Page 5 of Deadly Past

She returned to the fire and held her trembling hands out to its warmth. Had she made a mistake by coming here? She hadn’t spoken to Declan since that final ugly argument in front of the courthouse. Could they put their differences aside in order to figure out who wanted her dead and how it connected to Lacey?

The door opened and she turned. Declan dusted snow from his jacket while snowflakes glistened like diamonds in his hair.

She noticed something she had been too terrified to see before. A Christmas tree stood in the corner of the living room. Though it was dark, she imagined how pretty it must look with the lights twinkling.

He followed her line of sight and chuckled as he set her suitcase and the bag holding the files near the door. “I’ve softened a lot since we knew each other,” he said in answer to her arched brow.

Wynona inclined her head. “That’s good to know.”

His smile disappeared. “The guest room is upstairs. There’s a bathroom next door.”

She looked toward the second floor. As much as Wynona’s body craved sleep, her veins were throbbing with adrenaline.

“I’m sure you’re tired,” Declan added when she didn’t respond.

“Actually, I’m not.” She answered too quickly when she thought he was about to say good night. Even though Wynona believed she was safe here, what happened at her home kept replaying through her head. Her nerves were on overdrive. Would she ever be able to relax again? “Do you mind if we take a look at the files?”

Declan pinned her with a gaze that assured her he knew everything she was thinking. “Sure. I’m as awake as you are. Let me put some coffee on, and we’ll get to work.”

He started for the kitchen when a Siamese cat made an appearance. “There you are, Simone.” The cat rubbed against his legs. “We have company. Meet Wynona.” He looked over his shoulder at Wynona. “Make yourself at home.”

Wynona went over to the cat without answering. She bent down and stroked her soft fur and was rewarded with an approving meow. With a chuckle, she picked the animal up and carried her over to the rocker near the fire.

Simone settled into Wynona’s lap easily enough. While petting the cat, she glanced around at Declan’s home. She knew very little about his life now. Once, she’d looked him up on social media and learned he’d moved to Hope Island, Maine. There was a link on his page to the Hope Island Securities firm – a private investigations agency that consisted of ex-military and intelligence officers. Declan had helped found the business.

“Here you go.” The sound of Declan’s husky voice had Wynona jerking toward him, her eyes wide. He held out a cup of coffee. “Cream and sugar, the way you used to take it. Looks like you’ve made a friend.” He pointed his cup at Simone.

Wynona’s mouth fell open when she realized he’d gotten her coffee to sugar and cream ratio down perfectly. “Thank you.” She took a sip and let the warmth of the beverage work its magic on her stressed nerves. “Simone’s sweet.”

Declan pulled up another rocker and sat. “She is, but a bit of an attention hog.” The cat meowed directly at him before jumping down. Simone padded over to the cat bed near the fire, and Declan laughed. “I swear she understands everything I say.”

When the silence settling between them was anything but comfortable, Wynona searched for something to say.

Declan seemed to read her thoughts. “How about we just talk about the case for now. You know it by heart. Let’s start from the beginning.”

The night Lacey went missing.

Wynona wrapped her hands around the cup, partly to warm them but mostly to keep their trembling from showing. She’d gone over every detail of the night in her head thousands of times. Wynona had been asleep when the person came into their room and took Lacey and was climbing out the window when she woke up and spotted him. That was when he told her those dreadful words.

But it was the angry words Wynona had said to her sister before they’d gone to sleep that haunted her to this day. Wynona had been working on a puzzle when Lacey bumped it, and all her hard work was destroyed. Her petulant, last words to her sister were, “I wish you were never born.”

She pulled in a breath and recounted the events once more. “Something woke me. I’m not sure what because Lacey was still asleep when he took her. I sat up in bed, and he looked right at me. He told me, ‘she’s where she belongs.And so will you soon. ’ I was so afraid he’d come after me that I hid under the covers. After a while, I peeked out and realized he’d taken Lacey and disappeared into the night.” Wynona pulled in an unsteady breath.

“You ran to your parents’ room and woke them, correct?” Declan’s attention remained on her face, seeing the pain she could never hide.

“Yes. Dad called the police right away, and then he rushed out to search for Lacey. She was his baby, and he and Mom doted on Lacey. Maybe because of her diabetes, I don’t know.” She shook her head. “But there was no sign of Lacey. She was gone.” And the days and weeks melted into a blur. The police dusted for fingerprints and took everything that might hold any DNA evidence from the room, but nothing came of it. “The only real clue we had that someone might have been watching Lacey prior to the abduction came from one of the neighbors who had spotted a car with New York plates driving past the house slowly, but they weren’t able to identify the driver.”

Wynona had thought she would never get over Lacey’s loss, and then her father had abandoned them.

“Have you noticed this man anywhere before now? Maybe you didn’t realize he was following you until now.”

Wynona frowned as she thought about it. “No, and I would remember if he was following me before.” She’d never forget those terrifying eyes. “He’s come back now for a reason.”

Declan took a sip of his coffee. “It’s been over twenty years since Lacey disappeared. You said there’s been no report of a similar abduction with Lacey’s MO until now?”

“None.” She turned her head to study his profile. He was still as handsome and fit as the day she’d seen him walking through the hospital at Bagram. Declan had been looking for one of his injured Ranger friends and had asked her help. The second their eyes had met, Wynona knew she was going to fall hard for him. And she had. But their wartime romance hadn’t made the shift to civilian life. Declan had kept so much of what was really bothering him bottled up inside. And then there was Lacey. She was like a dark shadow following Wynona through each day. The what ifs were maddening.

She and Declan had been caught up in their own darkness and couldn’t let it go.

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