The Reclusive Widow (The Widow Taker Book 3)

by Kennedy Layne

  “Paul’s mother? She is still alive,” Lily answered, walking over to the kitchen table and claiming her usual seat. The Monopoly board was still out with a few houses and hotels that they’d each accumulated the night before. They still had a couple of hours’ worth of game time before he was declared the winner, but she was still attempting to negotiate for the green property that he’d mortgaged to have enough cash to buy one of the last remaining railroads. She was a worthy opponent, but sometimes it all came down to the luck of the dice. “Mrs. Harrison is in a nursing home in West Virginia. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s years ago. Interestingly enough, Frank Harrison was quite the lady’s man. His first wife, Paul’s mother, kicked him out the month that she brought her son home from the hospital. She filed for divorce, and that was that. Frank was the type who wanted someone home to cook and clean for him, so he quickly shacked up with Alan’s mother. It explains why only three years separated the half-brothers.”

  Ridge paused mid-pour of the steaming water, turning to find that Lily had her knees bent with both feet on the chair. She had her arms wrapped around her shins while still holding onto her coffee. She smiled sheepishly while giving him a small shrug.

  “I might have looked at another file or two,” Lily confessed. “Technically, the file was on Paul. Alan was only mentioned briefly. Anyway, there were quite a lot of suspects, and I can understand why Bright might have been at the top of their list for a while.”

  “Bright? As in Daryl Brighton?” Ridge asked, pouring the rest of the water overtop the teabag. He set the kettle back on the stove. “He’s the pub owner, isn’t he?”

  “Yes. I saw on the news where he was taken in for questioning at one point, and now I completely understand why. At first, I thought that maybe the police had jumped the gun, but did you know that Bright was caught inside of Kenna Burke’s home?”

  “You are definitely going to have to start at the beginning,” Ridge said, having heard about some of the moving parts and players from Dean. Still, Ridge didn’t know these people the way Lily did from growing up in Winter Heights. “First, how are you feeling this morning? I see that you’re able to move a little bit better.”

  Lily had tried a couple of days ago to lift a knee like she was currently doing, but the discomfort had stopped her. She didn’t seem to have any problem this morning, and he noticed that even the scratches on her face and hands were healing at a faster rate.

  “Don’t jinx me,” Lily warned before taking a sip of her coffee. She set it down, mindful of the paper money that lined her side of the Monopoly board. “This morning was definitely a turning point. My appointment is Monday, in the office building located beside the hospital. I was hoping we could stop in and pay a visit to Paul, as well.”

  Ridge refrained from saying that he didn’t think her proposal was such a good idea. The last thing she should be doing was visiting a relative of the man who had attacked her. Granted, Paul had a security detail just as the two of them currently had one, but it was still like waving a red flag from the top of the mountain. Ridge preferred to remain in the shadows and be the hunter rather than surrender the initiative.

  He had another day before they needed to drive into town. There was a good chance that Paul Harrison would be released before then to convalesce in the company of his family. Hospitals also tended to kick their patients out of their rooms as soon as physically possible. Ridge would only have to worry about her request when and if it happened.

  “Would it be possible to stop over at my home later this morning?”

  Ridge hadn’t been sure that he’d heard her question correctly until he’d taken a seat, finding that those hazel eyes of hers were trained on his every move. He’d thought that he’d gotten everything that she would need for the time being, but he’d apparently missed something.

  “Would you be willing to wait until Alan Harrison is in custody?” Ridge asked quietly and without giving away that her inquiry bothered him. Just as he preferred to stay in the shadows, he also never took unnecessary risks. “We shouldn’t get too complacent until he’s been apprehended, Lily.”

  Ridge had purposefully used her first name instead of the nickname that had come too easily to him last night. He’d seen the way her gaze had dropped to his lips. She’d been through so much this week, and she didn’t need the complications of casual sex on top of everything else. He wasn’t in the market for anything else. It was hard enough acclimating too civilian life without the obstacles and complications of a budding relationship in fast forward.

  “I’d really like to have my laptop, but I can wait until Monday,” Lily replied with a compromise. She was studying him, almost as if she’d sensed that agreeing to his terms was important to him. “Maybe we can stop by my cottage on the way back from the doctor’s appointment.”

  Ridge relaxed somewhat in response to her willingness to meet him halfway. He lifted the teacup at the same time that she reached for the dice on the gameboard.

  “Back to this non-ending negotiations for Pennsylvania Avenue,” Lily said with a wiggle of her eyebrows in competitiveness. The endearing mark from her pillow was fading, but the slight blush from waking up was still there. “Make a deal with me, and then I’ll go take a shower.”

  “You’re not going to give up, are you?” Ridge laughed, but there was a ring of truth to his words.

  He’d been worried that she would leave town if he hadn’t backed up her request for the files from Townes Calvert, but he’d definitely underestimated her. Just as he’d first realized the night that she’d been attacked, he was even more so confident now in his belief that she was a fighter. She’d had a temporary setback the last few days, but she seemed to be feeling more like herself with every hour that passed as they waited for word.

