Behind the Shadows (33 page)

Katy Douglas was small, and the disease had probably made her seem even smaller. She was wan, her eyes hollow, but the color was an intense dark blue. A darker shade than her own.

“Sit … down,” the woman said. “Near me, please.”

Leigh took the chair next to the bed. She was grateful for it. Her legs weren't working very well, and her heart was pounding.

“This must … be very hard,” Katy Douglas said. Her eyes were full of compassion, and Leigh's mouth suddenly felt thick.

“For you, too,” Leigh replied after a moment.

“No. It's not hard gaining another daughter. It's a … joy.”

And Leigh saw that it was. Not because of a kidney. She looked into the kind, compassionate face and suddenly understood why Chris had wanted her to meet Katy Douglas.

It felt disloyal, though, to the mother who had sung to her and sat beside her when she was sad or sick or afraid.

“I'll go outside,” Kira said.

“No …” But it was too late. The door closed behind Kira Douglas as she left the room.

Katy Douglas seemed to be able to see right through all Leigh's uncertainty. “Thank you … for coming.” Her voice was growing weaker.

“I …” Leigh began.

“Don't say it,” Katy said. “I think we've all gone through some … denial about what happened. I probably have the least adjustment. I get a new daughter. If you'll let me.”

Except it might not be for long. Leigh didn't want a new mother if she was just going to lose her again. She wanted to flee the room.

“Will you tell me something about yourself?” Katy asked. “Anything. What you like. What you don't like.”

What to tell?
Kira Douglas was smart, had a great job, and was obviously respected, while she'd made one mess after another.

“I like horses. I'm involved in a horse show.”

The woman in the bed smiled. “I always wanted to ride. So did Kira, but there was never time or money. I'm so glad you had the opportunity.”

Katy held out her hand. “I don't want to push you … Leigh … but there may not be much time. I want you to know me … and Kira. You're like sisters.”

“I would like that, too,” Leigh replied. “But you look tired. Maybe another time.”

“Just a few more minutes …”

Katy Douglas was fighting exhaustion. That much was obvious.

“This can't be good for you …”

“It's wonderful for me. At first … it hurt. I had a daughter I'd never held, never knew. I love Kira with all my heart but to know there was someone out there …”

There was so much love and tenderness and understanding in a body ravaged by disease that Leigh's heart started to crack.

“No,” Katy said shortly. “No regrets. No tears.”

“You need a … a kidney.”

“And I'll tell you what I told Kira. I still have my senses about me. I still have to sign a consent for surgery. And I won't sign it. I told her I wouldn't take her kidney, and I won't take yours. It's too dangerous.”

Leigh touched the hand lying on the cover. “I'm glad I came.”

“Kira was right,” Katy said. “You're lovely. And nice.”

Kira had lied
. She hadn't been nice at all. She was suddenly very grateful.

“She loves you very much,” Leigh said.

“Maybe too much,” Katy said. “She thinks … she knows what's best for me. She doesn't.”

The kidney, Leigh knew immediately. Pain rushed through her. She might have the means of prolonging this woman's life. Prolonging the time she could get to know her.

The fear rushed in after that. The white walls of the room did it. The sound of heels on the hall floors outside did it. The drip stand did it, along with the other sounds of a hospital room.

“What is it?” Katy Douglas asked softly.

“I don't like hospitals. I was in an accident when I was young, and I was in and out of the hospital—hospitals—for several years.”

“I'm … sorry.” Empathy shone in eyes too much like her own.

“It was a long time ago,” Leigh said.

“Not so long ago for you.” The voice was soft, understanding.

“No. It revisits several times a week at night. My mom and dad died at the same time.”

Katy Douglas's face paled even more. “Kira told me your … parents died in a crash.”

Leigh didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do. She had wished to have her mother back for years. Now she was offered a new one. It was all too new, too strange to accept.

She stood. “I was told not to stay long.”

“Will you come back?”

“Yes.”

