Hidden in the Shadows (15 page)

It didn’t matter how many times he told himself stopping by was a bad idea. He could just as easily make a quick, impersonal phone call to follow through with his promise, but that option didn’t appeal to him in the least. Even if a call was a better idea. No, as much as Wyatt tried, he couldn’t convince himself to drive past the complex where Maria lived. Instead, he found himself in the parking lot, staring up at her condominium like some love-struck fool. It was such a cliché—a man his age enamored with a woman young enough to be his daughter—but there it was.

When he’d first realized months ago that he was attracted to her, he worked very hard at convincing himself such an attraction wasn’t suitable. However, after having spent time with her on recent cases and especially after seeing her vulnerability last night, he just didn’t give a rat’s behind any longer.

A tap on the window startled him out of his reverie. Instinctively, he reached for the gun on his hip, but when he saw Jason Hudson standing outside his SUV, he relaxed. Blowing out a tense breath, he rolled down the window.

“Jason.”

“Wyatt.” The young deputy grinned, even as he danced in place to keep warm. “Everything okay?”

“Yes. Everything is fine. What are you doing here?”

Jason gestured over his shoulder with a thumb. “I live across the street in another unit. Shoot, half the department lives in this complex. I was taking out the garbage and saw you sitting here, so I just wanted to check and see if there was a problem.” He looked up the walk toward Maria’s front door. “Awfully chilly night. I’m sure glad I’m going to have someone to snuggle up to this winter.” His grin had widened when he looked back at Wyatt, and he gave an exaggerated shiver to emphasize his words. “Beats being a bachelor all to heck.”

His gaze narrowing, Wyatt tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel. “I imagine it does. Shouldn’t you go back inside before you freeze to death?”

With a shrug, Jason crossed his arms, shoving his hands under his arms. “Probably. But I wanted to come over, be neighborly. Check on a friend who seems to be struggling with a dilemma.” The grin faded. “You gonna go up there and ring the doorbell or not?”

Wyatt sighed, unable to stay stern with the earnest younger man. He turned off the motor. “Do you think I should? She isn’t expecting me.”

“It’s worth a shot, anyhow. Besides, I have the two of you going on a real date before Thanksgiving in the pool at the department.”

Stunned, Wyatt rolled up the window and got out of the vehicle slowly. “In the what? I know you didn’t mean ‘pool’ as in betting pool.”

Once again, Jason struggled to hide his grin. “Um, well, yeah. I kind of did. We’re cops, Wyatt. It’s hard to keep secrets in a police department, and the two of you have been shooting sparks off each other for a while now.”

Wyatt didn’t know what to say. He rubbed a hand over his hair. “So the whole department knows we’re…what? We aren’t dating. I don’t even know if she would… damn it. Does Maria know about this?”

“No, I don’t think so. And most everyone thinks that it’s about danged time. There are a few folks who aren’t thrilled, but you can probably figure out who. They’re the people who’re looking for any excuse to discredit you. You know the type I mean.”

“Unfortunately.” While most of his employees supported him, a tiny handful of detractors had differing political opinions. He looked at Maria’s front door and groaned. “Get yourself inside, son, before you get sick out here and miss your own wedding.”

Jason chuckled when Wyatt locked the SUV. “Good deal. Best news I’ve heard all week.” With a jaunty salute, he jogged across the street, back to his own condo.

For a couple of minutes, Wyatt just stood there, looking up the walk toward the light glowing warmly through the curtains. When the Maria’s porch light came on, he swallowed and started up the walkway.

“Might as well get it over with,” he mumbled. He just hoped he didn’t end up making a fool of himself.

~ * * * ~

Maria almost didn’t answer the phone. She’d just gotten out of the shower and was ready to curl up in bed with a good movie and some popcorn. However, since Jason hardly ever called her, she figured she should probably answer it, just in case.

“Hello?”

“Hey, neighbor. You busy?”

She frowned. “No. Why?”

“Good. Then you need to go to your front door right now.”

“What? Jason, what are you up to?” The deputy had a well-deserved reputation as the department’s biggest prankster. Maria was in no mood for one of his tricks, and told him as much.

With a put-upon sigh, he asked, “Can you just go to the door and open it, please? Be quick about it, and don’t say I never did anything for you.” With that mysterious salvo, he hung up.

Not entirely happy about what she was doing, Maria nonetheless went to the front door. The very last thing she expected to see when she flipped on the light and opened the door was Wyatt standing at the end of her walkway. Stunned, she waited until he reached the door to speak. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everything’s fine,” he assured her, looking uncomfortable. “I was just passing through, in the neighborhood, you know. Thought I’d stop by and check on you, let you know about today like I said I would.”

“Okay.” She stepped back and gestured for him to enter. “It’s nearly eight o’clock. Surely you aren’t just now getting away from the office?”

He hesitated. “You’re ready for bed. I should have just waited until tomorrow, but I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about my promise. I won’t come in.”

Maria looked down at herself and blushed. She’d completely forgotten that she was clad only in a long, granny-style gown that reached nearly to the floor, her hair still damp and hanging down her back. Just then, Wyatt’s stomach let out a growling rumble.

Her gaze flew to his. “Have you eaten?”

He shrugged. “No, but…” His words ended abruptly as she reached out and tugged his arm.

“Get in here. You’re letting all the warm air out, and I’m not about to send you home hungry.” When she tugged again, he gave in. She closed the door and, leading him into the kitchen, she pointed to the chair. “Take off your coat and have a seat. Would you like some coffee, tea, cocoa? And maybe a bowl of chicken and wild rice soup to go with it?”

