Fatal Jealousy (Black Widow Book 1) (16 page)

Carson was however determined to prove them wrong. They moved on to other cases, but he stuck with it for three months, alienating everyone on his team except Audrey.

She placed a hand on his back and stirred him awake, “Carson, someone is here to see you.”

“Ellie?”

Her heart dropped, “No, Ellsa.”

Ellsa stepped around Audrey to stand next to Carson, “Hi. I came to see how you are doing?”

Carson lifted his head for a moment to glare at her then put it backdown, “What do you want?”

She put her hands on his back and began to lustfully explore his back muscles, “I told you Ellie didn’t love you as much as I do. Maybe Gwen was right. Maybe she was the...”

Carson shot off his chair pushing her off him, “My wife is not a murderer, and if you hadn’t taken her away from me, I could have already proven that!”

Ellsa took a safe step away, “This was the last place I saw her! It’s not my fault she decided to run away.”

Carson stalked to her, murder in his eyes, “get out of my office Ellsa!”

“But Dale...”

“Get out!” He bellowed, drawing the attention of everyone outside his office.

Ellsa’s attitude quickly changed from day to night, “You know what? I’m glad Ellie is dead and never coming back!”

“She loved me, and she will come back to me!”

Ellsa laughed, “Loved? You’ve finally accepted that she’s dead. She’s dead and yet you are the one who’s rotting. Call me when you decide to visit the land of the living again,” she announced as she left.

Carson sunk back in his seat, plopping his head on the table.

Audrey pulled him up and placed a plate of pizza in front of him, “I was beginning to think you were falling for her lies.”

Carson pushed the plate away, “I was hoping she’d slip and say something. Like where they were, not that she’s dead.”

“You too think she did something to them, don’t you?”

Carson nodded and for the first time he broke down crying, his pain-stricken heart too fragile to stay strong any longer. “What if they are really dead Audrey? Ellsa was the one who was with them last, what if she killed them?”

Audrey hugged his head to her chest, “Don’t say that!”

“You haven’t found her and she hasn’t called Kris in three months. She used to call her twice a day. I have the large phone bills to prove it!”

“What’s wrong? Why is he crying?” Kris stuttered. She ran the few feet to his desk, “Tell me what’s wrong? Is it Ellie and the baby?”

“We don’t know. We haven’t heard anything yet,” Audrey answered. Kris too had become a wreck. She called her every hour asking for news of Ellie. They both resembled junkies going cold turkey.

Kris dropped in the chair, despair and sorrow taking its place back on her face, “It’s been too long. Maybe she is dead.”

“Please don’t say that!” Audrey begged.

“What other explanation is there?”

“Why don’t you two go home? I’m sure Seth is waiting for you Kris.”

Kris smiled weakly, “Seth is probably updating Ellie’s twitter and Facebook accounts. We’ve got a number of false leads, but he’s still hopeful.”

“And you aren’t?”

Kris stood up, “I’m tired. Call me when you have news.” She staggered out, her head hanging low.

“Carson, why don’t you go home?”

“To the memories of my wife and daughter? I don’t think so. Audrey, thank you for taking care of me, but I’d like to be alone.”

Audrey nodded, “If you need anything, just call.” She walked out, closing the door and leaving Carson alone with his tormenting memories.

He curled up on the couch hugging Ellie’s and Stacey-Ann’s picture against his chest. He’d tried everything he could to find them and now a sickening feeling was settling over him.

Acceptance.

****

“Carson where are you!” Richard’s voice filled his ear. Carson ignored him. He wasn’t going to wait for the suspect to kill her. If they all waited outside, waiting for him to pick up the phone and negotiate, they’d have two dead victims- the killer and the innocent girl.

The killer would most definitely be his victim.

“Carson!” Richard yelled again.

“Don’t worry boss, I’ve got his back,” Gwen’s voice filled his ear, and then she appeared next to him, “Just like old times Carson.”

Stepping into the room, “Let’s just get this done.” The suspect pulled the girl up and held a large sharp blade against her quivering neck, “Put the knife down Troy!”

“Come any closer and I’ll slit her throat open!” He yelled back, with a sadistic laugh.

“Calm down Troy, we can figure a way out of this,” Gwen yelled back.

