Night Stalker

“I’m sure you’d like to be part of the decision-making process. You can go back to Boston and back to work,” she replied and felt like an ogre for it. Adam had been nothing but kind, and she’d done nothing but try to push him away.

“No. I can’t. Not until I know you’re safe.”

“I don’t need you to keep me safe,” she murmured, but her heart wasn’t in the words. They sounded hollow and sad and a little lonely.

“I didn’t say you did. I said I need to know you are. We might be divorced, but I still care about you, Charlotte. That has never changed.”

She dropped one of the shoes. It bounced across the floor and slid under the bed.

“I’ll get it,” Adam said, grabbing her elbow when she bent to reach for it.

His fingers were warm, his skin calloused, and she could feel his touch long after he released his grip. She rubbed the spot, trying to wipe away the warmth and the memories that filled her head. Cold nights. Hot fires. Long conversations as they lay side by side.

He’d been her best friend.

He’d known everything there was to know about her.

And then he’d been gone.

She swallowed down grief that she shouldn’t be feeling and whirled away, the quick movement making her light-headed.

She grabbed the doorjamb, her fingers curving around cool wood.

“You okay?” Adam asked, and she realized he had both of her shoes in his hand and was watching her.

“Fine. Just anxious to get out of here.”

“For the record,” he said, placing the shoes on the floor so she could slip into them, “I don’t approve.”

“Your disapproval is noted.”

“But you’re leaving anyway?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll get a wheelchair.” He gave in with a lot less of a fight than she’d expected.

“I can walk.”

“Suit yourself.”

“I will.” She stepped toward the door, and he touched her arm. Not stopping her. Just offering support. Her breath caught, her heart skipping a beat. His lashes were still long, thick and curly, his skin deeply tanned. He had a faint scar on his left jaw, and a solemnness to his demeanor that had been missing when he’d been a young deputy sheriff, fresh-faced and eager to prove himself. She felt dizzy with the memories, or maybe from moving too much and too quickly.

“On second thought,” she murmured, “a wheelchair might be good.”

He slipped his arm around her waist and led her to the recliner. She was sitting in it before she realized what was happening, his jacket settled around her, the scent of his cologne filling her nose.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He was looking into her eyes, and she was looking into his, and for a moment, there was nothing between them. No past. No pain. No heartache. They were simply two friends taking care of each other the same way they had since the first day they’d met.

He backed away, turning on his heels and striding from the room. Minutes later, he wheeled the chair in, helping her settle into it with the same quick efficient manner as any of the nurses or orderlies would have.

Whatever had been there was gone.

They were strangers again, and she told herself she was fine with it.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Clover has been alone for eight nights. That’s seven too many.”

“He’s a dog,” he pointed out. “And Bubbles has been spending every day with him.”

“He’s family,” she corrected.

He nodded, his dark eyes tracing the curve of her cheek and jaw. She could feel it like a physical touch.

Maybe they weren’t so much like strangers, after all.

She frowned, relieved when he walked around to the back of the wheelchair and rolled her into the hall.

“One of my colleagues is waiting for us at the service entrance. We figured taking you out that way would attract a lot less attention than wheeling you through the lobby,” he said. “You remember meeting Special Agent River Callahan?”

“Blond hair, blue eyes, nice smile?”

“I never paid much attention to the smile, but the other two are accurate. He and Wren are accompanying us to your place. They’ll be staying there until you make a decision about protective custody.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

“You didn’t.” His quick blunt response left no room for argument.

Not that she cared about that.

She could have argued.

She could have listed a dozen reasons why she didn’t want or need federal officers in her house. Except that she wasn’t a hundred percent sure she didn’t need them.

She thought she didn’t.

She hoped she didn’t.

But if the Night Stalker really did live somewhere nearby, he might be someone she knew, someone who’d recognized her.

Someone who wanted to make sure that she didn’t recognize him.

“Okay,” she said.

“That was easy,” he responded.

“You expected me to argue?”

“You’re leaving the hospital against the advice of law enforcement,” he pointed out, “so that seemed like a reasonable assumption.”

“I’m tired of the hospital,” she replied. “But I’m still really fond of being alive. If there’s any chance the Night Stalker knows who I am—”

“We’ve been very careful about what information is released to the press.”

“That doesn’t mean much in a small town.”

