The Witness

Chapter Twelve

MARIE HUGGED MANDY, trying to share a final time with a touch just how much her sister meant to her.

“I know,” Mandy whispered.

Marie felt Connor’s hand rest against her shoulder and reluctantly released her sister. “Good-bye, Mandy.” Tracey had already left with Marsh, her farewell the hardest thing Marie had ever watched. She memorized her sister’s face one last time and let herself step back.

“Good-bye, Marie,” Mandy whispered.

Connor’s hand urged her to step away. She lost sight of Mandy as they cleared the doorway and stepped outside, aware the chief had been moving across the room to join her sister.

“Marie?”

“Give me a minute,” she choked out, fighting the tears wanting to consume her. She feared to the depth of her soul that she had just seen Mandy for the last time.

“She’ll be okay. The chief is going to make sure of that.”

The confidence Connor had in that man came through, and Marie let herself nod, let herself hope.

“We’ve got to be going. Anyone watching you and Tracey will be expecting the date to be over and you to be home soon. It’s best not to disappoint them.”

“Yes.”

She walked with Connor to his car, and when he unlocked and held the door for her, she slipped inside.

Marie cried for most of the trip back to town. Connor didn’t know what to say that might help the situation so he didn’t try to talk about it, just held Marie’s hand to remind her she wasn’t alone in this.

He’d sat with Marsh and the chief in the great room while the sisters talked, and when the voices had raised, they’d heard enough to know the stress going on in the next room. The night had gone better than he expected in some ways and been so much harder in others. They hadn’t been distant sisters in the early years; they had been the kind of sisters living in each other’s space and doing it with shared love, together in the best way for sisters to be. Having Amy vanish from that had torn open so much of their lives. Having her return as she had-it hadn’t ended the hurt; it had just opened a fresh new chapter.

“The apartment is the other way,” Marie whispered. “And I don’t think I can take another surprise tonight.”

“I know.” He turned east on Elm Drive. “You need a few minutes before you see Tracey, I think, and a few more minutes to catch your breath. We’re going by my place.”

He waited for a protest, for a problem with the intimacy of that so late in the night, but Marie didn’t bother and part of him relaxed inside. She trusted him. In the midst of all this madness and chaos, Marie was trusting him without thinking about it first. That helped.

“When did you know?”

He swallowed before he answered, not sure how she’d handle the truth. “I recognized her photo-the one you have on your desk. She was in town three years ago keeping a quiet watch on you and Tracey, making sure you were okay and none of this trouble she was in had come to brush against either of you.”

“Three years ago? She never got in touch, never wrote, never called, never said hello.”

“She was honestly afraid you would be dead if she did come forward or be put in the situation where you had no recourse but to spend your life on the run as she had. She didn’t want that, Marie. Not for you and Tracey. And I can’t say I would have decided it differently than she did given the situation then.”

“The oldest sister, protecting the rest of us.”

“Yes.”

“I wish she hadn’t been so noble. Eight years of this-the best years of her life, all gone in an instant of madness.”

“There’s still time to recover some of it.”

“Who did she call when she came back to town this time?”

“The chief. We were expecting her to get in touch with Sam, but there was some reason to think Sam might already have guys watching him. This worked out the cleanest, I think.”

“How did she meet Granger?”

“That’s an answer for another night. Please.”

She nodded.

He could see the sharp fatigue overwhelming her, the sadness so deep it made the tears flow without her thinking of them. She wiped them away again, and he wished for a box of Kleenex in the car. She’d eaten a little from the buffet of food set out tonight, to give Amy a reason to eat, to give Tracey something to do with her hands, trying to mother the sisters a bit, and Connor understood it. Marie needed to be able to help, and there was so little she could do.

“Do you know where Mandy is staying tonight?”

“Granger will try and talk her into staying right where she’s at, at least until she’s had a few hours of sleep, but I doubt she’ll agree. She hasn’t told him what name she’s using now, where she’s been staying. And after so many emotions tonight I guess I’d rather have her stay in profile and go hibernate for a few days and just think. Your sister is a wise lady, Marie. Give her time to look at options.”

“She was always good at planning.”

“You need to stay close to Tom Bryce, listen to him, and to the other Silver Security guys that are around. It’s really important over the next few days.”

She turned toward him. “You know something else.”

“Amy’s had two guys following her, and they’ll know she was heading back to this town. That’s a dangerous combination. And no matter how much you want to share the news with someone, you can’t mention to anyone the fact Amy is alive. Even when a reporter gets in your face and throws around questions, you’ve got to stay with the story you believed up until tonight.”

“I can handle that; I know it’s necessary.”

Connor pulled into the parking lot where he had an apartment.

“I didn’t know you lived on this side of town.” She looked around in a bit of doubt at the apartment buildings that lined the street.

