“I’ll look into that,” Noah said.
“Well, go get ’em, Noah.”
Noah looked at his watch—it was only noon, which meant 3:00 p.m. on the East Coast. He looked through Paige’s collected papers and notes. Then he called the private university in Maine where Arnold Gunterson had obtained his degree in early-childhood education. He was directed to the office of the dean.
“Hi, my name is Reverend Noah Kincaid of the Virgin River Presbyterian Church in California. I’m looking at a private elementary school in Redway, California, for some children in our church, and the director and principal is a graduate of your college. I just want to verify that, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all, Reverend,” the woman on the line said. “We’re a small school. The name?”
“Man by the name of Arnold Gunterson,” Noah said.
“Yes, he’s a graduate with an advanced degree in clinical psychology. He specializes in children’s art psychology.”
“Wow,” Noah said. “You looked that up fast.”
She laughed. “I’m afraid you must have the wrong Arnold Gunterson. Dr. Gunterson is still here, teaching.”
Noah felt ice dash through his veins. “Will you check and see if there was, by chance, another Arnold Gunterson who graduated with a degree in early-childhood education?”
“Dr. Gunterson is an old friend, Reverend. I’d know if there had been another student in his field with his name. Did the man you’re researching graduate more than thirty years ago? Because that’s how long I’ve been here, as well as Dr. Gunterson. We’re both sixty-two and I’m thinking of retirement, but he’ll never stop. Now, who is this man?”
Noah sighed. “Obviously not who I think he is. You might want to give my number to Dr. Gunterson and have him call me. He might be the victim of identity theft.”
While he waited for a call back, Noah did an Internet search of a couple of the private schools Arnie had listed on his résumé and found that they’d closed. One of them was an Arizona school and there was an article in an Arizona newspaper archives online. Small private schools are very hard to keep going. A regular infusion of money was required—high tuition, lots of fund-raising and often corporate sponsors. There was no shame in having worked for an accredited private school that couldn’t keep the doors open. And this particular Arizona school had a successful fifteen-year history. And no one around to answer questions about teachers who had worked there years ago.
Could Arnie have convinced the current board of this new school of his positive role at the old school and his grief over its closure?
Noah immediately told Ellie what he’d learned—or not learned—about Arnold Gunterson. That night after her kids were tucked in at Jo’s, he showed up at her apartment with Lucy in tow, as usual. She was confused by his information, but not surprised. Of course, after the things Arnie had done, it hadn’t come as a shock that he was a liar. “But why?” she asked Noah. “What does he hope to get by doing that?”
“There’s no innocence in this, Ellie. There’s no reason to take on a false identity without a motive. We’ll take this information to Brie at once. You have to tell Jo and Nick and be extra careful until the facts are in. Okay?”
“Of course!” she said.
“If he calls you or comes around here, get away from him fast and don’t tell him what you’ve found out,” Noah said. “Promise?”
“You can bet on it. The shitbag,” she said. “Oh, there was another swearword, not even on the cusp, even though he is definitely a shitbag.” She smiled at him. “I bet you’ve just about had it with me, huh?”
He pulled her close. “I’ve had it with you, all right. And not enough of it, either.”
“Oh, Noah,” she whispered. “I think you’re insatiable.”
“I want to spend the night with you, but I don’t have to. If you’d rather be alone….”
She smiled at him and snuggled into his embrace. “I love it when you stay, but I think you’d better go. I feel like I’m playing with fire every time I let you talk me into bed. I don’t want to become too dependent on you. And I don’t want the whole town to know we’re sleeping together. I have children to think about.”
“Are you cutting me off?” he asked nervously.
She smiled at him. “Did you just whine?” She chuckled at him. “Noah, much as I love cuddling up to you, I don’t want your new town, your future congregation, to think the worst of you.”
“I’m not worried about that. I think I’d get a standing ovation for finding you. But, to ease your mind and your reputation, I’ll be very discreet,” he said.
