Even though his head had told him repeatedly to prepare for the worst, his heart had insisted on keeping a tiny flare of hope alight.
Now he knew she was alive and he was supposed to leave it at that? His lips tightened and his jaw clenched.
I don’t think so.
* * *
Beth Wade stared at the stack of papers in front of her with a mingled feeling of tiredness and despair. The deadline to have this paperwork completed was looming, but she’d hardly slept and her brain was refusing to cooperate. She thought briefly of her old job at E. Powell Law in Stillwater. Back then she’d have flown through a routine task like this...
Those days were gone. This was Casper, not Stillwater. She was no longer a rising star in a prestigious law firm, dealing with clients and grappling with difficult cases. She worked from home for an hourly rate and, if she didn’t get started, she wouldn’t get paid.
The knock on the door shook her out of her weariness. Twisting her hands together in her lap, she turned her head toward the sound. No one ever knocked on her door...
Cautiously, she rose from the kitchen table and walked silently down the hall. Maybe she could ignore it? Whoever it was would assume she was out and go away.
“Ms. Wade? My name is Laurie Delaney.” The voice was pleasant and confident and... Delaney? “I’m an officer with the Stillwater Police.”
With her mind spinning, Beth opened the door.
Her visitor smiled. “I’m also Vincente Delaney’s sister-in-law.” She said it as if it wasn’t an earth-shattering statement. As if, even though Vincente was always at the back of Beth’s mind, hearing his name spoken out loud wouldn’t make her go weak at the knees.
Beth waved aside the badge Detective Laurie Delaney held out. “I’m not questioning that you are who you say you are. I’m just...”
“Bemused?” Laurie supplied helpfully.
Bemused was an understatement. Stunned would be a more accurate summary of how Beth was feeling. The woman standing on her doorstep was a police officer, and she was Vincente’s sister-in-law. That was a hell of a chunk of information to assimilate on any day. Midmorning on a Monday, after a sleepless night? It was taking a while to process the information. Realizing they were still standing by the open door, she gestured for Laurie to come into the house.
She had known when she left Stillwater that she would miss Vincente, but she had never anticipated the depth of her longing for him. The feeling of loss was like a shard of glass lodged permanently in her heart. Even so, she couldn’t succumb to her desire to ask Laurie questions about him. Just hearing his name had intensified her craving for him, ratcheting the ever-present pain up to a level where it was almost unbearable.
Beth hadn’t left Stillwater to get away from Vincente. She had left because her life was in danger, and, if she’d stayed, she’d risk exposing him to the same harm. The anonymous person who was threatening her had made that clear.
No police. Whoever had sent the photographs and newspaper reports had included that chilling warning in the accompanying letter. But Laurie wasn’t here because Beth had contacted her. And no matter how scared she might be of that letter writer, Beth could hardly slam the door in a police officer’s face.
Once they were inside the narrow hall, a furry black-and-white shape trundled up to them, almost knocking Laurie off her feet. Beth hauled the wriggling, tail-wagging figure away from her visitor. “Sorry. He still hasn’t got the message that he’s meant to be a guard dog.”
Laurie, who was clearly used to dogs, squatted and clicked her fingers. “He’s beautiful. What’s his name?”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Melon. He’s a border collie. His previous owner named him. He thought it was funny.”
“Sorry. I don’t get it.” Laurie looked confused.
“Melon-collie. Melancholy. They sound alike. It’s meant to be a joke.” Beth rolled her eyes. “I always have to explain it.”
Laurie laughed. “I get it now. Melancholy? He doesn’t suit his name.”
Since Melon was lying on his back, with his tongue lolling as he waved his paws in the air, he seemed to be doing all he could to prove her statement correct.
“Despite appearances, he actually has a very good sense of who he should let into the house and who he should be wary of. He was trained as a search and rescue dog, but he injured his paw and needed some time out of action. When he was well again, his owner had a new K-9 partner. Luckily, it was around the time I was looking for a guard dog,” Beth said. “I decided I needed one, since I’m living on my own with—” she bit her lip, annoyed at the near slipup “—no one else around.”
“You can never be too careful,” Laurie agreed.
Leading Laurie through to the kitchen at the rear of the house, Beth let Melon out into the yard before holding up the coffeepot. “I was just about to take a break from work.”
It wasn’t true, of course. Although the kitchen table was littered with papers and her laptop was still open, to say that she had been working would be stretching a point. She had been trying to get her brain in gear before she began to review the client evidence she had been sent.
If she was honest, she might have also been indulging in her regular pastime of daydreaming about Vincente. About what life might have been like if only she hadn’t had to leave. About how she was ever going to get rid of the gnawing, yearning ache that came with the knowledge that she would never see or hear from him again.
Laurie didn’t need to know the details of her daily struggle. And caffeine might be what Beth needed to help wake her sluggish brain cells.
“Coffee would be good.” Laurie took a seat at the table.
“Did Vincente send you?” Even as she asked the question, Beth realized how foolish it was. If Vincente knew where she was, he would never send someone else in his place. He would be here himself, filling this room with his presence. With his dangerous masculinity. The thought sent a thrill of remembered longing down her spine.
“Vincente has no idea I’m here. And I won’t tell him where you live.” Laurie’s tone was reassuring, the words confirming what Beth had just been thinking. “This is actually an official visit, but it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
Beth carried the coffee over to the table and took a seat opposite Laurie. “Now I’m intrigued.”
“It’s an intriguing story, and not a pleasant one. You may have heard about it if you’ve been following the news from Stillwater. Have you heard of the Red Rose Killer?”
“Goodness, yes.” Beth had hardly been able to believe what she had been hearing when she had visited the grocery store and overheard a conversation about what had been happening in her hometown. Although Stillwater was a three-hour drive from Casper, the story of the murders had been gruesome and newsworthy. “I don’t know all the details, but I knew Grant Becker. Was it true? I couldn’t believe it when I heard someone saying he was responsible for killing all those women.”
Laurie’s expression was grave as she nodded. “I was a newcomer in Stillwater at the time, but I know how it rocked the whole community. I was working undercover on another job when I found out that Carla Bryan, who everyone thought had died in an accident, had actually been murdered. Carla was my cousin. Once I started investigating, it turned out that Grant had killed at least six other women who had the same physical characteristics as Carla. We’re saying at least six because the investigation is still ongoing.” She took a sip of her coffee. “It’s the reason I’m here.”
Startled, Beth raised her brows. “It is?”
“You left Stillwater very abruptly, and you have the same physical features as the women Grant Becker killed,” Laurie said.