Vibrations (13 page)

Nick didn’t want Whitney to
think like that. “I thought you knew everything I felt.”

“I try not to intrude into
every thought you have.”

“Well, let me tell you then.”
He pulled her close again with his face inches from hers. “I’ve never felt like
this before. I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t sleep at night. I want
you with me, in my bed, in my house. I want to hold you and touch you and take
care of you. I keep telling myself that neither one of us wants a relationship,
but the thought of not seeing you again scares me. When this is all over,
you’re gonna go away. I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t think I want
that.”

Whitney was amazed at his
openness. “The truth is I’m scared. I’m afraid it won’t work out and you’ll
hate me. I’m afraid to open up to a part of myself I’ve hidden for so long. I
feel kind of silly for having waited so long.” She smiled a little and then
sobered. “I’m scared of experiencing the pain I’ve seen with other people when
their relationships fail. I’m afraid you won’t want me.”

“Whitney, I would never hurt
you. I don’t know where this will lead to, but I know I would never hurt you on
purpose.” He lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles. Then
he turned it over and slowly kissed the center of her palm.

“Just promise me you’ll think
about it. If I’m willing to take the risk, then you don’t have to worry about
hurting me. It will be my own fault. You deserve the same happiness in life
that others have. Not everyone ends up hurting. Some people actually fall in
love and live happily ever after.”

“Happily ever after? I don’t
know about that.”

“How about just happily?”

She shrugged her shoulders and
smiled a little. “I’ll think about it.”

He looked up at her and saw
that her face was getting red. “Whitney, we’d better get into some shade. It’s
getting hot up here.”

“It sure is,” she laughed and
they both new she meant it in more ways than one.

The hike down gave her time to
think, but the day was getting hotter and she was glad when they got to the
car. The butterflies in her stomach made it hard to sit still. When she closed
her eyes, the picture of his face, so close to hers, filled her mind. His eyes
were the most intense blue she had ever seen. They sparkled like gemstones. It
was such a contrast to his dark black hair. She found everything about him so
fascinating, and very, very sexy.

When they got back to the
house, Whitney found a note from Tina saying she was going to a friend’s camp
for the day, and would be back the next morning. Since they were still
overheated Nick suggested they go for a swim. Whitney spent fifteen minutes in
her room trying to decide what suit to wear. She didn’t have people visit
often, and even then it was a few friends. Her only choices were bikinis and
that made her nervous. How could she send the signal that she wasn’t ready in a
bikini? She finally decided on the one that covered the most skin and wrapped a
towel around her waist. Everything about being with Nick felt new and scary, including
a quick swim in her pool.

* * * *

Teddy was working at his desk
poring over the files. He didn’t mind doing the leg work alone in this case. It
was good to see Nick so interested in Whitney. He knew his partner and it was
looking serious. Nick had always kept his dating light and casual. Teddy was
amazed at how many women came on to Nick and he just took it in stride. This
was different. Teddy hoped it would turn into something good for Nick. Then
maybe he could stop worrying about him so much. Whitney sure needed someone to
take care of her, and Nick was the one to do it.

He was still wondering how
their day off was going as he pulled into the Kensington driveway. He had a few
more questions for Ann Marie. She seemed to know the most about the current
members, teams, coaches and even past members. She had been working closely
with them to help them put it all together. She was keeping a close eye on her
own six year old son and was hoping they would catch the guy soon.

Teddy rang the doorbell and
waited. No one answered. He rang it again and finally heard someone yell to
come in. He entered the dark front room and his eyes took a moment to adjust.
Derrick, her son in the wheelchair, was over at the kitchen table.

“Is your mom at home?”

“Nope.”

“Do you know when she’ll be
back?”

“Nope.”

Teddy had met Derrick before
and knew that he wasn’t very friendly. He had learned from Ann Marie that she
had been inspired by Derrick to help start the SVWC. When he was young he was a
talented athlete and she wanted to open up his opportunities. He didn’t have a
father to help out. Ann Marie had sought out other motivated parents to
organize some teams and provide direction for the kids.