“Keep talking, I’ll find a shot,” Carson whispered.

Gwen cursed under her breath. There was no way he could shoot Troy without hurting the girl. But before she could say another word a loud bang rang in the empty warehouse. Gwen watched the two fall on the ground, a sharp scream escaping the girl’s lips.

Gwen rushed to them and pulled the girl away. She checked her for a bullet hole when she saw a large patch of blood on her back. She let out a sigh of relief when she found none and then turned to the suspect. She watched his body jerk around, blood leaking out of the two holes in his neck as his empty eyes stared up.

Richard entered the room, “What the hell?”

Carson holstered his gun and walked out, “I had to take a shot.”

Kevin watched him leave, wondering where the man he knew had disappeared to, “Do you think he’ll ever be himself again? It’s been a month since he accepted that they were dead.”

“He didn’t accept it, he just gave up trying to find them,” Paloma answered. She’d watched him spiral down, and it broke her heart, “Living in that kind of pain for months, it has gotten to the point that he is just shutting down.”

“Do you think they are dead?”

“Maybe, but for his sake I hope not.”

“Whether they are or not, he believes they are. And his way of grieving is killing every suspect we corner.” Doran made a passing comment as he walked to Richard and the cold body, “What are you going to do about Carson?”

Richard huffed, brushing his hand over his face, “I don’t know. I understand he’s grieving, but this is the eighth suspect he’s shot dead. What bugs me isn’t that he’s killing them, it’s that he doesn’t wait a beat.”

“Troy would have slashed her throat.”

“And maybe he would have surrendered. We’ll never know.”

****

Carson sat at his desk cleaning his gun, waiting for another reprimand from Richard. He had completely isolated himself from his team. The only time he came in contact with them was when they were working. He blamed them for Ellie not trusting him and for not doing their job. Who’d blame Ellie for taking off? Gwen was gunning to put her behind bars! It was that spiteful little bitch’s fault he had no idea if his family was alive or not!

Carson looked at his ring finger. He’d found it impossible to take it off. A part of him had accepted he’d never see his girls again, but part of him was still holding on- the part that wouldn’t allow him to take his ring off.

He twisted it around his finger, diving into the memories of his wedding day. He couldn’t believe he’d contemplated running away. Now it just felt like five minutes he’d wasted. Five minutes he could have spent with Ellie and Stacey-Ann. He’d do anything for five more minutes with his girls. His face creased as he came close to breaking down again, but the rap on the door made him gather himself back.

He picked up his gun and went back to cleaning it, “Make it fast Richard, I’d like to go home.”

“You mean hotel. You haven’t been to your apartment for months.” Gwen chirped, dropping in the chair across his desk, a large smile on her face, “That was a crazy shot you took today. I thought the rooftop one was sick, but with this guy you had two inches of exposed neck to work with,” she whistled, “If you were half an inch to the right, the victim would be dead and you’d be in lock up right now. Risky, but super awesome! You’ve got to teach me that sometime.”

Carson stared drily at her. How he wished she’d just disappear. He turned his attention back to his gun, “What do you want?”

“We figured you’d want to go out.”

“Why?”

“Celebrate your little girl’s birthday. She would have been one tomorrow, right?”

Carson stopped. His grip tightening around the gun as his rage mounted. She didn’t know how lucky she was it wasn’t loaded. He bit down on his tongue as he tried to simmer down his anger.

Gwen climbed on top of his desk and gently ran her fingers from his ear to his rough chin in a gentle caress. She lowered her voice and tuned it to a seductive tone, “If you want, we could go to your hotel and I could give you a condolence gift or birthday gift. Whatever you like, however you like it.”

He grabbed her hand and crushed it in his grip, “Get out!”

Stunned, she pulled her hand out of his painful grip, “Hey! I was just saying...”

“Get out!” He bellowed. He shot off his chair, his hands held in a tight painful fist. Gwen jumped off the desk ready to defend herself, “I will not let anyone, especially you mock my loss. Out, now!”

Just then Audrey rushed into the office, gasping for breath and with tears in her eyes, “Carson, she’s here!”

“Who?”

“Kris just came with her!” She laughed, tears trickling out of her eyes.

“Who is Audrey?”

