The Witness

Chapter Fifteen

AMY PULLED A LOAD OF TOWELS out of the dryer and pushed the door closed with her hip. It was nice to be able to do routine tasks without pausing to think about what might be around every door and waiting down every hallway. She carried the towels into her room and dropped them onto the bed to fold. She could feel the tension beginning to fade away after three days in this place. Luke had been right about that-the fact the stress level had been too high for too long.

Caroline had called with news the arriving car was Connor’s; it would be good to have the boxes of clothes he was bringing out. Marie had promised to find the dresses as well as the winter clothes, and Amy about had closet space ready to hang them up; she’d found extra hangers in the guest bedroom.

The bedroom door burst open behind her. Amy turned, startled to see Tracey just before she was swallowed in a hug. Amy hugged her sister back, in turmoil over what it meant to have her here on an unplanned spur-of-the-moment visit.

“Marsh asked me to marry him!”

Amy leaned back to study her sister’s smiling face and had to smile back. “Did he?”

Tracey held up her hand to show off the ring. “I had to tell you. He’s taken so incredibly long to ask the question.”

Her sister was beaming. Amy wrapped Tracey in another hug. “I’m glad for you. Really glad. I don’t know if I’m ready for you to be marrying a cop,” she teased. “You’ve had such a sheltered life and all.”

Tracey laughed. “I know. We’re going to fix up his place, and I’m going to still finish my degree. He’s insistent about that. But maybe an early April wedding, so we can go south for our honeymoon and do some traveling together.”

Tracey had come to the safe house without them being fully ready for it and possibly put herself at risk, but it had already happened. She was too excited to share the news to realize it, and Amy wasn’t going to burst her bubble with a caution. She’d have that conversation with Connor shortly, if Caroline wasn’t already doing so. Amy tugged her sister down on the bed beside her. “Let me see that ring again.”

Tracey offered it and Amy fell in love with it too. Simple, nice diamonds, with a modern elegance to the flow of the gold. “Marsh has very good taste.”

“He swears part of the delay in asking me was finding the ring. Caroline said Marsh pulled her along to see at least two hundred rings over the last couple months, half a dozen of them ones she would like herself, and he was never satisfied.”

Amy laughed. “I love him already.”

“Would you mind if he stayed around tomorrow night so you could really meet him? I know I wasn’t supposed to come out with Connor today, but I begged so hard they finally gave in.”

“Bring Marsh along Wednesday and see if Daniel would also like to come out for the evening. The guys can make sure no one is being followed, and that’s the biggest risk short of someone saying something they shouldn’t.”

“They haven’t given us a phone number to you yet, afraid one of the reporters might be listening in.”

“I asked them to wait; being overheard really is a risk, Tracey.”

“I’m disappointed, as I could keep you talking for hours, but I’ll adjust.” Tracey stood up and held out her hands. “Come on, say a brief hi to Connor, and I’ll get out of here. Marie packed you like a gazillion clothes, and she already ironed every one. She hated the fact the guys insisted they get folded into plain boxes before they were carried out.”

“I appreciate that,” Amy replied, remembering one dress in particular she hoped Marie had packed. She wouldn’t mind turning Luke’s head if he came out Wednesday night too. “So if you’re planning an April wedding, how’s that going to affect the class schedule?”

“Marsh agreed I could cut back this semester to the hours I need to audit as prerequisites for the doctorate degree-that way I can stay with Marie while she’s having to make so many decisions about the gallery, and I’ll drive over for the two classes. I want time to prepare a proper wedding, and the house will take some planning together for what gets remodeled.”

“It sounds like a good compromise.”

“I can tell he was ready to get married when he listened to the ideas and said okay and didn’t even fuss particularly hard about it being some of my money that went into expanding his study and building on another bedroom upstairs, so I can have a room to use as a home office too.”

Amy followed Tracey downstairs, listening to the news, smiling at the joy she could hear in her sister’s voice, and worrying about the rushed way she had come. Tracey wasn’t dating Connor-any reporter would have picked up she had left the gallery with Connor, not Marsh. It was another reason to be curious, and that made reporters trouble.

