Traces of Guilt

NINE

Gabriel Thane

Dragging a bit from lack of sleep, Gabriel arrived at the house on Kearns Road at seven o’clock the next morning. He noted the security team’s car in the drive, traded nods as he was recognized. If he’d had any questions about Paul Falcon being on-site, he had his confirmation. As head of the FBI’s Chicago office, the man had no choice about the security that traveled with him.

Paul opened the door, wearing dress slacks and a white shirt-no jacket yet, but the cuff links were in place, his shoes polished. Paul wore authority comfortably and it showed. “Come on in, Gabriel. I’m in the kitchen following instructions I got from the women last night.” The two men chuckled, and Paul glanced at the stairs. “They aren’t down yet.”

“Ann fall asleep again?”

“I made sure her feet touched the floor before I came down. It’s more likely there’s a caucus going on that doesn’t involve us guys.”

They moved into the kitchen, where Gabriel accepted the mug Paul offered, drank the coffee with appreciation. “You’re looking good, Paul. Marriage and running the Chicago office appear to agree with you.”

Paul turned the heat up under the skillet, poured in pancake batter. “I’m helping Matthew Dane train for the Boston Marathon, and it’s got me in the best shape of my life. You, on the other hand, look a bit… rough,” he decided after a scan, but his grin softened the words.

“Bad day yesterday,” Gabriel said.

“I heard.” Paul flipped the pancakes, got out another plate, stacked them, and pushed it over. “Not a thing you could have done about it, Gabe, nor your father.”

He chose blueberry syrup and selected several pieces of crisp bacon from another plate. “We both know there are men like Arnett out there, with victims left in their wake. But you don’t expect them to be next door. We were childhood friends with Grace. It’s overwhelming to me-to all of us-that we didn’t see it, didn’t help her. Even worse is not knowing how to help her now.”

Paul slid a glass of orange juice Gabriel’s way. “Ann and I didn’t see it either, not at first. Rachel knew something was back there, would have said it was likely since her training picks up on that kind of trauma. But until Grace wanted to talk, it wasn’t a secret that was going to surface. Grace started trusting her doctor four years ago, let Ann in two years ago. She’s made progress, but I’m with Ann-I don’t think Grace is ready to face head on what she’s decided to do. This is going to be brutally hard on her.”

“Josh said she cried most of the evening with him.”

“That’s probably the best thing she could do at this point. She stops letting those tears show, then it’s time to get worried.” Paul picked up a piece of bacon. “Ann said you’re heading over this morning to see Will, tell him about Karen.”

“That’s the plan,” Gabriel replied as he switched focus, equally concerned about how that conversation was going to go. “We’ll tell him about Tom Lander, talk about the plan if and when the guy shows up around here.”

“Now that’s a man I’d like to see tossed in jail with the key dropped in the Chicago River,” Paul said. “He’s slick, smooth, dangerous, and deceptive clear down to the core. A chameleon who appears innocent of everything until you peel back the skin and see the viper underneath. He enjoys his rage-driven violence and the destruction he leaves behind.”

Gabriel listened to the summary, knew that coming from Paul it was, if anything, understated. “My goal is to avoid a day Tom Lander and Will Thane come face-to-face.”

“A reasonable goal,” Paul agreed. “Maybe Lander never locates her, and this problem is theoretical. But if he does learn she’s in Carin, your best defense is probably a strong proactive offense. Circulate a photo of Tom Lander, let it be known he’s a person of interest. Gas stations, hotels, campgrounds-he’ll get here sooner or later, and you’ve got contacts and friends you can use in a home-court advantage. Put some Thane money on sightings of him. Set it up before it’s needed. He comes to Carin, he has to drive here, fly, he has to stay somewhere. Covering airport and rental cars should be relatively easy. Lodging is broader, but he’ll likely stay at a hotel. He’s not an outdoor camping kind of guy. He shows up, you promptly hear about it.”

“An interesting suggestion, Paul,” Gabriel said, visualizing how just such a campaign across the county might function.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Chicago PD will eventually get enough to prove Tom Lander murdered his ex-wife. On our side, we’re trying to build a case related to his past business dealings-I don’t care if we put him in jail for tax fraud so long as we get him behind bars. In the long term, eventually, inevitably, he’ll do something we can arrest him for and get a conviction. Time should help this problem get resolved. My concern is whether that will come soon enough for Karen.

