Tonight You're Mine (32 page)

“I thought
if
you planted the gun, you couldn't have been in your right mind. You were so young, so traumatized. You might have thought I deserved punishment for not walking you to the car that night. Or you might have thought no one would find the gun.”

“My God, because of me you've been on the run for fifteen years!” Nicole flung herself at Paul. His arms immediately closed around her. “Oh, Paul, I'm
so
sorry!”

“I'm not, at least not completely,” he said, hugging her. “I was so spoiled. Soft. Pampered. The last few years I finally grew up.”

“But your mother…”

“Yes, what all this did to her was terrible. But I've always been in touch with her. She's
always
known I was all right except for a couple of weeks after the wreck. I didn't even know about it. Nicole,
she
encouraged me to go.”

“Certainly not because she thought you were guilty.”

“No. Because she was convinced I'd be found guilty, and she knew prison would kill me.”

Nicole looked up at him. “Did she know you thought you were protecting me?”

“Yes. And she said it was silly—that you would never have killed those men and set me up. But she also recognized that there was no evidence against you, only motive. The evidence was all against me. She saw the reality of my situation, but she never blamed you.”

“She's a remarkable woman. I saw her on Sunday.”

“She told me. She said you were as beautiful and resourceful as ever.”

Nicole smiled. He touched her face gently and leaned down to kiss her, but she turned her head. “I'm sorry,” Paul said humbly.

“Oh, Paul, I'm so happy to see you. It isn't that. It's…”

“It's what?”

“Well, what about all these recent murders?”

“You think I'm behind them?”

“You called me the night Roger and I had a fight in the driveway. You said if he talked to me that way again, you'd kill him.”

Paul looked at her in shock. “Nicole, I made no such call.”

“But it was your voice. You even called me
chérie
.”

Paul looked at her earnestly. “Nicole, I swear on my mother's life that I never made that call: I have
never
called you. I was afraid your phone was tapped.”

“But it sounded so much like you…” She trailed off, twisting the cross at her neck.

“You're wearing it.”

“I have since the night you gave it to me on the River Walk. And don't try to tell me
that
wasn't you.”

“Certainly it was me. You saw Jordan. You looked right into my eyes.”

“Yes, I did. You protected me from that awful person, even though you were right out there in the open where you could so easily have been caught.” Her gaze dropped. “Paul, there's another reason I didn't let you kiss me.” He was quiet. “I'm afraid I
did
kill Zand and Magaro.”

She could feel him stiffen against her. “But you said you had doubts about
my
innocence.”

“I didn't clearly say what I meant. I've been having these dreams lately.” Paul frowned. “In the dreams I see Zand and Magaro where they were murdered. They're talking about me
after
the attack,
after
they'd been cleared of my rape.”

Paul seemed to relax. “I don't understand why you're upset. They're just dreams.”

“But they don't
feel
like dreams. They feel like a memory. And I've recently learned that I was sleepwalking during that time and that sleepwalkers are capable of violent acts and—”

Paul placed his fingers gently over her lips. “And then you put the gun in my trash along with one of my shirts stained with Zand's blood?”

“Maybe.”

“I don't believe it. Do you realize the time and planning those murders required? In a sleepwalking state you believe you remembered to bring a gun and hoods and my shirt—which by the way I never knew how you could have gotten—then killed Magaro and Zand, hung them in trees, and finally came on over to Olmos Park to plant evidence? No, Nicole, whoever murdered those two wasn't committing a random act of violence while sleepwalking.”

“But you thought I might have done it deliberately?”

“You were so traumatized. I thought maybe it was an act of temporary insanity.”

“Temporary insanity? Thanks.”

“Wouldn't that have crossed your mind if our positions were reversed? After all, you weren't just raped. You were beaten so badly you required plastic surgery. And it was a miracle you weren't killed. All because you were sneaking around to see me, a man who didn't even walk you to your car that night.”