He didn’t respond as he rolled her out into the hall.

She hadn’t expected him to.

He might have moved to Boston, joined the FBI, lived the high-stress busy life he’d always wanted, but he’d been born and raised in Whisper Lake. He knew how small towns worked, how information traveled over backyard fences and across church pews and made its way through the entire population so quickly it was nearly impossible to stop it. Regional papers had gotten wind of the Night Stalker’s attempted kidnapping. They’d been fed information from anonymous sources who’d been happy to tell them that a woman had been shot saving a nurse from the serial killer. Charlotte had seen the story running on local and national television. It had been front-page news for a week, and there was no doubt that Whisper Lake was buzzing with it.

People who lived there knew the police had responded to a shooting near the lake. They knew there’d been two women at the scene. They knew everything except for the fact that Charlotte had been involved.

She wanted to keep it that way.

They reached the nurse’s desk and the bank of elevators across from it. Adam passed both.

“Where are we going?” she asked, suddenly wondering if her escape from the hospital had seemed too easy because it was too easy.

Maybe Adam had his own plans.

Plans that didn’t include letting her return to the cottage.

“To the freight elevator,” he replied, turning down a quiet corridor that led deeper into the hospital.

“We are going home, right?” she asked as he stopped at the oversize elevator and tapped the call button.

“Yes.”

“If you don’t, I’ll find a way to get there myself.”

He leaned down, his lips so close to her ear, she thought she could feel their warmth. “I was a lot of things when we were married, Charlotte, but I was never a liar.”

The doors slid open and he wheeled her into the cavernous space.

He didn’t speak again, and she couldn’t.

All the words were caught in her throat, a million memories of Adam and what he’d meant to her flitting through her brain and lodging in her heart.

When the doors slid open again, she inhaled deeply, the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding puffing out into the chilly basement air. This part of the hospital wasn’t one visitors normally saw. The cement floor was old and paint-spattered, track marks from thousands of carts being wheeled through etched into it. Up ahead, what looked like a wide garage door was illuminated by a few dim overhead lights.

A man waited there, his suit jacket crisp and neat, his expression grim. He had a holster beneath his sports coat. She’d seen it and him a lot during her hospital stay. He was a member of the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit. He was also quiet, reserved and pointed in his questions. No matter how many times she answered, no matter what she said to him, she always had the idea that River Callahan didn’t believe her.

He nodded as Adam wheeled her closer, pressing a button so the door rose. Beyond it, moonlight cast long shadows across a nearly empty lot. Like so many other places in Whisper Lake, the hospital was bordered by state land, the edge of a national forest just beyond the lot.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the trees, off the circles of streetlights that illuminated the bare branches of old sycamores. Someone could be standing in the shadows, pointing a gun in her direction. She wouldn’t know it until it was too late, until the bullet had already flown and she was lying on the ground, bleeding to death.

“It’s okay,” Adam said quietly as he pushed the wheelchair down a long ramp. “We’ve been keeping an eye on the area since you arrived. If anyone were out here, we’d know it.”

“We?” River asked, his shoes tapping against the metal ramp.

“Figure of speech.”

“Good. I was afraid you’d forgotten that you’re currently on leave.”

“That would be difficult to do, seeing as how you and Wren remind me several times a day,” Adam replied. He sounded...older, more confident than he’d been five years ago.

And why wouldn’t he?

Time had passed. Life had gone on. He’d created his new reality. She’d created hers. They hadn’t spoken since the divorce papers were signed, their relationship cut off cold turkey as if they’d both understood that was how it had to be if they were going to move on without each other.

Cold air whipped across the parking lot, carrying a hint of wood-burning fires and pine needles. Winter would linger for another month or two. Then the world would blossom again. Charlotte planned to be around to see it. She planned to bring her dog-training group out on trails, to hike and fish and do all the things she did every spring and summer. She had to stay alive to do that. That was what she should be concentrating on. Not Adam and all the ways things were different. And the same.

She frowned, waiting impatiently as a black Cadillac drove around the corner of the building. It pulled up at the end of the ramp, and the next thing Charlotte knew, she was being bustled inside, nudged to the center of the back seat.

“When we reach your place, you’ll have to walk. I don’t want anyone seeing you in a wheelchair. We’re sticking to the story about your vacation. People are going to want to hear all about it. We’ll work on the details together. Okay?” Adam said as he slid in beside her.

