“You saw that?”
“When you went missing I took everything in to be fingerprinted.” Scott didn’t sound as if he was having any emotional struggle at all. “Your computer’s at the county precinct office as well, safely locked up.”
“Thank you for that, young man,” William said. “When things got too...” He glanced at Cecilia. “Well, anyway, we left my room at Twin Oaks and went into town for something to eat and to finish our discussion. When Cici told me about telling Dennis he wasn’t getting any more money from her, I knew he was up to no good. She hadn’t been home in a week so I suggested we go out to her place to see if there was any more communication from him. We stopped back at Twin Oaks to pick up my stuff, but the lock was stuck and the key wouldn’t work. When we got to Cecilia’s, we found the letter with the picture of Leslie and Dennis together. I never gave my computer another thought after that. You know, I think this is the first time since I got it that I haven’t worried about losing the material inside it.”
Laurel shifted, her shoulder accidentally touching Scott’s. She hated how obvious her quick move away must have been. “Maybe because you’ve got something that matters more now?”
“Most definitely.” The older man’s voice trembled with emotion. “And yes, that photo was of me and Cici, taken the last time I was in Boston before she left to have Leslie....”
William had what mattered more than his career. It was something Laurel wanted more than anything else in life.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AT A ROADSIDE rest stop an hour later, while waiting for Laurel to come back from the ladies’ room, Scott took the opportunity to phone Maureen. He and Laurel had both called earlier to tell Maureen the good news about William and Cecilia, and Scott had been waiting for a chance to call back and reassure Maureen that the Nevils were not in any way involved in the kidnapping.
He was surprised when the ex-cop wasn’t immediately relieved.
“Frank Quigg called this evening,” she told Scott in the impassive tone of one who was distancing herself from reality. “He had a letter for me there, addressed to my married name.”
Watching for Laurel in the darkness, Scott braced himself. “You had him open it?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was only one line—’You can’t hide from me. I will find you.”’
* * *
IN THE WEE hours of the “next morning, Scott pulled into the drive at Twin Oaks.
“Funny, isn’t it,” Laurel said as the Blazer came to a stop in the yard. “Ceci
lia thinks she made the wrong choice, giving up her baby. And my mother made the wrong choice keeping me.”
She couldn’t remember ever being so exhausted, and yet she felt strangely on edge, as well. Something more had to happen. The day couldn’t end yet, whether the clock said it had or not.
“I guess it just goes to show there are no absolutes. No clear-cut rights or wrongs.”
“You have to take each situation, look at the people, the circumstances,” Laurel added.
“I guess.”
He grew strangely quiet. She wondered if he was as beat as she was.
In a way Laurel was grateful for the numbing fatigue that consumed her. This way she didn’t have to think about what lay ahead.
“I know it’s late, but would you mind coming up for a few minutes?” Laurel asked.
Butterflies swarmed in her belly. Face burning, she stared straight ahead as Scott pulled around to a parking place close to the door.
“I...”
“Scott,” she interrupted, needing to be direct. “We have to talk. I know we’re tired, but now seems like a good time. You don’t have to stay long.”
She almost crossed her fingers when she said that.
Taking a shaky breath, she issued one last prayer for the evening—a prayer for the right words, a clear understanding, and the assurance that whatever happened, it would be the best thing for both of them.
* * *
SCOTT STOOD JUST INSIDE the door to her room. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt so awkward. He didn’t know what they had to talk about. Hadn’t it all been said? He wondered if Maureen was sleeping somewhere in the house, or lying in the dark worrying herself sick.