“Buried in the back of the closet beneath some other boxes. It was locked.”
“I don’t mess with the stuff back there. Most of it belongs to Ben. The rest is old paperwork.”
He opened the lid on the box. He’d obviously already picked the lock, just as he had to get in here.
“Ben’s not sound asleep,” she said. “You have to get out of here. If he catches you, he’ll probably shoot you.”
He didn’t look too concerned about his own safety. “Would he hurt you?”
“No, never.” She didn’t want to tell him about her paranoia, either.
He started pulling out papers, but stilled when she touched his hand. “Silas, tell me what’s going on. What happened to Dana and Geraldine? You knew, didn’t you? Knew they’d be taken.”
“I knew someone would be taken. I had no idea who or where it would happen.” His gaze took in her hand still closed over the top of his. “Until he stopped to give them a ride. Then I recognized Geraldine.”
“You were there?”
“In a way. I’ll explain it later, when the time is right. I don’t want to get you in trouble with Ben if he finds me here.”
Always he was concerned for her. He took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb across the back of her fingers. That’s when she noticed the gauze bandage peering out from beneath one of his sleeves.
“What happened to your arm?”
“It’s just a cut.” He squeezed her fingers. “Remember when I told you that The Ghost is someone you know?” She nodded. “Geraldine and Dana knew him, too. He was someone they trusted.”
It was someone who lived in Flatlands, then.
“How much do you know about Ben? About his past?” he asked.
“I thought we’d eliminated him when he called.”
“I never eliminate anyone until I’m sure. But it’s not a killing tendency I’m looking for.”
“What then?”
“I have a guy doing some background checks. I had him check Ben first, since he’s closest to you. Something didn’t add up. What do you know?”
“Not much. He never liked talking about his childhood. I know he was in foster care for a large part of it.”
He dug through the papers in the box and took out a yellowed piece of paper. A birth certificate, she saw when he held it under the light.
Benjamin Arnold Ferguson
the certificate read. Born in Milledgeville, not far from Flatlands. Ben had never once taken her there. He didn’t go there himself. Bad memories he said, and not much more.
Silas pointed to the birth date. She blinked, and then took the paper herself.
“He looks pretty good for an eighty-six year old man.”
“This can’t be right.”
He shuffled through some of the other papers in the box. “Diplomas, high school and college, all with corresponding dates to the birth certificate.”
“There must be some mistake.”
He took her chin and lifted her face to his. “Katie, be very careful. Remember what I said about not trusting anyone.”
“And here I am, harboring a criminal in my home.” His eyes were more shadowy than the room itself. “Silas, tell me what’s going on. You’re the one who seems most likely to be committing these crimes. You tell me I’m in danger, but won’t tell me how you know. And you warn me not to trust anyone, including you. Then I find you breaking into my home, not once but twice.”
He lowered his face to hers and whispered, “Then why haven’t you screamed your head off?”
“Because…” That womanly awareness trickled through her. “I’m crazy.”
While Silas’s thoughts were often a mystery to Katie, she could clearly see desire in his eyes. He was standing so close, she felt the heat of his body. It didn’t seem to matter that she was standing in her own home with a man who shouldn’t be there, wanting him to kiss her when her husband was only two rooms away. He cupped her face with both his large hands, running both his thumbs over the corners of her mouth.
She found her voice, which sounded hoarse. “I’m not everything that’s good and pure with the world anymore. I haven’t fought for what’s right in longer than I can remember. I’m not that little girl. I haven’t been in a long, long time.”
She felt his fingers tighten. Then he leaned down and kissed her. She saw his eyes close before he’d even started the kiss, as though he’d given in after a fight. His mouth was warm and soft against hers. She couldn’t breathe, could do nothing more than lose herself in what she was feeling. An electrical charge sizzled through her chest and then down to her extremities.
She was kissing Silas.
Or rather, he was kissing her, softly, slowly. She leaned closer, becoming a participant instead of just receiving. She captured his upper lip between hers and moved back and forth. His fingers slid up into her hair, and he opened her mouth and deepened the kiss. She sucked in a breath, but her own hunger kicked in. Her tongue danced with his, tasting him and making her feel as though she were spinning on a merry-go-round.
