Crossing Lines: A gripping psychological thriller (Behind Closed Doors Book 3) (19 page)

Moments later I’m staring at the pictures in Ashleigh's stairwell gallery, star gazing at her family photographs. My eyes keep returning to Zoey Matthews, her much younger step-sister. If I thought it was at all possible, I'd say the princess of children's television was my niece, just a lot more grown up than she’d been the last time I saw her. But I know that wherever Cal McKenzie is hiding, he’s hiding Zoe and Caitlyn with him.

Vibrations shoot down my right thigh and to the bottom of my left leg, jerking me from an unseeing stare. I shake off the moment of confusion. I turn away from the family portraits and reach into the pocket of my cargo pants to grab my cell phone. My heart misses a beat.
Lisa?

“You didn't call today!” she grumbles as soon as I answer her call. “Why didn't you call?”

My heart leaps into my throat. “I…” Honestly, I’d been caught off guard by the heart-to-heart with Julia. “Well, you haven't answered my calls all week.”

“But…” Her voice drifts off, and I wait for her to finish whatever she was going to say. “I'm sorry, Darryl, I know I was really horrible on Sunday night, but I didn't mean to make you go away.”
Was that really only six days ago? It feels like a lifetime.
“When are you coming home?” There’s a lot of noise in the background, like a subway-train rattling against the track, and I’m not sure I’ve heard her correctly, but I don't reply quickly enough, so she whispers, “You
are
coming home, aren't you?”

“Yes, of course I am,” I reassure her. “I'll be home in a few days, Lisa. The end of next week at the latest. I promise.” The line crackles as the transit sound rattles again. “But things are going to have to change for us, Lisa.” It’s not a threat, just a simple statement. Things
will
change when I return home. “You're grounded indefinitely, for starters. No more disappearing acts. And when I finally give you your freedom back, you’d better come home by curfew,
every
day. If you're not going to be home on time, then you call!”

“But you've never grounded me.”

“Precisely.” I reinforce my previous statement, as just the first step I’ll be making to implement rules and boundaries we haven't had before. “I've been letting you get away with things you shouldn't, and then pulling you up on things that don’t really matter. Things are going to change for me too.”

“I'm sorry for screwing up again, Darryl…”

“You didn’t screw up, Kiddo. It’s amazing that you’ve been offered a place at that school in Seattle. You did good—great in fact; I’m the one who handled it badly. I was also caught off guard, surprised I didn’t know anything about this, or even that you were still writing. I’m really proud of you. I shouldn’t have made a snap decision like that, Lisa, and I’m sorry."

“Does that mean you’re thinking about it?”

“Yes.” I smile into my phone. “There’s a lot of changes I need to make. And I’m not entirely certain I can make them all instantly. But if I can work from here, then why not Seattle, right?”

“You’re going to make those changes for me?”

“If it’s possible, yes.” I should have done it before, instead of succumbing to the feeling of helplessness. I should have been proactive in making things change. I should have been working to find the source of her hatred of me, not letting it and her behavior go wild. “I haven’t been there for you like I should have been, Lisa, and that is going to change.”

“I’m sorry I said you were like Calvin. You’re not.”

“You know I’d never hurt Izzy, right?” She doesn’t answer. “Lisa, I did and said a lot of things I wasn’t proud of that night. But I… wouldn’t… ever…”
Does it matter? What I did was bad enough, and unjustifiable. I should never have touched her at all.

“Lisa, I never ever want you to feel like you can’t come to me when you’re in trouble. You're number one for me, okay?” Again the line crackles and I hear an announcement in the background. It's nearly two a.m. back in New York. “Lisa, where are you? Why aren't you at home? I'm going to kill Caleb!”

“No, Darryl. Please! He thinks I'm at Stephi’s. Her mom and stepdad had to go to her Gran’s, and I'm supposed to be sleeping over. But we had a fight. I didn't want to bother him while he was at the center.”

“Lisa,” I say as the guilt pools in my stomach, “is that how I make you feel? Like you're bothering me?”

