“If I get disbarred. Even if I don’t, it’ll be hard for me to go into a courtroom and not have the focus be on me and not on the victims. I’m going to have to do something different, no matter what Chloe decides. Hell, maybe I’ll set up a Kool-Aid stand.”
He yawned hugely. “Will you sell cherry flavor?”
“Grape,” he heard her reply sleepily. “Nobody hates grape. Sleep, Loukaniko.”
His eyes popped open. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“That nobody hates grape. And go to sleep,” she said, annoyed. “So go to sleep.”
“No, the Loukaniko part.”
She craned her neck to look up at him over her shoulder. “Leo said that was your real name. That’s why your mama calls you Lukamou.”
Luke bit his lip to keep from laughing. “Um. Lukamou is like… ‘my dear.’ Loukaniko is a big fat sausage.”
She winced, then her eyes narrowed. “Oh. Sorry. I blame Leo.”
“Brother Leo just dropped a rung on the Christmas present ladder.”
She snuggled back against him. “Although, I suppose under certain circumstances Loukaniko could apply, too.”
He snickered. “Thank you. I think.”
“Go to sleep,” she said quietly. “Lukamou.”
His arm tightened around her, and on a contented sigh, he let himself drift off.
Chapter Twenty-two
Atlanta, Monday, February 5, 7:45 a.m.
What’s in these boxes?” Susannah asked, sitting in Luke’s office the next morning.
Luke looked up from his reports. She looked fresh and beautiful in the black dress Chloe had loaned her the Saturday before. The dress had magically appeared in Luke’s closet while they slept, free of the dirt, blood, and clay she’d accumulated at Sheila Cunningham’s funeral. It was nice to have family in the dry-cleaning business.
“Yearbooks,” he said, “from all the schools in a twenty-five-mile-radius of Dutton. We used them last week to identify the victims in Simon’s pictures.”
Kneeling on the floor, she opened the box. “Is my senior annual in here?”
“No. I gave it to Daniel. It’s probably in his office. Why?”
“Just curious to see if I looked like I remember. Perspective is an interesting thing.”
“You don’t have any pictures of your senior year?”
She leveled him a look. “Why would I? I just wanted to forget it.”
“I have your picture. Kind of.” He pulled his wallet from his pocket, feeling foolish. “I was going through the yearbooks and saw your picture. I’d been thinking about you for days, since I first saw you at your parents’ funeral. I… photocopied it. I even thought about going to New York to meet you. Priced airfare and everything.”
She sat back on her heels, grinning delightedly. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” He gave her the folded photocopy and watched as she opened it, tentatively.
Her smile dimmed. “I look sad.”
“I know,” he said softly. “I thought so, too.”
She swallowed hard and gave him back the copy. “So why did you copy it?”
“Because I thought even sad, you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”
She blushed, charming him. “That’s sweet.” She went back to the box and he returned to his paperwork. All was quiet for minutes, then she spoke again. “Luke, I know why Kate Davis was called Rocky.” She put a yearbook on his desk, looking over his shoulder as he studied the page. It was a picture of a young girl with a very bad overbite and thick glasses. “That’s Kate Davis,” she said, “aka Rocky.”
Luke tried to reconcile the gawky child with the sleek woman Kate had become. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. It’s a wonder what braces and a makeover will do. I’d forgotten about it until I saw this picture, but the kids used to call Kate ‘Rocky.’ For the squirrel. You know, the one on the cartoon. With Bullwinkle,” she added when he looked up at her blankly.
“Oh. Why?”
She frowned, thinking back. “It started at one of the plays back in high school. Our private school was K through twelve, so they had little kids, too. They did Snow White and cast some of the younger kids as woodland creatures. Some thoughtless teacher cast Kate as a squirrel. She couldn’t have been more than eight or nine at the time.”
Luke looked at the buck teeth of the young Kate in the photo. “That was cruel.”
“They started calling her Rocky Squirrel after that, and because Garth was so big, they called him Bullwinkle. He didn’t mind, but Kate did. I remember her crying.” She sighed. “I should have said something then, but that was right after… well, after Simon and the others did what they did. I was keeping to myself a lot then.”
“I can see why.” Luke swiveled in his chair and looked up at her, deciding to confront his question head on. “Susannah, how did you know Simon raped you?”
She winced. “He showed me a picture. Somebody must have taken the picture, because it was definitely Simon, artificial leg and all.”
“What happened to the picture?”
“I don’t know. He made his point, then took it back. But I saw it, and for Garth Davis to call me a liar… It makes it worse.”
He hesitated, then spoke when she gave him a look. “It’s just that I’m surprised it wasn’t with Simon’s collection. Either the one Daniel found or the box you found.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t believe me?”
“Of course I do,” he said quickly and her frown smoothed. “I definitely believe you. I’m just wondering where the picture went.” He sandwiched her hand between his. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll go with you to see Garth when morning meeting is finished. He may know where Bobby is hiding. Now I gotta go.” He dropped a kiss on her lips.
“Luke.” He turned at the door. Her eyes were wide, her hands clutched together so tightly her knuckles were white. “Tell Chloe to make up her mind. I’d rather just know.”
Atlanta, Monday, February 5, 7:55 a.m.
“You look better,” Chase said to Luke when he sat at the conference room table.
“You don’t,” Luke replied. “Any news on Leigh?”
“No. I talked to her family. Nobody seems to know why she would have done this.”
The rest of the team filed in. With the exception of Ed and Chloe, all looked rested, but worn. Ed slipped Luke a note as he passed. Loomis paternity, it read. Positive.
That was one question confirmed. He met Ed’s eyes across the table with a nod.
“You want to share the note with the rest of the class?” Chase asked sarcastically.
Susannah had already given her okay to share the information, now that she’d told Daniel first. “Angie Delacroix, the hairdresser in Dutton, told Susannah that Arthur Vartanian wasn’t her father. That her mother had had an affair with Frank Loomis. Ed ran the tests and it’s true. Frank Loomis is Susannah’s biological father.”
Chase blinked. “Well. I didn’t see that coming.”
“Neither did she,” Luke said. “Seems like Frank Loomis fixed a lot of Simon’s legal problems, including falsifying evidence in the Gary Fulmore case.”
“That explains a lot,” Chloe said. “I’ll make sure that gets included with the record. We’d started an investigation into Loomis the day before he was killed.”
“Speaking of investigations,” Luke said. “She needs to know, Chloe.”
Chloe looked miserable. “I didn’t sleep a wink. But, Luke, I have to file charges.”
He bit back what would have been a sharp reply. “At least she’ll know. Tell them,” he added, when the team looked confused.
“Susannah Vartanian was in possession of a firearm illegally yesterday,” Chloe said.
“Oh my God,” Talia snapped. “Chloe.”
“That’s stupid,” Pete added. “Talk about adding insult to injury.”