The front door stood wide open and a man, his mouth open in astonishment, stood in the doorway.
It took Liz only a second to comprehend what had happened. The man in the doorway wore a deliveryman’s uniform. Jeremy was terrified of people in uniforms.
What was the door open for, anyway? What had they been thinking? No one was supposed to open doors in this house except one of her deputies or herself. What if it had been the killer? Maybe it was.
Liz sprinted past the group in the foyer, ushered the man back outside and pulled the door shut behind her.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare the kid. I was just dropping off this package. The kid opened the door and started screaming.” The deliveryman mopped his brow with a handkerchief and looked as if he was still trying to recover from what had happened.
One hand surreptitiously on the gun tucked at her side under her blouse, she glanced over his shoulder to the large van parked in the driveway and then back to the man on the stoop.
“Sorry about that. The boy is autistic and has a deep-seated fear of people in uniforms.” Liz grimaced. “He’s seen plenty of them recently so I’m surprised he reacted as violently as he did to you.”
Liz did a quick inspection of the man’s badge, matching picture to face and memorizing his name.
“Is he going to be okay?” The man shoved his handkerchief back in his pocket and picked up the package he had dropped on the step.
“He’ll be fine. Here, let me take that from you.”
The man couldn’t dump the box in her arms fast enough, turned and almost ran to his truck.
Liz grabbed a notepad and stubby pencil from her back pocket and wrote down his name and the license plate. She called Darlene on her cell phone, gave her the information and asked her to check him out. He probably was nothing more than what he appeared to be but Liz wasn’t taking any more chances with Jeremy’s safety.
She quickly examined the package in her hands. The return address was a business in New York. The package was light. It didn’t rattle when shook. She held it to her ear. If it was a bomb, it wasn’t ticking. Still not wanting to take any unnecessary chances, she carried it a safe distance from the house, placed it under an evergreen tree and called Davenport to have one of his bomb-squad guys come out and take a look.
She hurried back into the house and her heart squeezed at the sight in front of her. The boy perched on the second step of the stairway, Charlie and Adam sitting on either side of him. Rerun kept trying to get to the boy but Charlie ordered him away.
Jeremy, hair wet with sweat, his eyes red from crying, grasping his teddy bear tightly to his chest, was taking deep, stuttering breaths. When he saw her he yelled, “Mommy. Jeremy wants Mommy. Jeremy wants Mommy.”
Liz closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She vowed to find the man who had destroyed this child’s world—and she would make him pay.
* * *
He lowered himself into the closest seat and stared aimlessly out the window. He needed a plan. No more flying by the seat of his pants. No more reacting first and thinking about it later. He needed a solid, no-fail plan to get his hands on that kid and find out once and for all what he knew.
He drummed his fingers on the kitchen table.
He couldn’t believe how lucky this kid was. Since when are kids quiet? But this one was. How else could he have seen what was going on between him and his parents that night and not be seen himself?
Yep. Quiet and sneaky.
Hiding in a closet under a pile of blankets in his mama’s closet.
Unbelievable.
I guess his luck rubbed off on the sheriff, too.
Who would have believed you could shoot out the tires of a car going at least fifty miles an hour, watch it fly through the air and land upside down in a ditch and then blow up—and have all three of them walk away with nothing more than nuisance injuries? It was like they were wearing some kind of invisible protective shield and nothing he did could kill them.
He rubbed his chin with his hand. A skittering across the table caught his peripheral vision. His hand shot out and slammed down on top of the cockroach. He wiped the remains on his pant leg.
That was just plain stupid thinking.
They didn’t have any special protection. They were human beings just like everybody else. And human beings could be killed just like cockroaches. He just hadn’t used the right roach spray yet.
He took two slabs of white bread, a slice of tomato, some mayo and threw three slices of turkey in the middle. He banged a pot on the stove, opened a can of soup, dumped it in and turned up the heat.
He was getting pretty sick of eating sandwiches and soup.
