Hold Back the Dark (13 page)

“Those are the playtime of somebody who likes to take risks. What’s riskier than being a gambler? And what’s even riskier than gambling with your family’s security?”

Josh straightened up and said to Ed, “So you’re telling us that Orrin Dawkin had gutted the value of his house and lost everything he had doing this day trading?”

“I haven’t nailed down all the specifics, but it sure as hell looks like it.”

“You think he might have borrowed more? Maybe from somebody he shouldn’t have been doing business with?” Josh’s mind raced. Loan sharks didn’t generally kill people who owed them money; it made them difficult to collect from. But maybe if you got in deep enough, they might decide to cut their losses or make an example of you for other upstanding citizens.

“Could be,” Ed said. “I’ll keep digging and see if I can track from where and when money came in, and to where and when it was going.”

“What do you think?” Josh asked Elise. “Russian mob, maybe? They play pretty rough.”

“Some of those Asian dudes aren’t all sweetness and light, either,” Elise observed.

Something still didn’t feel right, though. “I can see bashing a man’s head in over money, but the torture aspect of Stacey’s death doesn’t feel like the product of a business deal. It felt personal.”

“I know. Maybe whoever they sent was a little more suited to the job than anyone knew, and got off on it.”

Josh nodded. “Let’s let Ed figure out if this is turning into a RICO case that the feds’ll rip out of our hands.”

A
imee had had an early appointment with a professor at Sac State who was, in Aimee’s opinion, trying to figure out how to leave her husband. Breaking up a relationship wasn’t easy. Although with Danny, it had taken less than a year to go from wedding planning to divvying up CDs, dishes, and furniture.

She had a two-hour break before she had another client, enough time to meet Detective Wolf and check in on Taylor—assuming they’d let her in after the way things ended yesterday. She tried to still the butterflies in her stomach at the thought of seeing Josh again.

After parking at Whispering Pines, she sat for a moment in her car. How long would Taylor be in this place? It was going to get terribly hard for Marian Phillips to stay down here. Eventually she’d need to go home to Redding, to her own life. There was no way she would be able to begin to process her grief over her sister’s murder while she was here in crisis mode. Plus Marian had her own life to get back to, her own home and her own children who would need her. Would Taylor be ready to go with her? Would Taylor
ever
be ready to leave this place? Aimee had to believe that she would.

She walked across the parking lot, enjoying the feel of the sunshine on her shoulders. The sensation of being watched wasn’t nearly as strong today. How much of it had had to do with yesterday’s dark clouds and stormy weather? What a weenie! She’d come a long way since Danny’s departure gave her a wake-up call that her life was off the rails, but she still had further to go. She glanced up at the surrounding hills and saw nothing but bushes and scrub oak.

Inside, she sat in the reception area to wait for Detective Wolf. He strode through the doors less than five minutes later, his long legs eating up the distance between them. “Dr. Gannon,” he said.

“Josh.” She stood to face him. “Thanks for coming. I appreciate it.”

“Don’t thank me. We’re not through those doors yet.” He started past her to the reception booth.

“Wait.” She reached out and grabbed his arm. “I think we need to talk.”

He looked down at her hand on his arm and then back up to her face, his eyes hard. “What about?”

She gaped at him. “Yesterday? In the parking lot?”
When you kissed me and took my breath away?

He clenched his jaw. “I apologize. If you’d like to lodge a formal complaint, I’ll make sure you have the appropriate names and contact information.”

Aimee drew back and dropped her hand. “I don’t want to lodge a complaint, I—”

“Excellent. You can be assured that it won’t happen again. Now, we both have work to do.” Josh gestured for her to walk in front of him to the reception area.

Aimee, stung and confused, did as he suggested.

He’d been right to be doubtful. The receptionist took one look at them, squinted her eyes, and started dialing her telephone. Brenner was down in the waiting room in a matter of seconds.

“I simply cannot let you compromise my patient’s condition any further for any reason. I have no idea how far you set her treatment back yesterday, but I will not allow it to happen again.” He crossed his arms over his skinny chest and glared at Aimee.

She deserved the reprimand. She’d had her reasons, though. “I assure you that I don’t have any intention of upsetting Taylor further today, Dr. Brenner. It was important that I find out if seeing that drawing would get her to start communicating. Surely you see that. There’s so much at stake here.”

“And now she may not communicate for months.” Brenner pressed his lips into a tight line.

“I disagree,” Josh said from behind Aimee. He didn’t move, but he made his presence felt. “Taylor communicated more yesterday when she ripped that drawing apart than she has since we found her.”

