The Defender

Annie laid a hand on her arm. “They won’t let you past this point.”

“But I have to—” She broke off when a young uniformed officer blocked her path.

“Miss, I have to ask you to lower the tape and step back from it,” the officer said.

“You don’t understand. I was here earlier,” she said. “I need to talk to someone who’s in charge.”

An older man in his late forties moved toward them. “Problem, Jerry?”

“She wants to talk to someone who’s in charge.”

The older man turned to Sadie. He was on the short side but he had a solid, muscular build and eyes that gave away nothing. “Right now, that would be Officer Carter here and me, and our orders are to keep everyone out. The only people allowed in the church are the crime-scene team and the medics.”

“You don’t—” Sadie began. But she stopped when the doors of the church opened and two medics carried out a stretcher.

“Oh, thank heavens,” Annie said. “That’s Father Mike. I was so worried about him.”

“How do you know he’s alive?” Sadie asked, unable to tear her gaze away from the stretcher.

“They’re putting him in the ambulance,” Annie explained. “The coroner’s van will pick up the dead one.”

Sadie’s stomach clenched. Was that why they hadn’t brought Roman out yet? She was about to step forward again, when the doors opened and another stretcher emerged. Relief streamed through her when she saw that it was Roman.

“They’re taking special care of him,” Annie commented. “They’re using what looks like a back brace. And see how they’ve got his neck protected?”

Sadie did see and her stomach sank. “How do you know all this?”

“I watch a lot of TV and there’s all those crime shows. Beats watching that junk they call reality TV.”

As soon as they’d loaded Roman’s stretcher into the ambulance, a uniformed policeman climbed in behind him and another one climbed in the passenger seat.

“They’re sending cops with him,” Annie said. “They didn’t send any with Father Mike.”

No, they hadn’t, Sadie thought. The fact that two policemen were accompanying her brother wasn’t a good sign.

“He must have been involved in the shootings,” Annie echoed Sadie’s thoughts.

As Sadie reached to lift the tape again, she recalled Roman’s words—“…shot…Paulo.” If he had, he hadn’t killed him. The moment she closed her hand around the tape, Officer Carter said, “Ma’am, you have to step back.”

“But that’s my—”

Sadie found herself gripped firmly by the arms. “You have to stay here,” Carter said. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to take you into custody and put you in one of the patrol cars.”

Sadie could see in his eyes that he meant it. And beyond his shoulder, she could see the first ambulance pulling away from the curb.

“Jerry?” the older officer called.

Jerry turned his head. “Uh-oh.”

Sadie followed the direction of his gaze to where a truck with Channel Five painted on the side had pulled up to one of the patrol cars blocking the intersection. Both Carter and his partner moved quickly toward the truck as an attractive woman climbed out.

“Good heavens,” Annie said. “That’s Carla Mitchell from Channel Five News.”

As the elderly woman hurried toward the TV truck, Sadie moved through the crowd in the opposite direction. She’d just go down to the middle of the block, cross the street and circle back. She had to get to that ambulance.

She’d reached the edge of the crowd when Roman’s ambulance pulled away from the curb. Sadie broke into a run. If she could just beat it to the corner…

As she sprinted toward the intersection, she thanked her lucky stars for her practical shoes. Dowdy they might be, but at least she could run in them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ambulance increase speed. It was gaining on her as she reached the corner. Without stopping, without thinking, she careened into the intersection, waving her arms.

The siren sounded once, but when Sadie didn’t move, it pulled to a stop. The officer in the passenger seat rolled down the window. “Lady, get out of our way.”

Panting, she moved quickly to the side of the ambulance and placed her palms flat against the door. “You’ve got my brother in there. I want to ride along to the hospital.”

“That’s not possible,” the officer said. “He’s a suspect in a possible homicide.”

Homicide? Sadie’s heart lurched. “At least tell me where you’re taking him. He’s my brother.”

The officer hesitated, then said, “You got some ID?”

Realizing that she didn’t have her purse, Sadie shook her head. “No, I—”

“Then I can’t help you.” Even as he rolled up the window, the ambulance shot forward, its siren piercing the night air.

Time for plan B. Sadie spotted her car half a block away and ran toward it. Thank heavens she’d developed a habit of carrying her keys in her pocket because of all the time she’d wasted plowing through her purse for them.

Her purse. She thought briefly about it as she slipped behind the wheel. She’d dropped it when she’d raced up those stairs to look for Juliana. There was no time to go back and get it now, not if she wanted to keep that ambulance in sight. The police probably had it tucked away all nice and safe in an evidence bag.

