Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #1 (40 page)

MURDERER! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE. LEAVE WHILE YOU CAN.

The large block letters had been cut out of magazines and newspapers. Whoever had thrown that rock made sure their handwriting couldn't be traced. That amount of effort pointed to premeditation. The person had probably been outside the window waiting for Melanie's return.

Jace scowled. What kind of lowlife threatened women? Sarah Swanson was about as harmless as you could get. And as for Melanie... He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the young woman. Her face was pale, and her lips seemed bloodless. The dark curls framing her face emphasized the pallor. The haunted look in her velvet brown eyes tore at him. Even knowing her past as he did, Jace disliked seeing her slender frame tremble with fear.

He hated himself for feeling drawn to her. He thought he had banished the attraction four years ago. A flare of resentment surged as he looked at the young woman kneeling on the floor. Hadn't he learned his lesson? He had let affection cloud his judgment once before, with disastrous results. Never again.

Melanie raised her head. Her eyes met his. His hair stood on end as electricity zapped between them. Then, as if a light had been switched off, Melanie's eyes became guarded. He could see her exercising every bit of control she had to master her fear and appear calm. She was brave. He'd give her that. He would have expected tears or outright panic. He wasn't about to complain, though. Having a hysterical woman on his hands would only make a bad situation worse.

To distract himself, he turned his attention to Sarah Swanson. She was still unconscious, but the swelling around her mouth and eyes was noticeably diminished. He could see that her chest was moving now as she breathed, a sure sign that she was improved.

Jace cleared his throat. “I need to look around outside. Stay by your aunt. Yell if you see any changes.”

“Should I clean up the glass? So the paramedics don't step in it?”

“Leave it. I called for another cruiser. We need to process the scene first. I'll make sure it's cleaned up afterward.”

Zipping his coat, he strode toward the door, noticing they had left it wide-open in the excitement. He spent the next ten minutes searching for evidence. Other than footprints that led off into the woods, he found nothing. A horn honked. He lifted a hand in greeting as another cruiser pulled in, followed by the paramedics. A third cruiser pulled in and parked in the yard. Jace raised his eyebrows. A third cruiser was unusual, to say the least.

He led the paramedics into the house and set the two officers about evaluating the scene. One of the officers approached Melanie. Jace stiffened. It was natural to question her, but the look of attraction on the officer's face was unsettling. They were cops. It was their duty to remain focused. Letting an ex-con, no matter how pretty, distract them was not going to happen. Jace made his voice stern.

“Olsen, go help Jacobs. I'll want your report ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.” The young policeman cast one last regretful glance at Melanie and returned outside.

“On three...” The paramedics lifted Sarah Swanson onto a stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance.

* * *

Mel looked around the room, feeling lost. Her aunt was on her way to the hospital, and no one would talk to her or tell her what she should do. It was disconcerting enough being out of jail, away from the routines that had, for better or for worse, been her life for the past four years. She'd been told that she'd have to adjust to life on the “outside,” but no one had explained how to deal with something like this. How was she going to get to the hospital? Was she supposed to go in the ambulance? Would someone drive her? Should she get a taxi? Unthinkingly, her eyes sought out the lieutenant. He might not like her, but he was the only steadying presence in the house.

Melanie glanced at him again. He had just flipped his phone shut and was talking with the officers as the ambulance roared to life and headed back to town toward the hospital. Well, that answered one question. Since no one was paying attention to her, Melanie made her way to her old bedroom.

Melanie stood in the doorway, breathing deeply. The room was the same as it had been nine years ago when she moved out. The blue-and-lavender color scheme, the ruffled curtains. Even the Bible her aunt had given her on her seventeenth birthday was there, sitting on the little end table beside the bed. Waiting for her. Mel walked over and picked the Bible up. Tears clogged her throat.

She had sneered at that Bible when she had received it, she remembered now with pain. What would she need that for? she had scoffed. Her aunt had merely smiled sadly.

“Someday, Melly,” Aunt Sarah had replied softly, “someday you'll need a friend. Someone strong to carry you. This is where you'll find Him.”

Her younger self had rolled her eyes at her aunt's “preaching.” Thinking about it now, Mel was pretty sure she had never opened it. She didn't even know why she had kept it. It wasn't that she'd wanted to protect her aunt's feelings. If that had been the case, she wouldn't have walked out the moment she graduated from high school nine years ago.