She became a woman right there without shedding a piece of clothing. Just kissing him took her from being a little girl to a woman with needs and desires long denied. She could feel her molecules changing. Her arms went around his waist, and she pulled him close enough to feel the evidence of his desire. He wanted her. It astounded her that she could produce that kind of reaction in him.
He was breathless when he pulled her against him and kissed her shoulder. He whispered her name, a plea maybe, though the hopelessness in his voice was unmistakable.
“Silas, stop living in the shadows,” she whispered into his ear. “Let me help you.”
He buried his face in her hair and squeezed her tight. “I can’t.”
He lifted his head at the sound. “Ben,” she whispered, hearing him call her name. Her heart raced for a different reason. Silas slipped into the closet at the same time that Ben opened the door.
“Hon, what are you doing?” His curious tone bordered on the accusatory.
It was hard not to look at the closet doors, but she managed. “I…” She glanced at the box sitting out on the desk. “I couldn’t sleep. So I came in here because…” Her first thought was to make up some benign reason and hope he didn’t see the box. She didn’t like rocking the boat, especially with Ben who could make her feel so guilty and selfish. “I have never felt as though I really know you. I want to know you better so I did some snooping and found this.” She pulled the box closer and flipped open the lid.
He didn’t look the least bit disturbed that she’d been snooping in his personal papers. “Katie, all you had to do was ask. I don’t like talking about my past, you know that. But if there was something you want to know….” He walked close to take her hands in his, but she pulled out the birth certificate.
“Why is the date wrong?” She pulled out the diploma. “And on these?”
“They’re my father’s.”
She blinked at the simplicity of his answer. He hadn’t given it a thought, hadn’t even looked at the papers in her hand. “Your father’s?”
“The man who kindly donated sperm to create me and then left my mother to try to raise me alone.”
“You said you didn’t know your father.”
“I did, just not personally. When he died, I took these papers because…” He looked away, and his voice got thick. “I wanted something of my father. Something to say who I was.” When she could find nothing to say in return, he took the papers and returned them to the box. “Just ask me next time, Katie. I’d be glad to show you or tell you anything. I have nothing to hide from you.”
“I’m sorry,” she found herself saying. Then she realized he intended to return the box to the closet.
“I’ll put it back,” she said, taking the box. “I’m the one who took it out.” She opened the right side of the closet and leaned into the shadows of the left side to set the box on the shelf. Silas was inches away. He was the man she wanted to know more about. His secrets, his demons, and his dreams. She wanted it all, no matter how dark.
She pulled herself from the closet and closed the door. “Let’s go to bed,” she said, turning off the lamp.
The room was plunged into darkness. Only a thread of light from the kitchen trailed in. Ben was looking at the closet. She paused by the door, her heart lodged firmly in her throat. “Ben?”
He led her out of the room, and she closed the door. “Katie, you’re the one I don’t know anymore. I have given you everything a man can give a woman…well, almost everything. Most importantly, I’ve given you love when no one else would. Since your birthday, you’ve been acting strange. And now that Silas is back in town, it’s gotten even worse. I want my old Katie back.”
“The old Katie never had to kill something. The old Katie didn’t know her husband was capable of poisoning another creature, no matter how pesky.”
She wished she had the guts to sleep on the couch. Even if she had, that left Ben to possibly go back into the office and see what she’d found in the box.
“I did it for you,” he said, no remorse on his face.
“Don’t ever kill anything for me again. And stop saying you did it for me.”
CHAPTER 15
Katie took a bite of her meatloaf, the lunch special at the diner. Her portion had been significantly smaller than Ben’s, but she wasn’t very hungry anyway. They sat at one of the booths by the front window. Dinah’s place was as busy as always, though most people were still talking about the two girls. They’d raked over every inch of Flatlands to no avail. Just like the other girls, they’d simply vanished. Everyone wore yellow ribbons for their safe return—everyone but Katie, who’d never gotten one.
