A Twist of Betrayal (11 page)

He had been offered countless painkillers, but he settled for chewing up a dose of plain aspirin. He wanted to keep his mind sharp, and the pain did that.

He should have called Justine’s parents by now. There hadn’t been any press yet. They’d managed to keep this pretty quiet, but Dan knew it was only a matter of time before the media got wind of this. The news media, as well as the public, seemed to love and live for crime in small towns where everyone thought it could never happen. Steve was right, the last thing he wanted was for Justine’s parents and brothers to hear about her abduction over the news.

Dan could just see Justine’s mother, Abigail, now. It was Abby—as she insisted he call her—from whom Justine inherited her strength. Not that Roger didn’t have his own strength, his was just gentler. Abby would hold all her terror inside and look straight at Dan with dry eyes when she heard the news. And Dan knew that Justine addressed a jury with the same hard look in her eyes.

He didn’t want to tell them. Terror gripped him with the thought that he might tell them too much; that once he started talking, he might not be able to stop.

Should he call? Or should he make the thirty-mile trip to look them in the eye when he told them? He knew he should see them face-to-face, be there to give them what comfort he could. But what if something happened while he was gone? And what kind of real comfort could he offer? He couldn’t seem to do anything to help himself but chew up aspirin.

Besides, he had more important things to do. And waiting for the right moment to begin was sending what little patience he had into overload.

Two weeks after he’d knocked Justine to the floor in the courtroom to keep her defendant from shooting her, he’d met her parents. They were like he remembered his parents being, like what he thought his parents would have been had they not died. They had welcomed him into their home, the home where Justine had grown up. It had been a huge family dinner with her brothers and their families. He’d been so nervous he could hardly eat.

Justine had called him out on his nervousness.

Her mother, Abby, had hugged him.

Her seventeen year old brother, Avery, had threatened him with bodily harm if he broke Justine’s heart.

Her father, Roger, had thanked him for saving Justine’s life and called him ‘son’.

As the flashes of these memories passed through his mind, Dan knew calling Justine’s parents would be too cold, too heartless. They were his family and had been since the moment he’d first stepped into their home. He had to go do it in person.

“Dan?”

Steve drew his attention.

Dan looked at him, and did his best to keep his fear from reaching his expression. “What?”

“We combined your description of the suspect with that of Dorie’s and the other witnesses inside the store. We came up with this.” Steve held up a composite drawing.

Dan looked at it closely. “Yes, that’s him,” he said, even though he knew what was beneath the disguise and knew the composite meant nothing. “Or at least that was him. Hard telling what he looks like without the beard.”

“It’s going into the computer right now as we speak to find a match.”

He sounded more positive than Dan felt.

The darkness was coming alive with sounds of the cops searching the campground for clues and technicians working on the van, the sounds of insects, the sounds of cars passing by on the nearby highway. Dan concentrated on the sounds of normal reality and took a deep breath, never feeling so helpless before in his life. He couldn’t fight the shiver that moved through him. He hoped none of his actions appeared out of character or unnatural. Dan didn’t need a computer to find a match for the face that was drawn. Dan knew who he was. He knew how psychotic the bastard could be. He wished with all his being that Justine never had to be pulled into the nightmare of Dan’s past, but now she was, and he couldn’t change it. He could only hold on to the idea that hopefully he could make things right. He couldn’t wait much longer. Waiting meant leaving Jus in the hands of his old partner.

For the six years Dan had thought he kept Justine from reaching that part inside him that had been torn to shreds when Adam was killed. He’d also kept her safe from his dark past, that part of himself he refused to let anyone near ever again.

Now he knew he hadn’t succeeded. Not only was she caught in the dangerous grip of his haunted past, but his fear for her easily tore open those old wounds he thought were healed.

“Do you think she’s cold?” Dan quietly asked Steve.

“We’re going to find her,” Steve said.