“That’s about half the problem…There are also children to think about…”
“We’ll be very cautious there, sweetheart. They’re your top priority, which makes them mine also.”
Then he pulled out his secret weapon. He kissed her. Hard and deep. He pulled her against him and it took her less than fifteen seconds to melt into him and fully enjoy his arousal. When he released her lips, she said, “You are a very bad boy and no one with an ounce of sanity would take you for a minister.”
“Could I be taken for a man who wants the woman he loves?”
“Yeah, you qualify,” she said. She melted to him again. And he stayed. Again.
Brie Valenzuela listened very patiently while Noah laid out what he’d learned about Arnold Gunterson, Ellie with him while he did so. Brie asked for the pages he held. When he was finished, she asked, “Have you heard from Dr. Gunterson in Maine?”
“I talked to him early this morning. He took a year’s sabbatical to research and finish his dissertation right about the time Arnie was settling into his new school, so if anyone from the school board tried to check his credentials, they would only learn that he was a graduate working on his Ph.D. Dr. Gunterson can’t imagine who would do something like this to him.”
“I’ll call Dr. Gunterson,” Brie said. “Now, listen. No more amateur sleuthing. Stay away from Arnie and his school, keep the kids away from him. If you see him around here, call me at once. I’ll take it from here. I’ve already filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. I’m going to talk to the district attorney about this, but more importantly, I’m going to ask Mike to speak to the sheriff about a possible fraud and identity theft.
“Here’s what I want from you, Ellie. Vanessa is out of town with the little ones right now, but she’ll be back next week. I want you to pay a call on her and ask her a favor. Ask her to dress you for court. Borrow something from her, something conservative and appealing, and be ready. Vanni will know exactly what to do—she’s the best. And you two are almost the same size.
“Beyond that, stay alert and cautious. And hear me when I say this—no more investigating. If you make one little slip, he might find out what you’re doing and it could spoil everything.”
“Spoil what?” Ellie asked.
“There are very few reasons for identity theft, Ellie. One is to profit from the victim’s bank accounts. The other is to hide who you really are because who you really are is not lawful. Since Dr. Gunterson never suspected his identity was borrowed, I assume there was no theft. I bet our Arnie has priors. He’s done something wrong somewhere and needs to be someone else. And if he’s hiding, he’s probably hiding from the police. And if he’s hiding from the police, there are probably warrants. And if there are warrants, I believe it would serve our purpose to let him be arrested.” Brie lifted an eyebrow. “Hmm?”
“Wow,” Ellie said. “I should have known. If he’s nothing but a criminal, shouldn’t I have known?”
Brie shook her head. “I can’t answer that one for you, Ellie. I spent years in the district attorney’s office in Sacramento, prosecuting crimes like this. I met a lot of very intelligent women who were victimized by manipulative men, as well as perfectly sharp men taken for a wild ride by clever, dishonest women. It’s a con, and you were at a vulnerable time in your life. Cons can smell that a mile away. Sadly, it’s common in the world of criminal law.”
“Can we get beyond this?” Ellie asked. “I can’t even think about my kids dealing with this in the years to come!”
“I think, if we get law enforcement help in handling this, we have a good shot at resolving the situation. If you see him or hear from him, call me at once. I’ll give you the house number.” She leaned over her desk and scribbled on the back of a business card. “I wrote down Mike’s pager number, as well. Your next call is 911. Got that?”
“Got it.” Ellie took the card.
“Now,” Brie said, relaxing visibly. “Don’t you have a church to finish, and a wedding to organize for Shelby and Luke? All sorts of really important things to get done?”
“We do,” Ellie said with a smile.
“Then do them. If I learn anything at all about your ex-husband, I’ll let you know.” She smiled. “You just have to hunker down for a little while longer. I’ll do everything I can think of to get this business behind you.”
