The Witness (26 page)

“Yes. It seems best for security.”

“I think so.”

“I was thinking about options—if you’d like to take a trip next weekend. Maybe go over a county or two, do some driving for the day. We could start getting an idea of where might be a nice area to stay next.”

“I’d like that.”

He squeezed her hand. “Good. Are you getting used to the idea of Tracey getting married?”

Amy paused in their walk to look up at him. “Besides the fact she’s so incredibly young? She’s in her thirties, I know that, but inside she’s still sixteen. She knows what she wants, and I do like Marsh.”

“But?”

“Being a cop is just not that easy a profession on a wife—the waiting for a husband to get home when trouble has kept him late at the job, when the scanner chatter is about shots being fired.”

“I know the risks are real in this job, but being a cop also carries with it a partner at your side when that trouble arrives. For what it’s worth, I think Tracey is good for Marsh. He’s softer on the edges now; this job can push you toward being a cynic without that balance.”

She shivered even with the warmth of the coat, and he saw and turned them back the way they had come. “What about you, Amy? Could you handle being married to a cop?”

She smiled. “I think that may be too straightforward of a question to ask right now.”

He smiled back. “I know. Answer it anyway.”

She thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t know that I’m a cop’s wife material either or anyone’s wife material for that matter. You’re talking about social functions and school gatherings and PTA meetings and suburban living.”

He chuckled. “I’d say that’s a pretty interesting idea of what suburban life is like.”

“I was in the army for a decade, I’ve been playing hide-and-seek with real stakes for the years since, and for the next stage of my life I’m going to be a suburban housewife driving a minivan and trying to teach my kids not to shoot spitballs at the dogs? That image just doesn’t connect.”

He laughed at her words. “Spitballs at the dogs? Your own childhood is showing, I think. You worked as a retail associate at a mall jewelry store, and your friends from those years didn’t see you as particularly discontent with your life. You also have a healthy need to not have any more major surprises in your life.”

“Both true.”

“I’ll discount the concerns about suburban life then. What about the danger of the job?”

“Maybe it’s because I know and have tasted living with danger that it’s a different kind of burden to think about; not that a cop as a husband is such a big risk, but more that it will always be a risk. There is no peaceful expectation that a day will be quiet. You live life expecting trouble. I’ve been living that way for eight years.”

“It wears on you,” he said softly, understanding.

“Yes. This time the situation wasn’t my choice—” She hesitated. “I guess I’m glad I’m not being asked that decision right now. I don’t know what I would decide.”

They reached the rock path of the driveway, and Amy nodded to the left. “Let’s walk over to the study.” There was an enclosed study off the heated workshop, and she often retreated there during the afternoon to enjoy a book while she watched the dogs play together.

She unlocked the building, and they stepped back into warmth. A small light was on in the study, and she used it to cross over to the room and turn on the main lights. She slid off her coat and hung it on the coat-rack. The book she’d been reading that afternoon still rested on the small table beside the leisure chairs, and the throw Caroline had used across her feet rested folded on the couch. It was a guy’s study, lined with books and a nice desk against one wall, but also just comfortable space.

“So what was your reason for suggesting we sneak out again?” She settled her hands on Luke’s shoulders and smiled at him, having to tip her head back but finding it nice.

His hands stilled hers. “You are dressed up tonight like a princess. I thought I’d mention that.”

“I hoped you might have noticed,” she replied, encouraged by the quiet pleasure she saw in his gaze.

“And if I’m not mistaken that is the same perfume you were wearing three years ago.”

“I’m a creature of habit. Want to dance awhile? We could find some music.”

“I think we’re making our own at the moment, but we could try the dial on the radio,” he teased.

She grinned and didn’t bother to step away. “So are you going to kiss me or not?”

He laughed. “Probably. Someday. I’m thinking about it.”

