The doctor shoved thin strands of hair from his face and set his glasses on the table. He rubbed his eyes and wondered how he could get through to Lee. With a long sigh, he decided convincing Johnston that his obsession was pure fantasy and in no way reciprocated would take a miracle. Lee had been obsessed with Kaylie for over seven years. Making Johnston believe that Kaylie had no interest in him would be no easier than walking on water.
* * *
Returning to San Francisco took hours. During the long drive through the mountains as the sun climbed higher in the sky, Kaylie felt more than one twinge of guilt. Gritting her teeth, she shoved the ridiculous feeling aside. She couldn’t start second-guessing herself. Not now. Not after seven years of living without Zane.
Her throat grew tight at the thought of the love they’d shared, the passion that had rocked her to her very soul. She could still remember his whispered words of endearment, smell the scent of him clinging to her skin, see in her mind’s eye his body lying across the bed.
Glancing into the rearview mirror, she noticed shadows in her eyes. “Oh, Kaylie,” she said with a sigh, “forget him.” Then, her lips twisting at the irony of it all, she murmured, “He asked to be left up there alone—he deserves it for barreling back into your life again!”
But she couldn’t forget the fire of their lovemaking, the tenderness with which he kissed her, the passion he used to try and keep her saf
e.
He was wonderful and horrible, and she didn’t want him out of her life. To forget about him, she flipped on the radio and tried to catch up on the news, yet she couldn’t shrug off the guilt of leaving him high and dry. “Remember,” she told herself, “he kidnapped you. You owe him nothing!” But the guilt remained.
She followed the highway signs west toward San Francisco. She’d have to return Zane’s keys and Jeep to the headquarters of his security firm. When she squared off with Brad Hastings, Zane’s right-hand man, she’d tell him where to look for his boss.
At that thought, she grinned sadly. Zane would be furious! But at least she’d finally gotten the better of him, even if her victory seemed somehow hollow.
Kaylie’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel just as the deep green waters of the bay came into view. Sunlight spangled the surface, and the San Francisco skyline stretched to the sky.
Once in the city, traffic slowed and clogged the main arterials. Pedestrians crowded the sidewalk.
The Jeep climbed the city’s hills easily, and she parked in the lot of her apartment building. She yanked on the emergency brake, then switched off the ignition. The parking lot was quiet save for the ticking of the engine as it cooled, and Kaylie was left with the empty feeling that she’d left something important—something vital—back at the log house in the forest.
“Don’t be a fool,” she snapped, locking Zane’s Jeep and making her way to the elevator that would take her to her third-floor flat.
Inside, her apartment looked the same as it had when she’d left it last week, but the atmosphere in the rooms was different—cooler, somehow. Vacant. Though Zane had never lived here.
“You’re imagining things,” she chided herself, stripping off her clothes and heading for the shower. She needed to clear her mind, make a few calls, and then, when she was refreshed, tackle the issue of Zane again.
Smiling at the irony of it all, she imagined returning the Jeep and explaining to Brad Hastings that Zane was stranded. She stepped under the shower’s steamy spray and relaxed. Yes, she decided, Zane, for his high-handedness, deserved everything she’d given him and more.
So why, as she washed, did she still feel regrets that their idyllic time together had come to an abrupt end?
As she dressed and dried her hair, images of Zane flitted through her mind. She listened to her answering machine. Several people had called including Alan, Tracy and Dr. Henshaw. Dialing Whispering Hills, she waited, her stomach knotting, for the receptionist to put her through to Lee Johnston’s psychiatrist.
Eventually he picked up. “I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you,” he said, explaining that he’d been out of town. Kaylie asked him point-blank about Johnston, and there was a pause on the other end of the line.
“You shouldn’t have to worry about him for a long while,” Henshaw said slowly.
The relief she should have felt didn’t wash over her. In fact, Henshaw’s pregnant pause caused her mind to race in a thousand questions. Zane was right—Henshaw seemed to be holding back. “How long?”
“That’s for the courts to decide.”
“Upon recommendation from you and the other doctors at the hospital.”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Melville. Lee’s not going anywhere. Not for a long, long time, I’m afraid.”
“Well, I think you should know someone is saying differently,” she said, deciding that confiding in him wouldn’t hurt. But he already knew about the two calls from Ted and he dismissed them as a “twisted petty prank.”
By the time she replaced the receiver, she was reasonably certain that Johnston would remain at the hospital for a while, and yet she wasn’t satisfied.
It’s because Zane isn’t here, a voice inside her head insisted as she punched out the number for the station.
The receptionist answered and put her through to the producer of West Coast Morning. “Kaylie!” Jim shouted, bringing a smile to her face. “About time we heard from you! How’s that aunt of yours?”
Kaylie’s face fell. How was she going to deal with Zane’s intricate web of lies? “She’s—uh, improving,” Kaylie finally replied, deciding to keep Zane’s kidnapping to herself—at least for a while. “Incredible recovery,” Kaylie forced herself to say, inwardly cursing Zane. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you myself—everything got really crazy….” At least that wasn’t a lie.