Silent Witness (11 page)

She yanked harder on his wrists. “Are you ready to play nice or am I going to have to cuff your cowardly butt and throw you in jail?”

Not waiting for an answer, she and Sal hauled him to his feet and returned him to his side of the table. She stood an inch taller than Danny and, for once, was grateful that she could use her height to intimidate a man. “Look, you little weasel, you have one minute to make a choice. You can sit your butt back down in that chair and answer my questions or Sal will lock you up for assaulting an officer so fast you won’t have time to utter the word ‘lawyer.’ Your choice, buddy. What’s it going to be?”

Danny Trent sat down. He threw a defeated look their way. “If I answer your questions, can I get out of here?”

“Maybe.” She walked around the table and sat back down facing him. “But I guarantee that the only place you are going is to a jail cell if you don’t.”

She saw the bravado seep out of him like a balloon with a leak. His shoulders slouched and his eyes registered defeat.

“They threw me out of the army because I got hooked on drugs.” He hung his head and, for the first time, he looked as if he was truly feeling remorse. “I’ve got a bad habit. I’ve tried to kick it but I can’t. Sometimes when I’m high I hate myself. I get angry. Lose control.” His voice dropped. “Hit my wife.” He looked back and forth between them. “You think I want to hit her? I love Cathleen.”

“Love, huh? Funny way of showing it, with your fists.” Sal shook his head and made a sound of disgust.

“Where were you Monday, Mr. Trent?” Liz saw telltale glistening in his eyes and, for a moment, truly felt empathy for the man who had once been an exemplary soldier and was now a hard-core addict.

“I left work because I needed a fix.” He looked up and self-loathing registered in his eyes. “I got what I needed.”

Liz threw a hard stare his way. She didn’t know yet what she was going to do with Danny Trent—or if she was looking at the sniper who had tried to kill her.

* * *

Liz glanced at her watch. Eight o’clock. Total darkness surrounded her, the headlights of her car the only illumination on the dirt road. The trees on either side stood like shadowed sentinels and blocked her view of the starlit evening sky. That deep-rooted uneasiness raised its ugly head and skittered along her spine.

Why had Adam insisted on bringing the boy back here? She understood that it was part of therapy, part of familiarity, structure and routine for Jeremy. But at what cost? The house sat smack-dab in the middle of the woods. Neighbors few and far between. A security nightmare. This was crazy. Why on earth had she gone against her own instincts and allowed it?

A wave of relief washed over her when she spotted the lights of the house through the trees. For a split second, she felt she was coming home, not to the house, but to the people inside—to Adam and Jeremy and even Charlie and Rerun—and it caused a deeper uneasiness than even the darkened woods.

She parked at the side of the house.

Paul must have heard her car. He was standing on the porch as she got out of her car and approached the house.

“Quiet on the home front, Paul?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thanks, Paul. I’m sorry I’m so late. You must be hungry. You can leave now. Grab yourself some dinner and have a good night.”

“Oh, I’m not hungry, ma’am. Adam fixed us a big dinner.”

“Adam cooked dinner?”

“Yep. Haven’t had home cooking like that since I visited my mom in June. I’m stuffed.” His face split into a wide grin and he patted his stomach.

“Really? Somehow I didn’t picture Dr. Morgan as a great cook.”

“Take my word for it, ma’am. He is. There was nothing but empty plates and full stomachs around that table.”

Liz chuckled. “Good. I’m glad you didn’t have to starve to death waiting for me to get back. You can leave now. Get a good night’s rest. And thanks, Paul.”

“No problem, Sheriff. Anytime you need someone to pull supper detail, you can call on me.”

“That’s good to know.” She watched her deputy pull away and then let herself into the house. Immediately she punched in the security code on the pad inside the door so she wouldn’t set off the alarm.

The house was quiet. The hall light upstairs was on and she saw another light coming from the downstairs study. When she reached the library door, she saw Adam sitting in one of the leather high-backed chairs beside an unlit fireplace.

Her eyes glanced over the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. She imagined that on a cold winter night it would seem like a slice of heaven to curl up here and read a book by a roaring fire. But tomorrow was Labor Day, the hot, humid days of August barely passed, and she was surprised to find him here. But then again, Adam was filled with surprises.

