Forever Hers (25 page)

“What?” he asked.

“I’m impressed. You’re good.”

“Thank you.” Her praised meant a lot, especially since he had to convince her to trust him with her worst nightmare. “Briggs already picked them up for questioning. No one at my station is going to believe I worked on a case with him. He’s a legend.”

“What about the last two robberies?”

“Now that’s where things get interesting. You see, most criminals don’t change their styles. A serial killer, rapist or arsonist sticks to his or her routine no matter what happens. That’s why FBI profilers can look at a series of crimes and tell which ones were committed by the same person.” Eddie pushed his plate aside and continued. “These two guys, Caldecott and Aldridge, were angry because the bank shut them down and took over their rental properties. They didn’t want revenge. No, they wanted their properties back so they could start a new company. So they entered the first four houses and grabbed everything they could carry and left. We’re talking electronics, furniture, utensils, beddings, even the pictures on the wall.
 
But the last two houses, the thieves trashed the place up, held the couple at gunpoint, hardly the attitude of people who want their properties back.”

“Maybe they were pissed the houses were occupied,” she said.

He shrugged. “True, but trust me, the last two house were not vandalized by the same guys. We are dealing with two sets of thieves, and my gut instinct tells me the last two break-ins were by Nolan’s men.”

She frowned. “Why would you say that?”

“Because the same thing happened six years ago in Charlottesville. A string of break-ins, all smash, grab and run, then suddenly, the burglars changed their style. They became violent. Their rampage ended with the attack on you and Charles. The same thing happened here. Simple robberies, then the burglars became violent. The next house was this one, but you chased them away.”

She chewed on her lip as she thought over his words. “Are you saying that Nolan is somehow responsible for Charles’s death?”

“I’m saying there’s a possibility that what happened here is connected to what happened six years ago, but it all hinges on how well you knew Nolan
before
your fiancé got killed. Did he try to date you or ask you out and you turned him down?”

Her eyes widened, then Amy nodded.

***

Amy’s mind raced to the past. The entire campus had buzzed with the news of burglars breaking into student apartments and taking off with electronics. No one got hurt until the last two when two guys got beat up and a girl almost got raped. Then she and Charles were next.

She didn’t need to close her eyes to remember everything that happened that night—the darkness inside Charles apartment, the scuffle, the excruciating pain from her arm after someone pushed her and she hit a table, the kicks and broken ribs that had made every breath torture, and the horrible single gunshot that had ended Charles’s life. She touched her chest, remembering pressing her hand on his wound while screaming for help, her own pain forgotten.

“Amy?”

“I first meet Nolan when I was a senior in high school and he was fresh from the academy,” she said and frowned. “A bunch of us went to a frat party and a fight broke out.”

His brow rose. “A frat party?”

“We were at a cheer camp on campus and one thing led to another. The campus police was called in and Nolan was one of them. He gave me a ride home because I was, uh, wasted.” Her cheeks grew red. She got up and paced. “I think he spoke to my parents that night. Our paths crossed again. Each time, he let me go with a warning when he could have hauled me in.” Eddie’s expression didn’t give much away, but she was sure she’d shocked him. “I was a very rebellious child and hung out with the wrong crowd most of my teens.”

“We all do foolish things when we are young,” Eddie said dismissively. “When did he ask you out?”

“I was in college, end of first year. We’d finished finals and went out to celebrate. Things got crazy and there he was with his partner. I remember my friends asking me how I knew the cop because he called me by my name. He pulled me aside, bought me coffee and gave me a long lecture on sobriety and DUI. He dropped me off at my apartment. The next day he stopped by and, uh, ended up asking me out.”

“And?”

“I honestly don’t remember what I told him, but he asked again a few weeks later when our paths crossed again. I turned him down as gentle as I could. He wasn’t my type. At the beginning of my junior year, I met Charles.”

“Did you ever see Nolan again?”

She frowned, trying to remember. “Yeah, all almost every time Charles and I went out. I mean, it’s a small town.”

“He was probably stalking you, maybe waiting for you to get in trouble.”

She smiled. “That wasn’t going to happen. I changed after I met Charles. He made me revaluate my priorities.” She recalled the first time she and Charles met. She’d gone to see her father, to ask for more money for something. “He was my father’s grad student, mature and focused, a brilliant future ahead of him, while I was…a junior who hadn’t declared her major.”
 
A hot mess.

She walked to the fridge and retrieved a bottle of water. She hated talking about her past behavior and mistakes, most of which she regretted deeply. Her parents had her late in their lives, when they were set in their careers, and had no clue on what to do with her. Instead, they’d let nannies raise her, and to pay them back, she had done whatever she could to make them suffer, from bringing home bad grades to breaking school rules and being thrown out of every private school they’d sent her.

Amy rejoined Eddie and sat. “Charles wanted us to tell Dad about our relationship but I wanted to clean up my act first, so we dated secretly for several months. Then I found out I was expecting and we had to tell them anyway.”

She paused again and sipped her drink as she organized her thoughts. Her parents had hit the roof. Even the beautiful engagement ring Charles had bought her on his student salary hadn’t placated them. They’d insisted on a long engagement until Charles finished college. They actually believed Charles would not reach his full potential as a neurosurgeon if he were a married man with a child. To her, it was another slap in the face, like she wasn’t good enough for her Dad’s star pupil. But Charles had stood up to them. She’d never loved him more.

“Amy?”

She lifted her chin and blinked hard, determined not to cry. “The burglars were in the apartment when we came back from my parents’ house. It was horrible.” Sudden chill crawled up her spine, sending goose bumps all over her skin. She hugged herself. “I would have died that night too if I hadn’t begged my attacker to spare my baby. Something about hurting me lost its appeal and he just froze. Then he ran to his buddy and there was the single gunshot. They didn’t need to kill Charles, but they did anyway.”

