Snowfall (26 page)

Feeling better, he turned off the machine, stretching wearily as he headed for the bathroom to get ready for bed. Juanita Delarosa had been a strong woman for her age. It had taken her far longer to die than he would have believed.

He glanced at his watch as he stepped out of his shoes. It was well after one in the morning, and he had to be at work before nine. He wanted to be rested and ready for the day when he walked into the office. It was the best way to make the voices go away.

Aaron was coming to. He had no idea where he was or how he’d gotten there. All he knew was that he hurt and that it was dark. He started to move and then moaned from the pain. Almost instantly, he heard the sound of chair legs scraping the floor and then his brother’s voice.

“Aaron, it’s me, Mac. You need to lie still.”

“Where…?”

Mac touched Aaron’s shoulder, giving his brother something concrete on which to focus.

“You’re in the hospital. Do you remember why?”

Aaron didn’t answer, instead lifting his hand toward his face.

“No, don’t,” Mac said softly. “You have bandages on your face. But the doctor said you’re going to be okay. It’s just going to take some time.”

“Can’t see,” Aaron mumbled.

There was a slight hesitation in Mac’s answer. “Yeah, I know. Your eyes are bandaged, but it’s just until the flash burns heal.”

“Burns?”

Mac hesitated again, gauging how much of the truth Aaron needed to know.

“Some, but not too bad. You just rest. They won’t let me stay with you until you get out of ICU. But I’ll be here as often as possible, okay?”

Aaron’s mind was spinning. Burns? The ICU.

And then it all came flooding back in a series of images, out of sequence and out of control. His heartbeat accelerated, setting off a pattern of rapid and irregular beeps on one of the machines to which he was hooked.

Mac started to panic when Aaron grabbed his arm.

“Caitie…”

Instantly Mac understood his brother’s concern.

“She’s fine, just worried about you.”

“Letter,” he muttered.

Mac patted his arm, breathing a sigh of relief when Aaron’s heartbeat resumed a normal rhythm. Aaron was remembering.

“Yes, the police already know,” Mac said. “Now, I really have to go before they throw me out. Is there anything you want me to do? Anyone you want me to call?”

Aaron thought of David finding out about this through less than personal channels. It was too cruel to consider.

Mac sensed his brother’s hesitation and leaned a little closer. “It’s okay, buddy. You and I came to terms with this years ago. Is there someone you want me to call?”

Aaron sighed. It was getting harder to focus.

“David…Caitlin knows.”

“I’ll tell her,” Mac promised.

Aaron’s consciousness was fading fast, but he needed to say what was on his heart.

“You…love…” Aaron said, and then he was out.

Mac fought back tears. “I love you, too,” he said softly.

Leaving was harder than he’d expected. He stopped three times on his way out the door to look back, just to assure himself that Aaron was still there and that the machines were still beeping. As he started through the doors, Caitlin saw him coming and stood up.

“How is he?”

“Good, I think,” Mac said. “I talked to him a little.”

Delight changed Caitlin’s expression. “Oh, Mac, that’s good, isn’t it? I mean, that he’s awake.”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

But she could tell that wasn’t all.

“What?”

“Do you know someone named David?”

Caitlin gasped. “Oh my gosh! Yes! Poor David! I’ll bet he’s half out of his mind with worry.”

“Why do you know him and I don’t?”

“I don’t know. I guess because Aaron is my best friend.”

“I thought
I
was your best friend,” he muttered.

She gave him a considering look. “I don’t know just what we are,” she said. “And you have to remember that Aaron hasn’t hated my guts for the better part of the last few years. Surely you can’t be upset about a man in your brother’s life?”

“No, of course not. Just concerned about what kind of man he is. Aaron doesn’t have to work, you know. His mother’s death left him independently wealthy. I would hate to see someone take advantage of—”

Caitlin started to smile. “Ever hear of F & S Securities?”

“The brokerage house?”

“Yes, and David is the
F,
as in Freeh. His brother-in-law is the
S,
as in Sugarman. He’s financially sound. Trust me.”