“Good. So am I.” There was a deliberateness about him when it came to their relationship that she appreciated, even if the closest she’d get to a kiss tonight was the anticipation he’d take her up on the offer one day. They were destined to be either very good friends or something more than that, and she was enjoying the exploration. She took a half step back to study his face, leaving her hands in his. “We’re awful different, Luke. You do realize that, don’t you? How our lives have evolved. You’re going to be working in the same job, the same town, until the day you retire, I predict. There might be a different house or two over the years, but the town and the job and the friends and the family are pretty much constants for as long as the eye can see into your future.”

“All of which are good things, I think, and they would be for you as well. You need to see the lay of the land and stay with something that is stable for a while. Besides, a new job and new town aren’t necessarily better even if it’s more pay; new sometimes simply means more shallow. I want to hang out with the guys I went to grade school with. I know them and they know me. There isn’t a need to be anything but who I am around them. There is power in that fact. And when you get to my age those kinds of friends are worth staying with.”

“I envy you that. I’ve got Tracey and Marie and good friends from the military days spread around the globe. Beyond Sam and a few friends from high school, there aren’t deep roots here.”

“So we’ll see if that can change in the future. I’ve got plenty of friends to share,” he suggested, smiling. “What do you have to lose, Amy? I like you, and I’m safe, relatively. The rest is going to take care of itself.”

“I’m old enough to take the plunge and close my eyes for the outcome to arrive.” She knew the night was opening doors to a possible new future, and she found herself wanting to walk down that road with him. “So where do you want to go next weekend? I’ve a yen to see some snow.”

“Snow we can stay right here and watch fall, if you believe the weatherman. I thought we’d take in some holiday lights and maybe a movie. We could do some early Christmas-gift shopping.”

“A guy offering to go shopping … I’m remembering this, Luke. Just you and me, there’s no need to take along security?”

“That’s a call for the night before.”

“Then yes, tentatively. Assuming Tracey and Marie haven’t had a major hiccup in their lives I need to stay and worry about instead.”

Luke laughed. “Deal, then. How long have we been hiding?”

“Long enough someone besides Caroline has realized we’re gone.”

“True. Five more minutes. I am the boss.”

“I notice they still call you Chief, even off duty.”

“They’re teasing and rubbing in the age a bit and also accepting reality—I am the chief and nothing changes that in our relationship, even off duty.”

“Respectful friends.”

“Yeah. They know the decisions that come across my desk; I’m glad for that at times, the fact the respect stays even when it feels like I’m in over my head with the job. It helps, having cops like that working with me.”

“You’re a good police chief.”

“Working to be. You’ll like my secretary, by the way, and my sister. Both are sticklers for my work staying at work.”

“How long, Luke, before it is safe to meet them? to come out of the shadows? You know as well as I do that we are heading to an impasse if this is still the way it is in six months, a year from now.”

Her question turned him serious. “It won’t continue as it is for months. I’m just hoping we get a few weeks of calm before trouble arrives. You need that time; your sisters do. But we both know there are too many pressures at work for this not to erupt somewhere.”

She sighed. “I know. Sometimes fantasy clashed something awful with reality; I so want to blink and find this was all a bad dream.” She lifted her head to look at him. “Daniel’s got better security around him?”

“Yes. It was a condition of his coming out tonight to meet you.”

“Good. We’d better get back to the house, I think. Marie said something about getting out the picture albums tonight to compare notes on where Henry and Mom must have met and traveled together. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it.”

“They need the closure that facts can provide. Just listen. I’m sorry they aren’t talking about your father too. I know that remains an awful hole for you.”

“I never wanted to know and I still don’t. I’m glad Henry was not my father.”

He looked surprised by the intensity of her answer but chose not to probe that painful spot. He picked up their coats.

“I am glad you came out tonight, Luke. Very glad.”

“I’m not planning to go anywhere for a long time,” he reassured, helping her on with her coat and his hands resting for a moment on her shoulders before releasing her and slipping on his own coat.

He took her hand again for the walk back to the house.

“Until this danger passes: don’t get too attached, Luke, please. When trouble comes—I’ll do what I think is right and best. Even if that means leaving.”