“No,” she answers, a little too quickly for my liking. “But I think Caleb has a sweet spot for Nessie.”

I smile as I think of the manager for the New York center. She was one of my first survivors and, despite her relationship history, she’s optimistic about finding a guy she can settle down with and have a family. She’s just really cautious. Even Caleb would struggle to earn her trust—
if
he is interested, which I doubt. He’s adamant that he’s too busy trying to save the world, one abuse victim at a time, for there to be a wife or children in his future. It would be nice if he could heal from not being able to save Faith, and then came home more often and found someone to share his life with.

“I'm sorry I made you feel like you were a burden, Lisa. It doesn't matter where I am, what I’m doing, even who I’m with; if you need me, even if it’s just to say goodnight or good morning, or to tell me you’ve had a fight with Stephi, or Rina, or Daisy, and want to come home, call me.
And
I'd much prefer you get a cab or call for the car service than be on the subway at this time of night.” She protests that she travels that way all the time, and she’s fine. "I know, but you're also fifteen and think you're invincible.” She tsks in my ear. “All right, you're two weeks away from being sixteen, and I'd like it if you got there, which means you can't be on your own in a subway station at this time of night. Jeez, Lisa. I'm not hanging up until you're home and safe!”

“You have to,” she protests. “Georgia is meeting me at the station. I have to ring her when I get on the train.”

“Please don’t lie, Lisa. I know Georgia’s in Kathmandu.”

“She didn’t go. But I wasn't supposed to tell you, because she's still mad at you.”

“She's always mad at me.” I snort, not sure yet whether or not I’ll have words with Georgia about asking Lisa to lie for her. It's fine if she doesn’t want
me
to know where she is. But it’s not okay for Lisa to lie to me. Not even about Georgia’s own whereabouts… but I’d feel hypocritical, considering Georgia and I used to do it for each other all the time, especially after she had started seeing her first boyfriend.

“You make it real easy for us to be mad at you, Uncle D.”

I smile. I don't remember the last time she called me ‘Uncle.’ “I know.” I sigh playfully. “I'm a bigger screw-up than even you are.”

“But you're old.”

“Hey!” I laugh. “Less of the old!”

She giggles and it feels good, really good, to hear her laugh. I don’t get to hear it often enough. “D, I'm sorry. I know my friends get me into trouble, and I
was
listening to you, but they're my friends.” She stops. “Well, at least I thought they were. I promise I'll never hang around with them again, and I'll stop fighting in school. I only do it because I get detention, and then I can hang around with them all day. I'll be good from now on, better than good. You'll never have to worry about me again. I promise.”

“I'll never stop worrying about you, Lisa.”
That’s a promise I'll never break.
“It’s my job.”

“Okay, but just don't go on a holiday and stay, like Caleb did. Please come home!”

“I will. I’ll even come home right now if that’s what you want.” She falls silent. “Lisa?” She doesn’t reply. I guess she doesn’t have to ask anyway, since in her silence I’m making the decision for her. “Okay, I’ll be on the next flight to New York."

“No!” she yelps. “I just… and you just … you–” Suddenly, she shrieks down the phone.

My heart leaps into my throat. “Lisa? … LISA!”

“My train,” she cries. “I'm going to miss my train. Oh god! I have to go!”

“Call me when you get home.” I’m not sure if she hears me before she cuts the line. Part of me is itching to call Georgia … just in case. Of course, if she’s still mad at me after our argument a week ago, she won't answer. Part of me feels like it would betray the fragile ground I’ve just gained with Lisa if I check up on her so soon. She needs to know that I trust her if she’s ever going to start coming to me when she’s in trouble. I’ll wait.

And so I wait.

And wait some more, as I pace the front room for what feels like the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I’m on the verge of calling Georgia, anyway, when my cell bleeps. The screen indicates I have a message from Lisa, and with just a few taps on it I know she’s home, safe and well.

