The Christine Murders (29 page)

“It was Miss Lindsey who very bravely fought off Luther, alone, in the end. She had a terribly close call that night. God knows how many more victims there might have been if Luther hadn’t been stopped. All the credit goes to Miss Lindsey. She’s a very brave woman.”

The airline offered her as much time off as she needed to recover. Her burns were still not fully healed, so she was not able to work yet. By early November, she and John made plans to leave San Francisco for a short vacation. Her parents would be coming for the holidays, but she needed to get away before then, away from too many phone calls and requests from the reporters and photographers who still camped outside her apartment. Ray had even been forced to put up a rope outside to hold them back and allow residents proper access to the building.

Christine had no intention of helping anybody with books or stories about Luther Ross-Wilkerson, no matter how much money she was offered. She wanted only to forget him. John, who had been on the verge of burn out even before the serial killings had started, needed a vacation badly. One day, Peter Breen had looked at both of them and made a suggestion. “How about you two slipping out of here early some morning, in my car, and just heading up or down the coast to some nice quiet place where you can unwind and relax and get to really know each other? Laura and Ray and I are here to take care of Tommy and anything else going on around this mad house. I’ll leave my car down in the garage and go off in yours, Christine. They can follow me if they wish. Meanwhile, nobody will know you’re gone.”

And realizing that was the best suggestion anyone had made in quite some time, they decided to drive up the northern California coast and stay in Mendocino for a week. The quaint and peaceful artists’ colony seemed the perfect place for the recuperation they both needed.

Physically, she was getting stronger each day. She knew the one thing she needed now to complete her recovery was time alone with John. Now that she had found him, she could no longer be satisfied with only her career to sustain her. She loved her work, but she loved John, too, and needed him to complete her life from now on. Their relationship had started quickly. They both needed time to get to know each other, however, as Peter had suggested.

John was more than ready and willing to settle down to a normal life. At last he had come to the end of the emptiness and rootlessness that had marked his days since his divorce.

“I’ve never known anyone like you,” he told Christine. “I love you more than I can say. So if you can reconcile yourself to losing Ted MacIntyre and his millions, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy. I want to marry you, of course, nothing less than that.”

They were walking along the waterfront in Mendocino. The November air was crisp and salty; rain was promised before nightfall. It would be a good evening to return to their inn and sit by the fireplace before dinner. Christine threw the last crumbs of the bread she carried to the squadron of seagulls following them as they walked.

“I never really loved Ted. He represented a glamorous dream, and he is a nice guy, but way too young for one thing. It was fun for a while. Our lifestyles are just too far apart, however; I could never fit into his world. And, as sweet as he is, he’s really not too smart.” She laughed and thought of something else. “And he never liked Tommy and Tommy hated him. That’s important to me. Love me, and you’ve got to love my cat. You do.” She looked up at him, the wind whipping her loose hair across her face. John reached down and smoothed the stray hair back. His hands, warm and firm, lingered against her cheeks.

“I wonder if the media has lost interest in you yet,” he said. “Because if they haven’t, we’ll give them something else to cover when we get back, how the MacIntyre heir was pushed aside by a homicide cop.

“And I have a feeling, Christine, that my crazy work schedules and hours won’t be much of an issue with you.”

She laughed. “Considering the work I do and the hours I keep, I doubt it. Just think of the grand reunions when we both come home together.”

He smiled at her, his dark eyes full of the love he felt. “Let’s get back to our fireplace, shall we? I feel like getting cozy. And tomorrow, how about we walk back down to that little jewelry shop we passed earlier and look at some rings? There were some interesting diamonds in the window there, did you notice?”

Christine traced a finger across his handsome face before reaching up to kiss him soundly. For a few moments, the world seemed to stop. “Yes, I did indeed notice them. I like that idea very much, Lieutenant Kinsella.”

Then, without another word, they linked hands and turned back toward the town, an escort of seagulls flying in formation above them as they walked.

ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR:

“The heart has reasons that reason knows nothing of.”

When architect Andrew Lord discovers an antique gold locket on the grounds of an old estate, he gives it to Julia Gaffney, the woman he has fallen in love with. The locket is engraved with a line of Julia’s favorite poetry. Soon Julia begins to dream about the locket’s original owner, Celeste Vernon, who disappeared shortly after her husband’s sudden death. Julia begins to research the Vernon family in the 1920s, uncovering disturbing facts. What really happened to Edwin and Celeste? Were they both murdered? Who was the beautiful young woman who lived at Vernon House with Edwin’s dour sister Carolina? And why was Celeste’s beautiful gold wedding locket left in the rose garden?

A story of romance and mystery, surrounding three different couples living decades apart, all of them connected to an antique gold locket . . .

“THE LOCKET”

Available now on Kindle and Amazon.com and wherever books are sold.