  “I can’t allow you to win at Scrabble, only to then let you beat me at Monopoly,” Lily said with a shake of her head. “Not going to happen, Mr. Killian. That’s not going to happen.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lily dressed in appropriate winter clothing for her appointment with the doctor who’d performed what had basically amounted to exploratory surgery to determine the damage caused by the stabbing. The attending physician in the emergency room had at first believed that her liver had been lacerated, and he hadn’t wanted to take the chance of delaying surgery for a scan of her abdomen. Regardless of who she was and what her past relationship was with the hospital, the staff had treated her as if she’d been any other patient.

  The surgeon’s office that she was visiting today had no connection with her regular primary care physician, who’d been close friends with Parker before the incident. She’d stopped going to Dr. Shannon long ago because of that association, opting to use the urgent care clinic when it was absolutely necessary. The follow-up appointment today was most likely with a physician’s assistant, anyway. Lily didn’t expect to run into any conflict this morning.

  The weekend had passed by relatively noneventful, which included Alan Harrison managing to avoid capture. The last public picture anyone could find of him had been from third grade, taken at the Winter Heights Elementary School. Agent Malone had given Ridge a courtesy call yesterday, relaying that they believed Alan had been homeschooled after moving away from town. It was if he’d fallen off the face of the earth. He hadn’t even gotten a driver’s license or any other type of identification as an adult. At least, not in his name.

  “Are you ready?” Ridge asked, startling her out of her daydream. He’d walked in the front door, having gone outside to warm up the car and inform the two state police detectives currently assigned to today’s protective detail of their imminent departure. One would stay with the house, and the other would follow them to the appointment. “We’ll arrive fifteen minutes early, but it should give us enough time to find a parking spot close to the door.”

  The two of them had definitely gotten into a daily routine, and she found herself almost wishing they didn’t even need to go out today. She w
ould still like to collect her laptop, but there wasn’t anything else that she’d needed that Ridge hadn’t been able to provide easily enough. His cabin had become a sanctuary that she hadn’t believed it could be, and she was now having a bit of anxiety about leaving what she’d grown to consider a warm, secured environment.

  Paul Harrison didn’t have such a luxury. His wounds had been more severe, though it had been an infection that had dictated a longer stay at the hospital. Ridge had checked on him this morning, and he was scheduled to be released tomorrow. That meant the two of them could pay the man a visit today in his hospital room, even though Ridge seemed hesitant to do so. He hadn’t verbalized his reluctance, but it was there underneath his reserved surface, nonetheless.

  “I just realized that you technically weren’t asked to take me to my appointment.” Lily stood somewhat defensively in the middle of the living room. She’d put on a pair of black slacks with a matching sweater that Ridge had packed in the small suitcase for her. She would much rather be in a pair of yoga pants, getting ready to win another game of Monopoly. “You don’t have to—”

  “Don’t go there,” Ridge said softly, even holding up a hand as if to ward off the rest of her sentence. “We’re in this together, remember?”

  Lily almost asked him why, but they were on a tight schedule. Every time she mentioned that he was going above and beyond what a neighbor was obligated to do, he’d brush it off and change the subject. She didn’t believe for a second that he was unaware of the sexual tension that continued to grow between them with each passing, intimate moment.

  She’d literally walked right into his embrace last night while getting a drink of water. She’d been wearing her favorite pair of boy shorts and t-shirt at the time. She hadn’t thought that he’d be up and about at three in the morning. The pause that seemed to last for an eternity still caused an arousing shiver to run up her spine just thinking back on their interaction. He’d even held her briefly, as if they’d been lovers. Truthfully, she’d found it highly enticing and wanted to remain in his arms, but he’d released her after a few precious seconds and moved on in the dark toward his bedroom without a word.

  Just this morning, their fingers brushed against each other as he brought her coffee right after her morning shower. She would have bet her life that the static electricity that shot between them had nothing to do with the area rug that had been under her bare feet in the spare bedroom. She’d been wearing nothing but a towel. His dark gaze had burned into her for a brief instant, and then he’d left her room as if nothing had happened.

  “Right,” Lily agreed with a forced smile. She reminded herself that it would be good to get out of the cabin for a little bit. It would be even better if she got the go ahead to start exercising again. Ridge didn’t have a treadmill, but maybe she could talk him into going to her cottage for an hour each day so that she could use hers. “Let me grab my purse, and then we can head out.”

  Lily quickly returned to her bedroom and retrieved her purse that Ridge had also brought to the hospital. She’d had to give over her insurance card and driver’s license to the hospital administrator. Thankfully, she’d been able to take care of everything she’d needed to in order to get discharged.

  “Okay,” Lily said as she walked back into the living room. “I’m ready.”

  Ridge was already holding open her dress coat, so all she had to do was slide her arms inside the sleeves with a simple exchange of her purse from hand to hand. He then opened the door and waited until she was on the porch before setting the new alarm system. She was quite envious, and she’d already made the decision to get one similar when she was able to go back to her home.