She pulled a large bowl out of the refrigerator and got down a dish to heat the soup.

“Coffee’d be nice. Do you have decaf?”

With a flourish, she directed his gaze to the rotating display of coffee and tea selections. “I treated myself to one of those single-cup machines for my birthday. Not only do I have decaf, I have a couple different roasts, as well.”

He smiled. “Plain decaf is fine.” When she rolled her eyes with a teasing grin, he shrugged. “I like the classics.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the classics.” She started brewing a cup for him. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to be watching a classic movie here this evening.”

Wyatt glanced at his watch. “Then how about I take that soup and coffee to go?”

The microwave beeped, and she set the hot soup down in front of him, handing him a spoon and napkin. Holding onto the spoon, she touched his hand with hers. “That’s not what I meant. Eat your dinner.”

He tucked into the soup, and she put the coffee beside his bowl. Propping her chin on her hand, she studied him while he ate. “You could stay and watch it with me.”

There was a noticeable hesitation as he absorbed the invitation. “What movie is it, exactly?”

“
‘To Catch A Thief’
with Cary Grant, Grace Kelly. Hard to go wrong with Hitchcock.”

From the look on his face, she could tell she’d surprised him. “That is a classic. Somehow, I pegged you as more of a modern movie buff.”

She played with a pen lying on the counter and lifted her shoulders. “I like movies, pretty much any genre, but I love the classics. Especially movies with Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Kathryn Hepburn, those actors. They didn’t have all the special effects, so they had to be more plot-driven.” She paused. “I’m fixing popcorn. Air-popped, with real butter.”

“Oh, that’s a low blow. Real butter?” His eyebrows drew together, and he pursed his lips. “Can I take off my shoes?”

“It’s a requirement,” she promptly replied.

Wyatt pretended to consider it. “Then I guess I’ll let you twist my arm.”

“Good. Then I’ll go change clothes. I’ll be right back.” She hurried out of the room before he could change his mind.

Once in her bedroom, Maria closed the door and rushed to straighten the covers on the bed. Using extra pillows she kept stacked in the corner just for movie nights, she arranged them on the bed so that they created a large bolster across the head. A tiny pang of unease flashed through her as she considered that she hadn’t told Wyatt they would have to watch the movie from her bed.

The pillows arranged to her satisfaction, she put a warm fleece blanket at the foot of the bed. She glanced around to make sure nothing embarrassing lurked on the dresser or the floor. It had been bad enough the day before when he’d seen inside her linen closet. The last thing she wanted was for the man to end up tripping over a pair of underwear.

She changed into a tank top and a pair of fleece pajama bottoms. Throwing a loose tunic on over the shirt, she headed back into the kitchen, where Wyatt was finishing his coffee. “Sorry about that. Why don’t you tell me what happened today while I get the popcorn ready?”

He stood and stretched, then brought the dirty dishes to the sink. “There isn’t as much to tell as you might think. Rhonda was angry, like we expected. She understands what’s at stake.”

“How did she suggest you proceed?”

“With extreme caution and due diligence. She isn’t happy about this. I’m definitely not her favorite person right now. To be fair, I did put her in a tough position, given that she’s the prosecutor.”

Pulling the popcorn popper out of the pantry, she filled the reservoir with kernels. “Is she planning on filing criminal charges regarding your wife’s death?”

“Not at the moment. There’s no physical evidence that we are aware of, which is another thing she’s angry about. I don’t think she blames me, per se, but she knows I’m not without guilt. I should have come forward when I had evidence.”

Maria was surprised. “What did you have?”

Wyatt flushed
and leaned up against the counter, looking
down at his hands as he answered. “I’d taken some time off to deal with things, and I’d been drinking. I
went
into
Julie’s
room to
…
I don’t know, just look at her
stuff
. I was touching the knickknacks she had on the dresser, and I lost my balance
and
knocked some of them off. When I bent down to pick them up, I
found an empty vial on the floor, under the dresser. It was from her pain meds, the oral morphine
.”

“I don’t understand. Why was that important?”

“Because Julie hadn’t been having any severe pain. She was lucky in that regard, at least. The medication was there just in case she needed it. She’d never used it, but that vial was empty.”

“How much medication was in it to begin with?”

He swallowed. “Enough that emptying it would have killed her, no questions asked.
After I sobered up, it hit me, what the vial could mean. I checked the rest of her medicine
,
but nothing was out of place, so I went to see Marsha. I wanted to see her face
when I asked her about it
.
Like an idiot, I took the vial with me. At first, I just asked her to tell me again about that weekend. She didn’t change her story, told me the same thing she had a few weeks earlier.
She insisted that Julie hadn’t had any pain that weekend.
I got angry
,
and I confronted her with the vial. Before I could stop her, she grabbed a cast iron skillet from the stove and smashed the damned thing into a million pieces. She cut her hand in the process from the flying glass.”

Maria winced, understanding even better why he’d been so upset to receive the letter. “And so you were basically stuck. Your word against hers.”

“Yeah. Julie had been cremated by that point, and there was absolutely nothing to build a case on. That said,
Rhonda has a valid point. I let evidence be destroyed.”

“Does she?” When he shot her an incredulous glance, she continued, “I’m not condoning what they apparently did. Please don’t think that. But honest to God, Wyatt, what good would it have served if you had come forward six years ago? Even with the intact vial?”

He looked away. “I don’t know. That’s a question I’ve been asking myself since I first put two and two together.”

Taking a deep breath, she moved to stand directly in front of him. With only a few inches separating their bodies, she waited until he looked at her to speak. “I’m sorry.”

“About what?”