Package Deal (75 page)

“
What
therapist
?”
Rex
asked.

“Why d
o you have to talk with her? I don’t want Cecelia mixed up in this—and I will not allow her to be
question
ed
again
.
It was hard enough
before,
after she was hit by the car.
” She motioned to Will.
“
Detective Park
saw that,
when
he and
the woman police officer
tried to
talk to her
.
And
s
he
was
very upset
,
seeing
Carlton again.
”

“We
may not
need to
talk to
her.
Her
therapist
’s evaluation may
be all we need
as
evidence against this man, although the DA will be the final judge
of
that.”
Detective
Mahoney
handed her another tissue. “We don’t want to ma
ke things harder for you. You’
ve been through a lot.”
He handed her his card. “Why don’t you have the the
rapist call me?
”

Amanda nodded.

Detective Park
rose. “W
hat do you think made this man pull a knife on you?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know he was in the building
until he came into my office
.
Ian
and I
thought
we
were the only
ones
here
.”

“Ian?”
Rex
Mahoney
asked.

“Ian Berriman. He was giving a make-up
exam to a student
—
in
the h
istory d
epartment. The girls stay
ed in his office after—after—”
She wiped her eyes again and
looked at
the
two detectives
.
“
Carlton
wasn’t making
much
sense when he
was
talking to me
.”
She blew her nose
. “We used to sh
are
what is now my
office—
during the renovation
.
I never imagined my daughter would
ever
be in danger from a colleague
of mine
.
”
She shivered at the thought.

Detective Park
wrote notes
.

“I think we’re done here.”
The other
detective
stood.
“
Your chairman said Professor Berriman was one of the first people on the scene after
Professor
Dunbar was stabbed.”

She nodded.
“He came
in
after the girls went to his office.”

“Where can we find him?”

“Just turn left
when you leave
. His d
epartment is
down the hall
on the right
. Would you like me to call him,
to let him know you are coming?”

Detective Park
walked to the door of the conference roo
m. “That won’t be necessary. We’
ll
find him
. Thank you, Professor Gardner. We’ll call you if we have any more questions.”

“
I’d prefer that you call me here rather than at home
.”

“We can do that,”
Rex
replied.

“One more thing,”
Will
said. “You mentioned girls. You have two daughters?”

“No. Cece’s best friend was with her when she came into the office.”

“Her name is?”

“Samantha
Olson. Do you need to talk with her
or her parents
?”

He
nodded. “We’d like to do that.”

Amanda nodded and
shook hands with the
detective
s
after giving them
Joan’s
address
and phone number
,
and they departed.

Beatrice
entered the room and sat down next to
her
.

“
Cecelia
’
s
in my office—writing notes on my
computer
.”

“Oh,
Beatrice
. Do you think you should let
her
do that?”

“
She’
s
fine, and so sweet.Cecelia keeps
insisting
it was
n’t
you or
Marcus who broke my Will. She’
s told me at least twice that I shouldn’t be mad at anyone except Carl. I gave her a hug and told her Will w
as in the a
rt hospital and
he’ll
be coming back good as new.”

Amanda smiled. “She was worried
about that
. She knows how much you like that sculpture. I need to get her home. Is Joan outside?”

“
No. But
she
wants
you
to
call her with an update on
Marc’s
condition
.
I hope I got all your papers back where they were supposed to be
from the other day,
the ones near the filing cabinet.
”

“Yes, thank you for that.”
Amanda rose and walked
in
to
Beatrice
’s office, where Cecelia
was
using two fingers to
cover and uncover
the
flashing lights
on
the
oversized printer as it hummed through a job
.
“Thanks,
Beatrice
. The detectives took longer than I thought they would.”

“
Cecelia
didn’t mind, did you?”

Her daughter
looked up
and grinned
.

“
Mom,
I want
a
computer
like Beatrice’s
when I
go to college
.”

“Of course, honey,” she replied through her tears.
As long as she was safe, Cece could ask for the world
. Somehow, Amanda knew
she
’d
figure out how to get it for her.

Chapter
21

That night,
Cecelia’s
nightmares
returned
. Amanda
carri
ed
her daughter
from
her room and
deposited her
into her bed. By morning, Skipper had joined them at the bottom of the bed.

After breakfast, Amanda called the school and told them
Cecelia
would not be in that day
.
She pulled her onto her lap and hugged her tightly.“Tell me about your nightmare, honey.”

She shook her head.
“
No,
I don’t want to. It makes me sad to think about it.”

“What makes you
so
sad?”

Cecelia’s chin
quiver
ed
. “
That
bad
man.
He hurt you and he hurt
Marcus
,
a
nd now
Marcus is
in the hospital. I’
m not supposed to like him
—Sam’s mother says so—
but I do
.
I didn’t want him to be hurt.” She lowered her face
,
hiding her eyes.
“He came back
—that
nast
y man came back
. I
n
ever
want
ed
to see him
again
.”

“Cecelia,
he can’t hurt us anymore. And Marcus
will get
better.
”

Her daughter threaded her small fingers into Amanda’s hands.
“
You
said he didn’t mean to
—
but
he
broke
your
necklace
—the one
you
got from
your
grandma
ma
.
Your
most
favorite
st
necklace
.
”
She touched her mother’s neck where the knife had cut her.

“
But my necklace is being fixed, and everything is going to be fine.
”

Cecelia
shook her head. “
You
said
Marcus
was
trying to protect
you
,
that he’
s a hero.” She looked up
and her chin quivered
.
“
I didn’t want him to be hurt. He was
always
nice to me—except he did
that
icky
thing with you. That’s
why I don’t want him to come to our house anymore.”
She gazed deeply into her mother’s eyes before looking away.

Amanda rocked her.
Is that what this is all about? That morning?