“Relax.” Connor took her hand and eased her from the car. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was well-off, and I can certainly afford better than this place. But there are occasions when being a single cop living in the area where you end up patrolling has its useful points, and the department is picking up half the rent for anyone willing to act as community-presence officers. It’s meant more overtime and responding to the calls in my neighborhood, but it’s had its good points too. There’s not much happening on the streets that I don’t hear the gossip about.”

“I can understand that, and I wasn’t judging; I was just wondering.”

He led her up the flight of stairs rather than risk the elevator and any drunk who might be riding it up and down as his private amusement ride. “Crime is actually low in the area since so many officers are walking the streets now, targeting this zip code. We’re shifting our focus more east now.” He unlocked his door and turned on lights for her.

Inside the fact he was more affluent than his surroundings became apparent.

She walked into the living room, a stunned expression on her face even after all the emotions of her evening. “It’s beautiful, Connor.”

He smiled at her surprise. “The first year I replastered and repainted and put down new carpets. The second year I replaced all the fixtures and appliances. Management was fine with it when it was my money. I hear there is a waiting list of residents waiting to move up to this apartment after I move at the first of the month.”

“You’re moving? But you just got this perfect.”

“There’s a building three streets over that needs a presence more. We’ve got a couple of older ladies in that apartment complex having trouble with their in-laws. The apartment between them opened up, and it’s an easy enough solution. No use having a domestic fight turned into a homicide on me, when I can move in and get spoiled by two grandmothers at once.”

She laughed but understood. “You’re a cop off the job as much as on.”

He shrugged. “It’s who I am, not just what I do. And it’s no hardship living in a spacious place I can fix up while half the rent is on the department’s tab.” He laid his coat and hers across one of the chairs. “Look around and make yourself at home. I’ll get us something to drink and you a couple much-needed aspirins.”

“Thanks.”

He walked through to his kitchen. The message light was flashing, and he listened to his grandfather talk about a cabinet he had ready to pick up while he got Marie the two aspirins and poured them glasses of tea. He rejoined her.

“This is your family?” She was holding a picture, sorting out faces.

“My grandfather Peter, his wife, now deceased, my mom and dad, and the rest of the line are cousins.”

“Are your parents still in town?”

“They have two homes, one here and one in Texas. They headed south about a month ago to spend the winter months.”

“I like your family.”

“I like yours too,” he replied, offering her a glass.

“Is that where you went on vacation this year, to Texas?”

“For a long weekend. It’s a nice way to catch up with the cousins as most of them came by. They live in the area near my parents’ place.”

He watched her swallow the aspirins, then wander farther around the room. Her expression turned closed again, and he knew it was hard to keep thoughts on the present rather than the words Amy had shared tonight. He didn’t expect anything different. The only thing he did regret was the fact Daniel had not been there, for he thought it might have helped. Amy being a half sister would make no difference in reality for Marie or Tracey, but for Amy it was just another source of pain to deal with. It did affect their memories of their mother, their aunt, and the secrets that had haunted this family. Too many secrets, kept by too many people, all in the theory they were doing the right thing at the time.

“What did the chief say when he paged tonight?”

“You put that together.”

She nodded. “It made sense afterward. You had known but not told me; Mandy is skittish. There was a good chance tonight wouldn’t happen.”

“His message just read ‘it’s on.’ None of us wanted to build up your hopes, Tracey’s, and then not be able to make the reunion happen.”

“What if this Richard Wise finds Mandy? What if I lose her after I just found her again? Connor-” The fears came flooding back, the facts that scared her the most, and the tears returned.

He took the glass back and set it aside, then wrapped his arm around her. “It’s going to be okay.” He didn’t know how, but it was something they would have to solve.

“I’m so afraid for her, so afraid,” she whispered.

He let his hand linger on her hair, easing that pain the only way he could. Part of him worried incredibly about it not being okay, that her fears were founded in the real risks of trouble arriving. But there were limits of what worry could help.

Connor tipped up her chin. He leaned down. When she didn’t lean away he took his time kissing her, feeling her hands come up to rest against his neck, feeling her weight shift and her head tilt to more easily welcome the kiss. She tasted of salt and tears, of sweetened tea, and of woman-he eased back to make a promise. “I’m not going to let you walk through any of this alone. I care too much.”

He felt the sigh rather than heard it. “Can I just lean against you awhile and keep my balance that way?”

He smiled gently. “As long as you like.”

“My sister is home.” There was the quiet satisfaction of a long-sought dream suddenly true in the words. “Thanks doesn’t seem like the right word tonight, and relief is not strong enough. Despite everything that came with it, she’s home.”

“Joy works.”

“Yes.”

She leaned back. “Connor, I need to know what is going on-all of it. The stuff Mandy can tell me and the stuff she can’t. Would you keep me informed of what is really going on?”

He didn’t know how to answer that, for he was torn between protecting her emotions and knowing she had the right to ask. “I promise to tell you as much as I can, the security steps, the people we’re trying to deal with. All of it that doesn’t risk Amy or someone else working the case.”

“Thank you. It’s so very, very hard being in the dark.”