She nodded.

The doors closed, and Adam grabbed her seat belt, pulling it across her lap and buckling it into place.

And then they were moving, the SUV pulling around the side of the building and out onto the highway, headlights gleaming on the paved road that led toward home.

* * *

He shouldn’t have come.

That thought was crystal clear in Adam’s mind, and he couldn’t shake it. Not that coming hadn’t been the right thing to do. It had been. The problem lay in the fact he couldn’t make himself leave. Charlotte had turned the corner a week ago. She’d gone from critical to stable to ready for release. The hospital had held her an extra day at the FBI’s request, and Adam had stayed by her side even then.

She was a habit he’d broken years ago.

Now he was forming it again.

That wasn’t a good thing. It wasn’t an acceptable one. He’d come to Whisper Lake because he’d needed to make amends for his failures. He hadn’t come to reconnect with Charlotte or to fit himself back in her life.

They’d grown up and apart, and he’d been content with that.

He still was, but he couldn’t help wondering if that would change. Enough time with Charlotte, enough quiet conversations in the middle of the nights, and maybe he’d begin to fall for her the way he had all those years ago.

Wren took the turn onto the country highway that led past the lake, and Charlotte slid toward Adam. His arm came up automatically, his fingers slipping around her shoulders, holding her steady.

“Careful,” he cautioned. “You don’t want to tear your wound open and end up back in the hospital.”

“The wound is healing nicely. Tomorrow, I’ll see the surgeon, and he’ll probably give me the go-ahead to get back to my regular activities.”

“Tomorrow, huh?” he said, glancing at the rearview mirror. Wren met his eyes. Just like he knew she would.

“River, you want to contact headquarters and see if they can send someone out to check Charlotte’s injury?” she asked.

“They don’t need to send someone out,” Charlotte argued. “As I said, I have an appointment with my surgeon. It’s already been set up.”

“You’ll have to cancel,” Wren said bluntly.

If the FBI had its way, Charlotte would be on a plane and out of the area before the scheduled appointment. Adam knew that. He wasn’t sure Charlotte did.

“Look, I know you’re doing your job and trying to protect me, but I really don’t think I should stop living my life. If I do, people who know me will wonder why. They’ll start asking questions. That will lead to speculation and gossip.”

“Going to a surgeon who specializes in trauma is probably not the best way to keep your friends from asking questions,” Adam cut in.

Charlotte frowned. “It’s not like I’m going to make an announcement about where I’m going. I have to go into work, and—”

“You’re kidding, right?” he said, because there was no way she could really think that would be okay with anyone.

“I teach math at the community college, Adam.”

“I’m aware of that.” He wanted to add, “Congratulations,” because she’d accomplished the goal she’d been shooting for since they were in middle school. He didn’t, because she was angry. He could see it in the tightness of her jaw, feel it in the tension of her muscles.

“I can’t just continue to not show up for work. My boss isn’t going to be happy forever with the ‘unexpected family emergency’ excuse you guys provided,” she continued.

“We spoke to your supervisor and the HR department,” Wren said. “Your job is secure.”

“I thought you didn’t want anyone knowing what was going on?” Charlotte countered.

“We make exceptions when we have to. Your supervisor assured us that he’ll keep the information private. He sent you his best.”

“When did you contact Reggie?” Charlotte asked, her hands fisted so tight Adam was sure she was gouging her nails into her skin.

“A few hours ago,” Wren answered, turning onto another road, the beams of the car glancing across a raccoon that scurried out of sight.

“It would have been nice to be informed about it before now.” Charlotte’s voice was tight, her words clipped.

“My team has been busy making sure your property is secure. We’ve also been putting together a backup plan. In case this doesn’t work.”

“This?”

“You staying at home.”

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”

“Did you ever see yourself as the victim of a serial killer, Charlotte?” River finally cut into the conversation. As usual, when he spoke, what he had to say was right on point.

She shook her head, some of her tension easing, her hands relaxing. She understood what he was saying—that anything could happen in life, and that it was best to be prepared for it.

Adam could have explained that she already knew that.

Losing their son had taught them both the lesson.

