After all the years they’d been together, they still loved each other. They weren’t bound by convenience or habit, stuck in a marriage that neither one wanted. They truly loved each other.
If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, Elise never would have believed it.
She stumbled away from the hospital bed, feeling like her world was shifting beneath her feet. With each step, her internal landscape changed, leaving her reeling from the shock.
She had to get out of there before everything she’d thought true was ripped from her and she had nothing left to cling to.
Trent had been right. The tooth fairy and the Easter bunny were real.
T
rent woke up to find his old partner, John, next to his hospital bed.
“Hey, ugly,” said John, giving him a weary grin. “Took you long enough to wake up. Guess you really needed your beauty rest.”
Trent’s head was a bit fuzzy, and it took a minute for everything that had happened to come back to him. The last thing he remembered was passing out after shooting the killer.
A quick glance around the stark room told him Elise was nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Elise? Is she okay?” A spurt of panic lanced through him, and he tried to sit up.
Bad move.
Pain radiated out from his side, stealing his breath with its intensity.
John wheeled his chair forward and pushed Trent back down, not that it was a hard thing to manage, as weak as he was. “Whoa there, hero. Take it easy. Elise is fine. She’s been here the last two days. She just left to go check on Ashley.”
“Ashley?” Had she been there, too? Trent couldn’t remember.
“Yeah. She’s okay, too. A little fucked in the head, but she’ll pull through. That woman of yours won’t have it any other way.”
Trent let out a long sigh and waited until the pain dwindled down to something less ferocious.
“Want me to get a nurse?” asked John.
“Not yet. Tell me what happened first.”
“Well, Ed knows more than I do, but he’s a bit busy weeding through all the evidence they found at Maitland’s house.”
“Maitland?”
“Gary Maitland was the asshole’s name. That house in the boonies you found was his late wife’s family home. Maitland had been bringing women there for years, torturing them and killing them. And he would have kept right on doing it if you hadn’t stopped him.”
“Is he alive?”
“I don’t know if he was when you got done with him, but he sure as hell wasn’t once Ashley finished bringing down justice.”
Trent wished he’d stayed conscious long enough to see that. “Good. That’s good. He deserved whatever he got.”
“You don’t know the half of it. They found videos of dozens of women he’d killed. He had parts of them in this big walk-in freezer in the basement. Apparently, he took pieces from each and sewed them together. I saw photos, and let me tell you, Bride of Frankenstein doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
Trent really didn’t want to imagine. He was sure he’d see the crime scene photos eventually, but he was in no hurry to add that image to the ones he already had in his mind.
The memory of Elise in that killer’s arms, with a gun pressed against her soft flesh, was more than enough terror for one lifetime. He broke out in a cold, shaking sweat just thinking about it.
“Maitland had a brother that has Mob connections. He runs a funeral home, and evidence is stacking up against him, too.”
“What did he do?”
“Ed’s pretty sure he helped cover up the murders by cremating some of the bodies, maybe burying them with other corpses.”
“That would explain why it took years to find the killer.”
John nodded. “I figure we’ll be finding cases connected to this guy for a while. With all those pieces of women in his freezer, we’ll be able to get some DNA, maybe close some cold cases and give some families peace.”
Trent wasn’t sure how much peace any family would get from knowing that their daughter or sister or wife had been in this man’s hands. At least they’d know what had happened to their missing loved ones. “I hope you’re right.”
“You did good, son. I know it had to have been hell, but you came through.”
Barely. It had been too close. He didn’t think he’d be able to relax again until he could see Elise with his own eyes and know for a fact she was okay.
“I’d really like to see Elise,” said Trent. “Think you can manage that?”
“Sure. You get some rest and I’ll rustle her up. Maybe get you some nice drugs while you wait.”
“Thanks. And thanks for being here.”
John shrugged. “I owed you, after all those hours you spent by my hospital bed.”
“You knew I was there?” Trent had always been careful to leave as soon as John had started to wake up. He didn’t think the man deserved having to face his shooter on top of trying to recover.
“Of course I did. You kept trying to sneak away, but I knew. You’ve always been my friend. It’s just taken you a couple of years to remember it. That’s all.”
“You don’t have to be nice to me. You don’t have to stick around. I understand if you never want to see me again.”
“Listen up, Trent. This whole thing where you avoid me is over as of right now. I think I’ve given you more than enough time to pout, so get over it already. Once you’re up off this bed, you and I are going to have a nice, long talk about why you should go back to work at the CPD.”
The idea made Trent’s pulse race, but that sickening sense of doom he used to get whenever he thought about becoming a cop again was gone. Instead, there was a heady kind of excitement. Hope.
Maybe John was right, and it was time to rethink things. “Sounds good.”
John gave him a slow, satisfied nod. “I’m so glad you’re not going to make me beat some sense into you. I’ve been working hard on pretending to be civilized lately. Carol likes it when I do.”
“I’m glad you see things her way.”
“She didn’t give me much of a choice. God, I love that woman, even if I don’t deserve her.”
Trent didn’t deserve Elise either. Maybe that meant there was hope for them, too. He wanted there to be.
“Sit tight,” said John. “I’m going to go find someone who can drug you up, then I’m going to record whatever you say so I can hold it against you later.”
Trent smiled as he closed his eyes, and like magic, when he opened them again, Elise was standing beside him, holding his hand.
