And when he found him, he'd drag him back for trial. But not before he'd extracted down payment on five years worth of rage from his worthless hide.
Wouldn't be long now. Not long at all.
Rafe showed up only moments after the detective had departed. Lisl told him about the encounter but didn't mention how the photo of the priest had reminded her vaguely of Will. But it was so hard to tell. The priest in the photo had been so young and fresh-faced, with a straight nose and unscarred forehead, so different from Will. But still, there was something there. Plus the fact that Will had been working around Darnell less than three years now, and a beard was a good disguise if you were on the run…
She shook off the apprehensions. Groundless. Silly. Will was the gentlest of men. She couldn't imagine him hurting anyone, especially a child. And besides, Will had been nowhere near the phone when it rang. She distinctly remembered seeing him standing in the middle of'the room.
But why had Will disappeared immediately after?
No matter. She was sure he'd have a good explanation the next time they talked. And she didn't have to worry about the cop bothering him—Will had been so adamant about not coming, she hadn't bothered to put his name on the guest list.
Rafe brushed off her puzzlement as to why the State Police were getting involved, saying it had nothing to do with them, that they had more important things to concern them.
But she noticed that he was unusually quiet and pensive as they drove through town on their way to his mystery destination.
They wound up sitting at the curb near the rear parking lots of County Medical Center for a good twenty minutes or more. With Rafe so quiet she found herself thinking about Will again. Why had he disappeared from her party like that? Right when that awful phone call had come through. She could have used a little comfort from him then.
She wished she could find him and talk to him but she hadn't seen him since the party. Christmas break had a lot to do with that. The students were gone and campus routine was on hold until the second week in January. The few times she'd been back to her office she'd checked the old elm tree but he'd been nowhere in sight.
And she couldn't call him because he had no phone…
Phone… she wondered if there was any connection between his aversion to phones and the call at the party. But how could there be?
The only way to find out would be to ask him, and that would have to wait until she saw him again. Right now she was chilly and bored.
"What are we waiting for?" she asked Rafe for the fourth time.
"A face. The face we will be targeting. Just watch that nine-twelve over there."
"What's a nine-twelve?"
"A car. A Porsche. That little black one, third from the right in the lot over there."
Lisl spotted the car he meant. A sleek, sporty-looking two-seater. It looked built for speed.
"That's the doctor's parking lot."
"Yes. I know."
Lisl was just beginning to get an inkling of why they might be here when she saw him. A tall, dark-haired man in brushed wool slacks and a camel hair overcoat.
"Oh, God! It's Brian!"
"Yes. Dr. Brian Callahan. Your ex-husband. Very good-looking. I compliment you on your taste. Reminds me a little of Mel Gibson. I suspect he tries to emphasize the resemblance."
Lisl felt something akin to panic gripping her throat.
"Get me out of here."
"Why? Does he frighten you?"
"No. I just don't want to have anything to do with him."
"Why not?"
Lisl didn't answer. How could she? She wasn't sure herself. She hadn't seen Brian for years, and hadn't thought of him much at all since she'd met Rafe. But seeing him now brought back that awful, searing moment outside the attorney's office. The look on his face, the contempt in his voice, the words… I never loved you…
And with the memory came the pain.
She couldn't face him again, couldn't bear to have those hard, cold eyes pierce her again. She had come so far since that day. She couldn't risk letting him drag her down again. And he could do it. She knew he could look at her with that face and make her feel like nothing. Lisl never wanted to feel like nothing again.
Yes. She was afraid of Brian. He had never struck her, never harmed her physically. She almost wished he had. That would have been easier to deal with than the punishment he had meted out to her at the end of their marriage.
"Why not?" Rafe repeated.
"He's simply not worth the time," Lisl said.
"Oh, but he is. You helped put him where he is. You worked to pay the rent, you cooked his meals, you made it possible for him to get through medical school while he was sticking it to anything in a skirt."
"Drop it, Rafe. It's yesterday's news."
"And then when he was ready for his residency and could start making some money on his own, he dumped you."
"Enough."
"Look at him, Lisl. Tall, handsome, prosperous—only a couple of years into private practice and already he's driving an expensive sports car, wearing Armani clothes. And he owes much of it to you."
"I don't want anything from him!"
"Yes, you do." Rafe's eyes were fierce. "You want to be free of him."
"I am free of him."
"Legally, yes. But are you?"
Lisl heard/Brian's car start, saw him back out of his space, then race to the -lot exit. When the gate rose to let him out, he roared away with squealing, smoking tires.
"Let's follow Dr. Callahan, shall we?"
Lisl said nothing. She felt cold and sick as she sat with her arms folded across her chest while Rafe followed Brian through town.
"Dr. Callahan has a heavy foot," Rafe said.
Lisl remembered Brian's love of fast driving. A trip across town with him was an invitation to whiplash.
"You're not exactly a turtle yourself."
"Just trying to keep up with the good doctor."
They followed him through the black section at the southern end of town—"Downtown Browntown" as the students called it—and then into a development of luxury custom homes. The sign at the entrance read Rolling Oaks.
"What on earth is a Rolling Oak?" Rafe said.
Brian's car zipped into a short asphalt driveway and screeched to a halt before a two-car garage attached to a new two-story colonial. The garage door opened automatically and he eased his car inside.
"Nice house," Rafe said. "A 'starter home,' if you plan to be wealthy. Could have been yours."
"I don't want anything of his. I told you that."
"He's got a custom home, you've got a garden apartment."
Lisl realized she was angry—very angry. But somehow admitting that would allow Brian another victory. So she said nothing.
Rafe looked at her a long time, then said, "Doesn't seem fair, does it?"
"Life isn't fair, Rafe. If you expect fairness from life you'll go crazy long before you die."
"Excellent!" he said. "Couldn't have said it better myself. Fairness is a human construct. Life doesn't supply it—we do. That's why I brought you here. Now that we know where Dr. Brian Callahan lives, we are going to create a little fairness in his neck of the woods."
Rafe's smile frightened Lisl as he chirped the tires and roared past Brian's closing garage door.
They had a light dinner, and Rafe asked her to stay over. They had just removed the last of their clothing when Rafe pulled a black leather belt out of the drawer and handed it to her.
"What's this for?" Lisl asked.
She uncoiled it in her hands. It was long, close to four feet in length, and two inches wide.
"I want you to use it on me." -,.:
Lisl felt a sudden tightening inside.
"What do you mean, 'use it'?"
"I want you to hit me with it."
Her stomach turned. "This is sick."