Mac nodded. “That’s all I wanted to know. Since you know him, the call about Aaron would be better coming from you.”

Caitlin shook her head. “No, I think you’re the one who should call. Aaron is your brother. David will appreciate the gesture.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Do you mind if I step over there to make the call?”

“Tell him I said hello,” Caitlin said.

Mac smiled. “I’ll do that. And thanks,” he said.

“For what?” Caitlin asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know…. Just for being here, I guess.”

“I would always be here for you,” she said quietly. “All you have to do is ask.”

Before he could comment, she moved away, leaving him alone to make his call.

Sixteen

A
aron was moved into a private room two days after his surgery. To satisfy her own fears, Caitlin had hired private security to stand guard at his door in case the killer had thoughts of finishing the job, and filled his room with pots of blooming hyacinths, his favorite flower. He wouldn’t be able to see them, but the scent was sweet, and there was nothing wrong with his sense of smell.

David Freeh was ever present, deeply grateful to know that Aaron was alive and more than ready to assume the duties of caregiver until the bandages were removed from Aaron’s eyes. Even though Mac would have preferred to have Aaron come stay with him at Caitlin’s apartment once he was released, it was agreed that he would be safer in another location. They had no way of knowing how much Caitlin’s stalker knew about her friends and their habits, but putting Aaron back in the line of danger was not in his best interests, especially since he was unable to see it coming.

Caitlin moved through the days by working until she could no longer think. Then she would shut down her computer and crawl into bed. She knew it wasn’t healthy, going from one form of self-imposed isolation to another, but it was all she could cope with. Mac held her when she was scared and bullied her when she faltered, and, in a strange way, her emotional breakdown forced her to turn loose of her fears. Sometimes she felt she was at a crossroads in her life—waiting to see if she would be run over by a train or a bus—but other times her anger at being forced to hide would emerge. Those were the times when she felt hope, when she could see a time beyond the horror of what was happening now. And in those times she could almost believe she had a future with Mac McKee.

Caitlin hung up the phone as Mac came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

“Who were you talking to?” he asked.

“Aaron. He’s being released tomorrow. I told him you would call later.”

“Definitely,” Mac said, and let the towel drop as he reached for a pair of sweats.

Caitlin pillowed her head in her hands as she leaned against the headboard of her bed.

“Nice,” she said.

Mac turned and grinned. “Admiring the view?”

“No. Your sweats. Love that color.”

“They’re gray, and you’re lying.”

“Through my teeth.”

“I suppose you want me to take advantage of you now?”

“Only if you’re up to the task.”

He arched an eyebrow, well aware that he was
up
in a most obvious way.

“You be the judge,” he drawled, and let his sweats fall on top of the towel as he crawled toward her on her bed.

Caitlin encircled him with her hand, smiling with satisfaction as he groaned.

“You’ll do,” she whispered.

“I’m going to do you, that’s for damned sure.”

She sighed as his tongue dipped into her navel. “You’re rude.”

“I know, but I’m good.”

She pulled him up, making him look at her. “I don’t want good. I want great.”

“I am the greatest,” he said.

“That was Muhammad Ali’s claim to fame. You’re going to have to get another one.”

He raised himself up on both elbows, gazing greedily at her face. He loved her so much, and she was making him crazy.

“I’m the best man for the job?”

She frowned, pretending to study the phrase. “I don’t know…that sounds a lot like a plumbing commercial.”

He slanted a hard, hungry kiss across her lips, stopping only after he heard her moan.

“Still need a recommendation?”

“No…Lord, no,” Caitlin sighed, and pulled him down to her.

Two hours later, they had yet to get out of bed. Caitlin was dozing and Mac was holding her close, watching the play of morning light across her face. The scar above her eyebrow was still a deep, shocking pink, although the bruises she’d suffered had long since faded. If only this nightmare they were living would disappear, as well.

He glanced at the clock and then carefully slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb her sleep. Grabbing his clothes, he dressed in the hall and headed for the kitchen. He needed to think, and before that could happen, he needed the kick of caffeine to jump-start his brain.