“Ellie. She’s alive and she’s...”

She didn’t get a chance to finish. Carson ran out of his office and kept running until he got to where there was a small gathering, “Where is she?”

“Where else, but by the elevators?” Doran answered, with a relieved laugh.

Carson rushed passed them and then came to an abrupt stop a few feet away from the trio. Paloma was standing in front of her, blocking his view. But he could see Kris. She was crying, nodding her head at him and smiling.

Carson felt like his heart had stopped when Paloma moved, exposing the sight he’d craved and mourned for months. He bent over, his hands on his knees. He couldn’t breathe. It was too unreal for him to believe.

“Dale...”

Her sweet, quiet voice rang in his ears. He put his hand on his chest over his racing heart and stepped a few feet back, tears freely spilling out of his eyes.

Ellie moved towards him, “Dale I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” She went to put her hand on him, but he retreated. He turned around, giving her his back.

“Dale...”

“This isn’t possible,” he gasped, “I must be dreaming. You can’t be alive.”

Ellie hugged him from behind, placing her hands on his chest, “I swear I’m real.”

Carson shivered when she touched him. It was like someone had placed a smouldering hot iron against his skin. Hesitantly, he rested his hand on hers. He felt her ring rub against his and his heart stopped again.

“Dale, please look at me.”

He turned around slowly, each second praying that he wasn’t dreaming. Ellie took his hands and placed his open palms on her wet face, “See I told you I was real.”

“How do I know you aren’t Ellsa pretending to be Ellie?”

She smiled kissing his inner wrist, “I think you would know if I was a usurper. Especially since I have your middle name, the one you hate so much, tattooed on my waist with musical notes around it.” She laughed, “I’ve never been an ink person, but like they say, you are doomed to pick up your spouse’s bad habits.”

Carson laughed and hugged her tight against him as he cried, chanting her name. He cradled a hand full of her curly hair and held it to his nose. He breathed in the coconut scent that used to drive him crazy. But right now, the annoying scent served as a confirmation that he had his wife back.

Ellie hugged him back, glad she was back in his arms, “Kris told me what was going on. I can’t believe she didn’t tell you.”

“Who?”

“Ellsa. We spoke every week. To think I trusted her.”

“What?” The entire time she was pretending to comfort him, with one-phone call she could have ended his suffering.

“She said it wasn’t safe to call, that your team was conspiring to use me as a pawn to protect Gwen. She said the two of you found evidence that she was trying to set me up.”

“What?” Gwen hollered.

“Don’t worry, I already told her the truth,” Paloma offered quickly.

Ellie looked at Gwen, “I’m sorry I didn’t know. All this time I stayed away, she made me believe it was for my own good,” she turned back to Carson, “I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“That Ellsa!” Carson hissed, between clenched teeth, “Where is Stacey-Ann?”

“Downstairs with Seth. We were a little apprehensive about bringing her up, just in case Ellsa was right.” Kris answered, “But she has another surprise for you. Show him the surprise!” She chimed excitedly.

Ellie shyly looked away. She wasn’t nervous about coming home, but after having the wool pulled away from her eyes, she’d become extremely nervous. She took another deep breath.

Carson put a finger under her chin and lifted her head up, “Tell me, what’s wrong?”

“There is nothing wrong! Tell him!” Kris spat out, impatiently.

“I ah... I...,” the words were stuck in the knots in her stomach and then she felt it.

“Wow,” Carson flinched, “Your stomach just kicked me!”

“I’m going to be a godmother! Finally!” Kris announced.

Ellie shook her head, “Yes, that’s the big news. Kris is finally going to be a godmother.”

“Aah!” Audrey screamed, jumping up and down. Kris joined her, dancing around in circles.

“You are pregnant?” Carson whispered.

She nodded. When he just stood there looking at her, saying and doing nothing, she punched him in the stomach, “You can’t do that to me twice Dale Carson!”

“This isn’t like last time. You didn’t just arrive from New York, you came back from the dead, pregnant! I need a few minutes to process!”

“You have five seconds. I need to know what you are thinking.”

The dress had hidden it well. He placed his hand on her belly. It was like gripping a basketball! “How far along are you?”

“Twenty-six weeks.”

“Wait, you were pregnant when you left?”