“But for now, the Chicago PD is keeping an eye on him. He leaves Chicago, I’ll hear about it, and you’ll hear about it immediately. I figure even if he shows up in Carin, it’s not catastrophic if you can get Karen out of sight. He might believe she’s in town, might even have her working at the café. But if he can’t see her, can’t find her, she’s still safe. You just have to keep her hidden away until he gives up. I’m certain there are places all over this county you can hide her comfortably.”

Gabriel agreed. Hiding someone was relatively simple around here. Given the number of family friends he could tap, Karen could stay on any number of properties where no one could approach without being tagged long before they reached the house.

Paul leaned back against the counter. “You can get even more creative, Gabe. Tom hires a local PI, turns out the guy’s rather slow and not very good at his job-as he also happens to be working for the Thane family. And while Tom Lander is occupied here, Chicago can get very inconvenient for him. I happen to know the person buying the building he’s leasing for a new business-he’s hung out a shingle to enter the exterminator business. We can give Lander reasons he has to be back in Chicago. A problem with the building. License issues. Employees quit on him for greener pastures.”

Gabriel smiled. “I like the way you think, Paul.”

“He got away with a double murder, he terrorized a witness, he killed his ex-wife-between Chicago PD and FBI, there are a lot of people motivated to see Tom Lander shut down. You won’t be fighting this alone.”

Gabriel considered that, finished the orange juice, studied Paul. “Ann’s given the impression there’s very little to be done if Tom Lander finds Karen here, except to move her far away.”

“I make a point never to disagree with my wife, and in this case, I actually don’t,” Paul responded. “I just think there are some things to be tried before that outcome. You don’t leave Karen open to his attack. You keep her out of sight, keep those she cares about beyond reach. But within those parameters, there are options.”

“I’m realizing that, Paul. I’m glad you came down for the day.” Gabriel heard footsteps on the stairs and turned as Ann and Evie joined them, both looking a lot more alert than he felt.

Ann greeted Paul with a kiss, a whispered word. Evie tactfully looked away, caught his gaze. Gabriel smiled, and her answering one was tentative, maybe a bit flustered, as she glanced away from him.

Ann picked up a glass of orange juice. “Sorry I’m late, Gabriel. I’ll take breakfast to go. I can eat while you drive.”

“We can spare ten minutes so you can eat a civilized breakfast.”

Ann filled her insulated cup, rolled up bacon in a pancake, waved toward the door. “This is how I enjoy Paul’s breakfasts more mornings than I’ll admit. Let’s go deal with Will, get this day started. Who’s with Josh and Grace today?”

“Dad’s handling the shovel this morning, Will after that. Evie and I are heading to Decatur to have lunch with the Florist family doctor at noon.”

Ann nodded. “A packed day all around. Evie, while we’re talking with Will, how about taking Paul by the post office, get him up to speed on the Florist case, see what he notices? He’s good at finances.”

Her husband winced, and Ann laughed, gave him a hug. “You really are, it’s just geeky grunt work. Gabriel will drop me off there, and you can pay me back by explaining-in copious detail-what you’ve found.”

“Now that sounds like a deal,” Paul said. “Gabriel, take care of my girl.”

“Plan to. Come on, Ann. For some odd reason, Will tends to be an early riser.”

“Yeah.” Ann grabbed her jacket. “We should be about an hour.”

Gabriel nodded goodbye to Paul and Evie and followed Ann out. He was hoping nothing else in the county needed his attention today-no car wrecks, domestic calls, farm accidents during the last of the harvest, school fire alarms pulled in jest. It would already be a long, intense day without the normal problems of being sheriff crowding in.

Will Thane

Sitting on the steps of his back porch, Will Thane broke a strip of bacon in half and held the pieces out to the dogs on either side of him. Apollo nipped the snack from his fingers, swallowed it in one gulp. Zeus sniffed first, bit the top edge, tugged it free, and swallowed it. Will looked at him with amusement. “Took you long enough, young man.” He reached over and scratched the animal behind the ears, got a thank-you lick to the face. Evie’s dogs were getting comfortable with him.