Gd. Will call u 2moro nite. Sweet dreams Bunny Rabbit.

Seconds later I have her reply:
Don't call me that.

I sideline the rest of the work I brought to L.A. Most of it were things I'd put off for the practice: medical reports, patient notes, and paperwork I haven't had time to work on for longer than I care to remember.

I make my way up to bed as my mind turns circles around the possibility of moving to Seattle. I just don’t think we’ll be able to make the move permanently before Christmas. It’s less than three months away, and I have to find new company heads for both Hawthorne Medical and the Faith McKenzie Foundation. I also need to replace my clinic hours working with patients and find a new counselor for the shelter.

It is possible for me to drop the latter two immediately, but there would be a rush to fill the gap my departure has left. Along with the obligation I have to my patients and the people I work with at the New York Shelter, it still leaves the issue of my roles at the foundation and the practice. I’m not deluding myself. I know that, should we move, as the head of both, I will still be needed in New York more often than I’d like. Conference calls will only go so far.

We’d be starting anew. Both of us. And since this move is for Lisa’s future, I can’t pull her out of school every time I'm needed in New York; at almost sixteen, she’s also too old for a nanny but still too young to leave alone. I’d never go that far away, without knowing she had someone to look out for her.

I fall asleep wondering if maybe my best option is to talk to the school, and see if it’s possible for Lisa to start there as a sophomore next year. Then I need to find out if I can pull her from her current school and get back at least some of the tuition. And then I wonder about her commitment before we move: Will she work hard enough to ensure she completes her high school diploma before we leave? Or will her ‘friends’ be a problem?

Chapter Thirteen

IT’S MORNING,
and I’m at the desk in Ashleigh's office well before nine a.m. I want to get ahead with all the plans I need to put into place as soon as possible. When my cell phone dances across the desk in front of me, I look at
Home
flashing on the screen, and wonder if Lisa is up already, or if she’s told Caleb and Georgia we’ve spoken and that I’ve agreed to the school in Seattle.

“Hey,” I answer the call with a cheeriness that’s unusual for me. “I’m glad you called.”

“She's gone.” Caleb gasps into my ear.

My heart revs up. “Who?”

“Lisa,” it triples. “She went to a party last night, but she didn't come home.”

I almost drop the phone. “What are you talking about? She texted me to say she was home. Wait, why didn’t Georgia meet her at the subway station?”

“You spoke to her?” he asks.

“Of course I spoke to her, Caleb. I’m her guardian, and she called in the middle of the night. What are you playing at? Both of you? You’re supposed to be looking after her." My voice lifts in volume as my panic climbs.
Where is she?
“She’s fifteen!”

“I’m sorry, Darryl. I was at the center, and she called Georgia, said something about not wanting to sleep over, and then Georgia has been waiting for her call.”

“She shouldn’t have been waiting for her at two a.m.!” I cry, “She should have gone to get her.” I know it’s hypocritical of me to lose my cool. Lisa gave me the same slip just a week ago, but I’m thousands of miles away, and there's nothing I can do from here, so I hit crazy instead. “I’ll fucking kill her if something's happened to Lisa!”

“She sent her a text. She’d missed her train, and then Georgia fell asleep waiting for her to text again. I woke her up when I got in from the center this morning. Lisa didn't come home at all, and now Georgia's a mess. She thinks it's her fault.”

“It
is
her fault!” I hiss as my blood hits boiling point. “No,” I take a deep breath, try to soothe my anger. “It’s not Georgia’s fault. It's mine.”
Dammit, I knew something was wrong when she called so late, but I didn’t question that story she gave me about her fight with Stephi.
“We talked, about stuff I had no business talking with her about over the phone.”
I know I should have texted Georgia last night after all. But I didn't think Lisa was lying to me. But she was. She said she loved me and was sorry for all the trouble she'd caused.
“Why would she lie to me?”

“Hey, you can't touch that!” I hear Georgia shriek from somewhere in the background. “That's my Mom’s! Don't touch it!”