“If you have any photos … when you were young …”

“I'll bring them.”

“Thank you.”

“I don't know what to call you.”

“Katy. Everyone calls me Katy.”

To her own surprise, Leigh leaned down and clasped Katy's hand. “I'm glad to meet you, Katy.”

Katy's fingers clasped hers. And she nodded.

Leigh left before her eyes gave her away for the second time today. Until now she hadn't cried in a long time.

Thoughts and plans were floating like flotsam through Kira's mind. She had wanted to listen in on the conversation but in the end she had too much respect for her mother.

She needed to write a better story for the paper, but there was little she could say now. Too much she didn't know. Too many people who could get hurt.

She hadn't really considered that in her career. News was news. Now she was learning the personal toll of some news stories. Fingers would be pointed toward an important family. Seth Westerfield's political campaign could be affected. So could Dr. David and Dr. Michael Crawford's reputations. She didn't want to be responsible for that.

Max was talking to Chris in a corner. She walked over and joined them.

Chris moved to make way for her.

“Thank you for bringing her. I don't know how you did it, but …”

“It was her decision. She brought it up. She offered to come.”

“It's a change.”

“I think she's been thinking about it.”

“Will she give a kidney?”

“I don't know. That wasn't discussed.”

“Maybe after meeting her …”

“Katy is still a stranger to her,” Max warned. “And even if the DNA proves to Leigh's satisfaction she's Katy's biological daughter, that doesn't mean she's compatible.”

“I think she's already accepted that she's Mom's natural daughter or she wouldn't be here,” Kira said hopefully.

Their eyes met. Kira's and Max's. She felt the now-familiar sparks inside, the tingling in the pit of her stomach that presaged even stronger reactions. Her face warmed as she remembered the hours they'd spent …

Dammit. Not now. She stepped away, trying to break that intimacy that so suddenly had enwrapped them.

She glanced at Chris. Saw his raised eyebrows as he obviously understood what was happening.

Just then the door to her mother's room opened. Leigh walked out. Slowly. Hesitantly.

Kira went over to her. “Thank you.”

Leigh merely nodded, then said haltingly, “I'll have the blood tests for a kidney match. That doesn't mean …”

Kira nodded. It didn't mean Leigh would go through with it. Kira understood the woman better now. She was taking it step-by-step, and that was all she could expect. It was what Max had been trying to tell her.

Chris put his arm around Leigh, and she leaned into him.

So that was the way it was.

“Let's go down to the cafeteria and work out the statement,” Max said.

Twenty minutes later, they agreed on a statement along the lines of what Kira had reported to the newspaper.

“It's not going to satisfy anyone,” Chris said. “And Kira is really going to be under pressure from her newspaper.”

“I know,” Max replied. “But if we stick together and insist that's all we're going to say until DNA test results come in, they won't have much to run with. At least for the moment.” He paused. “I think it's best if it comes from both Kira and myself. That way they can't run to the other side.”

Kira nodded. “Put my name on it.”

Max nodded. “I'll have my secretary fax it to all the news media immediately.” He looked at Kira. “It's time for you to go home.”

She knew that. She'd been running on adrenaline and painkillers, and now it was catching up with her.

Chris's cell rang. He flipped it open. Listened. Turned away and spoke in a low voice, too low to be heard. Then he turned back.

His gaze went to Kira, then to Max. “I'll take Kira home while you see to the statement.” He turned to Leigh. “Why don't you come with us?”

“Yes, come with us,” Kira said to Leigh, sensing something very big was not being said. So, apparently, did Max. His green eyes turned cool, and a muscle throbbed in his neck.

Leigh looked bewildered, so Kira continued, “I'm staying at Mom's house. We have a lot of photos you might like to see.”

Chris turned to Max. “Your investigators may have sources I don't,” he said. “Can you try to get information on Richard Salter? He's a cipher.”

