Page 40 of Colton's Second Chance
“Is that what you needed to know?” his father asked.
Scrubbing a hand over his chin, he sighed. “I’m afraid so.”
“Can you tell me now why you needed to resurrect this dark period from our family history?”
Eli hesitated. Could he divulge what he suspected? It wasn’t confirmed yet. His hunch was just that—a hunch. But what his father had shared was too similar to the current investigation tobe coincidence.I don’t believe in coincidence, he’d told Noelle earlier.
He cleared his throat and gave his father a grim stare. “When the victims of the Fiancée Killer were found, they were all wearing a diamond ring. Even the older more skeletal remains still had a ring on the left hand.”
Will nodded. “So the news reports have said. That’s how the case got that name, right?”
Eli gave a nod. “They’re also wearing short black dresses, and the cause of death has been pinned as strangulation.” For all that Montgomery had tainted the forensic records, at least that much could be confirmed.
“Like Caroline,” his father said darkly.
“Very like Caroline. The victims we’ve found before scavengers got to the bodies have been posed with the ring hand up.”
“Also like Caroline,” his father rasped, his blue eyes widening. “Are you saying the current killer is copying Caroline’s murder?”
“Maybe. I need to run more checks and verify—”
“But why? Caroline was killed twenty-eight years ago! In southern California! What’s the link?” His father stiffened. “Do you think that whoever is doing this could harm our family? Is he doing it to taunt us or—?”
Eli raised both hands. “I don’t know anything for certain yet. I can’t make assumptions without facts.” He raked fingers through his hair and expelled a frustrated breath. He refused to believe that his assignment as the lead in this case and having been the first to find Aunt Caroline murdered was a coincidence. Washethe link? “Just in case, keep a close eye on Mom. Don’t let her go anywhere alone.”
His father’s grim expression said he clearly read between the lines. “I’ll tell her not to—”
“No.” Eli lifted a hand in apology for his abruptness, then took a beat before adding, “You can’t tell her or anyone else anything yet. This is confidential information related to my case. Besides, I don’t want her frightened. Just…stay alert.” Eli shoved to his feet. “I’ll let you know what I learn after I look at this angle more closely.”
His father stood, as well. “Eli, I—I’m sorry if we failed you back then, after Caroline and your grandparents’ murders. That had to be a traumatizing thing for you to walk into.”
Eli shrugged one shoulder. “You got me counseling.”
“Some. But was it enough? Were we right to move you away from your friends and the only home you knew? To make such a drastic change when you were grappling with such horrible memories? Maybe it was a mistake for us to stop talking about it and shut it out like it never happened.” His father raised a shaky hand to his mouth. “We thought we were doing what was best, but if we made it harder on you…”
Eli stepped over to his father and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know you did your best with what you knew at the time.”
“Were we wrong? Could you forget?”
“Clearly I shut out some of it,” he said. “That’s why I needed your help today. But… I did have nightmares of losing family. Finding my siblings and cousins dead or running from a monster who wanted to kill me. I still do on occasion.”
Will’s face reflected pain and sympathy. “Oh, son. I’m sorry. If we could do it over, your mother and I would do so many things differently.”
Eli squeezed his father’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t dwell on it. We all do the best we can with the information and life experience we have at the time.” He gave a soft, wry chuckle. “And I turned out all right, didn’t I?”
His father’s eyes grew moist, and he clamped both hands on Eli’s upper arms. “You turned out better than all right. I am so very proud of you, Eli. Your work, your ethics, your support of our family… You’re an inspiration, my boy.” He drew Eli into a firm hug and pounded his back. “I just wish—well, never mind.”
Eli backed out of the embrace and tilted his head. “No, say it. What do you wish?”
Will snorted and glanced away before drilling him with a look that was warm despite the ice blue of his father’s eyes. The same eyes Eli saw every morning in the mirror. “Your mother and I have been so happy together. We fulfill each other and take strength from each other. She makes me so incredibly grateful.”
Eli smiled. “It’s obvious to anyone who knows you.”
“I want that same happiness for you, dear boy. I wish you could find someone who brings you joy, someone you can settle down with and make a family. I don’t want you to be alone, Eli. Not when marriage has been so good to me and your mother.”
Eli’s heart kicked. Images from a few nights earlier, the passionate kisses and whispered intimacies he’d shared with Noelle, flickered in his mind’s eye. “I want that, too. I have for a long time, but…the woman I want to settle down with keeps pushing me away. I believe she loves me, but she’s scared for some reason. She’s been hurt before, and she hasn’t trusted me enough yet to open up about what frightens her about our relationship.”
“May I assume you’re talking about the young lady out in the pottery studio with your mother right now?”
