So Henry's lie about the drowned brother evoked a deeply emotional response. Tears came to her eyes. She drew each of them to her and stroked their heads while murmuring condolences. "Lee me make it better. Don't think about your brother.
His little soul is in heaven."
Soon, however, their closeness began to have the programmed effect, it became erotic. She hugged them tighter.
"Don't worry, sweethearts," she whispered. "Before this night is over, you'll have a whole new outlook on water sports. Just leave everything to Ricki Sue."
She waded into the water, but when they slowed to follow, she held up a halting hand. "How come I'm the only one of this trio who's naked?"
Luther looked at Henry, who shrugged and began stripping, dropping his clothing on the muddy creek bank. Luther did likewise. Henry waded in first and joined Ricki Sue where she stood in water about knee deep.
"Sweet baby." She reached for him and fondled his sex, but it was unresponsive.
"Sorry," he said. "Guess you wore it plumb out back there at the motel. A little encouragement of a different sore would probably do the trick."
She laughed huskily and sank to her knees. "Say no more.
If that's what it takes . . ." The silt on the bottom of the creek was slippery and cool. The water felt delicious lapping against her skin. She smiled up at Henry and rubbed her breasts against his thighs.
She actually sensed the movement of air near her head and heard the sickening, melon-splitting sound before the pain reached her. Then it shot through her skull. She gasped. Whiskey surged up from her stomach and filled her mouth. It dribbled over her chin when she cried out. She fell heavily to her side, creating a splash.
before leaving the bedroom. "What made you decide to leave me the weapon?"
"I thought you might need it for protection.
"How kind of you." Propping himself on one crutch, he yanked a chair from beneath the table and shoved it toward her. "Sit down."
"John, if you'll only listen to"
"Sit down!" he thundered.
Watching him warily, she approached the chair and gingerly lowered herself into it. "Do you remember everything?"
"Everything," he said. "My life before I got amnesia, and everything that's happened since. John McGrath. Middle name, Leland, which happens to be my mother's maiden name.
Born the twenty-third of May, 1952, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Went to school there and graduated eighteen years later.
In 1979, I earned a doctorate in psychology."
"Psychology? You're a psychologist?"
For the meantime he bypassed that. "My dissertation was on Delayed Stress Syndrome, and I did a lot of clinical work at Bethesda. That's what brought me to the attention of the FBI, specifically Agent Jim Pepperdyne, who recruited me for his Hostage Rescue Team. We worked together frequently.
"Two years ago I left the Bureau and went to work for the U.S. Marshal's office." After a significant pause, he added, "I was kidnapped on the twelfth of July, 1994. But then you know that date, don't you?"
"John, I can explain."
"You sure as hell can, and you will. But you'd better take care of Kevin first."
The baby had begun to fret. John didn't want any distractions during this conversation. But even more than that, he didn't want the baby to be uncomfortable.
"He's wet. I'll go change him."
She stood and attempted to move past John, but he caught her arm. "Nice try, but no way. Change him here."
"On the kitchen table?"
"We won't be eating off it anymore. Change him here."
She spread Kevin's blanket on the table and removed the wet diaper. "The fresh ones are in the car."
"Go get them."
"Aren't you afraid I'll make a run for it?" she asked snidely.
"Not without Kevin. He stays with me. Hurry up." She glanced down at her child, then back at him. "Either you go get the diapers out of the car," he said, "or Kevin goes all nature!. I don't think it matters to him, and it sure as hell doesn't make any difference to me."
She let the kitchen door slam behind her this time.
He had been awake from the moment she'd left their bed.
He'd expected her to take off and implement stage two of her plan, whatever the hell that stage might be.
Her attempt to sneak out didn't surprise him. What did surprise him was the painful effect her clandestine leave-taking had on him. He was angry, but he also felt wounded.
Naturally, he wouldn't allow any personal considerations to cloud his judgment. The situation called for a pragmatic, unemotional, detached professionalism. That was his duty, and God knows he had shirked it over the last few weeks, beginning with taking an unreported detour and ending with making love to his prisoner no more than two hours ago.
Kendall returned with a bag of Huggies and rapidly put one on Kevin. Lifting him to her shoulder, she returned to the chair and sat down. "Well, Marshal McGrath, will I be confined to quarters and given only bread and water?"
"Don't smart-mouth me, Kendall. This isn't fun and games.
If you hadn't stolen my handcuffs, I'd use them to keep you in that chair. You must have taken the cuffs from me at the same time you relieved me of my weapon."
"I couldn't have you arriving at the hospital toting a pistol, could I?"
"No, I guess you couldn't. It would have prompted questions that you couldn't answer. So you kept the story simple?"
"I tried."
"When did you decide to tell them I was your husband? In the ambulance?"
''Actually no I didn't know what I was going to tell them.
When the doctor asked me who you were, the answer just popped out It was plausible. I had a newborn. We were traveling together. Our ages are compatible." She looked at him and shrugged, as if the lie's advantages were obvious.
''And I couldn't dispute it."
''That's right You couldn't dispute it."
"As my wife you exercised a lot of control."
"That was the general idea."
"What did you tell them about Marshal Fordham?"
"That she was your sister.)'
"How'd you convince them of that?"
"They just took my word for it."
"She was Hispanic "
"They didn't know that at the time."
"Oh. Right Their couldn't recover the car because of the flood."
"Which also worked to my advantage."
"Yeah, everything was going your way. Good thing Miss. Fordham was dead, huh?"
"That's a horrible thing to say!" she cried.
''Was she dead?"
"What?"
"Was she already dead when the car went into the creek?"
