Silent Witness (3 page)

But he was going to do his best to try.

“Good morning.” The soft, wistful sadness in her tone made him feel as if someone had reached inside his chest and squeezed his heart. “I heard you were back in town.”

“I didn’t expect to see you this morning.”

She smiled sadly and shrugged. “Why would you?”

It was the words
not spoken
that filled the room and heightened the tension between them. The mild censure in her last question was understandably deserved. He’d left without a word and he had returned—still, without a word.

She stood up, stretching her arms and back like a cat after a summer nap, and stepped forward. “I suppose we should talk.” She nodded toward the tiny body covered with white sheets lying on the bed. “About Jeremy.”

“How long have you been here?” He moved toward the bed to check his patient’s monitors.

“All night.”

That surprised him and he turned to look at her. “Why? Doesn’t he have any family? Grandparents?”

“No. Kate told me that Dave lost his family in a car accident when he was a teen. Her father died of a heart attack a couple years back. Her mother’s alive but has dementia and is living in a nursing home in Poplar Bluff.”

“Aunts? Uncles?”

“My team will check it out but I don’t think so.”

“Poor little guy. As if autism wasn’t a big enough challenge for him.” He brushed his hand over the sleeping boy’s head and then turned his attention back to Liz.

“So, why did you stay? You have a guard right outside the door.”

“He’s afraid of uniforms.”

“What?”

“Jeremy.” She stretched again and rubbed her lower back as though trying to work out a kink. “Kate…that’s his mother…
was
his mother…” She bit her lower lip, frowned and looked across the bed at him. “Anyway, she told me once that Jeremy is terrified of people in uniforms. I thought the sight of the medical and police uniforms might send him over the top. I’ve met Jeremy a couple of times when Kate brought him with her to church. He might remember me. I thought I should stay close by to see if I could help when he wakes up.”

Adam gave her a closer look and noted for the first time the loose flowered blouse covering her uniform. Only the bottom of her holster peeked from beneath the edge. If the boy did wake up, what he’d see was a pretty lady and lots of flowers—not a cop.

A wave of respect washed over him. She’d grown up to be a caring, intelligent woman. But then, he’d always known she would because that’s what she’d always been. Most teenagers are self-serving and selfish until they find their place in the world. Lizzie was an exception. She was always loving, kind, trusting. It was the trusting part that made another wave of guilt wash over him.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when the boy arrived last night. I had an emergency in Poplar Bluff. But the hospital staff updated me by phone.”

“That’s okay. The staff sedated him almost immediately and he’s been sleeping ever since.” She gently brushed the boy’s hair off his forehead and then raised her eyes to his. “I was surprised to hear that you’ve moved back to town.”

“Why? This is my home.”

“Really?” She tilted her head and studied him. “It didn’t seem to stop you from leaving it the first chance you got.”

Ouch. There it was. The elephant in the room.

He recognized the challenge behind her words. She had a chip on her shoulder and she was daring him to address the issue or try to knock it off. He knew anything he said right now would open old wounds and change nothing, so he remained silent.

“I’m sorry,” Liz said. “That was mean.” She chewed on her bottom lip, something he remembered her doing when she was nervous or upset.

“Forget it.” He smiled at her and hurried to change the subject. “Right now, I’m filling a temporary consultant position in Poplar Bluff. It’s not that long a drive from here. They had a real need and I owed a friend a favor. But as soon as they hire a replacement, all my attention will be here. I have big plans for Country Corners.”

Liz grinned. “Really? You sound pretty excited. What kind of plans?”

For an instant, it felt like old times again.

When they were in high school, Liz had always been willing to listen and often offered sage advice beyond her years when he needed it. He thought he’d burst with his need to tell her about his plans for the community. His plans included her. He’d done his research before returning. He knew she was still single and not seeing anyone special. He was here to make amends, to right wrongs, to win her back.

One look into her steely, challenging gaze told him it was going to be more like
Mission: Impossible
than the uphill battle he had expected. But he was going to try.

