“How in the world did you cope?”
“I was frozen for a while, and then I got to work. It helped to know who my enemy was, my target for revenge. Focusing on getting justice for Thomas and my baby was my goal. But I was still alone, still brokenhearted. Just a shell of a woman with only one goal: to make the Slaters pay.
“And then Nick came back into my life. He had been Thomas’s best friend and was my rock after his death. I didn’t plan it…never believed it would happen. But I fell in love with him, completely and forever.
“Everything I’ve lost, every heartache and tear, led me to him. I never imagined it was possible to have this kind of happiness again. But I’m so incredibly grateful for it, and I plan to cherish every single moment. And if, for whatever reason, I lose them, I will be shattered, heartbroken. But not for one single, solitary moment will I ever regret what we had.”
Her voice went to a fierce whisper. “This is living, Kathleen. This is what life is about. The good and the bad. The agony and ecstasy. Being afraid to live life to its fullest is a death all in itself.”
Tears filled Kathleen eyes. This woman had lost even more than she had and still had the courage to love. Shame filled Kathleen for her own lack of courage. How awful of her to have denied her love for Eli. He had told her she was a coward, and she acknowledged the truth. But no more. Dammit, no more.
Kathleen jumped up from the sofa and raced toward the door. Then, stopping in the middle of the room, she turned and ran to Kennedy, giving her a hug. “Thank you. Thank you for talking some sense into me. For being my friend.”
Kennedy laughed and hugged her back. “You’re welcome. Now go get your man.”
Kathleen ran down the hallway. She could see Eli and Nick standing on the side patio, talking. Their grim expressions said the conversation was serious and heated. As much as she hated to interrupt them, she didn’t want to wait any longer to tell Eli she loved him. A noise coming from the kitchen stopped her in her tracks. Was that someone crying?
Knowing the sounds could only be coming from Teresa, Kathleen shifted direction. She pushed open the door and stopped, startled to see the stoic Teresa Longview with her head on the kitchen table, sobbing her heart out.
“Teresa? What’s wrong?”
The older woman jerked in surprise and then jumped up. “Nothing’s wrong. I…I…” Teresa looked around the kitchen, her expression panicked.
Recognizing fear and emotional overload, Kathleen pulled up a chair and sat at the table. “You can talk to me, Teresa. What’s upset you?”
“I can’t talk about it, Miss Kathleen. I just can’t…” She looked out the window, her eyes unfocused.
Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Kathleen stood, went to the cabinet for a glass, and then filled it with water. Placing a hand on Teresa’s shoulder, she said, “Take a few sips.”
Teresa drank half the glass. Then she looked over at Kathleen, and her face crumpled.
Feeling real fear now, Kathleen grabbed the woman’s hand. “Did you lose someone? Is someone in your family ill?”
Tears rolled down the older woman’s grief-ravaged face. “I can’t…I can’t…”
“I’m going to go get Eli. I’ll be right back.”
“No.” She grabbed Kathleen’s arm. “No. I—” Then she began to sob again. “Yes. Yes. Go get Mr. Eli. He has to know. I can’t go on like this.”
Jumping up from her chair, Kathleen went out the door and to the patio where Eli and Nick were just headed inside.
“Eli, something’s wrong with Teresa.”
He was running by her in an instant, Nick right behind him.
She ran after them but stopped when Kennedy called out, “What’s going on?”
“Something’s wrong with Teresa,” Kathleen said. “Eli and Nick are with her.”
She and Kennedy pushed open the kitchen door just in time to hear a violent, vicious curse from Eli, who was sitting in the window seat at the other end of the kitchen, holding Teresa. The woman was sobbing on his shoulder as if her heart was breaking in two.
Nick was in the corner on his cellphone, his voice urgent and hard.
“What is it? Did she tell you?” Kathleen sat beside Eli, patted Teresa’s shoulder, and waited to see what the hell was going on.
“I wouldn’t do that to you, Mr. Eli.” Teresa sobbed against his shoulder. “To Miss Kathleen either. No matter what. I wouldn’t. But I’m just so worried.”
“I know you wouldn’t, Teresa. I’m sorry this is happening. Now, let’s go over it again, once more.”
Eli listened once again, his fury building as Teresa recounted her experience at the grocery store and coffee shop.
