MIND READER (40 page)

Caron nodded to let Ina know she’d understood, then moved back to where Parker and Sandy had gathered.

Her heart pounded a hundred beats a minute. “She knows we’re here. He’s in the kitchen.”

Parker checked the Colt’s chamber. “You take the front,
I’ll take the back.”

Sandy nodded. “Right.”

“You’re going to trust him?” Caron didn’t want to say it, but this was Parker.
Parker!

What if Sandy and Decker were working together? What
if—?

“He didn’t kill her, Caron. Sandy brought me in on this
to see to it you remained safe, and he told us about the leash
so that we
could
find Misty.”

Sandy looked straight into her eyes for the first time since
all of this had started. “I didn’t do it, Caron. I was at the
camp. We argued, and I slapped her—that’s what Misty saw—but I did not kill Linda. I loved her. I’ve al
ways loved her.”

“
You
left the message on my door.”

“Yes. Linda asked for time, so I didn’t file the report. Then you came back. I knew Linda. I knew she’d do the
right thing and turn Misty loose. She didn’t know about the
kidnapping until after it happened. I swear it.”

The shield between them melted, and Caron sensed his feelings in a rush, sensed that he was only telling her the
truth. “You were protecting her.”

“Yes.” He rubbed his ruddy jaw. “She needed time. And
you were closing in too fast.” He held up a hand. “I wrote the message, but I’d never have hurt you. I asked Parker to help you to keep you safe. I swear to God, I just
wanted to slow you down.”

“Where’d you get the blood?” Parker asked.

“Charity Hospital. I lifted a tube on its way to the lab.” Sandy looked down at his shoes. “It’s all in my report. A
full confession of everything is on my desk. As soon as this
is over I’m turning myself in.”

“We’d better go,” Parker said, looking guilty as hell.

Sandy had betrayed her. Worse, he’d betrayed himself.
He’d go on paying during the lifetime he’d spend in prison.

Caron stood at the edge of the drive and watched them split up, Parker moving toward the back door, Sandy to
ward the front.

Moments later, she heard the back door split and give way. She started toward the back of the house. Before she reached the corner, the front door banged open.

Scuffling sounds had her hurrying her steps, but at the back door she stopped abruptly. It hung from one hinge.

Parker had Decker pinned in a chair at the kitchen ta
ble. A plate of food was in front of him.

Caron walked inside. Parker was no worse for wear. Sandy came through from the front, Ina following him.

“Are you okay?” Caron asked her.

She smiled, bobbing her purple-turbaned head and ad
justing her pink robe. “Fine, child. Just fine.”

Decker glared at Sandy. “She was a tramp. You loved a tramp, Sanders. Keith was loaded. He gave her a ticket out. But do you think she did anything for me? Nothing. She gave me nothing but a hard time. And when I asked her for help, she refused. ‘Keith’s lost everything,’ she said. But she was lying. I knew she was lying, and I
made her pay.”

Nauseous, Caron walked outside and inhaled great gulps
of clean air. Too much, too fast. Too much to absorb.

Tires screeched to a halt on the street. She saw the red lights atop the car, heard the radio static coming from in
side it, and sat down.

Leaning back against a magnolia, she looked up through
its naked limbs. The sky was getting lighter. Dawn had
broken. She closed her eyes and thought about Misty, about her students at Midtown, and then about Sarah.

“I’m sorry,” Caron said to the woman she’d failed. “I’m not perfect.” Plucking a blade of grass between her finger and thumb, Caron sighed. “I never said I was perfect. And I haven’t forgotten. But I can’t go on hating myself for
making a mistake.”

“Caron?”

Parker stood in front of her, his legs spread, his hands dangling at his sides. She looked up at him and saw deso
lation in his eyes.

“You’re crying.” He dropped down to sit beside her. “I
heard you mention Sarah.”

She heard the catch in his voice, felt the tremble in his
hand on hers, and a dark shiver coursed up her spine. She’d
been right, after all. “How do you know her name?”

He didn’t answer.

“I never told you her name, Parker.”

Parker was dying a thousand deaths. He loved Caron. Loved her more than he’d thought he could ever love any woman, especially after he’d seen in Harlan what loving could cost a man. And now he was going to lose her.

“Answer me.”

She tried to free her hand. He held on for dear life, will
ing her to feel all the love he had for her. He’d wanted to tell
her privately—he’d started to tell her twice—but the time
had come now.

“I knew Sarah for years.”

“What?” She tried to scramble to her feet.

“No, don’t go. Let me explain. Please, don’t run
out on me.”

The words slapped her like a splash of cold water. She
had
been going to run. She dropped back down onto the grass.

“Her husband, Harlan, and I were partners. We started the business right after college. I was best man at their
wedding.”

Parker wanted to see how she was taking this, but didn’t
dare to look at her. If he did, he knew he’d never get
through the telling. “I went with Harlan to the morgue that
night—to identify Sarah’s body. When you and I went
there, you asked what woman I was seeing—”

“And you told me she was someone special. She was the
reason you got involved,” Caron said. “I remember when we first met, I sensed someone you loved had been ab
ducted.”

“That’s true.” He forced himself to meet her gaze. “But
that isn’t why I got involved.”