Brenner took a step toward Josh. “In any kind of trauma work, revelations surface when they’re ready to surface. Rushing them can only set the process back.”

Josh straightened to his full height and looked down at the other man. “That may be, but this isn’t just about trauma work, Dr. Brenner. It’s about finding out who killed that girl’s parents. You can let my police consultant in to talk to her now, or I can come back later with a court order. But trust me, when I come back, I’ll be cranky.”

Brenner backed away a step. “It seems I don’t have a choice, then.”

Josh shepherded Aimee past the other man and through the door. “No, you really don’t.”

“He’s right, you know,” Aimee said quietly to Josh as they climbed the stairs to the locked ward.

“About what?”

“About trauma work, and letting people’s memories and feelings surface when they’re meant to. I can’t force her.” People had tried many ways to do that and it simply didn’t work.

He shrugged. “If you say so.”

“What’s happening with the investigation?” she asked.

Wolf glanced down at her and cocked his head to the side. “You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?”

“Have you found Flick?”

He looked at her again and didn’t answer.

“Do you think he’s involved?” she pressed.

“Dr. Gannon—” Josh started.

“Aimee,” she interrupted.

“Dr. Gannon,” he repeated, his voice firm. “I cannot discuss details of an ongoing homicide investigation with you.”

What bee had gotten in his bonnet? She’d hoped he’d at least let her know whether Taylor was still a suspect. She’d hoped to have him put his hand on the small of her back so she could feel the warmth spread through her. She’d hoped to see the way his sudden quick smile transformed his face, and to feel the shiver down her spine that came after he spoke low and close to her ear.

Aimee straightened her shoulders. It was just as well. She was here for Taylor, not to flirt with the cop who might be trying to lay the crime at Taylor’s feet.

They found Taylor in the common room again. She sat hunched over in her chair, rocking slightly, with the stuffed dog that Marian and Aimee had found, clutched in her lap. This time she was with a young man whom Aimee hadn’t met before. He leaned in toward Taylor and spoke very softly with a very intent look on his face. Aimee strained to hear him.

“I am so sorry, Taylor. I can’t tell you how sorry I am,” he said. “If there was any way I could make this up to you, I would. I hope you know that. I hope you can hear me.” He sat up, a distressed look on his face, and noticed Aimee and Josh.

He stood up fast, as if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Detective Wolf,” he said, his voice wary.

Aimee walked toward him. “Hi, I’m Dr. Gannon, Taylor’s therapist.”

“Ohhh,” he said, his brow uncreasing. “I’m Sean Walter. I worked for Taylor’s father.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aimee said, shaking his hand. He didn’t have that same magnetic pull that his father had, which was fine with Aimee. Carl Walter made her a little uncomfortable.

“I just wanted to see Taylor and let her know I was thinking about her. I’ll get out of your way,” he said.

“That’s okay,” Aimee said, placing her hand on Taylor’s shoulder. She was relieved that the girl didn’t shy away from her touch. “I don’t want to interrupt. I can go get a cup of coffee and come back if you’d like.”

Taylor’s hand reached up and closed over Aimee’s.

Kyle couldn’t believe Aimee was visiting Little Miss Fancy Pants again. She’d never come to visit him. Not once, and he’d been in Vacaville for months. What was so special about this stupid girl? So her parents were dead. Boo hoo hoo. Kyle’s mother had died when he was little, but that hadn’t gotten him any traction with Aimee.

He lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, his fingers trembling. There’d been a moment as Aimee walked through the parking lot that she’d glanced up at the bushes that hid him. She couldn’t see him, but could she sense him? Did she know he was watching? He licked his lips and his heart beat harder at the thought. They were connected. He knew it. That glance proved it.

Then, of course, the pig had shown up. Aimee still allowed that asshole to be around her. He would have to do something about that. He wasn’t sure what yet, but he’d come up with something.

First he had to find a way to communicate with Aimee, to let her know he was here. He knew all about the stupid restraining order, so he’d have to be careful. He needed a plan.

Kyle started to map out his strategy.

Aimee almost jumped when she got a reaction from Taylor. Taylor still kept her eyes cast downward and her free hand still clutched the stuffed dog. The hand she’d put on Aimee’s was like ice. Aimee closed her other hand over it to warm it.

“No, no,” Sean said quickly. “There isn’t anything to interrupt. We were all done.”

Josh cleared his throat and Aimee looked up at him. “Dr. Gannon, if you have what you need from me, I need to be going.” He walked out of the common room without saying good-bye.

Aimee sighed and watched his retreating back. What the hell had happened? How did he go from kissing her until she could barely see straight to giving her the cold shoulder? Why?