He grabbed the pot off the stove and dumped it into the sink. He was tired of stinkin’ soup. He took a bite of his sandwich. It would have to do for tonight.
He didn’t have much of an appetite, anyway. The cocaine made sure of that.
He’d been crazy to ever try the stuff in the first place.
But he’d been angry…and lonely…and maybe just a bit curious.
Now it was a chain around his neck, making him do things he’d never have believed he’d ever do. Making him do things that normally would have shamed him.
But not anymore.
As soon as he cleaned up this problem and he knew he was in the clear, he was going to start a new life. He was going to kick his habit. Never should have started it in the first place. Time for him to pack it in.
Maybe he’d move to another town. Maybe meet a woman who would appreciate him and settle down. Yeah, that’s what he was going to do.
Just as soon as he figured out what to do about the kid.
NINE
A
dam stood quietly in the bedroom doorway and simply watched.
Jeremy was sitting in the middle of the floor with a book open on his lap. Rerun’s head was lying on the boy’s legs. If dogs had expressions, Adam thought this one would definitely be anticipation. The crazy mutt looked like he expected Jeremy to start reading him the book any second now.
“How’s he doing?” Liz’s voice was a low whisper as she tiptoed up beside him.
“See for yourself.” Adam gestured into the room. “Charlie’s done a great job getting the two of them to bond. Rerun was quite instrumental in not only calming Jeremy earlier today after that deliveryman fiasco but he’s actually got the boy talking.”
“Talking?” Liz could barely conceal the excitement and surprise in her voice.
Adam held up his hand. “Whoa, calm down. It’s nothing to get too excited about just yet.”
“Well, what is he saying?” Liz asked in a louder whisper, and shifted her position for a better view into the room.
“Mostly gibberish. He stops talking if I get too close. But I definitely heard him tell Rerun about a ‘bad man.’”
“‘Bad man’? Do you think he’s talking about the killer?”
“Maybe.”
Liz’s face twisted in concentration. When she spoke again, she sounded disappointed. “Maybe he’s talking about the deliveryman.”
Adam shrugged. “Hard to tell just yet. But it doesn’t matter, anyway.”
“Doesn’t matter? Of course it matters. We need to know if Jeremy saw the man that killed his parents. We need to know if he has any other memories of that night that might help with our investigation.”
“Shh.” Adam gently pulled her out of the doorway and into the hall. “I know, but he has to open up on his own and in his own time.”
“We’re running out of time, Adam. I can’t run my office from here indefinitely and I can’t request federal marshal protection in WITSEC if I can’t prove he was a witness. He’ll end up in foster care and there will be no one to protect him.” He heard the catch in her voice. “I can’t let that happen to him.”
“I understand. I do.” He tilted her chin and looked into her shimmering blue eyes. Tendrils of her silken hair slid across his hand. The slight whiff of lilacs teased his nostrils and brought a smile to his face. He didn’t expect a sheriff to wear perfume but on this one it seemed a perfect choice.
“These things can’t be rushed, Liz. Both for the boy’s mental health as well as for the integrity of your case. If we ask questions too soon or push too hard, the prosecution can say what we present was coerced or manufactured. They’ll throw it out of court.”
“I know.” She reached up and cupped his wrist with her hand. “Thank you for what you are doing. You’ve helped Jeremy more than I ever thought anyone could.”
Her touch sent every nerve ending in his body zinging. The blood pounded in his temples and his pulse quickened. He wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her.
No, he didn’t.
He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the living daylights out of her. Not the sweet adolescent kisses of their childhood, but the passionate, demanding kisses of adults. He wanted to taste the fullness of her lips. He wanted to slide his arm around her waist and pull her close. He was a full-grown man with normal physical reactions and, at this moment, that was all he could think about.
The silkiness of her hair. The beauty of her eyes. The scent of her skin.
Lizzie.
The only girl who had ever staked a solid claim to his heart.
The girl whose heart he had shattered into a million pieces.