But she had never gotten rid of it. And when she moved out, her aunt had left it here as if she had known that someday her wayward niece would come back for it. Although neither of them could ever have guessed that it would take a prison sentence to bring Mel to God.

Sitting on the bed, she opened the Bible to the book of Psalms. She read slowly, until she felt peace seep into her soul. Feeling calm again, she closed the Bible and stood. She startled when she saw Lieutenant Tucker standing in the doorway. He watched her, his brow furrowed and the corners of his lips pulled down.

She walked over to him and waited.

He stared back for several seconds. Then he straightened and nodded.

“Right,” he said briskly. “Let's go. I'll take you to the hospital.”

Mel hesitated. She didn't relish the idea of remaining in his presence any longer than she needed to. He had made his disdain known. He was a man who viewed her as a criminal, and always would. Even if she could find a way to prove her innocence, would he believe it? Or was he too hardened against her?

Lieutenant Tucker frowned at her hesitation. “Come on, Melanie. I really don't have all day.”

Melanie shivered at the chill in Lieutenant Tucker's deep voice. His contempt for her was almost tangible. The last thing she wanted to do was get back into the cruiser with him. She needed to go to Aunt Sarah, though, so she followed him to the car.

As he backed down the driveway, she caught one last glance of the house. A shudder ran through her as the sunlight glinted off the broken window. She had been released from the horrors of prison only to walk into a new nightmare.

TWO

T
he scenery sped past as Jace drove to the hospital. Melanie tried to ask a question or two. He only grunted in reply. He couldn't talk now. His mind was busy analyzing what had happened. The scene at the house made him uneasy.

She seemed to get the message. The silence settled around them like a cloak.

Jace couldn't accept that the events of the day were all coincidental. Too much had happened in less than two hours.

Melanie had been released from prison.

She had been verbally threatened by the man in front of the courthouse.

Sarah Swanson had been found comatose.

Someone had thrown a rock through the window.

Jace had found Melanie reading her Bible.

That had really thrown him for a loop. Against his better judgment, he found himself feeling sympathy for the pretty brunette. The distress in her brown eyes over her aunt's condition was real, he was sure of it. He had gone searching for her, knowing she would need a ride to the hospital. He watched in disbelief as she leafed through the Bible. Not idly. Purposefully, as though she knew what she was looking for. When she had finally noticed him, the expression of peace on her face shook him.

“I don't understand what happened to Aunt Sarah.” Melanie's voice interrupted his musings. He threw her a confused frown.

“I assumed she was stung by a bee.”

She shook her head. “The only thing she's allergic to is peanuts. She's always been extremely careful. She would never eat or drink anything without reading its ingredient list.” Mel shifted her position and narrowed her eyes, looking as though she was speaking out loud to help her think. “She was so careful I used to tell her she went overboard. Nothing was ever in her house that had even been processed in the same factory with peanuts. If she needed to special-order items she would. No. I just can't imagine her accidentally eating something with peanuts or peanut oil in it.”

He wasn't sure why, but Jace believed her. Jace had learned long ago to trust his instincts. He was uneasy. If Sarah had not ingested something tainted by accident, then it had been placed there deliberately. The question reverberating around his mind was who would do such a thing.

He parked the car, and they strode into the hospital. Jace caught Melanie's elbow as they crossed the wet parking lot. She gave him a startled glance.

“It's slippery out here,” he explained defensively. Yeah, right.

She quirked her eyebrow but said nothing.

They hadn't gone more than a dozen steps when a voice called out to them. Jace tried to ignore the speaker, but it was too late. Of course he would have to run into Senator Travis now. He shouldn't have been surprised. Mrs. Travis had been in the hospital for over a week now. It was only natural that her husband would visit her. Still, the timing was lousy. Not that any time would be convenient. Senator Travis had rubbed him the wrong way since he had been elected to the state senate. He was rude and arrogant, and Jace had noted that he had broken many of his campaign promises within months of getting elected. In Jace's mind, that showed a lack of integrity.

“Lieutenant Tucker! I need a moment of your time!”

Resigned, Jace motioned for Melanie to stop.

“Wait here. I'll be as quick as I can.”

He made his way over to where Senator Joe Travis was waiting impatiently. The senator's eyes slid past him and landed on Melanie. Jace's spine stiffened in annoyance when the older man's lips curled in a derisive sneer.

“Looks like you got short straw today, son, escorting the likes of her around town.”

Jace refused to comment. However he might feel about it, it was his duty, and he would do it without complaint.

“You wanted to talk with me, Senator Travis?”