By the time the weekend arrived, Vanessa, Paul and the kids had been in Grants Pass for three days. While Vanni had daily visits with Roberta Bradford at the nursing home, Paul spent a lot of time with his father and brothers at the corporate headquarters of Haggerty Construction. Additionally, they had a couple of meetings with Scott Hanson about adoption. That legal transaction was typically an expensive affair, but because Terri Bradford had worked for Scott and because the Hanson family happened to be quite fond of little Hannah, they were getting a good deal. The Haggertys would be charged just the filing costs. And the Hansons asked to see Hannah whenever it was convenient.
The good news was that Roberta Bradford was not lingering at death’s door. She was disabled and her condition would not improve, but if she could avoid illness and infections, she’d be around awhile. Long enough to have many visits with her granddaughter and supply information about their family.
Paul had spent most of the day out with his brothers, looking over some of their building projects, and when he went back to his mother’s house he found her in the kitchen, kneading dough.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Sweetheart,” she said, lifting her flour-covered hands. “Be very quiet. Vanessa and the babies are exhausted. All this running around, visiting, working things out…they’re shot. They’re napping.”
“And you’re baking?”
“I bake off stress,” she said. “And the weather turned cool at last—I love it when the leaves have turned and I can use the oven and fireplace again. It’s been just beautiful here.”
“What stress are you baking off?” he asked. “Have we been too much for you this visit? Two little kids?”
“Don’t be silly, I love having the babies,” she said, kneading. “I just want everything to go smoothly for you and Vanni, and for the children. I want Hannah to be content. And…” She paused for a moment. “And I want you to get one of your own, like you and Vanni were planning, and yet I don’t want Vanni to be overwhelmed. This thing you’ve taken on—it’s a huge undertaking. And I’m so proud of you both.”
He grinned at his mother. “It’s going to be a houseful. And me and Vanni? We’re not that young. Not as young as you and Dad were.”
“Yes, but we were young and dumb and poor. At least you’re not poor. You should’ve seen how we lived in the beginning. And every time your father walked by the bedroom door, I was pregnant again.”
He chuckled and went to his mother, putting his arms around her despite the fact that her hands were messy with flour. “Thank you for helping, Mom. This was so sudden, Vanni’s need to make this trip. I could see her warming up to Hannah, but it was overnight that she made her decision.”
Marianne smiled at him. “She must have wanted to kill you for bringing an old girlfriend’s baby home.”
“Pretty much,” Paul said. “Mom, I liked Terri, but it wasn’t out of affection for her that I took Hannah home. Have you held that little girl? Let her put her arms around your neck? Who, in their right mind, could have left her behind?”
Marianne put her hand against Paul’s cheek, leaving a trail of flour there. “You’re a good boy, Paul. I don’t know where you got it, but you’re a good boy.”
He laughed at her. “I know where I got it. I’m going to look in on my family, if that’s okay.”
“They’re napping together in your room. The kids were a little overtired and fussy and Vanni wanted them close.”
“I’ll be right back.”
He went up the stairs to the largest guest room, the one he shared with his wife. There was a smaller room right next to it for the kids and there were two cribs there. The door to the bedroom was ajar an inch or so and Paul pushed it open. Vanni had the kids on the bed with her. She was lying on her back with Matt curled up against her on one side and Hannah on the other, both of them sleeping with their mouths open. Vanni was sound asleep, but there was the smallest smile on her lips. She had her arms around them, holding them close, one of Marianne’s afghans pulled over them.
And Paul fell in love all over again.
The first of October brought a very hectic schedule of events for the Virgin River Presbyterian Church, beginning with the delivery of the kitchen appliances. Next came Noah’s personal shipment, which was stored in the newly finished basement. In that shipment, the piano arrived and as soon as it was tuned, Ellie couldn’t wait to try it out. Her out-of-practice attempts, accompanied by the occasional muffled curse, could be heard all over the church, causing Noah to laugh to himself.