Apollo subsided to watchful resting, his attention on the barn cats leaping over each other in the backyard, if you could call three acres of open prairie a backyard. Will kept the walks neatly trimmed, but the rest of it was native grasses. He could do without the snakes, but the chipmunks and mice, rabbits and possums, the ground-nesting birds all making their home in the grass attracted eager four-footed and winged prey and kept the snakes’ numbers under control.

Apollo leaped from the porch to the ground, took off like a dart. A rabbit burst from cover, slipping underneath the shed just in time. “I’d say those bruises are healing,” Will said under his breath, watching Apollo lope back to the porch. His own two dogs were likely down at the pond, pointing birds even though Will wasn’t there to appreciate their skill. The four animals had been enjoying each other’s company.

Will heard the car before it turned onto the crushed gravel of his long drive, watched it crest the rise and saw its distinct squad-car markings. Probably Gabe bringing Evie out to collect her dogs, he thought, with not a little regret. They were war dogs trained to search out explosives, he’d realized after trying the handful of Dutch words he learned from dog handlers in Iraq. That they were retired while still relatively middle-aged suggested they’d lived through some close explosions and been medically discharged. They seemed calm enough, though he wouldn’t want to be shooting off a firearm near the two. For a cop to have adopted two of them made it likely they were war buddies, accustomed to being together. He was glad they had each other in civilian life.

A combat medic for a lot of years, he still missed the guys in his battalion. He’d done a solid job over his six years, had the medals to prove it. He’d left because it was time, but he missed his buddies. He hugged the two animals on either side of him, affection for them running deep. Dogs had been part of those years overseas, mostly German shepherds like these two. “That your mom coming to get you, fellas?”

The car pulled around to the front of the house where he kept a neatly mowed patch of grass and flowers alongside the walk. He heard car doors slam, said go ahead in Dutch, and both dogs bolted from the back porch. He followed them around the corner.

The dogs were leaping up to greet Gabriel. But it wasn’t Evie Blackwell with him. Will paused, held out his hand with a smile. “Ann. Hello. I heard you were in town.” She’d become an important friend to his brothers while he was away. The news about Grace his father had told him the night before likely explained her visit now. A hard thing, what his father had told him, and a harder thing yet, what Grace was asking Josh to do.

“Will, good morning,” Ann said. “We need to talk with you about something. It’s related to Karen Lewis.”

The way Ann said it had him narrowing his eyes at her, then looking to Gabriel. He recognized the expression on his brother’s face-sheriff’s resolve crossed with a large slice of empathy. Will had promised his mom to clean up his language now that he was home or he would have expressed his feelings in the words first to mind. Will sighed instead and walked up the front steps to open the door for his guests. “Come on in. Coffee is hot.”

He’d made a deal with himself that he’d make no major decisions in the first three years back in the States-a homecoming gift to himself, and so far he was honoring it. Come year four, he planned to build a larger master bedroom onto this place, ask Karen to marry him. Then he’d start blueprints for a few more bedrooms. The land was spacious enough to raise half a dozen kids, with room for outdoor forts, golf carts, bikes, horses, some sheep and cattle. Karen wanted kids too, he’d already discovered.

Karen Joy Lewis had a way with her smile that reminded a man of what was good in life, and a joyful woman was high on his wish list. He figured he’d fallen for the crepes coming out of the restaurant kitchen, then spied the woman making them, and tumbled a bit further the first time he was able to catch her eye and get that flash of a smile before she looked away. Karen would be a delight to have sitting at his table for the next fifty-plus years. He’d rival his dad for being a contented married man.

Whatever Gabriel and Ann wanted to talk about concerning Karen, he needed coffee in hand first. “Watch the construction zone.” He was getting ready to gut the living room and dining room to redo the electrical and put up new drywall. “The kitchen half is finished. Come on through.”

The updated kitchen had counters long enough to make a professional chef envious, with double ovens, a large range, and a wide-screen TV to keep him company while he worked at the center island.

Will pulled out a chair for Ann, let his brother get them coffee, pulled out another chair so he could see the back porch and open the patio door if the dogs wanted to come in. “What do we need to discuss about Karen?”

“Do you remember a trial up in Chicago,” Gabriel began, “a few months after you came back home… restaurant owners, a couple, stabbed to death?”

Will shook his head. “It wouldn’t have stuck with me even if I’d seen something in the news about it.” He accepted the mug of coffee Gabriel handed him.