The senator whipped his face back around to glare at Jace.

“I want to know when you're going to get around to doing your duty. Someone broke into my house last night!” The senator seemed to swell with righteous anger.

“Was anything taken?”

The man hesitated. “Nothing really valuable. A few things here and there. Some pictures. Some of my wife's jewels.”

“Not all of her jewels?”

“No. The thief left some of the older pieces that my wife inherited from her mother. Must not have known how valuable they are.”

“Okay, here's what you need to do. Go to the station and file a report, listing the items stolen and their approximate value. Be as specific as you can.” Jace bit back a smile. Senator Travis practically vibrated with frustration.

“You can't take my statement now? I'm a very busy man!” The senator narrowed his eyes, a sly expression creeping onto his face. “Or are you letting our local ex-con charm her way into your life? Be careful, she's a clever one. Good thing my son came to his senses.”

Any thought Jace might have had of helping the man fled. The implication that he would be so easily manipulated, that he lacked the sense and the willpower to maintain control over himself, was more insulting than the senator could have realized. And it triggered painful memories that he did not care to revisit. Ever.

“Sorry, sir. No time today.” Before the senator could respond, he swiftly headed back to where Melanie was waiting with a wary expression. Without slowing, he grabbed her arm above the elbow and pulled her along with him.

“Don't look back. Whatever you do, don't look back. He might come after us.”

“Okay, I won't look,” Melanie assured him, gasping as she was dragged to the hospital entrance.

Once inside, they were directed to the waiting room. Jace pretended to read the newspaper as he sat. In reality, he watched Melanie. She was staring out the window, her eyes slightly unfocused. The light coming in caught in her hair, giving off reddish highlights. There were still a few shards of glass there, glistening. He had the urge to walk over and pick them out. Her porcelain-smooth complexion was marred only by the pensive line on her brow. Until she turned her head slightly and the light fell on an inch-long cut. He remembered the rock that had been thrown at her earlier. It had been his duty to protect her. He had failed.

She hardly seemed aware of the cut. Every expression, every gesture, showed nothing but anxiety over her aunt. Gazing at her and seeing how worried she was, remembering how she had turned to the Bible for consolation, he found it incredible that she was capable of the crimes she had been accused of. Doubt slithered across his mind. He quickly shoved it aside. The evidence had been there. True, it was mostly circumstantial. There were no DNA matches, no incriminating fingerprints. But he knew from experience that an appealing face and charming manners could be deceptive.

Jace shook his head fiercely. He refused to second-guess himself. If he did, he would go insane. So she had been careful at the scene. But she had been there when Sylvie died. She couldn't deny that fact, even if she couldn't remember exactly what had happened that day. Melanie had admitted that she and Sylvie planned to meet at the dorm the day of the younger girl's death. According to Melanie's testimony, she didn't know why Sylvie had contacted her, asking to meet. Sylvie was a freshman, and Melanie, at twenty-one, was in her last semester of the dental hygienist program. The two had no overlap in their coursework or in their friends, no reason to be in contact—except for the drugs that Sylvie took and that they had every reason to believe Melanie sold her. Tainted drugs that killed Sylvie and left Melanie responsible for her death. Eyes narrowing, he resumed his observance of his charge.

Melanie leaned her head against the cold window and closed her eyes. He saw her sigh, then her lips began moving. It was almost as though she was talking, but not a sound issued from her mouth. Could she be praying? As much as he wanted to scoff at the idea, the memory of her sitting reading her Bible was firmly implanted in his brain. It couldn't have been staged. She had no way of knowing he would come searching for her. And the Bible had looked far too natural in her hands.

Melanie opened her eyes and turned her head. Their eyes met, and all thoughts fled. He could feel the electricity sparking between them.

“Lieutenant Tucker? Miss Swanson?”

Both occupants in the waiting room startled.

A doctor stood in the doorway. He glanced between them, a serious expression on his lined face.

Jace quickly rose to his feet. Melanie, he noticed, watched the doctor almost fearfully. Her aunt was all she had, Jace realized. A rush of sympathy unexpectedly filled him. When she stepped next to him, he reached out and squeezed her hand briefly before dropping it again. Blood heated his face as she looked at him, shocked. What on earth had come over him? He took a step away from her.

The doctor cleared his throat.

“I'm Dr. Jensen, the physician in charge of Mrs. Swanson's care. Mrs. Swanson has regained consciousness,” he informed them. Melanie's shoulders sagged as the tension melted from her. Tears filled her eyes. “She's groggy, and we'll need to observe her overnight. She is asking to see you.”

