You Can't Hide (30 page)

His racing heart stopped. “Do you know who they were?”

“No. I thought about calling all of them, every one of them on my list and tell them I wouldn’t say a word, but the ones who’d believe me wouldn’t have called threatening me to begin with. And it wouldn’t make any difference if
she
tells with
my
voice. The damage is equally done. Harrison died protecting their privacy. Their damn secrets.” Her voice broke. “But he died for nothing.” Her head bowed, she sat clutching his hand, silently weeping. His own eyes stung and he blinked as her tears dropped to his hand. “Tess, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The words seemed so inadequate, but she nodded and drew another shuddering breath. She pul ed her hand free and wiped at her wet cheeks.

“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have barged back here. You all are working.” She stood up, squared her shoulders. “I’l let you get back to it. I assume I can’t go home.”

“Not yet,” Jack said. “Tomorrow, maybe. I want one more sweep of your place.”

She quailed, but nodded. “Thank you. If you’l give me my keys, I’l be on my way.”

Aidan put his hand on her shoulder, felt her flinch under the thick turtleneck sweater she wore. “You’l wait for me. Please.” He looked over at Rick who stood by the door, sympathy on his face. “Can you wait with her till we’re done?”

Rick nodded. “Come on, Tess.” He slid his arm around her shoulders. “I’l buy you a cup of coffee.”

When the door had closed Aidan turned to Spinnelli. “We need to tell her the Rivera woman is dead.”

Spinnelli rubbed the back of his neck. “I agree. We can’t get a confession from Rivera now, but it will put Tess’s mind at ease to know she won’t be making any phone calls using her voice.”

“That what he wants us to know,” Murphy said slowly. “It was too easy, finding her like that. He could have killed her somewhere else so that it took us a little while to identify her.”

112

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

Aidan raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “He knew we’d go looking for her. He was listening when I told Seward we had evidence that someone had copied Tess’s voice. So what will he do now? He doesn’t have his puppet anymore.”

“Maybe he’s done,” Jack said.

Aidan shook his head. “No, he’s not done. He may have accomplished his goal, though. He’s riled up God knows how many psychiatric patients. He likes to set things up, keep his hands clean. Now he’s got angry crazy people targeting Tess.”

“And he could carry a badge.” Murphy aimed a hard look at Spinnelli. “What do we do about our letter writers?”

Spinnelli shook his head. “I don’t know yet. I just wanted you to keep your eyes and ears open. Word will get out that IA’s involved and things could get ugly.” He stood up. “Jack, tell me as soon as you have a match on those prints from her office. We’l pick the guy up for murder of Dr. Ernst. Aidan, get her to a hotel so she can get some sleep. I’l see you all here tomorrow morning.”

Chapter 12

Tuesday, March 14, 11:55 P.M.

Tess watched as the white highway lines strobed by. She wasn’t going back to a hotel. At least not one in the city. Reagan was taking her home. His home. With its rubber ducky wallpaper and garage strewn with engine parts. She should tell him to take her to a hotel, but she couldn’t find the strength. She should thank him. Would thank him. When this horrible weight lifted off her chest far enough so she could breathe. He was gone. Harrison, who along with Eleanor had taught her so much. Given her so much. It wasn’t her fault. She knew it, just as she knew the accusation in his children’s eyes was a normal response to grief and pain. But those looks had been like daggers to her heart and combined with the shock of having heard three more threats to her life… She’d come to her feet in a daze and walked out of the hospital alone, hailed a cab, and gone to the first place she could think of. She’d gone to Aidan Reagan.

Stupid, it had been. Leaving the hospital alone, that was. Whether gravitating to Aidan was stupid as well would remain to be seen. Wallace Clayborn could have been lurking outside the hospital doors, waiting for his chance to kill her, like he’d killed Harrison. The longer she’d had to think about it, the more she’d been absolutely certain he was the man Harrison had seen. Tess remembered the way Clayborn had sat in her office, looking at his hands with a terrifying combination of pride and fear. His weapon was his bare hands. Which he’d used to kill Harrison Ernst.

“Did Jack get prints?” she asked, her voice flat.

He glanced over, startled. “I thought you were asleep.”