Ann laid a folder on the table in front of him. “I pulled three articles from the Chicago Tribune. The first report is on the crime, then the trial in progress, its verdict. Take your time reading. It’s easier this way.”

“Easier for who?”

“Me mostly.”

Will pulled out the articles, found them in chronological order, and began to read, assuming it related to Karen. Given the look he saw pass between Ann and Gabe, he wondered if Karen was maybe the daughter of the victims.

She’d come to town with some kind of trouble in her past, he knew. He’d seen soldiers who had lived through years of war and recognized a similar look in her eyes at times. Given that sadness, he was careful in how he asked about the past so as not to stir the pain. He was content to enjoy the present he had with her and let her talk, or not talk, as she preferred.

He got his first real surprise in the second article, reading about the trial. As he made the connection, he said in a low voice, “She’s the witness.”

“Yes.”

He glanced over as he heard Evie’s dogs return to the back porch, settle back into a watchful waiting. He turned the page in the article, kept reading. “Karen Josephine Spencer,” he said. “Now, that’s a nice name.” Karen Joy captured her personality, but her birth name was pretty cool too. Nice and regal, that Josephine. He smiled at the thought and moved to the final article.

He scowled at the headline. “Not guilty? Are they nuts?”

He read through to the conclusion, looked up at his guests. “The jury agrees he probably did it, but they let him walk on two violent murders because they didn’t think Karen’s testimony was enough to make it beyond a reasonable doubt. Did they listen to her? She’s like the nitpicker of precision in everything she says. She won’t say white when its cream, won’t say a few hours when she means two and a quarter. She’s so precise, I joke about it just to get that smile of hers.”

“They didn’t believe her,” Ann said softly, watching him. “She found that bewildering, Will. Devastating. She’s become even more cautious and precise in what she says because of it.”

Will dropped the articles back on the table. “Okay, you’ve showed me stuff about the trial. Karen obviously decided to wash her hands of Chicago and find somewhere else to settle, use her skills as a chef elsewhere. What’s the problem? I get the name change. That’s common sense. Why bring gossip with you when you can change your name and not have people asking you lame questions about what happened?”

“Tom Lander.”

“He’s here giving her trouble?” He was on his feet before he finished the question. “Where is she now?”

Ann cast a look at Gabriel, already blocking his brother’s path.

“What? Come on, guys, spill it!”

“Karen’s likely working the first shift at the Fast Café as she does most Wednesdays,” Gabriel replied easily. “Lander is in Chicago. He doesn’t know she’s in Carin County. Sit down, Will, we need you to listen.”

Will dropped back into the seat, picked up the coffee mug to have something in his hands. “Fine. Just make it the CliffsNotes version.”

Ann nodded. “He’s an extremely violent man who terrorized Karen for the sport of it, then stabbed to death his ex-wife. Maybe simply to send a message.”

Will closed his eyes and rolled the mug between his hands. “Okay. Got it.” He looked from Ann to his brother. “You’re still the sheriff, right? You’re carrying a gun? What’s the problem? He shows up, you deal with him.”

“You know it’s not that simple, Will.”

“Of course it is. You’re the one who makes the law difficult, Gabriel. I’m like, that’s a good guy, that’s the bad guy, now let’s go deal with business.”

“Yeah.” Gabriel smiled, and it was a look Will remembered from their childhood.

“What?”

“I don’t need a soldier messing up my town.”

Will snorted. “I’m retired. Am I not up to my armpits in house construction, barn construction, baby animals, and Mom’s fussy pansies?”

Gabriel laughed. “Mostly, yes. You’ve also got a shooting range out back, and don’t bother telling me those illegal M-80 fireworks I hear go off occasionally aren’t you blowing up coffee cans to see how high they’ll fly.”

“Those were legal when I bought them a decade ago. You should have confiscated the leftover spare box.”

“Boys.”

Will and Gabriel both looked over at Ann.

“Back to the problem at hand. Karen Joy.”

“Did you come up with her new name?” Will asked. “Nice job, if that was you.”

“It was her idea, but I like it too. She’s worried about you, Will.”

“Karen? Why?” He groaned. “Oh, I was teasing her a bit about being a soldier guy. She’d been ragging on me that, as a medic, I was more nurse than soldier. And I protested it was more like Rambo with a first-aid kit. Did she take that the wrong way? I didn’t mean to spook her, Ann. It wasn’t-”

“Will, shut up,” Gabriel said, but his tone was kind.