His gaze didn’t shift from the path they were walking. “I know.” He glanced over and smiled but with a hard, watchful look behind that gentleness. “You’ll do what you think is best, just as I will. And if both our hearts get mangled in the process, but your sisters are safe, we’ll still know it was the right decision.”

“I thought you deserved to know.”

“I haven’t pushed for a promise that you’ll stay not because I don’t want it, but because I know you can’t give it. There are risks now and ones that will wound us both if we’re not careful. But I’m committed to seeing Marie and Tracey are safe, because they are the most important people in your life, and I’m committed to doing what I can to keep you safe too, with or without your cooperation when it comes down to the details.”

She smiled. “I’m glad we both know that then. Don’t be mad one day when I decide something you wouldn’t have decided for me.”

He tightened his grip on her hand. “I’ll get mad, but I’ll do my best to forgive you too. But you’ll owe me a phone call or two this time—no more gone-forever-without-a-trace flights. You haunted my dreams for the last three years, you know.”

“Did I?”

He smiled at the pleasure in her words. “I think we should plan an early start next weekend—say 6 a.m., and catch breakfast at one of the truck-stop diners that make the meal a feast. What do you think?”

“I think you’re taking every minute you can get out of a yes, but sure, I’m game. Even if I do prefer to skip breakfast and catch the extra sleep.”

“I’ll be here early then.”

“I don’t know that I’ll be telling Marie and Tracey where I’m going and who I’m going with just yet though.”

“Chicken.”

“You’ve only got one sister. Two is tougher when they both decide to go for answers and giving advice. When can they come out again?”

“It depends on how the press reacts to their disappearance tonight. Basically, as soon as it can safely be done, but not a day earlier.”

He held open the door to the house. Amy paused, hearing music and laughter even before they passed through the coat-room. “Laughter. I’ve missed hearing them laugh for so many years.”

“I know.” He smiled as he took her coat for her, then nodded to the next door. “Go enjoy it.”

Chapter Sixteen

“SO WHAT TIME should I pick you up, Marie? Say 7 p.m.?” Connor showed his badge to the officer guarding the walk path that led up to a small bungalow off Eisenhower Boulevard and then slipped under the police tape. The idea of arranging a date while arriving at a crime scene didn’t sit well as something he wanted her to know he was doing, but it had been such a headache last week trying to coordinate seeing her with the unpredictable hours of the job that he was taking a chance to talk with her whenever he could find an opening.

“Could you make it eight? With the shipment that just came in I’m going to need every minute I can get of Tracey’s time to help me hang it, and she’s around until seven. Eight will give me time to shower and change or else I’ll be your date wearing packing dust and sweat.”

He smiled at the thought. “I’ll be there at eight,” he promised.

“Thanks.”

“Bye, Marie.” He closed the phone and slid it in his pocket, catching the first breath of what awaited him in the house as he opened the screen door. He lifted an arm to cover his nose as he stepped inside. “So much for colder weather making this job easier. How long was it before he was found?”

The living room just off the entryway was small, more a place to sit and read a book than a place to have more than two people linger and talk. Marsh turned from where he crouched beside the body to look back at him. “I’m guessing two days plus. Monday’s mail was brought in, and Tuesday’s was still in the box.”

Connor didn’t have to ask cause of death. Stab wounds, deep and plentiful, the blood spray from artery wounds having hit the wall, furnishings, and turned the room into a horror show. Connor held back his initial reaction to the sight of the body out of respect for the dead. “Stabbing implies very personal.”

“We’ll look at the family first,” Marsh agreed. “The front door wasn’t forced, and the officer who walked around the house looking for signs of entry saw no immediate evidence of a forced screen or broken glass. Our victim appears to have let his attacker in, and our murderer inconveniently locked the doors on his way out. I had to shove out the lock to get inside.”

Connor came around the sofa and stepped over the end table so he could get into the space beside the body without stepping somewhere soaked in blood. He pulled on latex gloves. “Do we have a name for him?”