Sam Savino and his wife sat in a booth nearby. He wasn’t wearing a ribbon, either. Those dark eyes were on her, making her feel self-conscious.
“Every time I see that man, he’s giving me strange looks,” Katie said.
Instead of refuting that, Ben said, “No, he’s looking at me. I don’t know why, but he hates me.”
But those hard eyes were looking right at her.
“Come with me this weekend,” Ben said. “On my farm calls.”
He must really be feeling insecure. He hadn’t even mentioned her snooping through his things, and now he was inviting her along. Last week guilt would have made her accept. Nothing inside her was strong enough to want to patch things up now. What she wanted was some time alone to sort out her feelings.
“Thanks for asking, but I’ve got some things I want to get done this weekend.”
“I’ll help you with them next weekend.”
“I appreciate that, Ben, but I’d really planned to get them done this weekend. And besides, I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying at someone’s house that I don’t know.” Ben’s customers usually put him up on his weekend trips.
“What about the killer who’s on the loose? I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“I’ll be fine. He’s probably long gone by now. He only strikes one town before moving on.” But it was someone she knew.
“But Silas is still here.”
Katie set down her fork. “There’s no proof he’s the one doing all this. It’s just easy and convenient to pin it on him.”
Ben’s voice rose loud enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear him. “Why do you insist on defending Silas? He’s done nothing to deserve anyone’s loyalty. He didn’t respond to the town’s pleas to buy his property, not even the courtesy of a return call. He comes back to town after eighteen years and won’t tell anyone why. He’s got pictures and notes about young women being murdered—”
“He writes true crime books.”
Ben shook his head, disappointment dripping from his voice and expression. “Still defending him. Are you that stupid, Katie? A man that interested in murder is as warped as the killers he writes about. After everything I’ve done for you, how can you take his side?”
The people at the surrounding tables all stared at her with cold looks. She turned back to Ben and lowered her voice. “I’m not taking his side. I just don’t like how everyone’s judging him.”
He only looked at her with that deadened expression. When neither had touched their food for several minutes, Maybel, their waitress, asked if they needed anything else. Asked Ben, not Katie.
He put his friendly face back on. “We’re just fine and dandy, Maybel. No dessert for either of us.”
“You hear about Grover Thompson?”
Again Maybel only addressed Ben, as though Katie weren’t even there. “No, what happened?”
“He’s gone. Just like the girls, disappeared into thin air. He took some slop out to the pigs and that was that. The bucket was found just outside the pig barn; he’d never even gotten to the pigs.”
“Do they think it’s the guy who took the girls?”
“I asked the sheriff that, but he said probably not. Those serial type killers don’t usually swing both ways. M.O.’s different. Thelma’s sure it’s aliens that got him.”
“I’ve heard them talk about the UFO’s out there. I’ve taken care of Grover’s animals for years. I’m going to have to pay Mrs. Thompson a visit and see if there’s anything I can do. Damn shame, it is. Hopefully he’s just trying to put the scare into her for some reason.”
Then he pulled himself out of the booth and walked to the counter. Dinah walked right over and they exchanged a few words. Though Katie couldn’t see Ben’s face, she could see Dinah’s. It was venomous. Compassion filled her expression when she turned back to Ben and patted his arm.
Maybel brought the bill over. Katie held out her hand, but Maybel flung it and made Katie crawl under the table where it had landed.
“Sorry
‘
bout that,” Maybel said with enough sincerity to make Katie wonder. “So, when are you gonna give the doc babies? Ya’ll have been married forever. Ain’t right, not having babies by now. It’s the least a woman can do for her man, you know. He’d make a great father.”
Katie was so stunned by the personal question she couldn’t answer at first. How strange, too, that she’d asked after Ben’s offer. She cleared her throat and said, “We’ve decided to wait a little longer.”
“Uh huh,” Maybel said before turning away.
Ben returned, his face neutral as ever. He threw a generous tip on the table and picked up the bill. “Ready?”
Katie slid out of the booth and wondered again if she were losing her mind or taking things too personally. She followed Ben to the front register, where Dinah processed their bill.