“I wasn't temporarily insane. I don't
feel
like I killed them. I don't believe I did.
You
didn't kill them. Then who?”

“I don't know. Those two must have had a lot of enemies.”

“Enemies who would set you up?”

“Why not? I was a likely suspect with all my talk of how I was going to get even with them.” He laughed dryly. “My plan to get even with them was to get their contract with the music company broken. I had friends at Revel Music who were already looking for loopholes in the contract. They weren't anxious to be connected with a band whose lead singer had just been arrested for nearly killing a girl.”

They walked to the low wall and sat down, right arms wrapped around each other, left hands clasped. Paul's hands had always been strong, but the skin was soft. Now the skin was rough and callused. They were silent for a moment before Nicole asked, “Do you still play?”

“Whenever I'm near a piano and no one else is around. It would take a long time for me to get back to my former level. Maybe I never could.”

“I'm
sure
you could,” Nicole said fervently. “Paul, why did you come back now?”

“I was here when your father killed himself. I knew you'd be shattered, so I stayed to watch over you for a while.”

“You risked remaining here because you were worried about me, even though you also believed I might have murdered Zand and Magaro?”

“If you had killed them, I wouldn't have blamed you.”

“Even if I'd set you up, allowed you to take the blame?” Nicole asked incredulously.

“Nicole, I told you I knew that if you hadn't been at my house that night, those two wouldn't have gotten you. And you were so battered, physically and mentally. You were also young. I could understand you blaming me. I felt what happened to you was my fault. So I had to come back now and help you if I could. But I haven't helped. I've just made everything worse.”

“No, you haven't.” Nicole was beginning to shiver with cold and nerves. Paul pulled her closer to him. She looked up at the strong profile, the dark hair pulled back in the sleek ponytail exposing the strong neck. Her protector, she thought. Even with his doubts about her, he'd still risked his freedom, maybe his life, to help her. “But Paul, all these recent murders are connected to me. The police suspect me.”

“They're supposed to.” He looked at her. “Now
you
are being set up.”

“
Why?
Who could hate me so much?”

“Your husband?”

“Carmen thought it was Roger wanting me to look crazy so he could get full custody of Shelley.”

“Killing people is an extreme way of making you look crazy.”

“The girlfriend of the man who was killed and hanged in my yard said he'd been paid three thousand dollars to murder someone's wife, a teacher.”

“Your cop friend told you that.”

Nicole felt a stab of guilt at the thought of Ray. What would he think of her sneaking off to see Paul, clinging to him and immediately accepting everything he said as truth? He would be appalled. He might even stop believing in her innocence. “Yes, he told me,” she said softly. “His name is Ray DeSoto. He's been wonderful to me, Paul.”

“He knows I'm in San Antonio and the very thought of my being near you makes him draw his gun.”

“You hit him in the motel parking lot that night, didn't you?”

“Yes. He almost caught me. I've been following you everywhere, doing my best to look out for you and your daughter. I didn't feel you were safe in that motel room. Somehow he knew I was there.”

“Someone called the room, pretending to be Magaro.”

“
Magaro!
” He shook his head. “Not only I, but a dead person is supposedly calling you. But I knew something was going to happen that night. I just couldn't stay after hitting DeSoto. I was afraid that after he regained consciousness, he'd call in backup. I had to leave the protecting to Jordan.”

“She did a fine job.” Nicole reached out and petted Jordan's head. She licked Nicole's hand. “Thank you for saving Jesse, Paul.”

“You should thank Jordan. I saw you going up and down the street, looking for Jesse. Then a patrol car came. I thought you were safe, so Jordan and I went looking for Jesse. She found him around four in the morning.”

“Around the time Abbott and Dooley were being killed at my house.”

“If I hadn't been looking for Jesse, I would have seen who killed them.”

“Whoever
did
kill Dooley saved my life. But the others—the patrolman Abbott and Avis Simon-Smith—I wasn't in danger from them.”

Paul looked at her blankly. “Who's Avis Simon-Smith?”