She turned her head away and stared at the far wall for a long moment He could tell that she was furious. Her jaw was working, and there were angry tears in her eyes when she turned back to face him. "Fuck you."
"You have, he replied with matching contempt. "Many times. " They glared at each other. "Did you let Rosie Fortham drown?"
She was silent.
"Answer me, damnit!, he shouted. "Was she already dead when"
"Yes! Yes. She died on impact. I'm certain the coroner's report will confirm that."
He wanted to believe her. It appeared that she was telling the truth. From a personal standpoint, he hoped she was. But the criminologist in him was mistrustful. She was a damn good liar.
"Why didn't you leave me in the car to drown?" he asked.
"You could have walked away. It might have been days before our bodies were discovered, miles downstream from where the accident occurred. It would have been even longer before we were identified. You could have completely disappeared in that amount of time, Kendall, and your trail would have grown stone cold. Why'd you pull me out?"
She licked at a tear that had rolled into the corner of her lips, although she no longer looked angry. These were tears of remorse. "You've slept with me, made love to me, and you have to ask me why I saved your life? Any life? Do you actually think I'm capable of walking away and letting an injured person die? Don't you know me better than that?"
He leaned over her. "I don't know you at all. You're a stranger to me, as much a stranger as when I walked into your front yard in Denver and saw you for the first time."
She shook her head, refuting everything he had said.
"You've told so many lies, Kendall, spun so many tales, I don't know what's truth and what's fiction."
"Kevin wants to nurse."
He jerked his head back. "What?"
The baby was gnawing at Kendall's breast and plucking at her blouse. It completely disarmed him. "Oh. Go ahead."
Short hours ago, he had made love to her. He had explored her body with his hands and lips. But he couldn't watch now as she opened her blouse and offered the hungry infant her breast. He felt as guilty as a teenager getting an erection in the confessional as he recounted his carnal sin to the priest.
It was damn near impossible to maintain a professional posture while watching her nurse her baby. Fortunately, he didn't have to, because Kendall stunned him with a question of her own.
"Who is Lisa?"
"What do you know about her?"
"You talk in your sleep. More than once you've mumbled something about her. Who is she? Your wife? Are you married?"
Her concern struck as funny, but his laughter was shore-lived. "You've kidnapped a federal officer, but you're worried about committing adultery?"
"Are you?"
"No."
"Then who is Lisa?"
"She's just . . . this woman." Kendall continued to stare at him, compelling him to explain. He gave her a thumbnail account of his and Lisa's relationship. "She left like that," he said, snapping his fingers. "And it didn't even put a dent in my emotions. No more than when I met her."
"She was just a warm body to sleep with."
He immediately went on the defensive. "Exactly. It was as hassle-free as any sexual relationship can be. Besides, it made no difference to you. I talked about her in my sleep, but that didn't stop you from fucking me, did it?"
"You're as much to blame as I for . . . that."
"Hardly. I didn't ask to become involved in your life. In fact, I raised hell with Jim for turning you over to me. If I'd had my way, I would have washed my hands of you in Dallas.
Why did you involve me, Kendall?"
"I had no choice, remember?" she shot back. "I tried sneaking out of the hospital, but you caught me and insisted on coming along."
"You had countless opportunities to ditch me before we got here. Every time I used the men's room, for instance. Why didn't you just drive away?"
"Because the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to keep you with us. Even though you were on crutches, you provided Kevin and me some protection."
"I wouldn't even touch him, wouldn't go near him."
"But I didn't realize that until we were here." She looked at him thoughtfully. "I've been curious about that. Why did you take such an instant dislike to Kevin?"
"Not to Kevin in particular. To all babies."
"Why?"
He gave a brusque shake of his head, indicating that the subject was off-limits. "Where are we, exactly? What's the name of that town?"
"Morton. We're in eastern Tennessee, near the North Carolina state line." She told him the history of the house. "No one except Grandmother and I ever came here. I knew this would be a good place to hide." She looked up at him and added earnestly, "John, I couldn't go back to South Carolina and testify against Gibb and Matt."
"The government needs your testimony to convict them."
She contradicted him with a strong shake of her head. "By now I'm sure Pepperdyne has found some files in my Denver apartment. I had a year to compile them. They're comprehensive. They contain a lot of incriminating information about key members of the Brotherhood. If the government can't convict them of murder, there are other charges they can get them on. Just like when they nabbed Al Capone on tax evasion.
"I witnessed what they did, John, and there aren't words to describe the horror of it. Hours before he was executed, spoke with Michael Li. He was a bright, gentle, mannerly | young man. When I think of the terror and agony they put | him through . . ." |
She lowered her head and gazed sadly into near space. Then she looked up at him again. "They've cost me everything, I John. Thanks to them I became a fugitive, a criminal in my own right. I can never practice law again. And I was good," |
she stressed. Tears flowed from her eyes. "I believed in what I I was doing. I wanted to help people=, wanted to make a difference. They robbed me of the opportunity.
"Believe me, I want more than anyone. to put these monsters behind bars for the rest of their lives. ]I'm willing to do my part as a good citizen, but I'm not willing to die for the cause."'
She paused for emphasis and hugged her baby closer. "I don't want Kevin to grow up an orphan as I did. And if I go anywhere near Matt and Gibb, they'll find a way to kill me, and it will be a brutal death."
John understood. Her responses were perfectly normal.
"They can't hurt you, Kendall," he said softly. "They're in jail".
"Not any longer. They escaped three days ago."
John's first reaction was astonishment, then suspicion. Was she lying? "How do you know?"
"Rick) Sue told me when I called her."
"When?"
"Today."
"That's why you were so upset when you got back from town?"