As she shot away from the curb, she recalled the policeman’s words. “He’s a suspect in a homicide.” She had to find out exactly what had gone on in that church.

IT WAS NEARLY TEN O’CLOCK when Theo slipped out of the cabin and nearly stumbled over Bob.

The dog rose and wagged its tail.

“Ari’s still not here.”

Bob merely looked hopeful.

“Okay.” Theo opened the door. “You can go in, but no more treats until I get back from my swim.”

Sleep had been eluding him. At the end of the dock, Theo paused. The moon was bright and full, the water black and fairly calm. His grandfather’s cabin had been built in the center of a little inlet. A half mile to his right, he could see the clear outline of a row of rocks that jutted out into the ocean. When they were younger, he and his brothers had frequently raced to it and back. If he managed a couple of laps, he ought to be able to catch a good five hours of sleep before sunup. There was nothing he knew of that could drain away his tension more easily than a swim.

Theo stretched his arms skyward, tucking his head between them. Then, bending his knees, he bowed his body slightly forward and shot cleanly into the water. The shock of cold sang through his body. He swam underwater for as long as he could hold his breath, then surfaced and struck out for the rocks. Within minutes, he sank into the rhythm of it, keeping his kick steady and strong, pulling with his arm, turning, breathing and pulling again.

He wondered if Sadie Oliver was a swimmer. She had the sleek, lean body for it. He could almost picture her swimming beside him, matching the rhythm of her strokes to his, kicking those long legs as they sliced through the water together. He imagined their legs scissoring, their bodies stretching, flexing almost as if they were making love.

The water no longer felt cold, Theo noticed. He wasn’t sure whether it was the exercise that had raised his temperature or the thoughts of swimming with Sadie Oliver.

He picked up his pace. It wasn’t just his career path that he was going to have to make a decision about. He was going to have to make a decision about Sadie Oliver, too. And he was beginning to think that the two choices were related.

4

IT WAS CLOSE TO ELEVEN when Sadie parked her car next to a silver SUV that was a couple of shades darker than her Miata. The small parking area was exactly where Kit Angelis’s Aunt Cass had said it would be, a little ways in from the road. But she’d expected three cars.

When she’d tried to reach Kit from the pay phone at the hospital, she’d gotten his office answering machine again. Then when she’d called his house, his aunt had picked up and told her that Kit was joining his brothers for a weekend of fishing at their grandfather’s cabin.

That meant that Theo would be here, too.

The fact that she’d thought of that more than once on the drive annoyed her. She was twenty-six years old—way beyond the age of silly crushes. And she had far more pressing concerns. Her brother was injured and a suspect in a homicide and she didn’t know where her sister was. When she reached to open the glove compartment, Sadie saw that her hands were shaking. Reaction was setting in. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t, fall apart yet. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and willed the shaking to stop. This time her hand was steady as she pulled the flashlight out and climbed from the car.

According to the directions she’d received from Cass Angelis, the last half mile to the Angelis family’s fishing cabin had to be traveled by foot. She located a path on the far side of the SUV. It was narrow, but appeared to be well used when she shone the light over it. The full moon was bright overhead and there were all those stars. Still, she hesitated. Leaves rustled in the wind and she thought she heard the sounds of some small animal scurrying through the brush. At least, it sounded small. Were there bears in this part of California?

Suppressing a shudder, Sadie gave herself a mental shake. Walking down a strange path through the woods at night might not be her cup of tea, but this was no time to be having second thoughts. She could have turned back at any point during the hour’s drive from San Francisco and she hadn’t. Because she wasn’t going to let her brother down. She’d made her decision even before she’d seen her father and stepmother and Michael Dano arrive at the hospital. She’d made it the moment that Roman was being wheeled away on that gurney. Ever since she’d been little, her big brother always seemed so strong, so capable. But as they were taking him away for tests, he’d looked so…vulnerable.

She felt her throat tighten. She’d wanted so much to stay at the hospital, to be with him. But when she’d waylaid one of the attending physicians and asked if she could see Roman, he’d told her that her brother’s condition was currently listed as stable, but that they were concerned about a skull fracture and would be doing tests for some time. If she’d stayed at the hospital, all she could have done was wait.

If Roman weren’t injured, he’d be moving heaven and earth to find out what had happened to Juliana and what had gone on at that church. So she was going to step into his shoes.