“Of course,” Max said easily. Yet his eyes told another story. He was being locked out, and he didn't like it. “I'll be in contact with you. Maybe breakfast in the morning.”

Chris nodded. “I'll call. In the meantime, some of my friends are watching the house so Kira should be safe enough. Someone will stay with Katy, too.”

“I'll keep guards at Leigh's house,” Max added.

Kira caught his hand. “Thank you,” she said simply. He would know she meant Leigh's change of heart.

His lips turned up on one side. “You're welcome.”

After he left, she turned to Chris. “What was that about?'”

Chris glanced at her, then Leigh. “The police are focusing their investigation on Payton. They think he's behind everything.”

33

Kira went into momentary shock. The police focusing on Max?

“Why?” she asked.

“Yes, why?” Leigh echoed.

“I don't know exactly,” Chris said. “My contact just said they found something in his background.”

“I don't believe it,” Kira said.

Chris didn't reply.

“The police are wrong,” Kira said flatly. “They are wrong all the time.”

“Maybe,” Chris said. “In the meantime I don't want either of you with him alone. Leigh, I want you to stay with Kira.”

“I've been with Max a thousand times,” Leigh protested. “I never once feared for myself. I would never tell him, but he's been my rock for more years than I want to remember.”

“I'll try to find out what evidence they have,” Chris said. “But I want my people guarding you. Not his. After the city hall shooting, I don't have any faith in them.”

“Someone has to make sure Maude and the horses are fed and watered,” Leigh protested.

“You have a groom to do that.”

“I know but … I like to make sure.”

“I'll drive you over tomorrow.”

They all fell into silence as Chris drove them to her mother's house. Kira ran over every conversation she'd had with Max, every tender moment. Every small revelation. She realized now how seldom Max had talked about his past, how little she really knew him.

But she wasn't afraid of him. She could never be afraid of him.

Why did the police suspect him? And were they close to an arrest?

She'd been optimistic a few moments ago. Leigh had met her mother, might even donate a kidney if there was a match. She was in love for the first time in her life. Her career was surviving despite her inattention.

Max couldn't be involved
.

Kira couldn't believe it. She wouldn't believe it.

There was silence the rest of the way. She had gotten in the backseat with Leigh. There was a connection now. Kira's gratitude had deepened during the afternoon.

They had something else in common. Max. Leigh looked stricken by Chris's news. Lost. Kira leaned over and took Leigh's hand and squeezed it.

Leigh bit her lip. She shook her head slightly, still denying what Chris had said.

When they reached the house, Kira saw two men sitting in a car outside her mother's home. Chris parked in the driveway. He got out and went over to the men. Then he returned and opened the door for Leigh.

Kira exited on her own side and they silently walked to the house. Kira unlocked the door and, once inside, punched in the alarm code. Leigh followed her inside.

“Can I get you something?” she asked Leigh, instinctively switching into hostess mode. “Coffee, tea, a glass of wine?”

Kira was surviving only on adrenaline. She was exhausted. She was heartsick. Her ribs hurt like hell. She hadn't had a pain pill in hours now, and she needed one.

Chris interceded. “Go to bed, Kira.”

“I will,” she promised. “Just let me show Leigh where stuff is.”

“Then bed,” he insisted. “Leigh, make sure she does it. I'm going to the police department. I can find out more in person than over the telephone. In the meantime, I don't want either of you to leave the house. You'll be safe here. Those guys are retired Atlanta cops. Good ones.” He hesitated, then said, “Promise me. Promise you won't leave this house. If you need anything, call me.”

Leigh hesitated, then nodded. “Just until you get back. I have to call Mrs. Baker and Rick. Otherwise they will worry.”

Chris nodded, his lips thinned into a straight line and his eyes hardened.

He left without another word.

“I'll show you where everything is,” Kira said, leading the way to the kitchen.

She noticed that Leigh stopped at the fireplace mantel to look at family photos. She stopped. Waiting.

After a few seconds, Leigh joined her at the doorway leading into the kitchen.