“When she showed me the photograph of Linda and Douglas, I almost fainted. I just couldn’t comprehend someone doing something like that.”
“No one could.” Even as Eli said the words, he cursed himself for not thinking about it. He thought he had protected his loved ones, but dammit, he had forgotten about Teresa’s family. He had made it easy for the culprit. So damn easy.
“We’ve got to do something, Eli,” Kathleen said.
“Nick’s on the phone with Justice right now. He’s got people in London.”
“Can you describe her for us?” Kennedy asked.
“Yes. She’s a beautiful woman. Long black hair, almost exotic looking. Silvery-gray eyes. She’s about five-seven or so. Slender build but curvy, too. She pretended to be from Texas. Introduced herself as Mary Ellen Wilson from El Paso. But when she told me about…” Teresa’s mouth trembled. “She changed her accent. She’s Irish.”
“She had an Irish accent?” Kennedy’s tone held shocked alarm.
Eli knew exactly what Kennedy was thinking and refused to even contemplate such a thing. “It’s not her, Kennedy. I know her. She would never do something like this.”
“Who?” Kathleen said. “You know who it is?”
“I don’t think she would either,” Kennedy said, “but Teresa just described her to a T.”
“Her? Who?” Kathleen said. “Will someone tell me who you’re talking about?”
Looking sick, Kennedy answered, “Irelyn Raine. Grey’s former partner.”
Grey stormed into Eli’s house, prepared for war. Nick had told him what he’d needed to know to get people on the ground in London and find Teresa’s family. Once that was in place, Grey had called back for more details. When he’d gotten those, he’d become livid.
No way. No fucking way had that woman been Irelyn. She liked Eli. He knew she did. There was no way she would hurt him. And to arbitrarily want Kathleen dead, too? No. There was a helluva lot more to this than met the eye.
They were gathered in the main parlor. Nick and Kennedy sat on one sofa, Kathleen and Eli on another.
“Where’s Teresa?” Grey asked.
“I persuaded her to take a mild sedative,” Kathleen said. “She’s sleeping.”
“Where’s the bottle?”
Eli nodded at the table, where a small innocuous-looking bottle sat, holding about an ounce of liquid.
“I’ll have my lab guys analyze it. Hopefully, we’ll have the results in a few hours. I’ll have them check for fingerprints, too.”
“I’ve already checked,” Nick said. “I had a print kit in my car. Only one set of prints are on them. They’re Teresa’s.”
“Grey,” Kennedy said. “I don’t believe this woman is Irelyn either, but I’m not sure anyone else is convinced.”
Eli shook his head. “I don’t want to believe it’s her, Justice, but if it’s not, then who the hell is pretending to be Irelyn and wanting both Kathleen and me dead?”
Dropping into a chair, Grey blew out a ragged sigh. He had known he might have to share some of his suspicions but had hoped for more time. Time had run out.
“A few months back, I learned about a couple of murders. The victims were not of the highest quality of individuals. They were in different parts of the world, seemed to have nothing in common with each other. Except for the way they died.”
He glanced over at Nick and Kennedy. “One was Bobby O’Leary.”
“Who’s Bobby O’Leary?” Kathleen asked.
“He’s a former hired killer that got dead,” Nick answered. “Kennedy and I have been trying to determine who killed him. So far we’ve come up empty.”
“What does this have to do with what happened today?” Eli asked.
“The method of murder was poison.”
He could see the comprehension hit them at once.
Kathleen stood. “That’s how Frank Braden was killed.”
“Yes. Just that way.”
“So you knew all along it wasn’t Alice? You knew and you didn’t tell me who else it could be? Why would you—”
“I had no names, still have no names, or suspects. I hoped that by digging into each one of their deaths—Braden’s, O’Leary’s, and the other men’s—we would find a link. And find the killer.”
“You’re trying to determine if it was Irelyn, aren’t you?” Nick asked.
“I was trying to make sure it wasn’t. I don’t believe it’s in her to—” He shook his head. “I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t her.”
“I don’t understand,” Kennedy said. “Why would you even think it was Irelyn?”
There were certain things Grey could still not share, and the reason he suspected Irelyn might be behind the murders was one of them. At some point, he might have to reveal certain secrets about his and Irelyn’s past, but not yet. Not until it was an absolute necessity. He owed Irelyn that, if nothing else.