Ann Marie had told Teddy that
Derrick had always been moody, but after he was injured in college he had
totally withdrawn. He had gone to UCLA on a football scholarship. In his second
year he was injured. They had hoped he would regain use of his legs, but it had
been four years and he showed no signs of improvement. If the spine didn’t
recover in the first year, there was very little hope. He kept himself strong
by working out every day, and he even did his own therapy on his legs. He
wouldn’t let anyone help him and refused physical therapy and any counseling.

Teddy couldn’t imagine being
in Derrick’s situation, with a mom that pushed so hard and dedicated her life
to sports. He would have been just as moody and maybe even worse. When Derrick
wheeled back into the living room Teddy asked for a glass of water.

“Sure. Get it yourself. I’m a
little indisposed.” Derrick sneered at Teddy and then down at the chair.

Teddy walked into the kitchen
to find a glass. The floor was wet and muddy by the sink, and it didn’t match
with the rest of the pristine surroundings. Noticing the mud dripping from a
lower cupboard, he pulled it open. Inside were two sneakers that looked brand
new except for the dirt along the bottom edges. It looked like someone had been
trying to clean one of them and had been interrupted. There was a cloth and a
dish pan full of water behind the garbage can. He looked closer at the shoes and
saw patches of dark brown mixed in with the soil that looked an awful lot like
dried blood. The shoes looked pretty large for Ann Marie, but she was a tall
woman. On a hunch he quickly looked for a baggie and scraped some of the mud
into the bag. He finished washing his hands and getting the water as Derrick
rolled into the kitchen.

“You get lost in here or
something.”

“No. Just wanted to wash up a
little. My cars pretty dirty from my driveway. Haven’t paved it yet. I see you
don’t have that problem. Nice paved driveway and all that grass. Looks like a
carpet. Does your mom do all that work?”

“No. She has a gardener come
and do it. She doesn’t want her yard to look like every other desert landscape
around here. She thinks it makes the house look classier having all that grass
mowed in the same direction.”

Teddy noticed Derrick’s
shoes. Not a spot on them. Of course, they never touch the ground. He had a
special van that lifted him up in his wheel chair and allowed him to drive with
hand controls.

“I just thought your mom had
been gardening a little and that’s how she got her shoes so dirty. Those are
your mom’s shoes aren’t they?” He pulled open the cupboard and pointed.

Derrick glared but said
nothing about the fact that Teddy had been snooping in the kitchen. “I don’t
know,” he finally answered. “Maybe she went for a hike or something.”

Teddy finally excused himself
and rushed back to the station. He sent the sample in to be analyzed and gave
Ann Marie a call. He asked her a few questions about the teams and casually
mentioned his visit with Derrick. He complimented her on the yard and asked
about her gardener. He mentioned he had a day off coming soon and asked if she
knew any good hiking places. She said she didn’t really hike anymore because of
old knee injuries but gave him some ideas.

Teddy was just returning from
his interview with the gardener when his cell phone rang. They found blood
samples on the shoe mixed in with the mud. They would be trying to match the
DNA with the boys that had been abducted, but it would take a while. Since the
gardener was a small Mexican man, the shoes couldn’t be his. Derrick couldn’t
have climbed down to that cave or carried a boy anywhere, so that only left Ann
Marie. They had to bring her in for questioning.

At the house Derrick started
screaming at them. “You’re all a bunch of idiots! My mom couldn’t have done
that. She loves kids. You can’t do this. We need to call our lawyer or
something.”

Teddy tried to calm the boy
while the police car drove away. “Derrick, the shoes in the house have mud and
blood on them. Do you know how it got there?”

Derrick shook his head no.

“The mud matched the area
where we found Kevin. We’re waiting to find out if the blood matches his.”

“How is Kevin? Is her going
to make it?”

“He’s stable, but still in a
coma. About the shoes, were you the one trying to clean them up? He didn’t
answer. “I know she’s your mom Derrick, but we need to know. You wouldn’t want
anymore boys to get hurt would you?”

“She wouldn’t do this,” he
hissed through his teeth.

