Page 37 of Dark Memories
No doubt Eve was picking up on the undercurrent going on between her and Zach. She needed a change of subject.
“When is Larson’s knee operation scheduled?” she asked.
“Tomorrow.” He glanced at Eve, then back to her. “I’d like to be there, but I don’t want to take Kali with me, and I can’t leave her home alone.”
Before her little talk with Eve, she would have volunteered, which was what he was hoping, but she didn’t dare now.
“Harry can watch her for you,” Eve said, surprising her.
“Ah, sure.”
His gaze narrowed on her, and he frowned. He was reading her again and realizing something had changed since she’d come back into the room.
What had happened between Delaney and her boss? It was obvious something had. Delaney was looking everywhere but at him, and Eve was watching him with more interest than she had been before they’d left the room.
Kali finished her call and handed him the phone. “Larson said I shouldn’t worry about him, but I think I will anyway.”
“We’ll worry about him together, but he’s going to be okay. You’ll get to see him soon,” he said. “Are you ready to finish talking to Miss Eve?”
“Okay.”
He’d love nothing more than to whisk his daughter out of here, but she had to finish this. She was showing him how strong she was, and he was damn proud of her.
“You’re doing good, Kali,” Eve said. “I’m going to turn on the recorder again, okay?”
“Huh-uh.”
Zach leaned forward so he could look his daughter in the eye. “Huh-uh? Is that a word?”
She dramatically sighed. “No, Daddy, it’s not a word, but I heard you say it to Gracie when she asked if it was okay to vacuum since you were home.” She put both hands in the air, palms up, giving him the kind of exasperated look only a seven-year-old could. “How come you can say it and I can’t?”
A snort drew his gaze to Delaney.
“Got you there,” she said.
“The two ladies in my life are ganging up on me,” he muttered. Realizing what he’d said in front of Delaney’s boss, his gaze swung to her, hoping his comment had gone over her head. From Eve’s scrutiny of him, apparently no such luck. He didn’t care if anyone knew he was interested in Delaney, but he didn’t want to cause her trouble in her job.
Eve shifted her attention to his daughter. “Kali, you said the man was scary. What made you think that?”
“He had on a black mask, and he was yelling. That made him scary.”
“That would scare me, too,” Eve said, smiling. “What happened next?”
“I was crying because the bad man shot Larson. Then the door on my side opened and a man… He was wearing a mask, too. He pulled me out and took me to his car. I told him I wanted my daddy. He told me to shut up, and then he tied a scarf around my head so I couldn’t see.”
A blind rage like Zach had never known before heated his blood. He’d never thought he could kill a person, no matter the reason, but he’d been wrong. He could easily wrap his hands around both men’s throats, watch the life drain out of them, and still sleep at night.
“They took you to a house?” Eve said.
Kali nodded. “He carried me in, and a woman came in the room and took off the scarf. She said her name was Jane Doe. I didn’t like her, but she didn’t scare me as much as the men did. When I got hungry, she gave me a baloney sandwich. I asked her if she would take me to my daddy, and she said as soon as my daddy did what they told him to, she would. I wanted to ask what Daddy was supposed to do, but I was afraid to.”
“You’re doing good, Kali. I only have a few more questions. Did you ever see any of the men’s faces?”
“One of them when Miss Doe was taking me to the bathroom. The man came out of the bathroom. He only had on a towel.”
“Can you tell me what he looked like?”
“He had a lot of tattoos, and the snake one on his arm was really scary, so I looked away. I don’t know what his face looked like.”