He ran water in the carafe, then measured coffee into a filter before turning on the pot. Soon the scent of freshly brewing coffee began to make itself known. Mac walked into the living room and turned up the heat before moving to the windows overlooking the streets below.

Snowflakes swirled within the eddys of air between the buildings on their way to the ground, adding inch upon deadly inch to the snow already there. He frowned. Would this snow never stop?

He closed his eyes, letting his thoughts go back to last night. For him, making love to Caitlin had been something close to holy. Her breath on his cheeks had been soft and warm, the tears in her eyes, tears of joy. She’d come to him without hesitation, wrapping herself around him and pulling him deep into her sweet heat, and they’d both lost their minds. But reality had come and daylight, and he was afraid. So damned afraid of losing her like he’d lost Sarah.

He turned away from the window and strode into the kitchen, quickly pouring himself a cup of coffee. There were so many obstacles between them. She lived in New York. He lived in Atlanta. Her worth was in the billions. He had yet to make his first million. Someone was trying to kill her, and he hardly knew where to begin in keeping her safe. She was aggravating and hard-headed, and he couldn’t remember ever being so attracted to a woman in his life. Not even Sarah had evoked the emotion within him that Caitlin did,

He took a slow sip of coffee as he shook off the dread. He had to think positive and stay focused. Somewhere out there in the snow-covered city, a madman was planning his next move on Caitlin, and he had to be ready.

He took another sip of coffee and filched a cookie from the cookie jar before returning to the living room. Washing down the last bite of cookie with another sip of coffee, he picked up the phone. It had been a week since their visit to the precinct, and he was curious as to how the investigation was going. After a brief search for Amato’s card, he made the call, waiting for the line to pick up.

“Detective Amato.”

“Detective, this is Connor McKee. Haven’t talked to you since my brother was admitted to the hospital. How is the investigation going?”

“Had a little kink late yesterday evening,” he said.

Mac frowned. “How so?”

“Neil and Kowalski found the Delarosa woman.”

“And she wasn’t able to help you?”

“She was dead.”

“That’s too bad,” Mac said. “I guess Caitlin didn’t know, although I remember her saying she was elderly.”

“She didn’t die of old age,” Amato said.

Something in the tone of the detective’s voice sent a chill up Mac’s spine.

“What are you getting at?”

“She was murdered, and based on preliminary estimates, a couple of days before we got there. Her house was like ice, and what with the cold weather we’ve been having, it was difficult to tell the exact time of death. I’ll know more after the autopsy.”

The skin crawled on the back of Mac’s neck. “Are you suggesting that the killer got to her before you did?”

“It’s looking that way.”

“Her face…did he…?”

“Naw, but he cut out her tongue. M.E. says she could’ve bled to death from that wound alone.”

The devil walks among us.

Mac shuddered, then set down his coffee cup, the phone still to his ear as he strode to the window. A simple winter scene. Snow-covered rooftops, people in colorful coats and scarves. Beneath the purity of the snow lay an ugliness impossible to conceal.

“McKee? You still there?”

“So she wouldn’t talk,” Mac said.

“Yeah…we read it the same way.”

Mac’s shock turned to anger.

“Damn it, Amato, this doesn’t make sense! You and three other detectives were the only people who heard Caitlin speak that woman’s name. How in hell would he find out you were looking for her unless somebody told?”

“Are you suggesting I’ve got a leak in my department?” Amato growled.

“I’m not
suggesting
anything. I’m just stating the facts,” Mac said.

“Granted, my people knew, but so did you and Miss Bennett. How many people did
you
tell?”

Mac’s voice lowered, his words slowed, but his fury was impossible to miss.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. There hasn’t been a word spoken about those details except in the presence of New York City’s finest and in the privacy of her home. Not even my brother knew what was going on, and look where he landed.”

“Look, McKee, I can understand your concerns, but trust me, my people are one hundred percent. They’re professionals. They would not jeopardize an investigation like this in any way, shape or form. When I know something more, I will let you know.”