Cecelia put her arms around Amanda’s neck and hugged her tight as she continued to talk.
“Sam’s mom sa
ys
it’s wrong, and that’s
why she’
s so mean to Brittany.
I do
n’t want her to be mean to
you
.
” Cecelia
wriggled off her lap and sat next to her
.“Sam’s mom said it’s wrong.
I know you
said it wasn’t, but
Marcus
made
you
cry, and I don’t
like it when
you’re
sad.
” She wiped her eyes.

“
I’m so
mixed up. Some days I like him and other days I don’
t
.
And i
f he doesn’t come over, maybe
you
won’t be sad
anymore
.
Except I do still like him.
” Cecelia
looked away
from her
and sighed
.

Men do make us girls have so many mixed up feelings.
Amanda
hugg
ed
her daughter
again
. “Let me rock you, sweetheart. I want you to know something.
Marcus doesn’t make me sad. He makes me happy.
I love him and he loves me.
”

“But you were crying in your office
when
he was there.”

“I was sad because you
had stopped liking
him.”
She brushed a hand through Cecelia’s curls. “Do you remember when you asked Marcus if he loved me—when the two of you were reading on the porch?”

Cecelia nodded. “
He wouldn’t
tell me he loved you, and he’s supposed to do that.”

“Honey,
I think he was too shocked to answer
you—he wasn’t expecting you to ask him like that
.
And he and I hadn’t figured out how to tell you.
” She paused, remembering those conversations Marcus had initiated so many times. “Do you remember after your
accident,
when
Marcus read to
you
and
you told me you
loved that he came to see
you
in the hospital
?
”

Cece nodded, one finger tracing a pattern of figure eights along Amanda’s arm.

Her eyes filled. “The two of you had such a lovely relationship. Marcus and I—we wanted to talk to you about
all
this—together
, the two of us
.”

Cecelia looked up at her. “Are you sad again, Mom?”

She shook her head. “No, honey. I’m just so happy that Marcus loves you.
Loves both of us.
He does, you know.”

Her daughter’s lips pursed
as she sat in Amanda’s lap
. “It’s nice when he cheers at my soccer games, and when he reads stories with me,” she admitted. Then she frowned.
“
But
h
e
didn’t say he
loves
you
and he should have,
’
cause
you
said
you love
him. And both people are supposed to love each other, not just one.
Like married people do. E
ven when they aren’t married—l
ike
you
said my dad told
you
,
before
you
made me.
”

“But
I’m
the
one who said your dad loved
me
.”

“That’s because
he
died
. He can’t tell
you
that now.”

“
I
s it okay for me to tell you that Marcus loves me?”

Cecelia shook her head
, her pigtails bouncing
. “
No.
That’s not good enough—’
cause he’s
alive
.
He has to say it
himself
.
You
could just
be
wishing
he would say
it.”
Cece
lia
stood
up,
went over to the
window and picked up her favorite plastic pony
,
then
put it back on the table
. “I
would like it better if
you
were married
and
you
loved each other,
if you want to
do that icky stuff
.
”
She sighed. “
Right after we got here,
Sam
even
thought
Marcus
was my dad.”

Amanda’s heart clutched.
“Would you like him to be your dad
, sweetheart
?”

“I used to think that would be nice—when we were friends.
He
has blue eyes
just
like me
.
”
Cecelia picked up two dolls and held them close together.“
And he saved
you
from that
bad
man. But
Marcus
almost died.And he’s going to be in the hospital a long time.
That’s why
I gave him
Eeyore
to keep him company.”She
picked up the pony and moved
it
around the table before
look
ing
at
her mother again
. “I don’t know
if
he’ll
tell me
he loves
you
—maybe
he’ll never say it
.
And if he doesn’t, he
should
n’t be with us
,
even if I do like him
.
”

Amanda nodded. “I understand.” She rose. “I think it’s time we
left—to
see Marcus at the hospital.”

“Okay.” When they climbed in
the car, Amanda turned to
her daughter
.

“Honey, Marcus would
love for you to
read to him—because he kno
ws how it helped you get better
.”

Cecelia
looked
out the
car
window as they drove to the hospital.

“I
told him about my newest book and I said I would read it to him.” She
sighed, then
nodded firmly. “
It’
s sort of like I promised him
.
I will.
”

Amanda smiled. “
Good girl.”

Later in the week,
Marcus called one of his colleagues.

“
Troy, could you b
ri
ng
me
my briefcase? It’s in my office.
I have papers in there that need to go back to the students. Just because I
’m
stuck here
doesn’t mean I can’t
at least
get those papers graded.”

That evening,
while he sat in bed,
he worked his way through the papers, knowing Troy was coming back the next day to deliver them to his class.
As he finished each paper, he slid it into the outer section. Halfway through the stack, the papers no longer fit.
He pulled them out and shoved his hand into the briefcase.

“What’
s this?”He pulled out his letter to Cecelia. “No wonder I never heard from her.” The envelope was wrinkled, but still readable.

A
nurse came in
to his room
and
w
agg
ed
her finger at him as she pointed to the time.

“Could you
put this in the mail slot
for me? It’s important.”

“
I’ll do that
.” She took the letter from
him. “I
t’s light
s out,
Professor Dunbar
. You’
ve been a bad patient
today
. What am I going to do with you—
when you
keep
staying up so late?”

He
rais
ed his eyebrows
and grinned
. “You wouldn’t have it any other way. What else w
ould you have to complain about?
”

She laughed and flipped off the lights before he could comment further.

Four
days
after w
hat Marcus was now calling the “
Fight at the B
E C
orral”
—for Buckley English d
epar
t
ment—Cecelia
walk
ed into his room
again
with several books in her arms. She pulled up a chair next to his bed and sat on it, waiting for him to get off the phone with his brother.