Connor stepped back. “Tracey is going to wonder where you have gotten yourself off to. I’d best take you home.”

“Would you invite me back here one day so I can better appreciate your place?”

He laughed. “I could do that-hopefully before I end up packing everything.”

“I’d enjoy helping.”

She blushed and he laughed. “Don’t go retreating on me now. I like this side of you.” He reached for their coats. “I’m buying you breakfast today, before I go to work, before you wander down to work in the gallery.”

“I’d like that a great deal.”

He buttoned her coat up for her, then caught her hand, and opened his apartment door. “Let’s take you home.”

Luke watched Amy circling the room after her sisters left, picking up glasses, plates, restoring order to the home. There was no need for her to do the cleanup, but he knew it was more to give her something to do while she thought than to particularly work.

“They’ve changed so much. Tracey-I remember her as being young, and she’s a grown lady now and seriously dating a good guy. Marie looks tired, like the last few years, rather than just the last week, has pulled life from her. She’s more quiet now and serious. That’s my fault.”

“There’s no fault to place, Amy. You’ve coped with events and done the best you could; so has Marie.”

She carried the dishes into the kitchen. “I’ve missed them so much; I didn’t realize how much until they were both here.”

Her sisters needed her, and even more, she needed her sisters. “Give me forty-eight hours to show you this can work, that you can safely come in from the cold,” he asked as she came back into the room. She wanted to trust him. He could see the tears now back in her eyes and how badly she wanted to be able to say yes. “You can call me tomorrow or you could just come with me now. I’m fully prepared to make you safe from this moment on if you’ll let me.”

“I can’t stay tonight.”

“Then call me tomorrow and we’ll arrange another time and place to meet. Give me a chance to at least show you what I’m thinking about. They need you in their lives again, Amy. And you need them.”

“I’ll call you,” she whispered. “That’s the best I can promise.”

“You won’t regret it.”

Her hand touched the locket she now wore for a moment before she reached for her coat. “Please tell Connor and Marsh thanks for their help and Caroline. All of it is deeply appreciated.”

“I will.”

He didn’t want to see her leaving, but she was preparing to go as she had come. On her own.

“Please don’t try to tail me out tonight.”

“I won’t.”

She nodded and moments later her car disappeared down the drive.

“What do you think, Caroline?” Luke looked over at his friend as they walked the estate grounds, finalizing the last check before they reset the security codes and left the place as they had found it.

“Amy is good at hiding. And this is a family in crisis.”

“Would you take on her security?”

“Chief, I’ve got responsibilities and enough on my lap already.”

“I know. But there are no other good options. She’s not going to take a guy hanging around with her, not beyond deciding when and how she’ll slip his protection and disappear for something she needs.”

“She’ll do that with me too.”

“Not if you two agree to a simple fact that your loyalty is to her first and to me second. I don’t want to know what she’s doing, where’s she’s going, who she’s seeing-I do want to know, but not enough to injure something I need more-someone with her to keep her alive.”

“You need a retired secret service agent, not a retired cop. I don’t think I could carry a weapon right now, let alone fire it, even to protect Amy.”

“You would use the weapon if it was necessary to prevent someone dying,” Luke replied, knowing when it came down to it that Caroline’s training and instincts would do that job. He pushed his hand through his hair. “I want you back on the job, Caroline, but in this case, I need what you are better at than most people I know. You are one of the few people who might get Amy to trust and to talk; she needs someone hanging out with her, not just be protection around her. Just keep her company through this transition for a couple weeks. I’ll talk with Jonathan about something more permanent after that.”

“Where?” Caroline asked.

He smiled. “Got some ideas for me? We’ll have to slip the sisters out of town to take them to see Amy in order to get away from the reporters. After a couple times doing that, the reporters are going to see it as a personal challenge to figure out where they are going. Even under the cover of a date with Connor and Marsh, it’s going to be an ongoing game of cat and mouse.”

“We’ll need Daniel’s help; he has to know now. It’s going to take more than your personal financing for one thing, and I’ll need Jonathan’s guys for some specialized help.”

“I’ll be meeting with Daniel for breakfast tomorrow; he needs to know for a myriad of reasons, his own security just for starters.”

Caroline nodded. “I’ll help, Chief. But I don’t have quite as much hope as you do that Amy is ready to settle down. She’s been running an awfully long time.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll do my best.” She smiled at him. “Do I get to tease you about having a girlfriend now?”

“Maybe later, much later. I’ll settle for her simply telling me the name she’s using. That will mark progress.”

“Then I’ll work on that for you.”

He chuckled. “Do that.”

“Admit it-the idea is growing on you.”

“I’m old, set in my ways, and out of practice dating. It can wait awhile, I think.”

“You’ll do fine. I’ll be in your corner.”

“I don’t know what that says about a guy, when a former date is the one smoothing his path for another lady…”

She laughed and hugged him. “We’ll just let that thought be. I like being that special lady in your past.”