pounded. “The happily-ever-after girl? I’ve already imagined what our kids would look like.”
“Really?” He grinned. “Let me guess. Dark hair and dark eyes.”
“Yep.”
“Sounds logical to me. How many do you want?”
“That depends on how soon we get started.”
“Oh, yeah?”
He leaned over to nuzzle her, and she melted into his embrace. She could feel how much he loved her. In his touch, she thought, in the beat of his heart, in every breath he took.
“We’ll wait until you’re recovered,” he said, his voice tickling her ear.
She sighed. “Then I’m going to hurry up and get better.”
They separated, and he reached for the platter and fed her a piece of cheese and a couple of green grapes. She fed him, too. It was hopelessly corny. But it was romantic, too.
He toyed with her pajama top, tugging at the material around her tummy. “We’ll have to ask your sister to predict what our first baby is going to be.”
“Knowing us, it’ll be a monkey.”
“Or a raven.”
“That isn’t funny.” She scolded him, but they both laughed.
Then she said, “I’m glad Raven was there, Daniel.” She meant his Raven, the Haida demigod.
“Yours would have been, too, if he could.”
She nodded, grateful that her former lover was safe in the Apache underworld. Of course she and Daniel were safe, as well—in this world, with his Raven to protect them.
Soon the countdown started and they returned to the TV, counting along with it.
At midnight they kissed, and she savored the taste of his lips. For Allie, it was the perfect way to ring in the New Year.
And every year that was still to come.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4315-0
IMMINENT AFFAIR
Copyright © 2009 by Sheree Henry-WhiteFeather
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*Warrior Society
Imminent Affair Page 15