Daniel was an interesting man. Amy watched him move around the living room Wednesday evening, talking with Marsh, then lingering in a conversation with Caroline, and thought he made a good fit. She liked him. No one had brought up the half-sister fact, and it was beginning to sting less. She personally never wanted to know her father’s name, and part of her was relieved she hadn’t been asked to absorb that shock too.

She studied Caroline as she spoke with Daniel and saw a slight flush on her friend’s face, animated in a really beautiful way. Caroline was elegant tonight and attracting attention from a guy wise enough to want to linger and get to know her better. They’d be a good couple, Amy thought, in a mind to think such thoughts. Marsh hadn’t let Tracey get more than a few feet from him all evening, and Connor was doing a reasonably good job getting Marie out of the awkward phase of dating to being comfortable with him. Amy hadn’t missed the way Connor had secured hold of her sister’s hand early in the evening and simply not let go.

“You look content tonight.”

She had a few seconds’ warning before Luke’s hands settled on her waist from behind.

She leaned against him. “I’m feeling very much the oldest sister at the moment, watching my chicks find new homes.”

He chuckled and leaned his head down beside hers. “Come for a walk. It’s a clear night outside, and I’m inclined to remember how to enjoy moonlight with a pretty lady, but that’s best done somewhere my cops are not going to notice.”

She let her hand slide down to take his. “I like the sound of that.”

Luke nodded to Caroline, and she nodded back. They stopped to get coats and then slipped outside.

“It’s brisk tonight.” Amy could see her breath, and her warm leather gloves became stiffer in the cold air.

“The moon makes up for it.”

Luke reached for her hand, and Amy moved comfortably to his side. They walked down the drive toward the main road.

“It’s been quiet out here so far?” Luke shined his torch over a couple rough bricks in the path.

“Yes. The place is beginning to feel like home. Caroline says we can use it another six weeks, if not ten. I’m going to miss it when it’s time to move on.”

“Your sisters certainly enjoyed the chance to come out. The guys said they were both impatient with the convoluted drives to get here.”

“They went separately to dinner and then diverted to here?”

“Yes. It seems best for security.”

“I think so.”

“I was thinking about options-if you’d like to take a trip next weekend. Maybe go over a county or two, do some driving for the day. We could start getting an idea of where might be a nice area to stay next.”

“I’d like that.”

He squeezed her hand. “Good. Are you getting used to the idea of Tracey getting married?”

Amy paused in their walk to look up at him. “Besides the fact she’s so incredibly young? She’s in her thirties, I know that, but inside she’s still sixteen. She knows what she wants, and I do like Marsh.”

“But?”

“Being a cop is just not that easy a profession on a wife-the waiting for a husband to get home when trouble has kept him late at the job, when the scanner chatter is about shots being fired.”

“I know the risks are real in this job, but being a cop also carries with it a partner at your side when that trouble arrives. For what it’s worth, I think Tracey is good for Marsh. He’s softer on the edges now; this job can push you toward being a cynic without that balance.”

She shivered even with the warmth of the coat, and he saw and turned them back the way they had come. “What about you, Amy? Could you handle being married to a cop?”

She smiled. “I think that may be too straightforward of a question to ask right now.”

He smiled back. “I know. Answer it anyway.”

She thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t know that I’m a cop’s wife material either or anyone’s wife material for that matter. You’re talking about social functions and school gatherings and PTA meetings and suburban living.”

He chuckled. “I’d say that’s a pretty interesting idea of what suburban life is like.”

“I was in the army for a decade, I’ve been playing hide-and-seek with real stakes for the years since, and for the next stage of my life I’m going to be a suburban housewife driving a minivan and trying to teach my kids not to shoot spitballs at the dogs? That image just doesn’t connect.”

He laughed at her words. “Spitballs at the dogs? Your own childhood is showing, I think. You worked as a retail associate at a mall jewelry store, and your friends from those years didn’t see you as particularly discontent with your life. You also have a healthy need to not have any more major surprises in your life.”

