“I hope that’s the case.”
Gabriel studied his friend as he dug into his ice cream. “A final comment and then we’ll leave the topic of Evie. When she’s wearing an engagement ring, but before the wedding ring, tell her your concerns once more. Until then, you’re writing the future. That’s something you’re gifted at doing, but it’s not real yet. So let it set.”
“Let it set,” Ann repeated, scooping up another spoonful from her bowl. “Okay. Letting it set.”
Gabriel considered her a moment, smiled. “You’ll figure this out, Ann. There’s a reason God brought the two of you together to be friends.”
“Thanks for that.”
He ate more ice cream, his thoughts shifting to why she’d come over this evening. “All right, now tell me about Karen Lewis.”
“Before I do, is it your opinion the relationship between your brother and Karen is serious on Will’s part, and a good thing for him?”
Gabriel didn’t have to reflect on his answer. “Yes to both.”
“Then I’m going to tell you a story tonight, because Karen and I have talked at length today, and we’re in agreement that your opinion would be useful to have. But what’s said here stays with me, with Karen, possibly with Paul-no one else-until Karen comes to a decision about the situation. If a circumstance develops where security is a concern, if it’s an imminent safety issue, you tell anyone you feel is crucial for need-to-know.”
Gabriel studied her expression, having seen it on rare occasions in the past. Ann was about to give up one of her secret people, and she only did so with a great deal of reluctance. “Agreed.”
“Her name isn’t Karen Joy Lewis. It’s Karen Josephine Spencer. Three and a half years ago she was a line chef at a neighborhood restaurant in Chicago, one with a really good reputation for Italian cuisine. The couple who ran the business were killed after closing hours… stabbed to death. Karen saw the tail end of the murders, saw the man who did it, gave the police a sketch, picked him out of a lineup, testified at the trial. The jury didn’t believe her; they returned a verdict of not guilty. He walked away from a double murder, is now walking the streets a free man.”
Gabriel instantly knew where this was going and felt his stomach clench. Very few things bothered a cop more than the situation she just described. But he didn’t comment, choosing to let Ann give him the rest of the details first.
“His name is Tom Lander. He blames Karen for the loss of his reputation, his marriage, his business. At the time, he managed money for private clients, who promptly, wisely, moved their funds away from him. He’s a very dangerous man. He walked free on a double murder and he’s felt pretty invincible ever since. He found it amusing to set out to destroy Karen’s life, and he nearly succeeded. Saying he scared her doesn’t do justice to what happened. Paul and I got her out of Chicago, gave her a new name, a new age, for that matter-because it was only a matter of time before he would take her life. Since that trial he’s also killed his ex-wife. There’s no arrest yet on that stabbing, but it isn’t for lack of Chicago PD’s efforts to make the case.”
Not just a guilty man going free, but a violent one with a taste for payback. Gabriel had gotten to know Karen since she’d moved to Carin, and his opinion of her was rising with every word Ann said. She was young to have faced this, strong to have weathered it, war-toughened just as his brother had been, even though her fight had not been on a battlefield. No wonder Will found something in Karen that intensely attracted him. She was a realist with a strong backbone and a willingness to do what had to be done. Will would instinctively be drawn to that. It also was no doubt why Karen understood the combat-medic side of his brother.
“Lander’s still in Chicago,” Ann continued. “A friend keeps an eye on him for us. So far he has no idea where Karen has gone. Her family members and friends have had their homes broken into, laptops, phones, and phone records stolen, so we know he’s hiring people to find a lead.”
“That’s pretty aggressive on his part.”
“Very.” Ann shifted in her chair, her worry about the situation apparent. “Karen didn’t want to leave Illinois, so I chose Carin. It’s close enough that Paul and I can keep tabs, and if she needs to leave quickly, I’ve got the airport close by. She’s been able to relax here, to breathe again, and she’s not looking over her shoulder. Here she’s coming back from a deep, black hole. Having Will’s attention, the normalcy of a guy being nice to her, has literally helped save her. With Karen having to leave behind everyone she knew, cut ties to everything in her past, Will has given her something in the present to hold on to and rebuild around, which has been a lifesaver.
“The jury’s not-guilty verdict shredded something inside her, Gabriel. She told the truth, and she wasn’t believed. Add that on top of the horror of seeing the murders, and this young woman took the hardest hit I’ve seen a civilian take in recent years. When he walked free, it was like ‘Hell, Part Two’ closing in on her. She couldn’t turn around without him being there, watching her, following her, worse-walking up to her friends and introducing himself. He was toying with her, and we were going to get a call that she’d been stabbed to death.”
“You were right to get her out of there.”
Ann nodded. “Moving Karen was a drastic but necessary solution. This is behind Karen so long as Tom Lander doesn’t locate her. And if Karen one day marries Will, it buries her under another layer of name changes and public records. But if Lander finds her, it becomes a problem with its own dimensions. He’s not the type to move on, to forget a perceived wrong. He won’t let up if he locates her. He will harass her, spook her, terrify her in creative and insidious ways, and then do her physical harm, probably kill her. And I think I know your brother well enough to predict that Will moving away from here, starting over somewhere else with a new name for himself and his wife, is a lot less likely than Will finding a way to permanently stop Tom Lander from ever terrorizing his wife again. He’s got the training, the know-how.”
“And then we’d have another murder to deal with.” Gabriel shook his head, leaned forward to steeple his hands in front of him. “From Will’s perspective, the guy found her once, he’ll find her again, so end the problem for good,” he finished softy.
“Exactly,” Ann said. “Staying hidden for a year is different from staying hidden for five years, or ten. Something’s going to give this sanctuary away. Karen’s going to want to go back to Chicago to visit a family member in hospice care, attend a funeral or a wedding. She’ll eventually make contact with Chicago and leave a trail. Or Lander is going to get creative on how to find her, launch one of those social media campaigns, ‘help me find this woman,’ posting Karen’s last-known photo, and someone’s going to want the money and send a response, ‘I saw her yesterday in Carin, Illinois.’”
Ann’s expression turned more troubled. “There is no way to protect Karen from ever being found again. The only protection is to move her if she’s discovered. Maybe it’s next year, or five years from now, but the day will come when for her own safety and the safety of those around her, Karen needs to leave here and cut all her ties to Carin County. And if she’s married to Will, what’s the answer to that dilemma? What if she has a two-year-old daughter…?” Ann didn’t try to finish the thought.
Gabriel was already there. “I’m running that story thread into the future, seeing those collisions too.”
“Karen wants a future with Will, she wants to be free of this, but there’s no answer that gives her that,” Ann said. “Until Tom Lander is in jail or dead, Karen and everyone she cares about is at risk.”