Drawing in a deep breath, Sadie started down the path, shining the light back and forth across it. Thank heavens the ambulance had brought Roman to St. Jude’s. Her father had donated the new trauma center there and as soon as the head nurse had found out who Roman was, she’d called in their top specialists.

She’d made herself scarce at the hospital because she hadn’t wanted to draw the attention of the two cops who’d accompanied Roman. After all, she’d left her purse in the vestibule of the church. Sooner or later, someone was going to figure out that she’d been there. She might be suspected of having something to do with whatever had gone on.

So she’d slipped away without talking to Michael Dano or her father. She was going to follow her brother’s advice and trust only Kit Angelis.

No. That wasn’t completely true. Sadie drew in a deep breath and let it out. It wasn’t just because of Roman’s words that she was walking down this dark path near the midnight hour. Deep in her heart, she knew that she’d come here to ask Kit for his help because her deepest fear was that her own father had something to do with what had happened at St. Peter’s church. Her sister Juliana was the apple of Mario Oliver’s eye. If he had learned that she planned a secret wedding to Paulo Carlucci…

Sadie had had plenty of time to think while she’d been waiting at the hospital and while she’d been driving. Roman might have tried to stop the wedding, but someone had sent another man to prevent it, too. And if it was their father who’d sent that man Roman was chasing? Well, it would have been just like Roman to take their sister’s side. Of course, there was also the possibility that Paulo’s father had gotten wind of the wedding, too.

Something shot across the path about ten feet in front of her, and Sadie jumped and nearly screamed. Pressing a hand against her chest, she tried to keep her heart from pounding right out of her body. Then she felt foolish when she realized that the animal she’d seen had been tiny, probably a field mouse or a chipmunk. When her heartbeat settled, she moved forward.

The woods seemed darker now and the trees on either side pressed more closely to the path. The wind seemed to have picked up and over the rustling of overhead branches she heard a noise. One animal calling to another? Wolves traveled in packs, didn’t they? Bobcats and coyotes also crossed her mind. She had no idea what kinds of wildlife lived here.

Nerves knotted in her stomach. Perhaps ignorance was best in this instance. Sadie gave herself a mental shake. Think positive. A half a mile wasn’t very long. She had to be at least halfway there. It would take her just as long to get back to the car as it would to reach the cabin. But the pep talk she was giving herself didn’t prevent her from picking up her pace and, after a few strides, she broke into a flat-out run. She’d been on the track team in high school and college, but her shoes, however serviceable, were not designed for running over rough terrain. She stumbled, managed to keep herself from falling to her knees and slowed to a fast walk.

She wasn’t going to panic. She’d kept her nerve at the church and again at the hospital and she wasn’t going to lose it now. Still, when the path opened up into a clearing, relief streamed through Sadie. For just a moment, she stood there, forcing herself to take in air for a count of ten so that her breathing would level. The breeze coming in from the sea was brisk. The moon was full and bright and the dark water reflected even more light. The scene and the sound of the waves pushing into the shore immediately began to calm her.

A wooden dock jutted out from the shore for about forty feet and she could make out the dark outline of a small boathouse at the far end. She could also see the cabin. It was a compact one-story structure with a wide screened-in porch at its front. Light glowed from one of the windows.

Hopefully, someone was up. Sadie strode forward and when she reached the screened porch door, she knocked. The sound seemed loud to her ears and was immediately answered by movement inside the cabin. She had her face pressed close to the screen when a figure rushed through the door and hurled itself against the mesh. Barely suppressing a scream, she stumbled backward and nearly fell down on her backside. The huge creature barked once, backed up and made another lunge at the screen.

A dog. But Sadie didn’t feel relieved. It was a very big dog and it was doing its best to get through that screen. Deciding not to wait until it succeeded, she moved quickly around the side of the cabin to the window that was spilling light out into the night. It was open and the ledge was just above her eye level. Rising to her toes, she peered into the room.

Empty. But the bed showed signs of having been used. The patchwork quilt was turned back, the pillows had been propped against the headboard and there was a paperback book lying on the nightstand. Perhaps the occupant had heard the racket the dog had made and was even now on his way to the porch. Circling back around to the front of the cabin, she caught sight of the dog through the screen. He raced down to meet her and kept pace with her as she walked toward the door. He didn’t lunge this time. The animal looked even bigger standing on all fours but at least he wasn’t barking. She waited for about ten beats. When no one appeared, she approached the screen door and knocked again. The dog whined. She let another ten beats pass, then drummed up her courage and tried the door.

