Vanessa's Match (16 page)

“We’d be interested in hearing that,” the officer said as he waved for the EMTs to come to the front door.

“Can they take her into the kitchen? I think that would be the best place to work.”

The EMTs immediately did as Jim asked and led Vanessa into the kitchen. After they sat her down at the table and unwrapped her arm, she asked, “The, uh, the shooter. Is she dead?”

“I’m afraid so.” The man kept working on her arm.

Vanessa ducked her head, trying to conceal her tears.

“Wasn’t she trying to kill you?”

Vanessa nodded but said nothing else. They finished the bandaging and she thanked them with as much sincerity as she could manage under the circumstances. She was shaken over Sharon’s fate.

“Ma’am,” the officer said, stepping into the kitchen, “did the lady say why she wanted to kill you?”

“There was a man she intended to marry, only he hadn’t asked her. She thought he was going to ask me.”

“And the man’s name?”

“I don’t think I want to tell you that.”

“Is it the man in the hall?”

She shook her head.

“Ma’am, I think you need to tell us his name.”

“Why? He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes. Jim?” she called. She was relieved when her brother came into the kitchen. “This policeman keeps asking who was involved, but I don’t think I should tell him.”

“Me, neither. I’m not required to reveal a client.”

She turned to the policeman. “I decline to tell you anything else.”

“Not even the name of the shooter?”

“No, I can tell you that. Her name is Sharon Cresswell.”

“Did she live in the area?”

With a sigh, Jim gave the policeman her home
address. Then he turned to Vanessa. “Have they finished with you?”

“I think so.”

After the EMTs left the room Will stepped into the kitchen. “Did they take care of you, Vanessa?”

“Yes, Will, thank you. Is everyone all right?”

“I think so. I had Vivian call her doctor.”

“Was she injured, sir?” the policeman asked.

“No, but she’s pregnant. We want to make sure she is all right.”

“I see. And do you know the gentleman who was involved in this shootout?”

“Of course I do, but he’s our client, and we’re not going to reveal his identity. He has done nothing wrong. He offered to pay the woman’s medical bills and when the baby was born, he wanted a DNA test to ensure that he was the father.”

“So she was pregnant?”

“We’re not sure. The woman could have lied. We were investigating the situation.”

“I see.” The officer nodded. “You’re sure that’s all you can give us?”

“Yes, absolutely—” Will began, then they all heard noises outside the house.

Rick burst into the kitchen and snatched Vanessa up into his arms.

“Are you all right? Did she hurt you? Damn it, why didn’t you call me?”

The policeman stepped forward. “So this would be the gentleman involved. May I ask your name, sir?”

“Certainly. I’m Rick Austin.”

Vanessa loved the feel of Rick’s arms around her. She lay back against him, wishing they were anywhere but here. That this entire tragedy hadn’t happened.

But it had, and now Rick had gotten himself involved.

“We were trying to keep you out of it,” she told him.

He looked down at her. “Why?”

“You’re a client, and Will would’ve kept you confidential. Your business, your reputation…”

He silenced her with a hush. “My business and my reputation mean a lot to me,” he said, “but not as much as you. And Lindy. And telling the truth about what happened. Besides, I didn’t do anything wrong, except be a bit dense.”

If Vanessa hadn’t already realized she loved this man, she did then.

Rick looked up at the policeman, not letting her go. “The woman—Sharon—was claiming to be
carrying my child. But we all doubt that.” He shook his head, as if in disbelief. “I can’t believe she tried to kill Vanessa. Have you taken her to jail?”

A silence fell over the room which Vanessa finally broke. In a low voice she said, “She’s dead.”

Rick looked at her but didn’t speak.

“She fired on the policemen. They fired back.”

Rick pulled her tightly against him again. “I feel sorry for her,” he whispered. Then, “But she should never have pulled a stunt like this. I didn’t realize she’d go this far.” His brow creased and he asked, “But why did she come after you?”

“She thought if she killed me, I couldn’t repeat that I thought she was using Larry’s baby to scam you.”

“Did she admit that?”

“No, but I took a chance and guessed.”

“You took a big chance, sweetheart.”

“I didn’t have any idea that she would try to kill me. I guess I never realized, either, how desperate she was.”

With a big sigh, Rick said, “Neither did I. Thank God you’re all right.” He buried himself in her embrace.

“Sir, we’d like to ask you a few questions,” the policeman said, interrupting their quiet discussion.

Rick looked up and gathered himself. “I understand. But first I need to make sure she’s resting. I’ll be right back.” He led Vanessa out of the kitchen and into the morning room.

“I’m fine, Rick,” she protested. “I could’ve stayed in there and helped you.”

“I’ll be fine. Besides, Will and Jim will be there. You need to rest and it wouldn’t hurt if you took something for the pain.”

“I might fall asleep,” she said, as if that would be horrible.

“That wouldn’t be a bad thing. We still have the slumber party tonight.”

“Oh I’d forgotten that. We can’t—” But how could she disappoint Lindy? Besides, the party might be a pleasant diversion from the horrors of today. “I guess we have to go through with it.”