“No. Not now.” Not later. There was too much bubbling inside her. Grief. Fear. Rage. Hatred.

“Did he?”

“When we left he was still running prints through AFIS.”

She looked out the window. Weighed her obligations to her patients. To Harrison. To herself. But all she could see was Harrison bleeding. And Flo, and their children, weeping. “Call Jack.” She swallowed hard. “Find out if he has a name. Please.”

Saying nothing, Reagan pul ed his phone from his pocket and dialed. “Jack, it’s Aidan… No, she’s fine. She wants to know if you have a name out of AFIS.” There was a slight pause. “He’s narrowed it down to fifty men. What do you want to do, Tess?”

Hatred bubbled high, scalding hot. “Any of them start with C?”

He asked Jack. “Yeah,” he told her. “Three of them.”

113

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

It was choking her, the helpless rage. She could say his name so easily. Wallace Clayborn. But if he wasn’t one of the three, she’d have disclosed a patient without cause. An innocent man. Aidan wouldn’t tell.
But I’ll know. And so would he.
And suddenly that was more important than satisfying her anger. She rested her forehead against the cold window glass, so weary. “I’m sorry. I’m not playing games, but can he give me the names?”

Reagan asked Jack, then repeated them back. “Camden, Clayborn, and-”

“Yes.” The slap of relief made her head swim. She held up her hand. “Clayborn. Wallace Clayborn.”

“It’s Clayborn, Jack,” he said. “Tell Spinnelli. He’s got a team waiting.” She heard the snap of his phone as he closed it and put it away.

“Aidan?” She heard the wobble in her voice and didn’t care. His hand came up under her hair to cup the back of her neck, massaging as he’d done before.

“It’s all right, Tess. We understand that you couldn’t just give us his name. Spinnelli’s going to send somebody out right now to pick him up.”

She shuddered where she sat, his hand felt so good. So necessary. “I want you to make sure you get Paul Duncan to do the psych evaluation. That pissant Clayborn will try to use an insanity defense, but he’s not insane. He’s just plain mean. Paul will make sure a jury understands the difference.”

“You want him to pay,” he said quietly. “That’s normal, Tess.”

“I don’t want him to pay,” she said savagely. “I want him to
die
. But I know that won’t happen. It won’t be murder one.” His thumb found her taut nerve and applied gentle pressure. “I want Wallace Clayborn to rot in jail until he’s an old man.” A sob was building. “Then maybe some street punk will show him how Harrison felt today.”

The car slowed, then stopped. His hand disappeared and she had to bite her tongue to keep from begging him to put it back. A cold wind hit her as he got out of the car. She lifted her eyes and felt the pressure in her chest abate, ever so slightly. They were in his garage and he was coming around the car to open her door. Without speaking a word he pul ed her to her feet and into his arms.

Safe. She felt safe and protected as she hadn’t in a year. No, not even then. Phillip had never made her feel like this.

It won’t last.
The voice of reality was depressing on a night she couldn’t stand any more bad news. So she flicked reality off her shoulder and took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of him as she hadn’t been able to do earlier. When all she’d cared about was feeling his lips on hers. His lips now kissed her hair, her temples, and she wound her arms around his body and held on. His heart drummed steadily under her ear and she simply listened to it beat. He let her, holding her until the storm inside her had calmed.

She was still angry. Still hurting. But it no longer choked her. “Thank you.”

His arms squeezed. “You’re welcome.” He tipped her chin up until she looked at him. “I’l take you to a hotel if you want to go.”

She didn’t want to go. But neither did she want him to harbor any illusions about what would transpire between them. “If I stay, where will I sleep?”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “In my bed. I’l take the sofa. It pul s out.” He sobered, his thumb brushing her lower lip. Shivers raced down her spine, even though his expression was very serious. “Tess, you don’t have to worry about any more calls to reporters or your patients. At least not using your voice.”

“Why not?”

“The woman who impersonated you is dead.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

“We’re sure she’s dead. We’re pretty sure she’s the one who imitated you. I didn’t want you to worry. I also didn’t want you staying here because you believed there would be any cause for those bastards to make good on their threats.”

114

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

“I appreciate that.” She really did. Aidan Reagan had proved himself an honorable man many times over.