It opened with a loud creak, but she still hesitated. The dog was wagging its tail and managing to look friendly. With a quick prayer that the creature wasn’t sandbagging her, Sadie stepped onto the porch.

THEO WAS LYING ON HIS back in the water, enjoying the gentle movement of the waves. He’d lost track of the number of laps he’d swum, but his muscles were weak, his mind finally relaxed. He was about to climb onto the dock when the silence was broken by a sharp, staccato knocking sound. Then he heard Bob hit the screen door. Grabbing the dock with one hand, he glanced toward the shore. He couldn’t imagine either Kit or Nik knocking on the cabin door. A tree was blocking his view, but he clearly heard Bob bark and launch himself at the door again.

Bob was not the best watchdog. In spite of his size, he had the people-loving instincts of a golden retriever and viewed any stranger as a possible source of either petting or food, hopefully both.

Staying very still in the water, Theo waited and a moment later saw a figure move around the side of the cabin. He had a quick impression of height. But the build was more slender than either of his brothers. He’d left the light on in his bedroom, and when the figure turned to face the window, he had a clear view of a profile. Female, he thought. The light wasn’t strong enough for him to see her features, but he made out that she was wearing a skirt.

Annoyance and frustration streamed through him. Following the arrest of his stalker, he’d convinced his little fan club—the women who’d been attending his trials for the past few months—to stop. And they had. One of them had even confessed to being embarrassed by her behavior and apologized. For the past two months, he’d thought he’d gotten his life back to normal.

But he couldn’t think of another reason why a woman would have come all this way in the middle of the night. He wasn’t currently dating anyone. He hadn’t dated anyone since Sandra Linton had begun to stalk him. And this woman was too tall to be his sister. Besides, Philly would have walked right in. She and Bob were old friends.

The figure had moved back toward the front of the cabin. Her knock was louder this time. Theo thought of calling out to her, but didn’t. Instead, moving quietly, he swam toward shore and, once he got his feet beneath him, he walked slowly out of the water. He was still twenty yards away when he saw her open the screened door and walk in. He had to give her points for courage. Bob might be a pushover, but he did have that size thing going for him. To his surprise, he saw her crouch down and speak to the dog, but the sound of the waves behind him muffled her words. Okay, so she had guts and she liked big dogs. She was still in a place she had no business being. Technically, she was breaking and entering.

She’d already gone into the cabin by the time he reached it. Carefully, he opened the porch door and turned sideways to slip in before the hinge creaked. She’d left the inner door to the cabin open. In the darkness of the kitchen, he could only make out her silhouette as she stood peering out the window in the direction of the lake.

Annoyance streamed through him again. Bold as brass, he thought. Not only had she followed him out here to a place that he’d always considered a refuge, but she’d walked right in. It didn’t help his mood one bit that Bob was sitting at her feet, beating his tail against the floor, evidently pleased as punch at the new visitor. At the very least, Theo figured he owed her a good scare.

He flipped on the light. “What the hell do you think—”

She whirled and her scream blocked the rest of his sentence.

“Sadie?” His first thought was that he’d conjured her up. His second was that in another moment she was going to slip right to the floor. Cursing himself, he strode to her. She’d gone pale as the moonlight on the water. “Are you all right?” Stupid question when he could see that she was anything but. Taking her arm, he eased her into one of the chairs at the table. Then he moved to the refrigerator, retrieved the bottle of wine he’d opened earlier and filled a glass. She was still trembling when he set it in front of her, so he took the chair next to hers and covered her hand with his to help her lift the glass.

She took a sip and swallowed. Then their eyes met and held over the rim of the glass. He was touching only her hand and yet there was that intensity, that same connection he’d felt when he’d clasped her hand in the courtroom. Suddenly, Theo knew. Not merely that their paths would cross again, but that she was the one, the one woman for him.

No. Panic shot up his spine and nerves knotted in his abdomen. He wasn’t ready. He forced himself to take a deep breath as he reminded himself that he still had a choice. The Fates only presented choices.

But as Sadie lifted the glass for another sip, he didn’t remove his hand from hers and he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of her. Her lips were parted and moist from the wine. He very badly wanted to taste that mouth. Even as lust curled into a tight, hot fist in his stomach, he let his hand drop and eased back in his chair. He had to get away before…

Rising, he strode toward the adjoining hallway. “Drink the wine while I change. Then you can tell me why you’re here.”

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