“Maybe you should have told me.”
“You wouldn’t have listened.” And that was probably true, Kacey decided. “So what’s this all about?” Riza asked. “You didn’t just call me out of the blue. There must be a reason.”
“Well. . yeah. .” Kacey got down to it. “Look, Riza, I need some help. Several women have died up here, and a couple of them were born in Helena, at Valley Hospital, which I think closed about twenty or twenty-five years ago. I wanted to find out if there were others. Women… well, I think only women, who were born between thirty-one and, oh, probably like thirty-eight years ago at the hospital who are now deceased.”
“You know I only have access to Montana records.”
“I’m willing to start there.”
“It’s all public record,” Riza said, “but I can speed through the process for you. I shouldn’t get into too much trouble, but you never know. People are touchy around here, and there are fees for everything.”
“Does it help that I’m a doctor?”
“Yeah. It means you can probably afford all this.” She chuckled to herself, then asked for Kacey’s e-mail. “I’ll have you know this is highly irregular. That’s what my boss is gonna say if she gets wind of it. Nearly everything I do she considers irregular, so let’s keep it between us. And don’t worry about the fees…. I think I can bury them, too.”
“No wonder the state’s in trouble.”
“Yeah, right.” They talked a little more; then Riza promised to get her the information she needed, if she could.
“Step one,” she told Bonzi, then leaned back in her desk chair, stretching her spine and neck. “Maybe we should go for a walk in the park,” she said. “Go get your leash.”
He had been lying on his dog bed, but at hearing the word walk, he was instantly on all four feet and trotting to the back door.
He sat glued to his desk chair, his earphones firmly over his head, his heart starting to beat out of control. Already Acacia was becoming suspicious, checking birth and death certificates. Though he could monitor her at home and at her clinic, he couldn’t anticipate all her moves or what she might be thinking. It was only a matter of time before she had an idea of what he was doing.
She could ruin everything!
And there was still so much to do!
He’d heard that she’d gotten herself a dog, and that bothered him. Sneaking in and out of her place, though he’d done it only a couple of times, would now be much more difficult.
Just one more problem to be worked out. Nothing serious.
He could handle it.
He could, he reminded himself, handle anything.
But this… her linking the deaths. He couldn’t allow it.
He ripped off the headset and stared at the death wall, the large area where he’d recently carefully pinned all those shots of the Unknowings. Some of them showed their surprise when they realized they’d been duped. Others displayed horror and fear as they caught on that they were taking their last breaths, and a few, like Elle Alexander, where the death had been from a distance, were only a blurry photo. He’d taken time to snap a quick shot on his cell phone before driving away and over the bridge, catching the minivan sinking into the water.
So many years of work.
So much time invested.
Almost finished… and now she was going to ruin it? No fucking way!
Furious, he kicked a trash can and sent it reeling, the plastic buckling as it bounced off a wall and spilled its contents of papers that he had intended to burn, empty cartons, and a burned-out lightbulb onto the slick tile floor.
He had to do something.
He had to stop her.
His cell phone jangled, and he gnashed his teeth, seeing on the screen that it was his damned sister. She called at the most inopportune moments. It was almost as if she could see him, read his frustration, and had to let him know it.
She’s only trying to help you fit in. You should be thankful.
He wasn’t. Because every single person in his family realized he would never be like the rest of them. He couldn’t. From the beginning he was different, and they all knew it.
In the mirror he caught his reflection, handsome, but no longer calm, his face flushed, the white scar at his temple seeming to pulse with his frenzy.
So like the rest of them, but so different.
How could he have let this happen?
The phone rang again.
Calm down. Take the call. . Sister is an ally, though she may not know it.
He tried to force his blood pressure into the normal range.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi.” She was breathless as usual, probably dealing with “that moron of a contractor,” which was her usual excuse for being in a bad mood.
“Something up?” He didn’t want to pressure her, but he didn’t have time for idle chitchat.
“A lot, actually. It’s Mom and Dad. . They… are resistant to change, and, well, you know that Dad’s not as strong as he once was, and Mom isn’t about to move or put him in an assisted-care place, but he needs more care than she can give. . ” She went on and on, as she always did about this particular topic, one that made his blood run cold.
She was lamenting their parents’ stubborn streak when he broke in. “So what do you want me to do about it?”
“Talk to Mom.”
“I have.”
“Again. Be firm. She listens to you, for whatever reason. You’d think since I’m the oldest, my opinion would carry some weight, but oh, no—”
“I will,” he said, cutting off the next part of her no-one-values-my-opinion pity party. “I’ll drive over… by this weekend.”
“The sooner, the better.”
“I have a life, you know. A job. A highly stressful job.”
“Okay, okay, just let me know.”
“I will.”
“Oh, and a final warning. Mom has someone picked out for you.” He inwardly groaned. “And get this,” his sister added, her voice elevating a fraction in excitement. “It’s a nurse. Can you believe it? After all the things she’s said about that particular profession? I guess she met this woman when she was taking Dad to his annual physical.”
“It doesn’t matter what she does.” He wasn’t in the mood for a potential romance, especially not someone his meddling mother had discovered. Not when there was just so much to do.
“Just be prepared. Her name is Karalee Rierson, a redhead.”
He froze. The little worry that had been with him since he’d overheard Acacia’s phone call was growing, squirming, wriggling through his brain. He glanced down at the pile of photographs he’d collected over the years, spreading them out until he saw the driver’s license picture of Karalee Winters. No. . it couldn’t be! He swallowed hard, started searching through the old documents. He should remember this. Wasn’t her maiden name Karalee Falcone. . Yes, he found it. “What do you know about her?” he asked in a voice he didn’t recognize as his own.
“I think she lived in Oregon when she was married, but I’m not sure. And then there was something about a brief, like ten-minute marriage, which Mom will gloss over.”
Hence the surname of Winters.
“But she doesn’t have any kids. I’m sure Mom will have all the details and will regale you with them when you see her.”
His stomach seemed to drop to the cold tile floor. Everything was crumbling apart. “No doubt,” he said. “Look, I’ve got to run.”
“Okay, okay. Always busy, I get it. But after you see Mom and Dad and convince them to move, give me a call.”
“I will,” he promised and hung up. He stared at the photo of Karalee Falcone Winters Rierson. He’d messed up. Somehow missed that important tidbit of information. And now she knew his parents… so, so dangerous. He crushed the copy of her driver’s license in his fist and told himself he had to up his game, move faster.