He stopped talking, not because of his brother but because his gut was churning. He’d scared the girl he liked more than anyone he’d met in his life, and she was wondering if he was a violent man like this Chicago guy. He’d often complimented her that she was a really good chef, but occasionally jested that he was good with a knife too. What an idiotic thing to have said. He was feeling sicker by the minute.

Ann’s hand came over to rest on his arm, and she squeezed, tight enough to force him to look at her. “Chill out, Will. Please. She likes you, more than a little. I’d say she’s halfway toward being in love with you.”

He sucked in a breath, let it out. A smile then spread across his face. “Really?”

Ann looked at him with a humor that went back years. “What is it with you Thane men? You’re hung up on Karen, Josh is still hung up on Grace, and Gabriel would be hung up on someone around here if he’d let himself, and you’re all stunned that it might be reciprocated. My advice, Will? Put a ring on the woman’s finger, settle down, have some kids. Life would be so much easier on the females around here to not have you three all still available.”

“Ann, I thought we were here to talk about some cautions,” Gabriel said, stepping on her statement to pull it back a bit.

Ann smiled. “I’m changing my mind. Do you see Tom Lander causing problems for anyone Will cares about, that between the three of you brothers and your dad, you can’t effectively halt in its tracks? Look at this place.” She gestured toward the backyard. “Tom Lander hasn’t seen more than a patch of manicured grass and a few neatly kept trees in his life. He couldn’t get near here without being bit by a few snakes, find some dogs sniffing around him with bared fangs, or finding an M-80 tossed at his feet to move him along. It would be a collision of worlds so far apart he’d be lucky to leave the county in one piece. Although what Karen would think of living out here is a mystery, but that’s another question.”

“She’s coming around to the view that a town with a couple of stoplights is too much traffic for her; country life sounds more appealing,” Will calmly replied.

Ann laughed, then turned somber again. “Seriously, Will, you need to know Tom Lander is a nasty, dangerous man, and life stays better for everyone if he never learns Karen is living in this county. If he figures it out, if he comes this direction, you don’t attempt to handle it alone. You call every family member and friend you have, we create a little war council of our own to convince Tom Lander he doesn’t want to be here or have anything to do with Karen in the future. Promise me that? No handling it on your own?”

Will held out his hand. “I’m retired.”

She accepted the handshake, and Will smiled, rather than let go of her hand. “Of course, I hear you are too.”

She smiled back, tipped her head. “I was afraid you’d mention that.”

Will nodded and gently let go. “Ann, I appreciate you telling me all this. It explains a lot of things Karen hasn’t said. But we Thanes have a long history of taking care of our own within the law. That’s not going to change if Tom Lander shows his face in Carin County.” He paused and grinned. “Mostly because Mom wouldn’t like it, Karen might not either, and life is more pleasant when a guy is in good graces with his mother and his girl.”

Ann leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Will.”

He felt himself turning red and went for a change of subject. “Does Evie want her dogs back? Because they’re comfortable here and welcome to stay another week, if that would help.”

“I can tell.” Ann nodded toward the back porch, where Evie’s two dogs and his own two were now lined up in their own pack, studying the backyard for interesting movements. “If you can keep them for now, it’s appreciated.”

“They’re fine here,” Will repeated, pushing back his chair. He had a place to be and it wasn’t here. “Karen was worried what I was going to think?”

“Some, yes.”

“She didn’t flinch when I told her I tumbled out of a helicopter once on purpose, so why does she think this was going to bother me?”

“She’s a woman. We tend to let such things bother us.”

Will laughed at the way Ann said it. “I’ll set her mind at rest on this topic, you can be sure of that. Gabe, I want a photo of Tom Lander, along with his bio. It needs to be spread around town that I’m looking for the guy and paying a nice reward to anybody who calls me with a sighting. I’ve got a few favors to call in. He won’t be showing up without me hearing about it.”

“I’ll get you the photo,” Gabriel promised. “We’ll be talking more, Will.”

“I expect so. I’m going to stop by the café for a late breakfast and a Karen coffee break. Anything you want me tell her, Ann? Not tell her?”

“Tell her to enjoy the day and not to worry about the past, present, or future.”

He smiled. “I can do that. For both of us.”