“Hi. How’d it go?” Adam closed the book he’d been reading and gave her his full attention. “Did you catch the bad guy?”

She threw herself into the leather chair opposite him. “I caught
a
bad guy but I’m still not sure that it’s our bad guy. Not enough evidence to hold him but we’re keeping a close eye on him. He’s high on our suspect list. I’m sorry I’m so late.”

“No problem. Paul did a fine job keeping an eye on things. He even baked cupcakes with Jeremy for our picnic tomorrow.”

“Picnic? What picnic?”

“It’s Labor Day. I’m having a barbecue.”

“No, you’re not. That will be a security nightmare. Whatever made you think you could have a barbecue—particularly without asking me?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” He crossed the room and playfully tapped the end of her nose. “Maybe because the barbecue is for all the law enforcement officers who have been laboring to keep us safe. Some of Davenport’s men have accepted the invitation. But, mostly, it will be your team and the four of us. And, yes, I told them big, bulky flowered shirts over uniforms are a must.”

Liz smiled and nodded her approval. “So, where is everyone? The house is pretty quiet.”

“I just put Jeremy to bed a few minutes ago. He should be asleep by now. The last time I looked, Rerun was sprawled out across him.”

“Ouch. Isn’t the dog a little heavy to be on top of a five-year-old?”

Adam laughed. “Not for Jeremy. Remember, he responds to deep pressure not light touch.”

Liz smiled. “Yeah, I guess Rerun is acting like a living, breathing swaddling blanket. Good dog.” Liz glanced over her shoulder. “Speaking of good dog, where’s his trainer? I haven’t seen Charlie anywhere.”

“After you left, I gave her the afternoon off. She drove into St. Louis for some retail therapy and said something about trying to squeeze in dinner and a movie.”

Liz’s breath took a hiccup. They were alone in the house. For the first time in fifteen years, it would be just the two of them. She didn’t know how she felt about this unexpected turn of events. She just knew that her pulse quickened and her heart definitely skipped every third beat.

“You look tired.” The deep timbre of his voice slid over her nerve endings and made every one of them stand up and take notice.

“I am.” She tried to remain calm and not let him see how the thought of a solitary evening together was affecting her.

“I bet you didn’t take the time to grab yourself anything to eat, did you?”

“I’ll be fine. Go back to your book. I’ll slip into the kitchen and fix myself a sandwich and then I’ve got some reports to look over. Sergeant Davenport’s man should be here at eleven to take over the night shift.”

Liz made a hasty exit to the kitchen. She barely made it to the refrigerator before she heard Adam’s voice behind her.

“There’s a dish for you in the microwave. I’ll fix you a salad to go with it.”

They were alone in the house. He’d kept dinner for her. This was stuff she’d thrown around in her mind about a thousand times when she’d played her what-if games. What if Adam had never left? What if they’d gotten married like they used to talk about? What if they had a quiet little house in the woods with their own child asleep upstairs? What if memories weren’t painful and dreams did come true?

Her eyes burned and her hand clasping the door handle trembled. She stared at the covered plate as if it were a snake poised to strike.

How could this be happening to her? She didn’t want a relationship, didn’t need a relationship. She liked her life just the way it was. Why didn’t he just go away before he messed things up—again.

Adam’s hands clasped her shoulders. “Here, let me get it for you. You’ve been burning a candle at both ends. It won’t hurt to take a breather.” He steered her toward the kitchen counter.

Liz perched on a stool and watched him go to work. Within minutes, he’d set a place mat and utensils in front of her, made a salad and poured her a tall glass of iced tea. At the ding from the microwave, he donned an oven mitt and with exaggerated flourish whisked the plate in front of her.

“Voilà. An Adam Morgan specialty. Enjoy.” Adam lifted the lid and waved the aroma of hot, steamy beef and noodles her way.

Liz almost salivated like Pavlov’s dog and her stomach growled on cue.

Adam sat on a stool opposite her. He propped his elbows on the counter, held his head in his hands and had the silliest grin on his face, obviously in anticipation of the glowing accolades he expected to come his way.