Timing was on their side; Paul was finishing up in the sanctuary just as the pews were delivered for installation. New desks, a conference table and chairs, bookcases and filing cabinets for the upstairs offices were delivered, which meant a lot of sorting, organizing and file building. Ellie loved organizing. This work would barely be finished in time for the MacIntyre-Riordan wedding less than a week later.
Needless to say, both Noah and Ellie were extremely busy and, in the midst of this, Brie reported that the end of that first week of October, after almost exactly ninety days since her children were removed from her care, Ellie would finally get her court date. “I need a brief meeting with you, Ellie,” Brie said. “My office, tomorrow sometime. Call when you’re on your way.”
“Sure. Everything okay?”
“I’m going to brief you on the hearing and some other details.”
When Ellie told Noah, he said, “It’s almost over, Ellie. This can only go one way for you.”
Ellie had quite a few questions for the man who was creeping into her bed night after night, questions she was not planning to ask. What should we do about us? was first on her list. When he said he loved her forever, that he loved her with his whole heart, that her children were his priority, too, was that a suggestion that they marry? There was no way she’d ask him. And waiting to see what Noah would do next was almost as hard as waiting for her children to be legally returned to her.
Noah was managing to keep up with everything despite the increased activity in the church. He had a couple of counseling sessions with Vanni and Paul while they waited for their adoption paperwork to be filed and found them to be coping better all the time. Ellie was still giving Vanni a hand a couple of mornings a week, for which Vanni was enormously grateful. He’d meet with Shelby and Luke and Father Demetrius from Arcata to discuss the particulars of their wedding service. Noah managed to get over to visit his friends in the woods. As well, he was kept busy with a couple of elderly women in town who appreciated being looked in on now and then.
Ellie sat in a chair facing Brie’s desk, listening to her lawyer’s briefing on the hearing that would take place.
“All set with a conservative outfit to wear to court?” Brie asked.
“Uh-huh. Vanni hooked me up.”
“I believe the judge will decide to make this whole thing go away before he comes under public criticism for the corners he cut with his last decision. An attorney ad litem has been assigned to the children, protecting their interests, and I don’t expect your ex-husband to make an appearance. Based on his ‘incident’ with locking the children in the house, I suspect he’s done with this particular mischief.”
“Really? You think?” Ellie asked hopefully.
“There have been a few developments, Ellie. I phoned Dr. Arnold Gunterson of the University of Maine. The poor man was understandably upset and confused by anyone’s desire to use his name and credentials, but when I explained the circumstances of the custody situation, the locking of the children in the house, it jogged his memory. It seems a former student from almost twenty years back had some real issues in that same area. He was a very troubled young man. As he was growing up, his parents disciplined him by locking him in the cellar or the closet. A cellar during a Maine winter, Dr. Gunterson explained, can be brutal.”
“Oh, God,” Ellie said. She scooted forward in her chair. “The basement,” she said, remembering. “Once, only a few days into our marriage, Arnie said something at dinnertime…He said that bad children were locked in the basement. I really freaked out at that comment. I pitched a fit. I unloaded on him, told him that if he ever tried anything like that on my children, I’d have him behind bars. And if he ever said anything like that again, we’d be gone. It was one of the only times he ever backed down without a fight. He said it was just talk—he’d never do anything like that. I’d almost forgotten…”
“The student Dr. Gunterson remembers is named Robert Beck,” Brie said. “Dr. Gunterson imagines he was studying psychology to see if he could get a handle on what damage had been done to him, growing up. He was obsessed with Dr. Gunterson, a kind of hero worship that ended just shy of stalking. Beck taught young children for a short time in Maine, but was terminated for treating the kids too harshly. He got in trouble for locking one child in the closet in his classroom. He spent some time in a psychiatric hospital, and that was the last Dr. Gunterson heard about him. A little further checking turned up some minor scrapes with the law. Our sheriff’s department will arrest him for fraud and identity theft, but whether there’s any extradition remains to be seen.