“That’s something I can’t say right now. And again, I don’t believe it is her. Besides, Irelyn can emulate any accent. There’s no reason for her to be so blatant about her Irish background, unless…”
“You’re right. It’s too obvious,” Kathleen said. “But why would anyone try to frame her?”
“Damned if I know.”
A sound had them all turning toward the doorway, where Teresa now stood. Grey had met her only a couple of times, but she now looked totally different from the self-possessed motherly woman he remembered. She appeared to have aged a decade.
Eli’s heart turning over in regret for what she was going through, he went to his feet. “What is it, Teresa?”
“I can’t believe I didn’t remember this before. I was just so…” She waved her hand, obviously overcome with emotion.
Kathleen went to her, put her arm around her. “What didn’t you remember?”
“My brother-in-law, Douglas. He’s been having memory problems. Not diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s quite yet, but there’s the worry. Linda, my sister, is a proactive sort. She bought Douglas a watch for his birthday a few months back. It was from one of those places that puts a locator device inside. That way, if he became lost, and his memory grew worse… She never told him. He’s been self-conscious about not being able to remember things. But if he was wearing it when he was taken…”
Grey had already pulled his phone out. “I’ll call my guys.”
Teresa’s eyes swam with fresh tears. “So they might be able to find them? Before it’s too late?”
“Yes. That’s definitely a possibility,” Eli assured her.
“Well that’s good. That’s good,” she whispered.
Showing the compassion and warmth that were such an intrinsic part of her, Kathleen squeezed her shoulders in a hug. “Why don’t we go get you a cup of tea?”
Teresa nodded, gave a small smile. “That sounds lovely.”
The instant Kathleen led Teresa away, Eli glanced at Justice, who had just ended his call. “What do your people know about Linda and Douglas so far?”
“They found signs of a struggle at their apartment. Said it was apparent they’d been gone a day or two. Their two dogs and three cats were frantic and starving.”
“They can trace the chip?”
“Yes. They’re working on it now.”
“Having them found…that’s the main issue right now. I can’t believe I didn’t get them protection. Just so damn shortsighted of me.”
“None of us thought it would go this far, Eli. It’s on all of us that we didn’t think of it.” Justice glanced at the door and then turned back to Eli. “There’s something else we haven’t talked about that concerns me.”
“What’s that?”
“The woman pretending to be Irelyn. She wanted Teresa to poison Kathleen, too?”
“Yes.” Just the thought scraped his insides raw.
“We need to discuss why,” Justice said.
“What do you mean?” Kennedy asked.
“Why include her at all? If Eli’s the target?”
“You’re saying, if she’s a professional, she would only focus on her target? Not someone else?”
“Yes. Contract killers don’t normally kill without purpose or a reason. I’m not saying there’s not collateral damage sometimes, but this is too specific. Poisoning only you should be no problem. Why include Kathleen?”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking this is more complex than one person with a grudge. We need to dig deeper.”
“You’re right,” Kathleen said from the doorway. “There’s got to be a link between Frank Braden and Mathias Slater.”
“You’ve already done a ton of research on Braden,” Grey said.
“Yes. I’ll get my notes and start digging. We’ve found so many threads. Maybe this is one more. One that might lead to the final piece in the puzzle.”
“Could it be that two different people hired the same killer?” Kennedy asked. “And that’s the only connection?”
Nick shook his head. “That’s stretching coincidence beyond the breaking point. There’s a connection, we just need to find it.”
“I’ll go get my files and bring them to the conference room.” Kathleen shot Eli a look. “Could you help?”
Eli was on his feet in seconds, headed to her. Maybe he read something of what she wanted to talk to him about, because his expression went hot and fierce. Without a word, he took her hand and led her up the stairway.
They waited until they were in her bedroom to speak. He shut the door and turned. Before he could ask what was going on, she blurted out, “I realize this is quite possibly the worst timing in the world for this, but I’ve put this off for too long. I’m bad about putting everything else in front of what’s really important. I can’t do that with this…with you. Not anymore.” She paused a second, swallowed past a dry throat, and continued, “I never expected this…it’s inconvenient as hell. Absolutely terrible timing.”
A brilliant smile spread over Eli’s face as if he knew exactly what she was trying to say.
Kathleen forgot every word except what mattered most. “I love you, Eli. I’m in love with you.”