Liz nibbled a small bite. As much as she didn’t want to pump up his ego with exclamations about his genius in the kitchen, the second bite did her in. This was absolutely delicious.

“This is good.”

“‘Good’?” He waggled his eyebrows and waited for her to lavish more praise.

Liz laughed. “Okay, this is delicious. This is the most tender, moist beef I have ever tasted. Happy now?”

“Absolutely.” He poured himself a glass of iced tea. “Just wait until you taste my beef, shrimp and chicken kebabs on the grill tomorrow. My special marinating sauce is so good I should patent it. Now go ahead. Eat.”

He sat across from her and grinned ear to ear.

“What? Are you going to sit there and stare at me eating?”

Adam chuckled. “No. I’m going to sit here and keep you company while you’re eating. Maybe have some adult conversation since I’ve been cooped up in the house with a five-year-old all day.”

Liz swallowed slowly, trying to savor every bite. “‘Adult conversation’? What? Didn’t Paul fit that bill?”

Adam lifted his glass and gave her a mock salute. “Touché. But Paul kept himself pretty busy walking the perimeter of the house until a moat started to form.”

Liz almost spit out her mouthful of iced tea as she suppressed a laugh.

“It wasn’t until I found out he loves baking that I was able to encourage him to come inside. Besides…” Adam’s voice deepened and he caught her gaze with his. “He isn’t as pretty to look at as you are.”

The blood raced to her face and Liz felt the heated flush of her skin. Her stomach fluttered and her pulse thumped like a racehorse in the final stretch. It took her a moment to respond and when she did she tried to put things back on an even keel.

“I bet you say that to all the girls. You need to work on that, Adam. Your cooking is fabulous. Your pickup lines, not so good.” She stood up. “Thanks so much for saving dinner for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really do need to work on those reports.”

She reached out for her empty plate.

His hand captured her wrist. He smiled up at her and her heart flip-flopped in her chest. His eyes were intense and endearing.

“You’ve been working all day. Don’t you think you deserve a little downtime?” Ever so softly he rubbed the tender skin of her wrist with his thumb.

A comfortable tension, an undercurrent of awareness, filled the air between them. It would be so easy to relax and see where the evening led. But she couldn’t afford to make the same mistakes again. She had to keep her guard up with Adam, even though it was getting harder and harder to do so.

“You can’t run away forever, Lizzie. Sooner or later we are going to have to talk.”

“We have nothing to talk about, Adam. What happened to us happened too many years ago to bother with. I’ve moved on and I’m sure you have to.”

With his other hand, he reached up and gently stroked her cheek.

“I still have feelings for you, Lizzie. And I’m hoping you have feelings for me, too…just buried.”

The breath caught in her throat. What? Were there no telephones in his world? No post offices? No homing pigeons? No skywriting? No way in existence to communicate with her at any time over the past fifteen years and apologize for shattering her world into a million pieces?

How many times had she wanted to hear him say that she mattered? How many months after he’d left had she lain awake at night and prayed it was all a bad dream?

Now he sat in this kitchen and told her that he had unresolved
feelings
for her?

Instead of angering her, it just made her feel sad.

“I hurt you,” Adam said, his voice filled with regret. “I know that and I’m so, so sorry.”

She eased her wrist from his grasp.

“Thank you for your apology, Adam. I appreciate it. I do. But an apology doesn’t turn back the clock and make everything okay. You of all people should know that.”

“You’re still holding on to your anger? You can’t find it in yourself to forgive me and give me a second chance?”

“I forgave you long ago, Adam. I continue to forgive you, and anyone else who ever wronged me, every morning when I recite the Lord’s Prayer.”

Hope flashed in his eyes.

“But I’m not interested in exploring a relationship with you.”

She saw his disappointment and it tugged at her heart.

“This has nothing to do with our past. This is all about the present. I like my life. I’m good at what I do and I’m happy doing it.”

“What does that have to do with spending time together? Getting to know one another again and seeing if there’s anything there worth rekindling?”

“Because I’m married, Adam—to my job. And I like it that way.”

She smiled into his eyes and found herself wishing that things could be different. But they couldn’t. Not now. Not ever.

“I’m not giving up.” He grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows. “Just saying…”