He hung up and, his hand shaking, tossed the cell phone onto her bed. She hadn’t said a single word since he’d picked her up. „Kristen, Kristen, honey, you need to concentrate. Listen to me, honey. Did he hurt you?“
She shook her head hard against his chest and he drew a breath of relief. Let it out. Started to feel his heart return to normal. „Okay, good. Did he say anything to you?“
She nodded.
„What, honey? What did he say?“
Her response was mumbled against his coat. He gently pulled her away from his chest and she valiantly attempted to control her breathing. „Who… is he?“
Shit. „He wanted to know who the killer was?“
She nodded, her eyes sliding closed. „He had… a gun. Cold. He… put it… to my head… said… he’d blow…“ She shuddered and gathered fistfuls of his coat in her hands. „Said he’d… blow… brains out Mine. He said… I was… getting letters. So… I… had to… had to… know him. Maybe… hired him.“
Abe uttered a foul curse regarding Zoe Richardson and, unbelievably Kristen smiled. „Such… chivalry,“ she said, taking even breaths through her nose.
Abe brought her close again, holding her tight. „What else did he say?“
„Said if I didn’t know… I’d better figure it out… Or people I cared about… would die.“
A siren sounded in the distance, growing closer with each second. Abe gently settled her on the bed. „I’ve got to check the perimeter. Maybe he dropped something on his way in or out.“
„But you don’t think so.“
„No. Stay here. I’ll be back.“
„Abe.“
He turned at the doorway to find her staring down at her hands, her breath still hitching. „Send one of… Jack’s guys in here to… scrape my nails.“ She looked up, her mouth set in a satisfied line. „I… got his face.“
Abe smiled grimly. „That’s my girl.“
Monday, February 23,
12:30 a.m.
It was over now. All the police and CSU were gone. The only people left in her house were herself and Abe Reagan. They faced each other in her living room and he held out his hand. She walked into his arms.
„How did you know to come back?“ she asked, her cheek pressed hard into his solid chest. A heartbeat later she was swung up into his arms and he settled on the sofa, holding her on his lap like she was a baby. To protest never entered her mind.
He pulled the pins from her hair with quick, efficient movements and she sighed as the pressure on her head disappeared and her curls sprang free. „I remembered I hadn’t actually seen Truman in the cruiser.“ He shrugged. „I just knew.“
„Thank you.“ One corner of her mouth lifted. „Either I’m getting good at playing the damsel in distress or you’re getting good at playing the white knight.“
He massaged her head with his big hand. „Do they have to be mutually exclusive?“
She closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the feel of his hand. „No. I called you again.“
„Before you called 9-1-1,“ he said sternly and she just smiled.
„I guess I did. I knew you’d come.“ She sighed. „Thanks. For taking care of me.“
He was quiet for a long moment. „You were lucky tonight.“
She didn’t want to think about it. „Will Officer Truman get into any trouble?“
Abe shook his head and Kristen felt relieved. Officer Truman looked as upset as she’d felt when he’d returned mere minutes after Abe had broken down the door to save her. „No. He did everything right. How was he to know he was being lured away from you by a false report? The girl who approached his vehicle seemed sincerely frantic.“
„Who was she?“
„Truman will give a description to the sketch artists, but I’m not counting on anything. After he thought about it, he couldn’t even say for certain she was a teenager. She told him her grandfather had gone out to walk the dog, that it was a while before she even realized he was gone. That she’d found her grandfather facedown in the snow, and he was unconscious. He chalked up her not calling 9-1-1 to the panic of a kid. Of course, there was no old man.“
„Why didn’t he take the cruiser to the girl’s house?“
„She told him it would be faster to cross the backyards, that it was only a few houses away. She was crying and hysterical. Then she was gone. Disappeared into thin air when he’d turned his back to search for the old man. By the time he realized he’d been set up, I was here.“
Kristen nuzzled her cheek against the crisp cotton of his shirt and once again his hand threaded through her curls, massaging the back of her head. She could feel the tension lessen by slow degrees. „Well, it’s done and over and we’re both all right. What a day.“
His hand stilled, his palm cradling her head. „Kristen, I’m sorry.“
She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her, his eyes desolate. „Why?“
„Because I made you feel bad in front of my family. Yes, you sound like Debra. But I swear to you, you are not a substitute for my dead wife.“
She looked at his face, felt his strong arms around her. Remembered how it had felt when she heard him banging on the basement door. He’d come back. „It’s okay.“
His eyes widened. „It is?“
She nodded. „Abe, you’ve come every time I’ve called. You made me feel things I never thought I’d ever feel. I’m grateful for that. In the grand scheme of life, whether I sound like Debra or not really isn’t that important.“ She narrowed her eyes. „Now if you want me to wear her clothes or wear my hair like her, I may start to get a little weirded out.“
He chuckled. „You’d look like a kid playing dress-up if you tried to wear Debra’s clothes. She was five-eleven without her shoes on.“
Kristen returned her head to his shoulder, felt his arms tighten around her in response. „I liked your family, Abe. Even Aidan.“
He snorted gently. „Aidan can be a real ass sometimes.“
„Not like you.“
He pulled back to glare down at her. „Excuse me?“
„It’s not like you got mad at me for including cops on the list of suspects. Right?“
He yanked one of her curls. „Hush, or I won’t give you a massage.“
Her brows shot up. „A massage? Really?“
„I was considering it. You’re still tighter than a drum.“
She regarded him intently, thought about having his hands on her shoulders and her back and she wanted to melt. Conversely, she thought about his hands on her… elsewhere… and her stomach clenched. „I trust you, you know?“
His eyes heated with what she’d left unsaid. „I know. It kills me to know, but yeah, I know. Proper massage. No more. But I do want something in return.“
She sucked in one cheek. „What?“
„Tell me about your family. I took you to mine, idiot brother and all. Tell me about yours.“
Kristen sighed. It wasn’t the same, not at all. But again, in the grand scheme of life, what did it really matter? „I grew up on a farm in Kansas a hundred miles from the nearest stoplight. There was just me and my sister, Kara“
„You said that your sister died in a drunk-driving accident.“
She felt the familiar ache, as if it were yesterday instead of fifteen years ago. „I was sixteen, she was eighteen. Kara always was the wild one. We grew up in a very…“ She searched for the right word. „Our house was rigid. My father liked rules. Kara didn’t. When she was eighteen, she took a trip with some friends. They drove into Topeka, hotbed of sin.“
Abe smiled and ruefully she smiled back. „After living on a little farm with wheat as far as the eye could see, even Topeka was like living on the edge.“ She sobered, remembering now. „Kara must have gone to some parties. Anyway, my parents got the call from the state police in the middle of the night. Kara was dead.“
He’d sobered as well. „I’m sorry.“
„So was I. On a number of levels. I loved my sister, and I missed her. I still do. But something happened to my parents after she was gone. My father grew more rigid and Mother just wound down. Before, she’d temper his rules. But after Kara died, she just went into this… I don’t know. A dark place. She was never the same again.“