“She was a woman I worked with. She was very unstable and she hated me. We had a fight yesterday. She knocked me down in the parking lot. Late this afternoon she was found dead, hanging from a tree in her backyard with a bullet in her head and wearing a hood.”

“Good lord,” Paul breathed. “I saw what Dooley did to you on the River Walk. I've even seen what goes on between you and your husband. But I didn't know anything about this Smith woman.”

“Ray found her.”

“Tell me about Ray.”

“I don't know much. He's a couple of years younger than I am. He wouldn't have been around when you were arrested.”

“It seems so long ago,” Paul said.

“It was.”

“Long enough for you to find someone else to love and marry and have a child with.”

There was no rebuke in his words, only sadness and a note of loss. “It was a kind of love, Paul. Not like mine for you. Roger was strong and smart and if he was a little dull and stodgy—”

“At least he wasn't the killer you thought I was.”

Nicole looked at him regretfully. “Paul, I never really believed you killed anyone. But you never called me after you ran away. Why?”

“I was afraid you would tell the police.”

“I wouldn't have, not back then. Later I thought you'd died.” She closed her eyes. “God, Paul, I was devastated. If only you'd let me know you were alive.”

“Again, I was afraid. The police believed I was dead. They stopped looking for me. But if I called you and you told them…”

“They would have resumed their search. I understand.”

“And I understand why you married. You deserved a normal life. And a beautiful daughter. She looks like you.”

“She's a great kid.” She frowned. “Did you watch her at the playground one day?”

“Yes. I wasn't trying to frighten her.”

“You didn't.”

“I didn't mean to frighten you at your father's funeral. I didn't think you would see me. When you did, I froze.”

“Why did you come?”

“Partly out of respect for your father. He was nice to me when I was very young, even if he came to dislike me later. And because I wanted to see you.”

“I thought maybe you'd come back for revenge.”

Paul's jaw dropped. “Revenge! Good God, it never occurred to me you'd think that. I must have scared the daylights out of you.”

Nicole smiled. “Yes, Paul, you did.”

“But you're not scared now?”

“Would I have come here if I were?”

“I suppose not. Still, it took a lot of nerve to meet me out here. But then, you were always brave.”

“I don't feel too brave these days, Paul. Carmen pointed out to me none too gently that I haven't even cried over my father's death. I guess I'm in shock—his death was so horrible. Then all this started. I can't mourn my father when I'm scared to death I'm going to be arrested for these murders. What will happen to Shelley?”

“You won't be arrested if I can help it,” Paul said fervently. Then he paused. “Nicole, are you sure your father committed suicide?”

Nicole's stomach tightened. It was a question that had run through her mind for days, although she hadn't let herself dwell on it. She combed fingers through her long, wind-tossed hair. “The police are, but I'm not, although both Mother and his assistant, Kay, say he was upset those last weeks. He was also receiving mail that disturbed him. No one knows what the letters said or where they came from, but the last one had a picture of you in it.”

Paul looked genuinely surprised. “A picture of
me
!”

“Yes. Kay found it partly burned in Dad's wastebasket in his office.”

“Burned? Why would he burn my picture?” Nicole was silent. “Oh. He was still angry over my relationship with you. But why would someone send a picture after all this time?”

“I have no idea. It wasn't as if Dad had anything to do with your arrest. It's true he didn't like you, but he never said you killed Magaro and Zand. He believed it was some kind of cult killing and you'd been set up because by then everyone knew about our relationship. You were a convenient scapegoat. He didn't think their deaths had anything to do with me. But Dad's death was the beginning of this nightmare.”

“No,” Paul said slowly. “The nightmare began fifteen years ago. Everything goes back to your attack and the deaths of Zand and Magaro, even your father's suicide, if it
was
suicide. The mysterious mail and the picture of me sent to him convince me of that.” He hesitated. “Good lord, you don't think he believed
I
was sending the mail and that I was coming after him!”