“I’d like to tell you all about it. Maybe over coffee?” He hoped she’d still be able to read him, to sense his sincerity, at least.

Indecision and wariness flashed across her face. She opened her mouth to respond but he spoke first.

“But this isn’t a good time. Give me a rain check?”

She closed her mouth and just stared at him.

He nodded at the tiny body lying on the bed. “Right now, I’m only interested in what you can tell me about this boy.”

When she looked across the bed at him, there was a telltale glistening in her eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was his words or the child’s situation that caused her such pain. His gut twisted when he realized it was probably both.

“This little boy has lost everything and everyone,” Liz said. “He’s so young and vulnerable and…”

“Autistic?”

“Yes, autistic. Kate told me that he was making great progress with his verbal skills. And even though he still wasn’t a fan of eye contact or light touch, he would crawl into her lap and allow her to hug him or sit quietly while she rocked him.”

She blinked several times and her eyes hardened. “I need to get the guy who did this. I’m
going
to get this guy no matter what.”

Adam nodded his understanding and empathized with her. A person capable of destroying a family as though they were without value or worth did not belong on the streets.

“Was the boy a witness?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know. I think so, but I’m not sure. We found him hiding in the back of his mother’s closet beneath some folded blankets and clutching his teddy bear. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat and his clothes…” She took a deep breath. “His pajamas were splattered with…” She tried to shake the image out of her head and sighed heavily. “After we found him, we took a second hard look at the crime scene. Some of the smears could have been his footprints near his mother’s body and, again, in the kitchen by his father.”

Adam looked at the sleeping child and his heart constricted. It would be hard enough to help a small boy rid himself of the fear of monsters after the experience he’d had. An autistic boy would present a bigger challenge. Anger simmered right beneath the surface. In his profession, no matter how often he’d come in contact with the face of evil, it still never ceased to surprise him. “Did he say anything when you found him?”

Liz shook her head. “Sal and I found him. He took one look at our uniforms and got hysterical. Remembering what Kate had told me about uniforms, I slipped on one of his mother’s blouses. I told Sal to call the paramedics and to go into Dave Henderson’s closet and find shirts, hopefully large enough, for everyone to wear until we could get the child calmed down.

“But Jeremy continued to scream and thrash about so much I had to forcibly hold him down until the paramedics arrived so he wouldn’t hurt himself. I wrapped my arms around him and held him against me as tightly as I could. After a few moments, it seemed to calm him.”

Adam nodded. “You did the right thing. Many autistic children can’t tolerate light touch but crave deep pressure. Just like we swaddle infants in blankets to provide them with a sense of security, sometimes autistic children experience sensory overload and need swaddling as well to help them calm themselves.”

She washed a hand over her face and Adam realized just how exhausted she was.

He walked around the bed and stood beside her. He had to fight the urge to pull her into his arms and comfort her. But after what he’d done, the poor choices, the mistakes, he didn’t deserve her friendship or her forgiveness—yet. But that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. What he needed was time to prove he had changed and convince her that he was worth a second chance.

Instead, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You need to go home, Lizzie, and get some sleep. Doctor’s orders.” He grinned, trying to lighten the somber mood.

“I can’t. I have to get to the office. I’m sure the state boys have arrived by now. We have to form a task force and discuss investigation strategies.”

“Call your office on the way home. Delegate tasks to other people.” He clasped her forearms and gently pulled her up to face him. “I’ve heard you are a good sheriff, Lizzie Bradford. Rumor has it that you are a great sheriff. But an exhausted, dead-on-her-feet sheriff isn’t going to get the job done. Go home. Grab a couple of hours’ sleep. The state police will still be here when you wake up.”

“You’re right.” She smiled at him and there it was again, that bolt of sunshine hitting him in the face. Her smiles had always had that effect on him. They looked into each other’s eyes. Slowly, a tension, an awareness of past relationships, past hurts surfaced between them and he watched again as memories stole her smile away. She broke eye contact, glanced over her shoulder at the boy and said, “Please take good care of him, Dr. Morgan.”