Gabriel Thane

Gabriel looked over at Ann as he pulled out of Will’s driveway. “That did not go as I expected. You caved, Ann, like two minutes into the discussion. I thought we were going to head him off-”

“I forgot who Will is,” Ann cut in with a shake of her head. “And wisely, I think, changed my mind.” She turned reflective. “Seriously, Gabe, are you worried about Will meeting up with Tom Lander?”

Gabriel thought about it. “Not really, no. That guy has been terrorizing civilians who don’t know how to fight back. He’d get the shock of his life if he tried to threaten Will or someone he cares about. You don’t take the soldier out of a man once you’ve trained it into him. You might temper it a bit, but it’s still there.”

“He’s a good, capable man,” Ann agreed.

“If it didn’t sound like Karen was headed toward marrying Will, shifting to a life out here, it would worry me a bit more,” Gabriel said. “Being in town on her own makes her much more vulnerable. She’s a lot safer once she’s married and her life is in the middle of us Thanes. We’ve a tradition of moving in and out of each other’s lives. We’d all naturally be able to keep an eye out for her safety.”

“Exactly,” Ann said. “I’m thinking the best place for Karen is where she can have a good life and good future, and I couldn’t draw up a better solution than the one she has here. We make it work. Whatever it takes, we adapt, draw the line here, and make Carin work for Karen.” She smiled at the rhyme of her words.

“Suits me fine,” Gabriel said with a smile. “But if Tom Lander steps one foot outside Chicago, I need to be the second call.”

“I’ll make that happen,” Ann said. She shifted her seat back, closed her eyes against the morning sun.

Gabriel thought about his conversation with Evie the night before, his own thoughts on the drive home, and shifted the subject. “Grace had a hard night.”

Ann murmured her agreement.

“I know you’re keeping her confidences, Ann. I’m not looking to trespass there, but anything Josh can do-the rest of us in the family can do-to help Grace, you’re the bridge. We’re floundering right now.”

She was quiet for a long moment before she said, “You already know what to do, Gabe. Don’t treat Grace differently from others. If you can smile without sadness, hug without a hesitation, joke about Josh’s crush on her in grade school without thinking twice about the remark, you’ll do more toward helping her heal than anything else you could do or say.”

She turned her head toward him. “I don’t know how you do that, but you all need to figure it out and give her that. Be yourself. Treat her as if she can and will be normal again. Give her the gift of seeing past this and treat her accordingly. She can’t imagine that for herself yet. It has to be friends who paint that picture for her, give her permission and space to recover, to reaffirm she will heal, that the past doesn’t have to come forward into the future a day further than it has. She’s going to be beyond these crying waves when she’s done the unpacking of the memories, but it’s a three- or four-year process, and she’s pretty much in the middle of it now.”

“This is nearly as hard on you as it is on her.”

“Being friends of a victim is its own particular kind of weight. I wouldn’t ever want to be left in the dark, not know, not be that friend. I know we’ll survive, Grace and I, because I’ve done this journey before. But sometimes that knowledge just makes the days heavier. I can anticipate the coming terrain and the mountains and valleys ahead, which sometimes only makes it worse.”

“I can understand that, Ann.”

“Do you? You need to know something else. Grace really hasn’t let me in that far. I know she’s in great pain, processing unimaginable grief. I know she’s facing some first memories, her mind bringing up fresh ones like toxic bubbles rising in a hot spring. I know she’s getting struck by painful emotions striking her in unexpected ways. The smell of an aftershave making her vomit is the latest one. But I know that only because I’ve seen the signs rather than her telling me.” She shifted in the seat with a sigh.

“After the abuse ended,” Ann said, “Grace got seven years of a surface kind of peace, and then the past washed up like a tidal wave. She’s getting badly buffeted right now. She’ll survive it, she’ll get back to an authentic rest, but it’s going to be years of work. She’s dealing with the past the hard way, pushing way too fast through it. I ache watching her make the attempt. As I’ve said, this isn’t how I would have had this unfold. And if we find the Dayton girl’s remains on that land, I honestly don’t know how Grace will keep breathing through it.”

“If you can’t ease her away, you help hold her together. You help her crumble in a controlled and safe way.”

Ann nodded. “Yes. Mostly. I just don’t know what day and time Josh plants that flag, one of you turns over that dirt, and we see what we fear is there.”

“Do you want the Dayton girl to be found?”

