Conflicting Interests (27 page)

“I’m not talking about this right now.” Then he turned from
her as he snatched up his phone and called Stephens. “Where are you?”

“On my way to the precinct. Got a call from Terrell a while
ago.”

“Can you bring Katrina back to my house when Smith and
Terrell are finished speaking with her?”

“Sure.” They disconnected quickly after that and as he
turned back to Molly he found her glaring at him.

“We can wait for Kat.”

“No. We’re going.” He hollered at Jake and Seth and then
walked from the building with them in tow.

It didn’t take long for Molly to start grilling him once
they were home. Molly and Jake came over to his place and as he and Molly sat
down at the dining room table, the boys disappeared to the living room.

He started explaining what had happened in the kitchen and
what Lathrop had said about finding Katrina having drinks with Imogen the night
before. Molly’s brow didn’t seem to unfurrow the entire conversation and when
he was finished speaking she didn’t seem to have a clue what to say. Not very
Molly-like at all. But she wasn’t forced to come up with anything when the door
opened and Stephens and Katrina walked in.

Her eyes instantly found Dillon’s but before anyone could
say anything she mumbled that she was going upstairs and she disappeared.

“You need to talk to her.” Molly had put her hand on his.
She was concerned but it wasn’t just for him. Molly liked Katrina too much not
to be concerned for her too, regardless of the mistake she’d made.

“No.”

“Dillon—”

“No!”

Stephens raided his fridge for a few beers and passed them
out when he joined them at the table. “She made a mistake, Dillon.” He
obviously wasn’t going to be offering Dillon any support either.

“It was one hell of a mistake.”

Molly chimed in then, apparently having found her voice
again. “We all did. Me. Hell, even Seth. Seth never should have gone off on his
own and I should have been watching him closer.”

“Neither of you fucked up because you were busy getting
drunk. Seth’s a kid and he barely understands the severity of this situation.
She should have understood.”

“Yes she should have, but she’s not us.” Stephens was
talking now. “This is all pretty damn new to her. She didn’t realize just how
reckless it was. She doesn’t have the same frame of reference we do.”

“Well she better figure it out pretty damn fast if she’s
going to survive this thing and not get anyone else killed in the process.”

He just wasn’t interested in having this conversation. It
was obvious Stephens and Molly thought he was being too hard on her but he
couldn’t shake the images of what could have happened to Seth and he also
couldn’t shake the blame he was placing on her. He just didn’t know how to get
past it at the moment.

Molly took a deep breath before speaking next. “How does
this affect the two of you, Dillon?”

He stared at the tabletop. It hurt to think of her upstairs
alone. He could see her crying. He didn’t need to be up there to see her pain
but it didn’t soften his heart. He wanted it to, desperately. But at the
moment, he just couldn’t let it go.

“I don’t know, Molly.”

She took another deep breath and when he managed to look up
to her she had tears in her eyes. She stood and approached him, kissed him on
top of the head and squeezed his shoulder.

“I’m going to take Jake home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“You’re going to see patrol officers in the area. Don’t be
surprised.” She nodded and Stephens stood as well. He walked all three to the
door and once they were gone, he locked the door, set the alarm and sank
against the door.

Dillon didn’t come to bed that night—not that she’d been
surprised—and when she woke the next morning she could hear him in the kitchen.
Her heart was pounding harder and harder with every step that took her closer
to him and when she entered she found him staring out the kitchen window to the
backyard.

“Where’s Seth?”

He didn’t turn to her as he responded. “At Molly’s. I have
to go to the office for a while.”

“Dillon?” He turned to her slowly. His face was
expressionless and cold. She’d never felt more hated by him—even the first time
they’d met.

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Then listen. Because I have something to say.” Her voice
sounded bold but she wasn’t at all. She’d lain awake nearly all night analyzing
and picking through every last aspect of their relationship and this disaster.

She’d talked herself into circles until she was crying again
in frustration but she’d thought long and hard about how she felt. She didn’t
care that the man facing her hated her guts at the moment because she didn’t
hate his and she needed to say what was on her mind before it was too late. So
she launched into her brain-drain speech as he studied her impassively. She was
not at all impassive and with her first words her voice was already wavering.

“I love you and I’m sorry. I know this is my fault. I really
do. But I’m angry at you too.” His face flinched for half a second until it
returned to his dead stare. She could barely keep her voice strong as her tears
started to well up for the gazillionth time in the past twenty-four hours and
she finally gave up trying to hold it together and let her words mix with her
emotion.

“I never had any business moving in here. Or having a
relationship with you for that matter. It jeopardized you both from the start.
I knew it would. I knew it but I agreed. My worry, my guilt, all those things
you convinced me weren’t my responsibility or problem, they would have kept you
both safe. But I listened to you. I wanted to. I wanted you and I wanted my
life to be with you but it was still the wrong decision.”

She was crying as her words came out but her voice was
staying strong.