“Both true.”

“I’ll discount the concerns about suburban life then. What about the danger of the job?”

“Maybe it’s because I know and have tasted living with danger that it’s a different kind of burden to think about; not that a cop as a husband is such a big risk, but more that it will always be a risk. There is no peaceful expectation that a day will be quiet. You live life expecting trouble. I’ve been living that way for eight years.”

“It wears on you,” he said softly, understanding.

“Yes. This time the situation wasn’t my choice-” She hesitated. “I guess I’m glad I’m not being asked that decision right now. I don’t know what I would decide.”

They reached the rock path of the driveway, and Amy nodded to the left. “Let’s walk over to the study.” There was an enclosed study off the heated workshop, and she often retreated there during the afternoon to enjoy a book while she watched the dogs play together.

She unlocked the building, and they stepped back into warmth. A small light was on in the study, and she used it to cross over to the room and turn on the main lights. She slid off her coat and hung it on the coat-rack. The book she’d been reading that afternoon still rested on the small table beside the leisure chairs, and the throw Caroline had used across her feet rested folded on the couch. It was a guy’s study, lined with books and a nice desk against one wall, but also just comfortable space.

“So what was your reason for suggesting we sneak out again?” She settled her hands on Luke’s shoulders and smiled at him, having to tip her head back but finding it nice.

His hands stilled hers. “You are dressed up tonight like a princess. I thought I’d mention that.”

“I hoped you might have noticed,” she replied, encouraged by the quiet pleasure she saw in his gaze.

“And if I’m not mistaken that is the same perfume you were wearing three years ago.”

“I’m a creature of habit. Want to dance awhile? We could find some music.”

“I think we’re making our own at the moment, but we could try the dial on the radio,” he teased.

She grinned and didn’t bother to step away. “So are you going to kiss me or not?”

He laughed. “Probably. Someday. I’m thinking about it.”

“Good. So am I.” There was a deliberateness about him when it came to their relationship that she appreciated, even if the closest she’d get to a kiss tonight was the anticipation he’d take her up on the offer one day. They were destined to be either very good friends or something more than that, and she was enjoying the exploration. She took a half step back to study his face, leaving her hands in his. “We’re awful different, Luke. You do realize that, don’t you? How our lives have evolved. You’re going to be working in the same job, the same town, until the day you retire, I predict. There might be a different house or two over the years, but the town and the job and the friends and the family are pretty much constants for as long as the eye can see into your future.”

“All of which are good things, I think, and they would be for you as well. You need to see the lay of the land and stay with something that is stable for a while. Besides, a new job and new town aren’t necessarily better even if it’s more pay; new sometimes simply means more shallow. I want to hang out with the guys I went to grade school with. I know them and they know me. There isn’t a need to be anything but who I am around them. There is power in that fact. And when you get to my age those kinds of friends are worth staying with.”

“I envy you that. I’ve got Tracey and Marie and good friends from the military days spread around the globe. Beyond Sam and a few friends from high school, there aren’t deep roots here.”

“So we’ll see if that can change in the future. I’ve got plenty of friends to share,” he suggested, smiling. “What do you have to lose, Amy? I like you, and I’m safe, relatively. The rest is going to take care of itself.”

“I’m old enough to take the plunge and close my eyes for the outcome to arrive.” She knew the night was opening doors to a possible new future, and she found herself wanting to walk down that road with him. “So where do you want to go next weekend? I’ve a yen to see some snow.”

“Snow we can stay right here and watch fall, if you believe the weatherman. I thought we’d take in some holiday lights and maybe a movie. We could do some early Christmas-gift shopping.”

“A guy offering to go shopping… I’m remembering this, Luke. Just you and me, there’s no need to take along security?”

“That’s a call for the night before.”

“Then yes, tentatively. Assuming Tracey and Marie haven’t had a major hiccup in their lives I need to stay and worry about instead.”

Luke laughed. “Deal, then. How long have we been hiding?”