Ann shook her head. “No. And that’s sad, because as an officer of the law, it’s the thing I should most want-closure for the Dayton family. But for Grace… if she could walk the farmland with Josh, they discover nothing, she sells the land and moves on, that’s probably a better outcome. She needs hours of sharing trivial things with him, sharing memories from childhood, talking about life in the decade since they last saw each other. The interaction with Josh about their shared past will maybe give Grace a new layer of memories that can be useful. When she thinks of Carin, it isn’t just the devastation of life with her uncle.”

“I see what you mean, Ann. The memories have to be made more manageable, and Josh providing other memories from their childhood might help with that.”

“I think it will.” Ann looked his way again. “How’s Josh doing? He’s bearing the brunt of this. I should have called him last night.”

“He’s shaken but determined. He wants, needs, to help her. Like the rest of us, only more for him, I think. It’s eating him alive that he didn’t see the signs of trouble.”

Ann nodded. “If there were any to be seen-that’s what you should tell each other. You need to caution Josh about something. She has to be willing to risk talking with a guy about this. So far she’s only told women. She has to risk a small comment, get a reply, and find out a man can get through it without viewing her as damaged beyond repair. I don’t know if she’ll choose Josh to be that guy, or she may first turn to Paul, but she’ll eventually decide on someone.

“I can’t coach Josh on what those words should be, because I don’t know them,” she said after a moment. “It’s a guy’s reaction she needs. It may be anger over what happened, or kindness towards her, or a hand touching her arm when she tells him something awful. I don’t know what she needs. I just know it’s something she can’t get from the women in her life. When it’s the authentic reply of a male who cares about her, it’s going to matter. Warn Josh so that if she ever does say something about it, his best move is not a nod and then silence.”

“He’d be relieved that she opened a difficult subject, and he’ll handle it okay. But I’ll talk with him about it anyway.”

Ann nodded, accepting Gabriel’s reassurances.

“Paul’s staying in town for the day?” Gabriel asked as they turned into Carin.

“Yes. We’ll fly back tonight late, return this weekend with Rachel-at least that’s the current plan.”

“Come to dinner tonight at my parents’ place. It’d be nice to have everyone there.”

“I’ll ask him,” Ann said. “You’re doing okay with Evie?”

He was surprised by her question. “Sure. The doctor thing at lunch today, we wouldn’t have that if she weren’t so curious about matters and dug it out. I’d given up on the Florist case having an answer, but maybe Evie is right. The person who did it can still be found. She’s got me hoping again we can catch a break in the case.”

Ann smiled at his answer. “Not exactly what I was after, but it’ll do for now.” He pulled up to the building where they were working. Ann stepped out and then leaned back into the vehicle. “Let’s assemble here after dinner with your family, talk the case through with Paul before we leave,” she said. “You, me, Evie, your dad. We’ll have whatever your lunch appointment turns up, and maybe Paul will have something from their finances.”

Gabriel agreed. “I’ll have most of the interviews done by end of the day too. We’ll do that, Ann. Thanks for your help with Will. The conversation went better than I hoped.”

Ann smiled. “He’s going to be fine-he’s a Thane. See you later, Gabe.”

Karen Joy Lewis

The familiar sounds of the restaurant were soothing to Karen-the clatter of dishes and pans, the called-out order tickets, the two others working with her prepping soups for the lunch menu and watching over the fryers as fresh donuts were turned. She worked in the rhythm of it, not having to think about specifics, simply cook and pull together great-looking plates of food. It was her domain, if only for this shift. It felt like home.

“There’s a gentleman at the counter who would like to say hi when you have a moment.”

Karen nodded her acknowledgment and flipped a perfectly cooked second crepe onto a plate. It was out to the customer just seconds later, filled with strawberries and topped with freshly whipped cream. Nothing from a spray can in this restaurant, she thought, satisfied. She peered into the dining area and saw Will Thane sitting at the end of the counter, opening a packet of sugar to go in his coffee, scanning the menu.

She felt herself stiffen a bit-not because she wasn’t glad to see him, but because she couldn’t tell if he’d had a conversation with Gabriel and Ann yet. When she’d agreed to let them speak with him about why she was in Carin, she’d taken a very big risk. Will was going to have something to say about why, for over a year, she hadn’t told him herself. She didn’t want to lose him right now… or ever.