“You put the weight of the world on my shoulders by asking
me to disregard my concern for your family. Because I’m a bomb just waiting to
go off and it put me in the position of trying to be perfect or be responsible
for a catastrophe. I’m not perfect, Dillon. I made a mistake!”

She was sobbing, clutching at her stomach at this point and
his jaw was clenched harshly. She saw the well-controlled emotion swimming in
his eyes but he wasn’t giving her any of it. He just glared but she was past
the point of caring if he responded to her. This was about what she needed to
say.

“It was so inevitable. Something, whether this or some other
mistake or something completely out of my control, was inevitably going to
happen and put you and Seth in danger. And that was all on my shoulders. There
was no chance I couldn’t be responsible for something awful happening.” She
dashed the tears from her eyes and pursed her lips to help stay in control.

“You set me up for failure. And now that failure is
destroying me. I’m so sorry. I am sorrier than you will ever know.” She was
losing control again as her tears started falling again. “And I have never been
more heartbroken in my life.” She could barely get the last words out over her
lurching sobs.

He said nothing. His eyes were glassy but he stayed rooted
to his spot on the floor and after an uncomfortably long time of waiting for
something—anything—she shook her head and walked from the room and upstairs to
his bedroom. Her tears fell silently as she stared at the wall in front of her
and when she heard the bedroom door open from behind her, her heart lurched and
she held her breath.

She waited, she wanted, she was desperate for him—but she
was too afraid to turn to him. When the door closed quietly and she listened to
his feet padding down the hallway away from her, her already-broken heart
shattered.

She heard the garage door open shortly thereafter and she
knew he was gone. She was alone in a home she no longer felt at all welcome in.
She’d never felt so despised and before she could chicken out she rose, packed
her clothes and lugged her bag downstairs. She thought she heard the door to
the garage open just after she’d dialed the number to the cab service, but as
she carried the cordless phone toward the hall that led to the garage, the
operator picked up.

There was no one at the garage door and after looking around
for a moment, she returned her attention to the operator.

“Sorry, I need to have a cab pick me up.” She gave the woman
Dillon’s address and then Imogen’s before she disconnected. She sank into a
dining room chair and it didn’t take long until there was a knock at the front
door. She left her key sitting on the dining room table. She slung her bag over
her shoulder, cradled Kitty in her arms and carried her emptied litter pan with
her.

She locked the door behind her after resetting the alarm
system and she left his home for the last time. She was a bit too numb to cry
about it but as the cab drove away from the home she’d come to think of as hers
her tears came again and she stared out the window.

She hadn’t bothered calling Imogen because she knew she
would be rehearsing the kids for their upcoming play all day. Opening night was
less than a week away and Imogen would be getting little rest until the event
was over.

When she entered Imogen’s house she set Kitty on the ground,
dropped her heavy bag of clothing and quickly set up Kitty’s litter pan for her
in the laundry room. The old woman wasn’t going to survive too many more moves.

She didn’t know how soon Dillon would be returning home or
whether he would even care that she’d left. She quickly set about numbing her
nerves with wine and before long her body was lazy, she was staggering as much
as Kitty, her emotions were running amuck and she was far too sloshed to give a
shit.

Even in her inebriated state, she knew what she was doing.
She was being childish, she was feeling sorry for herself and she was acting
like a damn idiot.

When there was a knock on the door, it took her far longer
than it ought to make it to the door to answer it. She was horrified at the
thought of Dillon seeing her like this and she thought it must be him. He’d no
doubt suspect where she’d gone and the last thing she wanted was to be caught
making more bad decisions. But there was nothing to be done for it. If she
didn’t answer, he’d keep knocking and so she sucked it up and forced her feet
to move as evenly as possible as she crossed the space to the front door. Standing
at the door, she took a deep steadying breath and prepared herself for an
emotional battle, not even checking the peephole.

What she didn’t expect was for the battle to be entirely
physical. The man had light-blue eyes and she recognized him. Not just from a
year ago in her home when she’d met him but from the pictures Smith and Terrell
had shown her. Her phone was in his hand and he was dangling it tauntingly in
front of her.

“You keep far too much information in this thing. When I saw
the five-digit number under Imogen’s contact information I was stumped, but
then when I checked out her address, it suddenly made perfect sense. Keypad.
Not the brightest bitch I’ve ever met but hey, who needs to be smart when
you’re cute, right?”

She stared for half a second before trying to slam the door
in his face but he kicked it back toward her as she turned and sprinted toward
the kitchen. He snatched her hair, yanking her backward and she fell to the
floor with a grunt of pain. He launched himself onto her body, grabbing the
sides of her head and slamming her head back onto the hard marble floor. The
pain radiated from the back of her head straight through to the front of her
eyes and she groaned.

Her hands were free and she reached up to his face, trying
to push him back. It wasn’t the least effective but then she remembered to go
for the eyes. She struck out toward his eyes, poking one as he flinched and
released his grip on her head. Then she reached for the man’s crotch that was
sitting on her lower abdomen and she pinched down hard. He cried out and pulled
back from her as she wriggled out from under his weight.