She frowned. She could stop him now. She knew he’d torched the building Sarah had died in, but Parker needed
this; his conscience needed soothing.

“For a year, I’ve been on a case. Trying to prove a
woman committed fraud. Harlan had a sixth sense about people. He was sure this woman was guilty. And he was sure that her interference had cost Sarah her life.”

Parker sighed. “I wasn’t sure. Not at first. But the longer I watched her, the more convinced I became...for a while. Then I got to know her. And the more I learned about her, the more certain I became that she wasn’t a fraud.”

He looked at Caron.

“You’re talking about me? You thought I was the fraud?
You— Oh, no. Not you, too. Parker, not you, too!”

“Please, just listen. Please, Caron.”

“I don’t want to hear this.” She cupped her hands over her ears. “I don’t want to hear this!”

“I learned that you weren’t a fraud. I learned that you’re warm and loving and beautiful. That you’d never do any
thing to hurt anyone.”

He hated the hurt he saw in her, the way she clenched her
hand into a fist and pressed it against her chest.

“Caron, please...
 
I watched you in Midtown. I never saw
any sign that you were psychic. If you’d been me, what
would you have thought?”

She stilled. Stood so still that it frightened him. He wanted to reach for her, to beg for forgiveness, to do whatever he
had to do to get them through this together. “Scream at me,
Caron. Hit me. Do anything you need
to do to get rid of the hurt. Just don’t leave me.”

“You said,” she began, then paused and swallowed. “You said that you didn’t believe it. Harlan did. Why didn’t he investigate?”

Parker hated telling her this most of all. He knew Caron. She’d feel responsible, which was why, he imagined,
Sanders hadn’t told her before now.

But for this truth, too, the time had come. “Harlan
called me one morning,” Parker said, feeling no desire to
tell her that Harlan had called last Christmas. “He was reaching out for help, only I didn’t realize it. He loved
Sarah very much. I thought the things he was saying were part of the normal grieving process. I thought it was the
grief, Caron. I never thought...”

The last of the police cars pulled away from the curb. Guilt swirling in his stomach, Parker pressed their linked hands against his mouth. “Harlan committed suicide that
day.”

She moved her hand to his face. Tears coursed down her
cheeks. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I know that now. But I felt it was then. That’s why I
starting checking on you. That’s why—”

“I understand. It hurts, Parker, and I won’t lie and say
it doesn’t. But you didn’t know me. All you knew was that your partner had lost his wife—a woman you loved. And
then you lost your partner.” Caron gave him a watery
smile. “You didn’t want anyone else to lose.”

A lump of emotion lodged in his throat. “You forgive
me?”

“I’m not Peggy Shores.” She sniffled and stroked his jaw. “I love you.”

He pulled her into his arms, planted fast and furious
kisses on her lips, her eyes, on the tears on her cheeks.

“Ahem.”

They both looked toward the sound and saw Mr. Mud Boots, who lived around the corner. “Ina says you two should come inside. She’s got breakfast ready.”

Her arms wrapped around Parker’s neck, Caron cocked
her head. “Are you Mr. Klein?”

“Sure am.” He lifted a bushy gray brow. “Jasper.” He
scratched his head. “My wife don’t know you two were the ones necking in the car out front of the house, though. And
I told Ina not to tell her.” He winked and walked back to
ward the house. “That’ll be our secret.”

Caron smiled and predicted, “He’ll tell her.”

“Yep.”

“Parker,” she said, rubbing that darling curl at his ear around her finger. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh?” He sounded wary.

“We make a good team.”

“Oh, no. No more partners for me, Caron.”

“Why not?” She gave the curl an indignant little flip.
“We solved the case.”

“Yeah, we did.” He dropped a kiss on the tip of her
nose. “But I don’t want you to be my partner.”

Her heart shattered. He didn’t love her. He really didn’t
love her.

“I want you to be my wife.”

She snapped her head up. “You do?”

He nodded.

Her spirit soared. She bit the smile from her lip. “I don’t know about marriage, Parker. You bust a lot of doors.”

“Only when they’re locked.”

“Closed,” she said. “My bedroom door was closed, not
locked.”

“Okay, closed.” He gave her a sheepish look that was totally fake. “But you were on the other side of it.”

“True.” She nipped at his chin. “Still, you’re awfully
impulsive.”

“Impulsive?” He looked genuinely surprised. “Me?”

“You.” He was darling. So very darling. “Didn’t you
charge over the night Sandy left that message on my door?”

“You were in danger. What would you have me do?”

“You forgot your shirt.”

“Geez, Caron.” He raked his hand through his hair,
stopped midway, and slid her a suspicious look. “What are
you doing?”

She laughed. “I’m giving you time, you big oaf, to remember the one thing you’ve forgotten to say to me that you’d better say soon or you’ll be breaking my heart.”

He cast her a blank look.

She rolled her gaze heavenward. “Tell me you love me, Parker.”

He shrugged. “Of course I love you.
 
Would I want to marry a woman I don’t love?”
 
He frowned.
 
“Are you practicing faking being an airhead.”

“You’d better take that back–now.” She stood and dusted the grass from her rear.

“What did I do wrong now?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re tight-jawed.”

  
“Think airhead.
 
Of course I’m tight-jawed.” She kept walking.