She smiled down at him, blinking relieved tears from her eyes. “Hi.”
“Hi, yourself.”
She looked tired. Her eyes were shadowed with fatigue and red from crying.
He wished like hell he had been awake to hold her while she did.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
He lifted the arm they’d hooked up to the IV. “Pretty good, thanks to whatever happy juice they pumped into me. What about you?”
She looked fragile, like she might fall over. Trent patted the space on the bed next to him in invitation.
Elise eased down to perch on the edge of the mattress. It wasn’t good enough. He wanted her stretched out beside him, close enough he could feel her heart beating. Preferably naked. But he’d take what he could get.
“I have a cracked rib, a few bruises. I’ll live. Thanks to you.”
Thanks to him? “All I did was pull the trigger. You were the one who was going to pay the price if I missed.”
“I knew you wouldn’t.”
The way she said it, so calmly, so matter-of-factly, eased something deep inside Trent that had been clenched and tense for years.
Trust. She’d given him her trust without hesitation, and somehow, that gift had taken root inside him and sprouted into a tiny, quivering blade of trust in himself. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but he accepted the gift, and whatever magic lay behind it, gratefully.
Trent tugged her arm so she’d lie down beside him. He wasn’t sure the hospital staff would appreciate him sharing his bed, but they could all go screw themselves for all he cared. He needed this.
She was careful not to bump his wounds, but she snuggled into his side like she’d been dying to get close as much as he had.
“How’s Ashley?”
He felt her body go tense. “Physically, she’s fine. Mentally… she has a long way to go. But she’s out of bed and painting again.”
“That’s good. It might help her heal.”
Elise shook her head. “I don’t know, Trent. She’s different now. That carefree, weightless quality she had before is gone. Her paintings are dark now.”
“Dark? How so?”
“She used to paint birds and dogs. Now, sometimes it’s hard to tell what she’s painting. They’re abstract, with lots of angry slashes of red and black. The one she was working on when I left looked like a pool of shadowed blood more than anything else.”
“It’s only been a couple of days, right?”
“Three.”
He’d slept longer than he thought. “Let her work things out. Give her time to realize she’s safe.”
“Of course she’s safe now. Gary is dead.”
“Her mind might know that, but you know Ashley. She’s emotional. It may take time for her heart to catch up.”
“I hope it doesn’t take long. I’m so worried about her.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll help her through this. Whatever she needs.”
Elise nodded and her body began to relax again. Trent knew it would be a while before things were back to anything resembling normal, but he wasn’t sure how much more time he had before Elise left. There were some things they had to get out in the open.
“So, where to now?” asked Trent.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, your overnight bag is sitting by the door. I assume that means you’re headed back to Hong Kong.”
She stiffened, then leaned up and stared at him like she was ready to slap him. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re not getting off that easy. That bag is full of your clothes, not mine.”
Relief made him smile. “Easy? You call this easy?”
“You don’t get to tell me you love me, then take it back just because you’re not dying anymore.”
He looked right into her eyes. “I’m not taking anything back. I still love you.”
Her glare turned to a weepy look of relief. His poor Elise had been through the wringer, and clearly, her emotions had been sent for a loop. “You do?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not taking it back?”
“Hell, no. And just so we’re clear, once I get out of this place and back on my feet, I’m going to find you in whatever country you’re in. I figure I can watch your back. Keep you safe while you go out and get all those exciting stories.”
“You’d do that? You’d go with me? Travel the world?”
“If that’s what it takes to be with you, then yes. So, where will you be? Hong Kong?”
She sniffed and shook her head. “I’m done with excitement for a while. I thought I’d try something a little closer to home.”
Hope drove away all the pain lingering in his bones. “Chicago?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of Haven. I want to be near Ashley.”
“Move in with me,” he said without even thinking. But now that the words were out of his mouth, he felt like a genius. “I’ll fix the place up so it’s not such a hole. Get rid of the flowered wallpaper, get new carpet.”
“I don’t care about any of that. I could live in a tent with you and be happy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I can’t move in with you.”
His hopes deflated, and the deep throb of his wounds came back full force. “I see.”
Sam walked into the room, and Trent was glad for the interruption. It gave him something to think about besides the gaping hole she’d dug in him with her rejection.
Elise held up her hand to Sam, telling him to stay back, then took Trent’s chin and turned his face, forcing him to look at her. “No, you don’t see. I want to move in with you, but I can’t. Not yet. Ashley needs me now. But when she’s better . . .”
Trent felt a victorious grin stretch his dry lips.
“I’m going to be taking care of Ashley,” Sam announced.
Elise sat up, staring at Sam in indignation. “What gives you the right to make that call?”
“Ashley did. She doesn’t want to burden you. She asked me if I’d stay with her for a while so you wouldn’t.”
“She doesn’t want me?”
“She doesn’t want you to give up your life for her. Besides, I wasn’t there that night.” His mouth twisted around the words as if they left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“So you don’t understand what she went through,” said Elise.
“I won’t remind her of what happened either. And if she wants me to understand, she’s going to have to talk to me about it.” He put his hands on his hips, and Trent knew from a lifetime of experience that meant his brother was not going to back down. “You’d coddle her. I won’t.”
“So, you’re going to ease her fears and help her readjust to life by being an asshole?”