Dan noticed Steve didn’t answer the question, but he let it go. “I know,” Dan replied softly. He said no more. He knew she’d be found. He thought he even knew where to find her, but he couldn’t share that with Steve. It was how she might be found that scared him. Hurt? Dead?

The thought made him shudder inside, and he hoped he managed to keep it well hidden. Behind him, he heard the muffled voices of other investigators. They were all guys he worked with on a daily basis. Now he felt like an outsider. He didn’t concentrate on the words. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t detach himself and feel like the cop he thought he was. Instead he looked out over the trees and remembered being at that same campground nearly six years before.

Chapter 11

Almost Five Years Ago

“How do you feel?” Dan asked.

He looked at Justine and took in the way she glowed. As if she’d somehow captured the rays of the sun. Her dark eyes sparkled with golden radiance. Her dark hair reflected rays of red, like shimmers of fire set by sunlight.

Beneath her tan, her shoulders were tinged with pink.

“Fine, why?” she asked.

“I think you got a bit of a burn. We shouldn’t have stayed so long on the lake.”

She smiled. How he loved her smile. “Oh, I’ll be fine. Besides, the lake was wonderful. It was so perfect. This little over-night vacation was just what we needed. It was just enough to forget about work for a while.”

He took her hand, and for the tenth time fought the urge to tell her the true reason for asking her on this little canoe trip. They had remained friends and had been taking it slow for a long time now—despite the fact he had time and again attempted to push his way closer. He was tired of taking it slow. He was tired of pretending to feel something that wasn’t quite right. He only hoped now he wasn’t making a mistake.

He wanted her. All the time. Out on the lake, watching the fluid movements of her shoulders as she paddled the canoe on the seat ahead of him had been enough to send him into the cool water of the lake twice, using the hot sun as his excuse. The heat within him had nothing to do with the weather. It all came from her sleek, little body covered with only inches of material thanks to a two-piece swimsuit.

He could only guess Justine’s true feelings. True, she talked to him a lot. He was certain she told him more than she ever told anyone else. And was that desire he saw in her gaze, in her entire expression when she looked at him? He thought it was, he was certain it was. Another thing he knew for certain was that she didn’t send this look to any other man when she looked at him.

What confused him, however, was the way she was able to hide her feelings from a jury. So just how easily could she do the same with him? Most of the time, all he had to do was lose himself in the darkness of her eyes, and he saw that her feelings matched his own.

Neither of them had said the word ‘love’ or anything in regard to a commitment, but he wondered what the reaction would be.

It hadn’t been easy, but for the short time they’d been together, he’d held back, doing all but tearing himself away from her ‘friendly’ kisses or touches. He wanted her heart before he had her body. Not that he wouldn’t take what was offered to him. He was still a man. Yet, he wanted the entire package, and he was tired of waiting for it.

She had to know this was more than just a ‘date’, or a night out having fun, more than just a canoe trip. Surely, she realized it was a turning point in their relationship. There would be no simple kiss and him walking away, leaving her on her doorstep, unless he planned to sleep out on the picnic table. No, he didn’t plan on that. They were sharing a small tent together.

It was true, he had to admit, friends could share a tent.

He took in Justine’s sweet, curvy body that was tucked nicely into her bikini. Then he looked at the small two-person tent. His heart skipped. There was no way in hell he could share that tent with her and remain ‘just friends,’ nor could he lie close to her and not touch her. No, when the sun came up in the morning, he was certain either she would be his forever, or she would never be his at all.

“We should have done some fishing while we were out there,” Dan said. “We could have caught supper.”

“I’ve got hamburger in the cooler. How about cheeseburgers?” Justine asked. “After we shower and get cleaned up, we could make them over the open campfire in the grill cage. I love them that way.” Her eyes sparkled with a fire all their own.

“That sounds perfect,” he replied. She could ask him to walk through the campfire, and he didn’t think he would feel as hot as he felt now.

They each took a shower in the main rest rooms near the entrance to the campground. When she came out of the women’s room, his first thought was that he needed a colder shower.