She rolled to her stomach and started crawling toward the
door. She needed to get outside. She could scream, she could run, she could
escape but as she reached the front door still standing wide open, he came up
behind her and threw her into the wall beside her. Her head smacked hard on the
wall and the drywall gave way under the force. She could feel her body slumping
to the entryway floor and she blinked as her vision went fuzzy and her brain
seemed to go into slow motion.

When he rounded her body and pulled her up to her knees, she
watched in slow motion as he cocked his hand back and swung it toward her face,
backhanding her and sending her head sailing through the air again. She was
losing consciousness. She could feel it happening but she was powerless to stop
it. It didn’t deaden the panic in any way, and she knew if she passed out there
was a good chance she wouldn’t wake up.

But there was no stopping it and as her eyes sank closed, a
very pleasant buzz worked through her head and she drifted peacefully off to
sleep.

* * * * *

Stephens was sitting across from him just staring at him.
The man didn’t believe him when he said he was okay. Of course it was a
complete lie. He wasn’t okay in the least.

He was confused, angry, guilty, lonely and utterly lost.
When his cell rang his heart sped for a moment. He wanted it to be Kat. He knew
it wouldn’t be but he wanted it to be. Not that he could figure out what to say
to her or actually pick up his phone to call her but he still wanted more than
anything to hear her voice.

It wasn’t Kat, though. It was Molly and the second he
answered she started speed- talking. “I can’t find Seth. Jake said he ran to
your house to pick up a couple games—”

“What! You let him—”

“I didn’t let him. I was in the shower. They didn’t tell me
he was leaving and I’m sure it’s because I wouldn’t have let him go!”

“So, is he still there?”

“No. No one’s here. I’m in your house now. It’s empty. No
Seth, no Katrina, just empty. The patrol officer has been circling the block
occasionally but he said he hasn’t seen anything either.”

“How long ago did he leave?”

“I’m guessing about forty minutes. Jake came in and hollered
at me after I’d been in the shower for about twenty minutes or so. He was
worried because Seth hadn’t come back yet. That was the first I heard of it. I
jumped out, dressed, headed to your place and looked around. I’m guessing I
left my house about twenty minutes or so ago.”

Dillon picked up his desk phone and started dialing Seth’s
cell phone. It rang but went to voice mail after a few seconds. “Fuck!”

“Dillon, your house is empty. Kat’s gone, Seth’s gone,
there’s a key on the table, Katrina’s cat is gone and I just looked in your
bedroom and there are some drawers pulled open and I can’t find any clothing of
hers. It looks like she left on her own but I don’t understand where Seth is.”

“Okay, you and Jake stay put. I’ll let—” His phone beeped
that he had another call coming in and when he pulled the phone from his ear it
was Seth. “Molly, Seth’s calling. I’ll call you back.” He disconnected from her
and immediately switched over to Seth. “Seth? Where are you?”

“Dad, something’s happened to her. He took her. The same
man. I saw him. He took her.” Seth sounded frantic and he was as close to panic
as Dillon had ever heard him.

“Get Smith and Terrell over here.” He spoke in a rush to
Stephens and Stephens scrambled to call the men over. “Seth, are you safe?”

“Yes! But Kat isn’t. She’s hurt, Dad!” Seth was nearly
sobbing out the words and Dillon could hear the desperation in his voice.

Smith and Terrell made it to his desk and he hit the speaker
button on his cell phone, setting it down on the desktop. “Seth. I need you to
tell me where you’re at and what you saw. Are you sure you’re safe?”

“Yes.” Seth’s voice filled the space around the desk and the
men simply stood around staring at the phone. “I ran home. I know I shouldn’t
have but I thought it’d be quick. I came in and I heard Ms. Page on the phone.
She was calling a cab to pick her up. She gave them an address on that road on
Washington Lake that has all the
really
nice homes. When she hung up,
she was crying and I knew she was upset but I didn’t know what to say to her. I
just waited. I waited for her to leave because I didn’t know what to do and I
took the bus to Mercer Island as close as I could get to that street. I don’t
know why. I just felt bad. I wanted to talk to her but I didn’t know what to
say. I asked some guy on the bus how to get there and he told me. I ran the
rest of the way. It’s a big house with a gate but the gate was already open.
There was a black car, an old one with a lot of rust and it was parked out
front. When I started walking up the driveway, I heard her scream and then I
saw the man. The same man from the park. He was carrying her out to the car and
he put her in the trunk. I was scared. I wanted to help her but I was too
afraid.”

Seth was crying into the phone and Dillon had sank into his
seat again as he pictured what his son had witnessed. He was dying inside and
he felt as helpless as Seth sounded. It was torture listening to this and
knowing Kat was hurt and missing.

“Dad, she wasn’t moving. I mean, she was like unconscious
or…I don’t know but she wasn’t moving. He just dumped her body in the trunk and
he drove away.”

“Seth, where are you now?”

“I’m still here by the garage. They just left a few minutes
ago and I haven’t moved. Dad, I got the license plate number.”