She crossed the room and paused in the doorway. “And Adam…” When she had his attention, she continued. “Call me Liz. You can even call me Sheriff. Nobody calls me Lizzie.”

He arched an eyebrow. “That’s all I ever called you.”

“I know.” Her words held a sadness that almost broke his heart. “But not anymore.”

Then she slipped out of the room.

TWO

“S
al, can you come in here for a minute?” Liz placed her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk.

The wiry Italian strode in. His brown shoulder harness held his Glock in place. Muscular biceps puffed out the short sleeves of his black T-shirt. A thin gold necklace ringed his neck. He grinned, his teeth white and even, and it was all Liz could do not to laugh. He was a walking caricature of a mafioso wannabe—an Italian tough guy. He knew it and played it to the hilt for the ladies. She’d found herself immune to this particular part of his charm years ago.

Sal folded his wiry body onto one of the straight-back chairs in front of her desk and crossed an ankle on top of his knee.

“Never thought you’d be one of the missing-in-
action’s. Where you been? The spa?”

“I wish.” Liz ignored his lighthearted teasing. He’d been her right hand for over four years now and she didn’t know what she’d do without him. “Wait a minute. Does Country Corners even have a spa?”

“Sure does. I heard the Thompson pig farm offers mud baths at half price this week only and they’re selling fast.”

“That so?”

“Has to be true. I got it straight from Gertie Simpson’s mud-caked lips.”

Liz laughed out loud at the mental image of old maid Gertie Simpson covered with mud and thinking it was a beauty remedy.

“Okay, I admit that was a good one. Now, get serious and fill me in.” Liz sat down and pulled her wheeled chair closer to her desk. “I take it you met with the state boys.”

“Sure did. Detective Frank Davenport will be acting as liaison between our people and his men. They’ve agreed to handle the physical evidence—follow up with the state lab on the ballistic reports, prints and so on. They’re also investigating the Hendersons’ background prior to their move here.”

Liz nodded and continued listening.

“Darlene enlarged all of the crime scene photos. She gave copies to Davenport and posted the other set to our board in the conference room.”

Liz breathed a sigh of relief. Adam had been right. A couple hours of sleep hadn’t prevented progress from being made on the case.

“Anything helpful in the photos?”

Sal shrugged and took a sip of coffee from the cup he’d carried in with him. “Not yet. You know how that goes. You don’t know what is or isn’t helpful until you have more of an idea about what happened in the first place.”

“Thanks, Sal. I appreciate you coordinating things for me.”

“No problem.” He grinned at her like a kid who’d nabbed the top score on a school test and then continued updating her. “Our department’s handling the investigation of the Hendersons since their move here in January. I’m running a check to see if there are any business ties we should be looking into. Paul’s checking out Mrs. Henderson’s social calendar. He’s also interviewing neighbors to see if anybody saw anything—which is unlikely since the houses are so remote and secluded out there, but it’s worth a shot. Miller’s off this shift. I sent him home. I figure the guy’s kissing retirement. Don’t see any reason to ask him to work double shifts. Not yet, anyway.”

“Darlene?”

“She’s on a B and E call. I don’t know—home invasions, murders, dead drug dealers, breaking and entering. All of a sudden our quiet little town isn’t so quiet anymore.”

“Tell me about it.” Liz pulled a mug out of her top drawer and looked longingly at Sal’s coffee cup.

He laughed. “Want me to grab you a cup of coffee, boss?”

“I’ll get some in a minute. Want to catch up first.”

He leaned over and poured half of the contents of his cup into hers. “Here, that should hold you over.”

Liz grinned, leaned back in her chair and took a welcome sip of the hot liquid. “What would I do without you, Sal?”

“Just remember that when reviews roll around,” Sal quipped.

“I’m glad you sent Tom home. We don’t need two cops dead on their feet. I was at the hospital all night and had to grab a couple of z’s myself. My mind was becoming mush.”

“How’s the kid?”

“They had to sedate him. He hasn’t come out of it yet.”

“I still can’t believe there was a kid in the house and the killer missed him. I can’t believe
we
missed him the first go-round.”