“But I still want you,” he added and she sucked in a breath as pleasure fluttered, woman low.

“I didn’t want you staying here not understanding that, either.”

“I…”
Can’t breathe again.
“I understand. And I thank you for your hospitality.”

He grinned unexpectedly and the sight lightened her heart. “The doctor can be taught,” he teased.

Her stomach growled, catching her unaware. “The doctor is hungry.”

“So am I.” He let her go, but kept his arm around her waist as he walked her to the door. It was no longer solely a supportive gesture, she understood. It was possessive. And she liked it. “I seem to recall something from our little discussion earlier.” He pointed to the motorcycle and she felt her cheeks heat.

“I recall a great deal from that discussion, Detective.”

He stopped abruptly, a frown creasing his brows. “I don’t like that.”

“What?”

“When you call me ‘detective.’ My name is Aidan.”

She understood his irritation, aware that he’d called her by her first name long before she’d done the same. It had been a way to keep her walls erected. But the walls were down, through fate or circumstance. Maybe those two were the same thing. “I recall a great deal from that discussion, Aidan,” she amended.

His frown disappeared. “You said you could cook as well as a restaurant.”

Her lips twitched. “I did say that. Does that mean you’d like me to cook for you?”

His eyes flashed, his meaning clear. “Yes. And yes. But first things first. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since lunch.” He opened the door to the kitchen, then stopped short making her run into his back. A sheet of paper hung from the doorway above his head and he tore it down. She tensed until he chuckled. “Little squirt,” he said affectionately. “Rachel! I’m home.”

He stepped into the kitchen, not flinching when the rottweiler bounded in to greet him. He’d called the massive dog Dol y. The thought made her smile. A young girl entered, Tess’s cat in her arms. Bella looked right at home, unfrightened by Dol y.

“You’re late again,” Rachel said, stroking Bella from her head to the tip of her twitching tail.

“And you’re AWOL again,” he returned. He tossed the paper to the table and Tess could see

“Aidan, I’m here” printed in a rounded youthful hand. “Why?”

The girl eyed Tess with some trepidation. “You have company.”

“I do. Rachel, this is Tess Ciccotelli. Tess, my sister Rachel.”

It was obvious the girl was Aidan’s sister. Their eyes were the identical shade of deep blue. Rachel’s were shadowed, however, and Tess remembered Kristen saying the girl had been preoccupied. It was Reagan family business, though, so she’d keep her hands out of it. “It’s nice to meet you, Rachel. Thanks for taking care of Bel a.”

Rachel rubbed the cat’s cheek against her own. “So that’s your name,” she said softly. “It suits you.” “It’s Italian for ‘pretty.’”

“I know.” She was scrutinizing Tess’s face. “You’re the psychiatrist from the news.”

“Rachel,” Aidan warned.

“It’s all right, Aidan.” Tess nodded at the girl. “I am. How is the press treating me?”

“My English teacher would say they ‘vilified’ you. That’s an SAT word,” she added and Tess found herself chuckling.

“Glad to see you’re constantly studying,” Aidan said dryly. “You need to talk to me, squirt?”

Rachel looked at Tess uncomfortably. “I can come back tomorrow.”

Whatever was bothering the girl was weighty. “Aidan, take her in the living room. I’l stay here and make us something to eat.”

He cupped the back of her neck again and it was all Tess could do not to close her eyes and moan. “You sure?”

115

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

“Yeah. Go away. Let me cook.”

They’d been talking for twenty minutes in hushed whispers. It had been all Tess could do not to listen, but despite banging pots and pans with more volume than necessary, she’d heard enough to know that Rachel Reagan was in serious trouble. Certainly enough not to be surprised when the girl came back through the kitchen, white as a sheet and trembling so hard she nearly stumbled.

Tess’s first inclination was to drop her spoon in the saucepan and help the girl to a chair, but the don’t-touch-me look on Rachel’s face kept her standing where she was. Aidan appeared a few seconds later. If anything, his face was paler than his sister’s.

“Rachel, wait for me in the car.” He waited until she was gone, then turned to Tess, his eyes hard. “How much did you hear?”

She hesitated. “Not much-I tried not to listen. But enough. There was a party that got out of hand. She left, but afterward things got worse and one of the girls got hurt.”