  “Hazelnut?” Ridge wrapped a hand around her upper arm before she descended the porch steps. “No leaving my side for any reason today, okay?”

  The way Ridge made his request told her just how worried he was for them to be going out in public. She hadn’t put on her gloves just yet, so she laid her hand atop his to reassure him that she had no intention of being out of his sight. It was probably strange for her to feel safe while being so out in the open, but it hadn’t occurred to her that she could be in danger with him by her side.

  “It’s a good thing that I used the restroom before leaving then, isn’t it? You might need to turn around if I have to put on a paper dressing gown, though.”

  Lily succeeded in getting Ridge to crack a smile, although barely. It didn’t take them long to walk to the car, both of them raising a hand to the two state police detectives. One seemed primed and ready to follow them into town. Sure enough, the steadfast law enforcement officer stayed on their bumper the entire time.

  It turned out that Lily’s appointment had been with the physician’s assistant as she’d suspected. The best part was that she was new to the area and had not recognized the surname. A little anonymity went a long way, as far as Lily was concerned.

  It also helped that Ridge came into the room with her and remained stationed against the wall the entire time. He’d been serious about not letting her out of his sight, much to the dismay of the staff at the clinic. At least the state detective had remained somewhat unobtrusive in the waiting room.

  “You could have at least smiled,” Lily muttered as they walked through the connecting passageway that led from the office building to the hospital after her appointment had finished. She completely understood that there was a level of danger, even with the personal escort and more than one pair of trained eyes. Even so, Ridge was no longer the man who she’d gotten to know over the past week. It was like he was a complete stranger. A man on a mission. “Ridge? Please, just…stop.”

  Lily had grabbed his hand and pulled him to the side of the long hallway, not liking the distance that seemed to have grown between them in less than two hours. The state police detective appeared a bit uncomfortable, but he didn’t say a word as he came to a stop ten feet in front of them. He even gave them a bit more space and now stood on the other side of the passageway.

  “Lily, let’s get this visit with Paul Harrison over with so that we can get back to the cabin,” Ridge said curtly, his gaze scanning every single individual who was walking through the hallway. She’d let go of his hand, but he kept ahold of her arm. “We can talk on the way home.”

  Ridge hadn’t mentioned stopping at her cottage once, and she had a feeling that he intended to drive right by it without a second glance. He was visibly tense in a way that she hadn’t seen since meeting him. She would have even claimed that he was above and beyond apprehensive about them being in public, until he leveled a steady gaze on her that conveyed the fact that he was in total control.

  “Lily, six women were killed by the hands of one man. The same man who put his own half-brother in the hospital and attacked you in your own home without a second thought.” Ridge finally dropped his hand from her arm, but he never once eased up on the facts. “Both of our names are being used everywhere all over the news, and two very experienced federal agents believe that this homicidal son of a bitch isn’t going to rest until he completes his mission—which is making sure that you’re dead. I’m not being rude for the sake of being an asshole. The risk to your life is very real, and I will not allow anyone to hurt you. Now, please let me do what I need to do to keep you safe.”

  Ridge wasn’t telling Lily anything that she didn’t already know, but the way he conveyed the danger to her life right now really hit home. Various scenarios flashed through her all at once, and she realized that she really had no way to defend herself. Technically, she didn’t need to with Ridge and a protective detail shielding her from practically every angle, but she didn’t even carry pepper spray.

  “We can go home,” Lily relented softly, tightening her grip on the strap of her purse. “I’m pretty sure that Paul’s wife is here, and we might not even be able to see him.”

  “I already cleared our visit with Harrison through Malone and Roche.” Ridge cupped her cheek as if he recognized what his speech had done
to her. “Hey, I just want you safe. I didn’t mean to come off ill-mannered in the doctor’s office, either. It didn’t help that you looked to be in pain when she took your stitches out.”

  “She did offer to let me wait another few days,” Lily pointed out, taking full responsibility for the removal of her stitches. Her skin was still quite tender after the office visit, but there was an overwhelming relief that she didn’t need to return. “I didn’t want to make another trip here, though.”

  “I understand. I really do. That doesn’t mean that I have to be okay with watching your pain level rise with each suture being removed from your side.” Ridge motioned toward the end of the long hallway. “Let’s visit with Harrison and be on our way. For all we know, his half-brother could be in the building right now.”

  It took less than four minutes for them to reach the elevator banks, and Lily tried to prepare herself for the stares that would undoubtedly be directed her way once they reached Paul’s floor. Winter Heights wasn’t a major city, so the turnover of hospital employees wasn’t as high as some hospitals in larger areas. The chances of seeing someone who worked with Parker was significantly higher here.

  “Good morning.”

  Lily turned to find that Agent Roche was headed their way. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a steel-grey sweater underneath his winter jacket. His demeanor was the complete opposite of Agent Malone. Lily also recalled seeing Agent Roche’s name attached to the profile of The Widow Taker, though that moniker was never used in any of the reports that she’d had time to peruse. It occurred to her that profilers didn’t have the same dress protocols as regular field agents.