“Did you see Nolan that night?”

Nausea hit her hard, but she managed to hold the contents of her stomach. “At the restaurant where Charles proposed to me, Nolan was there with a friend and their dates. We left the restaurant and went straight to see my parents. He was also the first cop on the scene and took me to the hospital.” Amy shook head. “No, I refuse to believe he was behind the attack.”

Eddie leaned forward. “Right now it’s just a theory. Listen before you rule it out. Nolan was the lead detective in the case. If he was obsessed with you, he had the means and the motive to get rid of Charles. All he needed was a fall guy. In this case, fall guys—the burglars.”

This time, Amy couldn’t stop the nausea. She ran as fast as she could to the bathroom next to the laundry room and barely reached the toilet bowl before the contents of her stomach shot out.

Eddie pulled her hair away from her face. She tried to push him away. “Go away.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said firmly.

She continued to retch until she was spent and limp like a rag doll. She closed the toilet lid and flushed it. A wet cloth touched her forehead. She took it. “Thanks.”

“Sorry, I brought this up
after
you ate.”

“Go away, please.” She wanted to wallow in self-pity alone. She wiped her face and the tears that had sprung. The thought that the man she’d married might have had something to do with Charles’s death…

Dry heaves had her leaning over the toilet again.

Eddie stayed by her side and waited, until she picked herself up from the floor, splashed water on her face and rinsed her mouth. She never wanted to discuss Nolan with anyone, but Eddie was supportive and willing to help her…just like Nolan had once been.

She shouldn’t even compare the two men. They were different as day and night. Eddie was a protector and a nurturer while Nolan was a…nutcase. Could he really be obsessed with her?

Amy sat on the couch, tucked her feet under her and waited for Eddie. He grabbed a beer from the fridge for himself then glanced at her. “Do you want something to drink?”

A bottle of Chardonnay had been sitting in the fridge since Kara and Baron left. “I think I’ll have some of the white wine.”

He poured some into a glass and brought it to her. She took a sip, cradled the glass and asked, “What else do you want to know?”

“We’re done discussing Reither for tonight.” He chugged his drink.

Amy shook her head. “No, I need to understand how he could have been involved. The two burglars were found guilty. They found the gun used to kill Charles and the things they’d stolen from us and the other students in their secret storage. The tattoos on their wrists were the same ones I saw on my attacker’s wrist.”

“They confessed to the previous burglaries but denied any involvement in the last two break-ins and the attack on you and Charles,” Eddie insisted. “I’ve gone over the investigation and the court files and something just doesn’t add up. Why did they keep the gun when they knew they’d used it to kill someone? Most criminals ditch the murder weapon at first opportunity. Why keep the things from your apartment?”

“Maybe they thought they wouldn’t get caught.”

“No, even they can’t be that stupid. Someone could have planted those items. Their lawyer even suggested it during the trial. As for the tattoo, it’s a common one. They even sell temporary ones in Charlottesville, another thing their lawyer brought up. I want you to think back to that night and see if you can remember anything…anything at all that ties Nolan to the attack.”

She didn’t want to revisit the night Charles died again. She had a headache and her stomach contracted, though it was empty. She wished she could eat something but the thought of food was nauseating. Eddie got up and collected the utensils from the table then took them to the sink, where he rinsed and put them in the dishwasher. Only Eddie could make such a mundane task look sexy.

In a week and a half Eddie would be gone. Back to his life. Back to his woman friend with no thoughts of her or Raelynn. Despite knowing all that, she still wanted him, and wished he’d want her with the same intensity.

What would he do if she walked to him right now, kissed him and asked him to make love to her, make her forget the ugly memories of Nolan? He would probably remind her he didn’t believe in relationships. She was a fool for wanting him and wishing he were different.

Sighing, she carried her wine glass to the sink, covered the leftovers and put them in the fridge. For a moment they worked in silence. She’d never throw herself at Eddie. That was just the wine talking. She’d better focus on remembering the events of her worst nightmare instead of thinking of Eddie and her as a couple. The saddest part of it was, she’d settle for just an affair if he’d asked her. Even for a week and a half.

“If Nolan gets away with—”

“He’s not going to get away with anything, Amy,” Eddie said firmly, wiping his hands on a cloth.

“You only have a week and a half of your vacation left. What if you can’t prove anything?”

His lips tightened. Eyes narrowed, Eddie walked to where she stood and tapped her on her nose. “Have a little more faith in me, sweetheart. That son of a bitch will be behind bars before I leave here.”

Air slowly left Amy’s lungs and a sudden urge to cry rolled over her as he walked passed her and headed toward his bedroom. She didn’t mean to imply she didn’t believe in him. She did.

***

Eddie couldn’t sleep, Amy’s words going around and around in his head.

“…you have only a week and a half of your vacation left.”

What then? Back to L.A. and his job. Coming home to an empty house. No crazy music in the morning. No one challenging him at every turn, making him laugh one second and pissing him off the next. No little girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes looking at him as though he was invincible.

But what if Amy was really psychotic as her parents had claimed in that missing persons report? What if his libido was clouding his judgment?

Even as the questions hounded him, his gut instinct told him Amy wasn’t a liar. He’d never met a more loving mother or a caring person. She had a big heart. Her parents were never there for her, yet she was willing to forgive them. He admired her determination to survive and protect her daughter.

He punched the pillows, turned and saw the clock by the bedside. It was almost midnight, yet sleep eluded him. Sitting up, he reached for his laptop, but it wasn’t there. He’d left it on the dining table. Cursing, he flung the covers aside, padded across the wood floor and headed to the living room. The light from Amy’s laptop told him she was working, yet when she came into view, she was at her desk, her face buried in her arms.