“I have no idea how long he’s been using a second identity as Arnold Gunterson,” Brie went on. “I don’t know if it’s been months or years. He was hard to trace because he got his driver’s license and vehicle registration in his legal name, rented his house and took his job using his false identity. Frankly, Dr. Gunterson would like to have sole use of his identity, but he’s not anxious to see Beck again.”
“After we got married I realized he was weird,” Ellie said. She swallowed. “Turns out he was once a frightened child. An abused, frightened child.” She shook her head sadly.
“Treating people the way he’d been treated. I can’t tell you how often that’s the case,” Brie said.
“Yes, Noah said as much. He said that mistreating my kids wouldn’t bring Arnie relief, it would make his life more miserable, but that probably wouldn’t matter. Oh, Brie, thank God my kids weren’t hurt any worse than they were!”
Brie was writing something down on a piece of paper. “I’m sure they’re getting along fine, now that they’re reassured you’re near and they’re safe. Just the same, make an appointment with this counselor. Get them evaluated. No point in borrowing trouble. And I’ll see you in court at nine o’clock Friday morning.”
Ellie stood. “Are you sure he won’t give me any more trouble about custody? Because no matter what a judge says, I can’t let my kids be alone with him. Not ever.”
“He’s going to be arrested before court on Friday, Ellie. He might make bail, but he’s not taking on custodianship of any minor children. I can almost guarantee that.”
“Thank you,” Ellie said softly. “Really, thank you isn’t enough, but…It may take me a while, but I’ll make sure you’re paid for your work.”
“Sure. Whenever,” Brie said. “Thing is, I have a daughter. Before long I’m going to be looking for a good school. Right after this custody case is finished, I’m going hunting. I want to know why none of the teachers or directors at that private school were fingerprinted. Then I’m going to find out if all the employees of the rest of our county’s schools have had the required background checks. For that, Ellie, we owe you. And the price you could have paid is way too high.”
When she got back to town, Ellie checked at the Fitch house, but no one was home. It wasn’t quite time for Nick to be home after work and Jo often ran errands after collecting Danielle from school. She walked down the street and saw the carpenters who’d been tasked with installing pews loading up their trucks, finished for the day, and Noah’s old truck was gone. But unless Noah said otherwise, he would be home in time to be sure Lucy had her dinner. Ellie went in the side door and up the stairs to the sanctuary.
Ah, it was looking good. Just a little spit and polish, the accoutrements like kneeler, pulpit and baptistery in place and it would be absolutely beautiful for Saturday’s wedding. Ellie had offered to join Vanni, Shelby and some other women in decorating the pews with flowers. A florist from Grace Valley would bring a truckful and, while the women concentrated on the pews, she would adorn the front of the church. The church would be barely done and Noah would have his debut. Ellie sat in the front pew and imagined it. Her eyes were drawn to the stained-glass window. The peace in his eyes comforted her. Calmed her.
There was a voice from the back of the church. A deep, familiar voice. “You have to give me a chance.” A man she’d known only as Arnie spoke.
She stood and turned toward him. He was standing at the back of the church, a big, homely, unhappy man. “Robert? Or is it Bob?” she asked.
“I never hurt them,” he said. “I took good care of them, Ellie,” he said.
“You locked them in your house! And you scared me that night you followed me in your big SUV!” She wrinkled her brow. “Where’d you park that big thing? I didn’t see it outside.”
“Ellie, if you’ll just cooperate for once, I can make this right. All I ever wanted my whole life was to do a good job with a family. Do it right. Be respected. Maybe I shouldn’t have followed you, but—”
“Maybe?”
“You were with him. You weren’t supposed to be with him. You’re mine.”
“We’re divorced! We’ve been divorced over a year!”