“Not if you don’t want to.”

“No, I couldn’t do that to Lindy.”

He kissed her. “We’ll see. We’ve got a few hours before we have to make a final decision.”

By that time they had reached the morning room. They found Vivian lying down on the sofa and Betty entertaining Danny. The little boy immediately looked up to see who was coming in. They both saw the disappointment on his face. But he came running to them.

“Have you seen my daddy? Is he okay?”

Rick knelt to the little boy’s level. “Your daddy is safe, Danny, I promise. He’s just talking to the police so your mommy won’t have to.”

“Can I go help him?”

“I think you’d better wait here until he comes back.”

“Okay.” It was clear Danny wanted to say something else, so Rick waited.

“Were you scared?” the boy finally asked.

“Yes, I was.” Rick took Danny’s hands in his own. “You know, it’s perfectly normal to be scared in a dangerous situation.”

“Oh, I was scared.”

“So was I,” Vanessa added, hunkering down to her brother’s level.

“’Nessa, I’m glad you’re okay. ’Cause you bleeded a lot.”

“Yes, I did, but now I have a pretty bandage. See?”

“Do I get to sign it?”

“No, sweetheart. It’s not hard, like a cast. It’s just a bandage.”

“Danny, you’d better come back over here and play with your trucks,” Betty suggested.

When the boy did as he was told, Vanessa checked on her mother, for her own peace of mind. “Mom, are you okay?”

“Yes, honey, and the doctor said the baby should be, too. He told me to rest. But so far I feel great. Mostly I feel relieved that you weren’t shot.”

“Me, too,” Rick said, putting his arm around Vanessa again. “It kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it.”

“It does,” Vivian agreed.

“I promised the policeman I’d come back to the kitchen and answer questions, but I thought Vanessa needed to sit down and take some aspirin for the pain.”

Betty jumped up. “I’ll go get it.”

“Thanks, Betty,” Rick said as he settled Vanessa in a large, comfortable chair. He fussed over her.

“I’m not an invalid, Rick. I just cut my arm.”

“I know. But I still think you should go to your doctor, just to be sure you don’t need stitches.”

“I’m fine,” she repeated patiently. “Now you just be careful yourself when you talk to the police.”

He smiled at her—that smile she loved. “If I managed not to offend anyone in China, I think I can handle an interview in my own language.” Then he kissed her again and walked out of the room.

Betty returned. “Take your aspirin now, Vanessa.”

To tell the truth, she was feeling her cuts more than she’d thought she would.

“Just lie back and relax,” Betty ordered. “We’ve had a trying day.”

“Yes, we have.” Vanessa couldn’t believe the events of the past few hours. It was as if she’d dreamed them. No, she corrected herself. They were more like a nightmare.

But the nightmare was over.

“I don’t really need to rest,” she told Betty, even as she did what the older woman had suggested.

That was the last thing she remembered for several hours.

V
ANESSA COULDN’T REMEMBER
why she was sleeping in a big stuffed chair in the morning room when Will awakened her. Then it hit her.
Sharon.

With a groan, she slumped back in the chair.

“Are you all right, Vanessa?” Will asked.

She struggled up again. “Yes, of course. It was just—just shocking.”

“Yes, it was. But you did everything right. Peter told me all that happened. And he said you saved all their lives by getting the door closed on Sharon.”

“I know. But…I didn’t want her death.”

“No one did. But Sharon brought that on herself.”

Vanessa nodded. In her mind she knew Will was right, but her heart told a different version. “What time is it?” she asked him.

“It’s almost three. The girls will be at Rick’s by four o’clock. Are you going to go ahead and have the sleepover?”

“Yes, of course. I don’t want to disappoint Lindy.”

“Okay. Mrs. Abby called, and I said I’d have you call her.”

“I’ll do that at once.”

When she called Rick’s housekeeper, Mrs. Abby was greatly relieved to hear from her. “Rick told me you were all right, but it sounded like a terrible experience.”

“It was. But I want Lindy to have her sleepover. Is it still all right with you?”

“Oh my, yes, I haven’t suffered any stress. I’ll be ready for you when you get here.”

“All right. I’ll be there before four.”

After that, she went upstairs and took a shower. She braided her hair as she had Lindy’s earlier. Then she donned jeans and a cotton sweater. She was be
ginning to feel more like herself—as long as she didn’t think of Sharon.

After she was ready, she went to the kitchen to see what Betty had made for the sleepover. As usual, Betty had outdone herself. She had brownies and cookies, and even small uncooked quiches.

“Mrs. Abby can serve these for a snack or for breakfast in the morning.”

“All right. I’ll tell her. Thank you, Betty.”

“I need to thank you for helping my Peter,” Betty said past a tight throat, obviously trying not to cry.

“Peter and I worked together. I couldn’t have done it without his help.” She hugged Betty and then picked up all she had prepared. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

After kissing Betty on the cheek, she headed to her car, trying not to look around and think about what had happened here that day. Instead, she pulled the car away, with high hopes for the night.