She felt her hands turning sweaty and slippery on the skillet handle, forced her attention back to the next order. She filled orders for another twenty minutes before handing off the kitchen to Jimmy while she took her break. She washed her hands, hung up her apron, took a quick glance in the restroom mirror, tucked a strand of hair under her cap, and forced herself to walk out into the dining area. She greeted several regular customers at nearby tables, then took a seat on the stool next to Will.

He was working his way through an omelet. “There’s a good cook working here,” he said around a bite, the familiar grin helping her insides to relax a bit.

She smiled back at his teasing comment. He liked her cooking, and she appreciated the compliment. That was how he’d first introduced himself, offering a sincere compliment for a good meal. The café was not the big-city Italian restaurant where she’d been able to showcase her skills, but in its own way it was a comfortable setting and nice change of pace.

Will held out another fork and slid the plate toward her. “Eat some of this omelet. You don’t get to sit and enjoy your own cooking that often.”

She’d been too nervous to eat breakfast that morning, worrying about this first encounter with Will after he learned the truth. She ate a few bites, braced for his voice to drop, to tell her quietly that they had to talk.

But Will was signaling the server, ordering a cup of tea, doctoring it the way she preferred, placing it in front of her. “Want to go fishing with me this afternoon? I can pick you up after you get off work. Josh says the bass are fattening up for winter and snapping at anything that moves on the surface.”

He doesn’t know yet. No way he’d sit here this casually if he knew. She struggled to keep her voice even. “I could do that.”

“Good.” He leaned over and lightly kissed her. “Pick you up at three at your place, unless you call to say you’re somewhere else.”

“You’re in a good mood today,” she commented, forcing herself to keep the tone light as she turned to face him.

He smiled that slow smile of his. “It’s been a nice day-actually, a very nice day-and it’s just getting started. Gabriel and Ann gave me some news. About time you let me in on those secrets of yours, Karen. Here I was wasting worries that you had a former boyfriend someplace you preferred over me. You’re cooking any fish we catch after I clean them, but a bakery stop I can handle. You want me to pick up apple pie or cherry?”

She blinked, tried to think, went with the last item because that was the only one she could remember. “Cherry.”

He leaned over to say next to her ear, “Don’t worry so much. I think you’re by far the most interesting catch in all of Carin County-maybe throw in Chicago too.” He kissed her again, slid off the stool, and dropped a twenty on the counter. “Back at three.”

Eyes damp with tears, she nodded, watched the blurred figure walk to the door, wave goodbye. No shadows with this man. It hadn’t changed what he thought about her. She felt a quiver inside and fought back the tears that threatened to overflow.

She was sure they would talk more while they fished, though not much, knowing Will, she concluded with a little smile. Ann wouldn’t have sugarcoated matters. Gabriel certainly would have understood all the implications, been blunt about what it meant for her… for him. But Will had heard the news, come to find her, mostly to tease a smile out of her. He was confident in who he was and what he could do. Where she saw life-threatening danger, he saw an obstacle that could be overcome. She felt her heart quiver again. She was a lucky woman.

She surreptitiously wiped her eyes, slid off the stool, and took her tea with her, feeling nearly dizzy with relief. She’d been braced for a breakup, for Will to pull back and say they had to talk, that this news changed things for them. But he hadn’t drawn back, not even a little. That is so like the Will I’ve come to know… and love.

She could have offered to meet him at the lake, but he’d explained early on that when it was a date, he’d come to get her. He would always take her home, walk her to the door. He didn’t want her thinking she wasn’t worth the effort. He’d arrive with flowers too, sometimes picked from his own property. But mostly he overpaid at the florist to get them presented properly. She let him do it because it said something between them that might not yet be ready for words. He was telling her she was important, and when she accepted the bouquet, she acknowledged that his interest was welcome. A nice courtship in small gestures, she exulted as she tied her apron and turned back to the kitchen. She had gotten so very lucky-some would say blessed-when Will Thane walked into the Fast Café looking for a meal and spotted her.

“You doin’ okay, Karen?” Jimmy asked as he stepped back from the grill.

“Oh, yes, thanks-I’m good.” She pointed to the next order slip, and he passed it her way.

A great guy was coming to pick her up in a few hours. The day had gone from her being braced for bad news to as carefree a one as she could remember in years. It was indeed turning into a very nice day.