* * *

Melanie fought back tears as she gazed down at her aunt's withered frame. The years had not been kind to her. Melanie remembered how strong she had seemed to Melanie when she was a child. How old she appeared now! Her once-thick white hair had thinned, leaving patches of scalp visible. Her face was gaunt, the skin stretched taut against her high cheekbones. Her eyes were sunken into the sockets. Her aunt's whole body appeared fragile. The robust woman who had raised her since her mother's death had completely disappeared. Melanie knew most of the changes in her aunt were due to the stress of Melanie's arrest. The reddened lids lifted, and Mel found herself staring into sharp blue eyes.

“Mel,” the old woman whispered, her voice crackling like dry leaves.

Melanie swallowed. She had come so close to losing this dear woman. Reaching out, she took her aunt's frail hand in hers.

“Aunt Sarah,” she said huskily. “I was so scared. How do you feel?”

“Don't you worry about me, Melly girl. I'm just relieved to see you safe.”

Melanie gave Lieutenant Tucker a startled glance. Her confusion was mirrored on his face.

“What do you mean, Mrs. Swanson? Why wouldn't your niece be safe?”

Sarah Swanson narrowed her eyes at him. Mel could almost feel her aunt's distrust. Not that she could blame her. After all, he had led her niece away in handcuffs all those years ago.

Now was not the time, though, to harbor grudges.

“Aunt Sarah, if something's going on, you have to tell Lieutenant Tucker,” she insisted. “There's more at stake here than my reputation.”

The lieutenant nodded. “Melanie's right. I need to know what's going on.”

“Melly, one of the jurors came to see me,” Sarah whispered. “She was so scared. Terrified. Said that she and at least one of the other jurors had received threatening phone calls and letters during the trial.”

“Threats?” Lieutenant Tucker stepped closer. “What kind of threats?”

Sarah coughed and closed her eyes. “They were told to vote guilty or else. The young woman, Alayna Brown, I think, was worried that whoever it was would go after her parents.”

“Aunt Sarah.” Melanie kept her voice soft, soothing. “You said another juror was threatened, too. Do you know who? Did she say?”

“No, dear.” The old woman opened her eyes and pierced Melanie with her gaze. “She said that her conscience was killing her. She was afraid that she'd helped to jail an innocent woman and keep a killer free. I think she was worried that whoever wanted you in prison so bad would come after you now that you were free.”

Melanie felt the horror sink into her soul. Would this never end? All she wanted was to try to put her life back together. Somehow, she had found herself in the middle of something dark.

Something deadly.

A footstep stopped outside the door. Melanie frowned, and craned her neck to see who was at the door. When she saw the empty doorway, she shook her head. Great. Now she was hearing things.

“Mrs. Swanson,” Lieutenant Tucker addressed her aunt gently, “I'm going to ask for someone to guard your door during your stay. I'll do my best to find out who's behind this. Please trust me.”

“Melly,” the old lady wheezed urgently.

“I'll protect her, Mrs. Swanson. With my life if necessary.” He leaned over and placed a hand over Sarah's. When he straightened, he took out his phone and motioned to Melanie that he was going to be right outside the door. She nodded her understanding. She tried to focus her attention on her aunt, but found herself listening in on the lieutenant's side of the conversation.

“Sir, I know we have limited resources. There needs to be someone here with the aunt. Yes, sir. I believe she's in danger.”

Melanie's throat constricted. Poor Aunt Sarah! She had never done anyone harm, and now she had been targeted. Melanie knew this whole mess was her fault.

“I can keep an eye on the niece. We just need cover for the aunt.”

Her face heated at the idea of spending so much time with the irritating lieutenant. She remembered his look of contempt back at the house. He didn't even care that she insisted she was innocent. Even if she had been guilty, she wasn't the same woman who went to jail four years ago. Not that Lieutenant Tucker would ever believe her.

“Melanie, child.” Aunt Sarah's whispery voice broke into her reverie.

“Yes, Aunt Sarah?”

“Sing for me. Please. It's been so long since I heard you sing.”

Melanie's breathing hitched. She had forgotten how much her aunt had loved to listen to her. Deliberately, she chose a French aria that she knew her aunt loved. As she sang, she allowed her eyes to close, losing herself in the music. When she opened them again, her gaze was caught by a pair of blue eyes. Lieutenant Tucker had returned, and was staring at her with his jaw dropped.