Sean headed toward the door as well, but before he got there, his cell phone rang. He gave Aimee and Josh an apologetic smile. “Excuse me,” he said, pulling the phone from his pocket and flipping it open.

“Hello,” he said into the phone and listened for a moment.

“Bingo? You mean Thomas’s puppy?” he asked, then listened again. His brow creased. “No. Not since last night. I think I saw him in the laundry room when I got home from work. Have you checked all the closets?” He listened again. “Of course I’ll come help look. He’s probably just asleep somewhere.”

He snapped the phone shut and shook his head. “My little brother has apparently misplaced his puppy. I’ve been summoned home to participate in the great puppy hunt.” He smiled.

Aimee sat down next to Taylor and rubbed her back. “How old is your brother?”

“Five,” Sean said. “He’s actually my stepbrother. Or, I guess, my stepbrother-to-be. My father’s remarrying. Thomas is his fiancée’s son from a previous marriage. He’s a great kid.”

“With a lost puppy,” Aimee said.

“Yes, so I need to be going, I guess. It was nice to meet you.” Sean walked out the door and Aimee turned her attention fully to Taylor.

“Hi, Taylor,” she said softly. “How’s it going?”

Taylor kept rocking, but she didn’t let go of Aimee’s hand.

“Are you feeling any better?” Aimee felt a little stupid continuing to ask questions when she was getting no answer, and she sighed and patted Taylor’s back. For now, all she could do was to let Taylor know she was there ready to help her when Taylor was ready to receive help. They sat for a while in silence.

Marian Phillips bustled through the door and stopped short when she saw Aimee. “What are you doing here?”

Aimee stood. “Marian, I’m so sorry about yesterday,” she said.

“You’re sorry?” Marian marched across the room. “I’m supposed to be protecting this child. I trusted you. When I came back from lunch, they had her in restraints and so drugged up she couldn’t even open her eyes.”

This was her fault; there was no getting around it. “I rushed the process, Marian. I shouldn’t have. But I think it was important to try.”

“I’m not willing to lose my niece by trying to find her parents’ killers.” She glared at Aimee.

“This is as much for Taylor as it is for anyone else.” Aimee explained to Marian about finding the pattern drawn on the self-portrait from months before.

Marian sank down in a chair next to Taylor. “The same pattern as the one on the walls? What does it mean?”

Aimee sat down next to her. “I’m not sure, except that it means something to Taylor.”

Marian nodded and looked around. “Did Sean leave?” she asked.

Aimee nodded. “Something about a missing puppy. He had to go help find it.”

“He was that kind of boy, always helping out. I was glad to see that he’d turned into such a nice young man. I haven’t seen him in years. When Carl and Nancy split up, Nancy went back to the Midwest. She was raised there and her parents were still there. She took Sean with her. I suppose he came back for visits now and again, but I never saw him. Stacey said he decided to come back and work for his dad and Orrin after he graduated. Orrin was very complimentary about his work. He’s apparently a very bright boy with a head for finance. And I think Taylor liked seeing Sean. She rocked a little bit faster when he came in.” Marian pulled her knitting out of her bag.

“Were they friends before Sean left?” Aimee asked. Taylor had never mentioned Sean in their sessions, but if he’d been gone for a long time, there was no reason that she should.

Marian smiled. “I think Taylor had a bit of a crush on him. She used to follow him around all the time. You saw how handsome he is, just like his father. He was a beautiful boy.” Marian blushed a bit.

Aimee nodded. “They’re both very good looking men.”

“Amen to that, sister,” Marian said feelingly. “Sean must have been in his early teens when he left. He never had any of those awkward phases preteen boys usually go through.”

“It’s nice that he gets along so well with his father’s new family. Not every adult child is so happy about a parent remarrying, especially when it brings new children into the picture.”

“I know!” Marian exclaimed. “It’s as if he’s been waiting his whole life to have a little brother. He spends a lot of time with little Thomas, really dotes on him.”

“That explains his rush to get back to help with the puppy hunt,” Aimee observed.

Marian pulled out her knitting. “That and he may have felt a little awkward around you. He’s very shy. Stacey mentioned that he seemed more withdrawn than he had as a kid. It’s odd. I remember him being more charismatic, a real leader. But I guess people change in all kinds of ways.”

Aimee crouched down to eye level with Taylor and put her hand on Taylor’s arm. “Hey, Taylor, I brought you something.” Aimee laid out the art supplies on the table in front of Taylor.

Taylor remained still.

“I thought you might want to do some drawings,” Aimee said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “Dr. Brenner said I could leave these supplies here for you to use any time you want.”