“Long enough someone besides Caroline has realized we’re gone.”

“True. Five more minutes. I am the boss.”

“I notice they still call you Chief, even off duty.”

“They’re teasing and rubbing in the age a bit and also accepting reality-I am the chief and nothing changes that in our relationship, even off duty.”

“Respectful friends.”

“Yeah. They know the decisions that come across my desk; I’m glad for that at times, the fact the respect stays even when it feels like I’m in over my head with the job. It helps, having cops like that working with me.”

“You’re a good police chief.”

“Working to be. You’ll like my secretary, by the way, and my sister. Both are sticklers for my work staying at work.”

“How long, Luke, before it is safe to meet them? to come out of the shadows? You know as well as I do that we are heading to an impasse if this is still the way it is in six months, a year from now.”

Her question turned him serious. “It won’t continue as it is for months. I’m just hoping we get a few weeks of calm before trouble arrives. You need that time; your sisters do. But we both know there are too many pressures at work for this not to erupt somewhere.”

She sighed. “I know. Sometimes fantasy clashed something awful with reality; I so want to blink and find this was all a bad dream.” She lifted her head to look at him. “Daniel’s got better security around him?”

“Yes. It was a condition of his coming out tonight to meet you.”

“Good. We’d better get back to the house, I think. Marie said something about getting out the picture albums tonight to compare notes on where Henry and Mom must have met and traveled together. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it.”

“They need the closure that facts can provide. Just listen. I’m sorry they aren’t talking about your father too. I know that remains an awful hole for you.”

“I never wanted to know and I still don’t. I’m glad Henry was not my father.”

He looked surprised by the intensity of her answer but chose not to probe that painful spot. He picked up their coats.

“I am glad you came out tonight, Luke. Very glad.”

“I’m not planning to go anywhere for a long time,” he reassured, helping her on with her coat and his hands resting for a moment on her shoulders before releasing her and slipping on his own coat.

He took her hand again for the walk back to the house.

“Until this danger passes: don’t get too attached, Luke, please. When trouble comes-I’ll do what I think is right and best. Even if that means leaving.”

His gaze didn’t shift from the path they were walking. “I know.” He glanced over and smiled but with a hard, watchful look behind that gentleness. “You’ll do what you think is best, just as I will. And if both our hearts get mangled in the process, but your sisters are safe, we’ll still know it was the right decision.”

“I thought you deserved to know.”

“I haven’t pushed for a promise that you’ll stay not because I don’t want it, but because I know you can’t give it. There are risks now and ones that will wound us both if we’re not careful. But I’m committed to seeing Marie and Tracey are safe, because they are the most important people in your life, and I’m committed to doing what I can to keep you safe too, with or without your cooperation when it comes down to the details.”

She smiled. “I’m glad we both know that then. Don’t be mad one day when I decide something you wouldn’t have decided for me.”

He tightened his grip on her hand. “I’ll get mad, but I’ll do my best to forgive you too. But you’ll owe me a phone call or two this time-no more gone-forever-without-a-trace flights. You haunted my dreams for the last three years, you know.”

“Did I?”

He smiled at the pleasure in her words. “I think we should plan an early start next weekend-say 6 a.m., and catch breakfast at one of the truck-stop diners that make the meal a feast. What do you think?”

“I think you’re taking every minute you can get out of a yes, but sure, I’m game. Even if I do prefer to skip breakfast and catch the extra sleep.”

“I’ll be here early then.”

“I don’t know that I’ll be telling Marie and Tracey where I’m going and who I’m going with just yet though.”

“Chicken.”

“You’ve only got one sister. Two is tougher when they both decide to go for answers and giving advice. When can they come out again?”

“It depends on how the press reacts to their disappearance tonight. Basically, as soon as it can safely be done, but not a day earlier.”

He held open the door to the house. Amy paused, hearing music and laughter even before they passed through the coat-room. “Laughter. I’ve missed hearing them laugh for so many years.”

“I know.” He smiled as he took her coat for her, then nodded to the next door. “Go enjoy it.”