“I never accepted that. Marriage is forever,” he said with a shrug. “That wasn’t part of the plan, wasn’t what we agreed. I let myself get mad about the way things went. You know me—I don’t often get mad.”
“You get mad all the time!” she said hotly. “You get mad, you threaten, you harass and badger! You punish!”
“No, no, no,” he said. “I just try to keep things on track, that’s all. You know.”
He took a step toward her and she said loudly, “What’s your name? Is it Robert? Is it Bob? What?”
He stopped in the aisle. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I haven’t been Robert in a long time and I’ve been better off for it. Listen, just listen to me for once, if I apologize to the professor, all this will be over. We can pick up where we—”
“Pick up what? We were never even really married! Why in the world do you want me at all? We never even…You know what we never did! And you know you can’t be around children! You hate children!”
“I don’t,” he said, shaking his head, taking another step. “I wasn’t mean to them, Ellie,” he said, taking another step toward her. “I was strict and I didn’t mollycoddle ’em, but I didn’t mistreat them. I mean, that business with the house locks—really, I did that so no one could get in and hurt them.”
“They cried every night, you wouldn’t let them talk to me on the phone, they were scared and lonely—” She backed away a step. “Arnie, you need to see someone. You need help and I can’t give it to you. And even if I could, I wouldn’t take the job.”
“You don’t understand about the help,” he said, appearing frustrated. “The help doesn’t work. I take medicine for depression, but it’s not good. As long as things are calm, I’m just fine.”
“I’ve got news for you, Arnie—things can’t always be calm.”
“They can,” he insisted. “Look, you’re just upset, that’s all. Mad about what I said in that bar. That won’t matter, Ellie. We’ll just start over. You’ll see. We’ll apologize to everyone, you’ll just say it was a misunderstanding and we’ll just—”
“No,” she said calmly and firmly. “You’re on your own, Arnie or Robert or whoever you are. If you’re smart, you’ll get a lawyer, tell him you have problems and need some help. You probably won’t go to jail that way. And, for sure, you should talk to someone about, you know, the stuff you went through.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, stepping toward her, scowling down at her.
“Whatever happened to you that makes you want to control people, that makes you depressed, makes you want to lock up little children,” she said, backing away.
“You don’t know what you’re saying. All I want to do is make it up to you,” he said. “You know, I liked you. I really did. I could take care of you. And them. It was really easy to see you needed someone like me—someone who could take charge and take care of you. You admitted it yourself—you just couldn’t do it.”
“Certainly you no longer have any kind of job,” she said to him. “What am I saying? I don’t care if you’re president of General Motors! No, Arnie. Never. No way. Be smart—get a lawyer, get some help. It has nothing to do with me.”
He made a growling sound and moved toward her, taking three quick steps.
“Stop!” Noah shouted from the side doorway into the sanctuary. “Don’t take another step. Back away from her. I mean it!”
Arnie stopped. He grinned at Noah. “You again?”
Ellie skittered to stand beside Noah and Lucy. Noah slipped his arm around her waist, pulled her against him and said, “Ellie gave you excellent advice. Find a lawyer to help you. Get some help for yourself. You’re done here.”
“This is about me and Ellie,” he said. “It has nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing there anymore, Arnie,” Noah said. “Move on. Before this gets any more complicated for you.”
The man gave a short laugh and moved quickly toward them. He reached out to grab Ellie by the wrist. Noah’s hand gripped Arnie’s forearm instantly, so the three of them were locked together. And Lucy lost it. Without warning, she snarled and lunged, sinking her teeth right into Arnie’s leg. With a howl of pain, Arnie kicked the dog off his leg and sent her skidding and yelping into a nearby pew.
In the melee, Noah lost his hold on Arnie, but Arnie continued to grip Ellie’s wrist. Ellie twisted her wrist sharply toward his thumb rather than fingers, breaking the hold. And then she kneed him hard in the groin. With a grunt, he doubled over for just a moment.