The car fell silent as Wren navigated the deep curves. The darkness of the road made it difficult, and she drove slowly, easing around bends that Adam knew like the back of his hand. He knew the hilly areas, the blind entrances. He’d driven along this stretch of rural highway every day for nearly a decade. He hadn’t forgotten it. Sure, the forest seemed lusher, the trees taller. Everything else was the same. The glint of lake in the distance. The pinpricks of house lights through dense foliage. Not many people lived out this far. Those who did liked their privacy.

Charlotte stared out the front window, her hands resting on her thighs, her gaze focused.

“What are you thinking?” he asked quietly.

She met his eyes, and he was caught in her gaze. Caught in that look of rebellion and pride that had drawn him to her when they were both outcast kids in a community that didn’t quite understand them.

“That the road looks a lot darker than it ever has before,” she responded.

They were nearing the crossroad that led to the cottage. She had to be remembering the way it had felt to see the truck, to hear Bethany scream.

He reached for her hand, the gesture more muscle-memory than planned. Her fingers curved through his, her palm as smooth and silky as he remembered.

He squeezed her hand gently, forced himself to release it.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said, and she nodded.

“That’s the thing to say, right? When tragedy happens? How many times did we hear it after Daniel died?”

His entire body tensed, his blood seeming to freeze in his veins. He thought about Daniel plenty, but it had been years since he’d heard his name spoken aloud. Hearing it was like hearing the saddest melody ever written, reading the most heartbreaking ending of the most beautiful story ever penned.

“Too many,” he managed to say.

The crossroad was just ahead, and he made himself focus on that—on the stop sign still strung with caution tape, the abandoned orange cones that had closed off the road after the shooting.

Something darted out from the trees, a blur of fur and legs, zipping toward the Cadillac with so much speed Adam was certain they’d hit it.

Wren slammed on the brakes, and he put his arm up to keep Charlotte from flying forward. As if the seat belt wouldn’t hold her, as if it were somehow still his job to protect her.

The Cadillac skidded to the right, bumping a couple of sapling trees. Adam had his gun in hand before it stopped, his arm pressing Charlotte down and out of the line of fire.

He knew how quickly safety could turn to danger, and he knew how desperate the Night Stalker must be. The local papers had run the story. So had the Boston Globe, the Providence Journal and a half dozen other New England newspapers.

Guardian Angel Saves Tenth Victim of Notorious Night Stalker

Adam had seen that headline and a variation of it. The reporters might not have Charlotte’s name, but they were speculating that she was someone local to Whisper Lake.

How long would it take the Night Stalker to figure out who she was and where she lived?

Would he try?

That was the question Adam had been asking himself. It was one he knew the team had been discussing.

“Holster your firearms,” Wren said. “It was a dog.”

“A dog?” Charlotte pushed his arm away and straightened, peering out the window. “What dog?”

“It ran off into the woods.” Wren gestured to the left. “Probably someone’s pet got off the chain.”

“We can’t leave him. There are predators around here,” Charlotte said.

“Yeah,” River agreed. “And some of them are human and want you dead. How about we worry about that and let the owner find his own dog?”

“Or we could unroll the window and call to him,” Charlotte argued. “It’s not like we’d be out in the open. We’d just be sitting here exactly like we are. Only, we wouldn’t be abandoning someone’s pet to his fate.”

“Fine. I’ll give it two shouts. If he doesn’t come, we’re out of here.” Wren unrolled her window. “Fido! Come!” she shouted.

Leaves rustled. A twig snapped.

A dog appeared.

At least, Adam thought it was a dog. It looked more like a giant ball of curly red fur. Floppy ears. Bearded snout. Dark eyes.

“Clover!” Charlotte shouted, and then she was scrambling over him, opening the door, tumbling out onto the road.

He grabbed the back of her soft pink sweater, hauling her up and into the SUV. Not caring about the injury or the incision. Not caring if they ended up back in the hospital getting her stapled up again.

All he cared about was keeping her alive.

If the dog loping toward them was hers, someone had let it out. Someone who might be waiting for her to return, waiting for her to go looking for the dog she obviously loved. Waiting on the road with a gun in hand, ready to finish what he’d begun.

Adam wanted to believe the Night Stalker didn’t know Charlotte’s identity, but he wasn’t going to be foolish enough to ignore the possibility.

Wren obviously felt the same.

She shouted for River to jump out and get the dog, and then she was speeding toward the lake and the cottage and the memories Adam had tried so hard to forget.

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