That thought brought back the pain he’d felt the night he’d left town. How could he have been so stupid to believe he was the only one who would be hurt by his decision? Now he was certain his pain had been nothing compared to what she must have endured. At least he knew why he left. He had had time to process it, justify it. To her, he was just a louse who hadn’t been man enough to say goodbye.
The memories doused his feelings as surely as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice water on his head. What made him think he deserved a second chance with Lizzie? After the way he’d treated her, it was a miracle she bothered with him at all and he couldn’t blame her. But if it was the last thing he did, he was going to prove to her that he was a decent man, a trustworthy man—and he knew he had to slow down and give her time and space to see it. Adam dropped his hand and stepped back. He tried not to read anything into the questioning look on her face.
“It’s a good thing that Jeremy is starting to talk to Rerun,” he said. “The boy has pent-up images and emotions bursting to get out. The dog makes him feel safe. It’s only a matter of time before he says more—and says it louder than a whisper. When he does, one of us will be close by to hear it, too.”
Liz nodded.
“Hey, you guys, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Charlie, holding a snack tray of apple slices and peanut butter, grinned so wide it looked too big for her face. “I don’t know, Adam. Every time I leave you for a minute I catch you cozying up to our local sheriff. What’s that about, huh?”
Heat crept up his neck. He reached out and ruffled her auburn hair. “That’s about none of your business.” He spun her toward the open doorway. “I think your services are needed elsewhere, young lady.”
Charlie laughed out loud. “Okay. I’m going.” She took a few steps into the room and then said over her shoulder in a singsong voice, “But I’m telling Bob.”
Her childish behavior and laughter was contagious and both Adam and Liz laughed, too.
Adam turned his attention back to Liz and shook his head from side to side. “She’s always been a little brat. Following Bob and me around. Spying on us. Little tattletale.”
Liz chuckled. “Sounds like a perfect little sister to me.”
Adam glanced at the woman in the room and back at Liz. “That she is. Couldn’t love her more if she was my own flesh and blood. I’m going to miss her.”
“Miss her?”
“C’mon, let’s go downstairs and talk. Knowing Charlie, I’m sure she prepared a snack for us, too.”
Adam cupped her elbow and led her to the stairs. He waited until they were seated at the kitchen counter enjoying a hot cup of coffee and a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies before he picked up the thread of their conversation.
“Charlie’s going to head home tomorrow afternoon. Rerun and Jeremy have bonded. It’s a good match. Her work is over.”
Adam studied her expression and thought he read genuine disappointment there.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve enjoyed having her around.”
“Me, too. But her brothers have been holding down the fort. They need her back.”
Liz took a sip of her coffee. “She told me about the ranch…and the dogs…and that you started the whole thing.”
Adam bit into a cookie and couldn’t resist running his tongue along his lip to catch every chocolate morsel. “Not just me. It’s a four-way partnership—my best friend, Bob; Charlie; their brother, Hank; and I. I fronted most of the start-up costs and offered my professional services for helping design the different guide programs for the specialized clientele. They’ve done all the work. I’m really proud of them. If everything continues on track, they should be able to buy me out by next fall. The business is thriving and I fully expect them to develop national franchises soon.”
“Wow, that’s commendable, Adam. Who would have thought quarterback Adam Morgan would grow up to be not only an entrepreneur, but one whose product changes the lives of so many people?”
Adam wondered which product she referred to—the dog training, which she seemed to admire, or his psychiatrist services, which she was always vehemently against when they were younger. But now was not the time for that conversation.
He couldn’t help feeling a glow of pride and he allowed himself to bask a little in her compliment. It felt good to hear Liz praise him, good that she could find some redeeming quality in him. It was more than he deserved but everything he wanted.
The conversation shifted to general, less personal topics like current events, the weather, local news. They finished off the cookies, downed enough coffee to keep them up half the night and just enjoyed each other’s company.
It had been a long, long time since Adam had had such a relaxing evening and he didn’t want it to end. He glanced at the clock. Her shift relief would be here in another hour and then she’d disappear into her room. But he still had that hour.