“Whoever is doing this needs
help Derrick. If it was your mom you would want to get her help, wouldn’t you? You
can help her if you cooperate with us. You could help us by telling us what you
know. Do you remember where your mom was last Saturday?”

“I know she didn’t do
anything. She was here. All night. She has to take care of me. Are we done? I
have to go call our lawyer and get someone to take care of my brother.” He
turned and wheeled back up the ramp to the house.

“Can I help you with
anything?”

“Yeah, you can leave!” Derrick
twirled his chair around and slammed the door shut.

Nick was just walking out to
the pool when his cell phone rang. He scooped it up and said hello as he
stepped out on the deck.

“Hey buddy. How’s your day
off?”

“Not bad. I’m just about to
take a dip in the pool. Whitney’s standing here waiting for me.”

“Umm. So what’s she wearing?”

“You’ll never know.”

“I sure hope it’s a tiny little
bikini. I can just imagine how she would look…”

“Hey! Watch it.”

Teddy laughed. “Sorry to bother
you, but I have some news. Might be very good news so I wanted you to know.
We’ve picked up someone for questioning. Case looks pretty tight.”

“Who is it?”

“Ann Marie Kensington.”

“No way! Ann Marie? That just
doesn’t fit. Whitney kept getting a feeling it was a man.”

“Well, she might have been
wrong on that part. They say it’s not an exact science. We found her shoes
covered with mud that matched the area Kevin was in, and they had traces of
blood on them. It is the same type as Kevin’s. We’re waiting for the DNA to
come back, but it’s not looking good for her.”

“Why. What’s her motivation?”

“Haven’t figured that out yet.”

Nick told Teddy not to call off
the men watching the other kids just yet. He hung up shaking his head.

“Weird. Not what I expected.”
He said, knowing it didn’t feel right.

“I heard some of it,” Whitney
said shaking her head. “I feel like I should have known. I didn’t sense
anything with her, but that doesn’t mean anything. I heard you telling him I
thought it was a man. I was never able to be sure about that, but it did seem
Kevin thought it was a man. I’ll be so glad if it’s over.”

“I’m not so sure yet. What did
you say the hands looked like when you saw them?”

“Well, they could have been a
woman’s. Ann Marie is quite tall. They weren’t manicured, but they weren’t
dirty either. The unsub is definitely Caucasian. Kevin saw someone in a mask.
That’s been bothering me. How would he be lured away with someone in a mask? And
if he saw the abductor and knew them, why would they wear a mask?”

“Maybe there were two of them.
Or maybe they heard about you in the papers and didn’t want you to see him when
we found the body.”

“That’s scary. That would mean
he’s pretty smart and knows a lot about me.”

“And you’re a threat to him…or
her.”

“Well, if it was Ann Marie,
then I’m safe now and so are the rest of the boys.”

“Until we know for sure, I’m
not leaving your side.” Nick wrapped his arm around Whitney’s bare waist and
pulled her close. He could see the haunted look in her eyes again.

“Hey, we’re supposed to be
having a day off. No talk about work. Remember? Let’s go for a swim. Last one
in has to strip.” He dove in and came up laughing. His eyes bore into her and
she looked away blushing.

“I did not agree to those
terms.”

She looked back at Nick as he
backstroked away from her. His upper body was tan and sculpted. His rugged face
was alive with excitement as his eyes studied her body. She decided getting in
the water would be better than standing there in full view. She dove in and
started swimming toward the shallow end. Whitney swam laps almost every day. The
long pool was heated so that she could swim most of the year. She felt her
muscles starting to relax as she finished her second lap.

Nick felt his jaw drop and
snapped it shut. She might already know his thoughts, but he didn’t want to get
caught drooling. He tried to turn his attention from the drop dead body to
something else. He could see from her fluid strokes that she was an
accomplished swimmer. No wonder she looked so hot.

As Nick watched, he realized
she probably spent much of her time alone, and had plenty of time for swimming.
He also realized that the case might be solved soon and she would have no reason
to stay in Phoenix.