Page 25 of Echoes in the Night

She does as I ask, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I take her sweet willing lips with mine. “I missed you, too.”

“I missed you. I missed you so much.” She begins to cry, hard heartbreaking sobs that tie my gut into knots. “You said you want me. You said I was yours. And you’re mine.”

“Damn straight you’re mine. I’m not letting you go.”

I grab a handful of hankies from the drawer and cross to my chair, lowering us both. “I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here. What’s got you so upset, babe?”

“I just… I wanted to cook dinner but didn’t want to start the fire for the first time when you weren’t here to make sure I did it right. I was afraid of burning your cabin down. So, I prepped everything and was going to work until you came back. But… but he was there in your sketchbook. I finished him. I fixed his face and eyes. And I remembered.”

Her tears come harder. Handing her a hanky, I rub her back and kiss her neck and forehead until the storm passes and all that’s left is hiccups.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try not to leave you alone like that again. Can you tell me what you remembered? And babe, I need to recordthis for proof later. You okay with that?” She nods. I hit record on my phone.

“Tell me what you remember, Maura.”

“He did this for money. Someone paid him fifty thousand to kill me. He’s buying a house. Just before he walked away, he said to consider myself lucky. That I’d freeze to death before the animals fed off me. He called me by name. He called me Maura. I wasn’t random or an opportunity. He knew who I was.

“I couldn’t think, I couldn’t work after that. I just kept wondering who would benefit from my dying. He said I was in the way.”

Her tears fall harder, but she tries to meet my gaze.

“I think it was my father. I think my father hired him. He didn’t want me anymore. I wasn’t enough.”

A rage so cold and deadly flows through my veins. This is the calm before my storm. I’ve been here before during my career. When the innocents were brutalized in the name of power and greed. When women and children were used as shields.

This is my woman. I will not rest until the guilty are punished.

I hit the pause button on my phone and snuggle her to my chest, kissing her forehead, stroking her hair. Controlling my fury. She comes first. “I’ve got you, babe. You’re safe. I’ll protect you. We’ll get through this together. I’m gonna make it right.”

Cupping her shoulders I ease her from my chest so I can look her in the face. “Babe, look at me. Look in my eyes.”

She raises a watery gaze.

“You are beautiful. So beautiful I can’t keep my eyes off you. And my hands want to explore every sexy inch. And do it again. And again.

“I love your smile. Your beautiful, warming smile. You are so genuine. So real. I never want you out of my sight. I want you beside me all the time. My need for you may drive you a littlecrazy over the next fifty years, but it’s because my heart only beats when I’m near you.”

“How? How can you care so soon?” She shakes her head. “What if in a week, when this is over, you change your mind?

“My own father doesn’t want me. I knew he didn’t like me. I wasn’t the son he wanted. I didn’t fit the proper image for a girl. I was too outspoken. Never compliant. Never enough. But your parents are supposed to love you, right?”

“Babe, we got the short straw on parents. But now we have each other and that’s a sure deal.”

“Did Mom have something to do with this? She’s always gone with her friends, traveling. But did she know? Was she part of it?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out. Maura, do you know what was in your grandparents’ will? Did you get a copy of it?”

“No. The last time I saw them, when Grandma was getting sicker, Grandpa told me that he would always take care of me. That I would be provided for and that I should make the life I wanted.

“He knew my dream was to have my own line of clothes and a store. He was going to finance it for me as soon as Grandma got better. We talked about hiring seamstresses and everything. But Grandma got worse instead of better.”

I nod. “Maura, I was able to get a satellite connection higher up the mountain. I talked to the sheriff and told him what I suspected. He’s working with some people I know who are good at ferreting out answers. We’ll know if your mom was part of this soon. I do believe your father is involved. I’m sorry. Greed and power screw people up. And, well the truth is some people are just bad.

“But, I promise, you’ll never have to be afraid again. I’ve got you now.”

Chapter Sixteen

Maura

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