R
ICK WAS QUITE PLEASED
with himself when he left the jewelry store at three. He’d looked at every ring they had. Finally, he’d found the one that looked right to him. It was in his pocket.

He started to go back to the office, then, realizing he needed to be home before the girls came at four, he headed there. Besides, he couldn’t wait to see Vanessa.

Vanessa arrived right after him, pulling into the drive behind his Mercedes.

As she came around the car, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, without saying a word.

She broke off the kiss before it deepened. “What if someone sees us?” she asked, looking around.

“Why would we care?”

“If my teenager was going to a sleepover, I would be concerned if the chaperones were too focused on each other.”

“Oh, the sleepover. Is that why you’re here? I thought it was for some other reason.”

Vanessa smiled at the lascivious grin he shot her. “I need to get some things that Betty sent out of my car.”

“I’ll help you.”

He carried in a tray as well as a bag of movies. “I don’t even know these titles,” he said, peeking inside.

Vanessa defended her selections. “They’re good stories that the girls will love.”

“I’m not sure they’ll even watch them. Don’t you have an action movie? Something with big explosions?”

“For teenage girls? Are you crazy?”

“Do
I
have to watch them?”

“What else are you going to do?”

He gave her that grin again. “Well, I had in mind a little one-on-one.”

“Not when the girls will walk in on us at any minute.”

When they reached the kitchen, Mrs. Abby welcomed them. “I’m glad you got here before the girls.”

Vanessa agreed. “Once they get started, they’re hard to settle down.”

They set to work and at four o’clock exactly they had everything arranged, including a cooler with sodas, and two air mattresses in front of the big-screen TV in the den.

“I don’t think we should mention anything about today’s events,” Rick said, suddenly getting serious. “It would upset Lindy.”

“I’ll think up another reason for my bandage.”

Just then the doorbell rang, and Mrs. Abby answered it to eight young ladies, squealing and giggling in excitement as all teenagers do.

“Come right in,” Mrs. Abby said as she waved them through. A couple of mothers were standing behind the girls. “We wanted to be sure Miss Shaw would be here,” one of them said. “We heard about what happened today.”

“Vanessa?” Mrs. Abby called to her as she welcomed the girls. “Can you come over here?”

Vanessa hurried over and met the two mothers. “Yes, I’m here. Everything is fine.”

“We didn’t say anything to the girls.”

After Vanessa reassured the two mothers they left, and she rejoined the girls and Rick. Once the pizza arrived, she popped one of the movies into the DVD player and sat back.

Rick watched the movie, though he didn’t admit to liking it. Vanessa couldn’t help but smile at that.

When the girls moved on to the next one, he had other ideas. “I’d rather be alone with you,” he told Vanessa. “Mrs. Abby can call if the girls need us.”

“Call? Where are we going?”

“Just to my dad’s study. I think we need to leave the girls some time alone, you know.”

“I agree,” she said, as he led her by the hand into the other room.

Rick closed the door behind them. “I used to know I was in trouble when my dad closed the door. I figured I’d been so bad he didn’t even want my mother to know. Sometimes, I couldn’t figure out what I’d done, but I knew he’d tell me.”

“He sounds like a really good father.”

“He was. The only time he messed up was when he married Anita. He tried to make up for that later, but he was limited as to what he could do after they had Lindy—and Anita must have known that.”

Vanessa nodded. “That’s the usual thing a gold-digger does. She has a child and then has a hold on the guy for the rest of his life.”

“I want to have children, but not for that reason. Do you want children?”

“Yes, but not right away. I want to establish my career—”

Suddenly she looked stricken.

“What’s wrong, honey? Are you afraid I’ll push you to have children before you’re ready?”

“No. I remembered something I was supposed to
tell you. Dr. Cavanaugh said for me to thank you for your generous donation. But I’d already taken care of the situation and I didn’t tell you. I tried to get Dr. Cavanaugh to return the check, but he wouldn’t.”

“How did you fix it?”

“I set Lindy up with another therapist, a friend of mine.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Good solution.”

“You aren’t mad at me?”

“No.”

“Dr. Cavanaugh saw it as a romantic gesture. I thought it was, too.”

“I don’t care about the money. But I almost lost you today because I hadn’t realized how dangerous Sharon had become.”

“I knew she was on edge, too, and I’m the professional. Still, even if I had seen it, the police couldn’t have arrested someone just because I thought they might be dangerous.” She shook her head in frustration. “But I can’t stop thinking I should have seen it coming.”

Rick took her hands in his. “You can’t blame yourself, Vanessa. And I for one think you’ll make a great psychologist. Look what you’ve done for Lindy, and for me. You gave me back my sister, my family.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “You’ve changed me, made me see there’s more to life than the Austin Group.”

Tears glistened in her eyes when she looked up at him. “Thank you, Rick. That means a lot to me.”

“There’s nothing we can do about what’s already happened, so I’m trying to put it behind me. Now I’m concentrating on the future.” He reached into his pocket and felt for the ring box.

Just then someone knocked on the office door.