Her freshly washed hair shined like dark fire. Her fine skin was a mixture of pink and gold and bronze from the sunshine. She wore short cutoffs and a large, loose T-shirt.

She took his hand. Hers was warm, almost too warm. But he couldn’t have let her go if his life depended on it.

When they returned to their campsite, the two of them made cheeseburgers. Everything Dan did, from helping with the burgers to getting some lemonade to drink and bringing out a few snacks and chips, was done in autopilot. No matter how hard he tried to shake the thought, all he could think about was the fact that each passing moment brought them closer to being together in that small tent.

“You’ve got something on your mind and don’t deny it,” Justine said when they were finished and dusk was settling in around them, bringing with it the many sounds of chirping insects and other campers and campfires. Someone nearby strummed a guitar.

“Okay, I won’t,” he said. “Would you like some coffee?” He wondered how she could read him so easily.

“No, I want to know what you’ve got on your mind.”

Dan ignored her slightly as he took his time pouring himself a cup. Not that he really wanted any. He wasn’t even sure why he was stalling, he just was. Not to mention, he was already hot. Coffee was the last thing he needed.

Near the fire, he sat down on a log, and held his cup of coffee, never drinking a drop.

The log was big enough for both of them, and Justine sat down beside him a second later. The falling night settled over them like a blanket, spotted with stars twinkled like diamonds. She leaned over and put her head against his shoulder. “Tell me what’s up with you, Officer Franklin. Or do I have to guess?”

“Jus,” Dan started. He hated feeling uncertain. Uncertainty in his job led to disaster. He stared at the small fire, feeling its heat, although it wasn’t quite as warm as Justine. “I love you,” he said quickly.

There was no other way for him to be but direct.

For a long time, Justine was completely still.

“Don’t you have anything to say to that?” he finally had to ask her. He hadn’t expected her to reply that she loved him too, but it would have been a nice reaction. It was the fact that she’d said nothing that worried him.

“Are you just telling me this because in a bit we’ll be squeezing into that little tent?” she asked.

Squeezing was not the word he needed to hear her utter just then.

“No…yes…it doesn’t matter. It’s true either way. And I know this sort of throws your idea of just being friends out the window,” he said.

“I know,” Justine replied quietly. Her head was still against his shoulder, and she stared at the fire.

“If we share that tent, everything about us, about our relationship right now, will change. We won’t be able to go back to just being friends. I’ll still be a cop, and I know how you feel about it but that won’t change. That will
never
change,” he said. He was babbling. This was not going how he planned it.

“I know,” she said again.

“The truth is I don’t think I can ever go back to just being friends.”

“I know,” she said a third time.

Dan wished he knew what she was thinking. For a while, they were quiet. Only the sounds of nature and the crackle of the fire and the muffled sounds of other campers reached them.

“Not only that, but after we share the tent, I know what we do in that tent will happen again and again because it’s what I want. So if you don’t want that, then we need to walk away right now.”

When Justine said nothing, Dan asked, “Would you please tell me what you’re thinking?” This waiting and wondering was worse than any stake-out he’d had to endure.

“I love you, too,” she said softly.

His heart pounded at hearing the words, and he nearly let out a sigh of relief. Did that mean, yes she wanted to share the tent with him and all that came with it?

“And I knew from the very beginning we could never just be friends,” Justine went on.

“You did, huh?” he asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“So why didn’t you ever say anything?” he asked.

She shrugged slightly. “I guess I was afraid that I wanted to be more than friends, but you didn’t. I didn’t need my heart broken.”

He grinned and turned to look at her. “I guess I felt the same way. Do you have any regrets?”

“About loving you? No.”

“Good.”

“Do you?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“You do?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

That made her smile.

He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. This wasn’t as he’d planned it, and yet it felt so right, so real. With the sounds of nature all around them as their music, the dark sky filling with stars, their big blanket, the fire, their candlelight, Dan realized he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.