On the Line (34 page)

“Sounds like a plan.” She grabbed his head and pulled it down to her. Their lips
met, and the rest of the night was a blur of tangled limbs.

Twenty-Four

Janelle looked at the clock on the stove for the third time in the last five minutes
as she placed the last of the dinner dishes in the dishwasher. Kelsey had remained
on her stool at the island after the kids had finished eating and Janelle had begun
to clean up. Janelle would be worried about the distance in her sister’s eyes as
she traced circles around her cell phone on the counter in front of her if it weren’t
for the fact she knew something Kelsey didn’t.

Patrick was coming home later that evening. He was about three weeks earlier than
they had all expected, but he’d pushed the director through filming all of his parts
ahead of schedule so he could return home. He’d called Nathan early two mornings
ago to tell him and to make arrangements for his arrival. Nathan was currently driving
Patrick from the airport to their house, and Kelsey had no idea.

Janelle almost wished she could say something to her sister. Over the last few weeks,
she’d watched Kelsey’s appetite diminish and the dark circles under her eyes grow
larger. Kelsey hadn’t said anything, but Janelle felt sure her nightmares had returned.
She’d also noticed how Kelsey had her phone not just in her pocket, but in her hand
at all times. And at the moment, the lost look on her face was almost enough to make
Janelle confess.

McClane barked from the living room, and Janelle glanced at the clock again with
a smile on her face. She started the dishwasher’s cycle and quickly rinsed her hands.

“Grandpa’s here,” Zach called from the living room as Janelle grabbed a towel. Her
grin faded as she turned and dropped the towel on the counter and saw Zach perched
on the window seat. Zoe was in the process of climbing onto it as Janelle walked
through the living room to the front door.

She opened the door and stepped onto the porch. As her father pulled his car around
the circle in front of the porch and stopped on the other side of the planter, Janelle
began to assess the situation. It could be coincidence that they would arrive just
before Nathan and Patrick, and with her father she could accept that. But with her
mother tagging along, she could never be sure.

“Dad,” Janelle said as she walked down the steps to meet him in the middle of the
curve behind his car. “What are you doing here?”

Her father gave her a tight hug and kissed her on the head. “We heard there was a
homecoming tonight,” he murmured.

Janelle slowly eased away from him and tried not to smile. “Where did you hear such
a rumor?”

“A little bird told me,” he replied with a grin. Janelle marveled at how young her
father looked when he smiled so widely, despite the graying hair and wrinkles he’d
added in the last few months.

“That little bird wasn’t supposed to speak,” Janelle quipped with a disapproving
shake of her head. Any seriousness her words may have held was negated by her upturned
lips.

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same bird.” He slid his arm around her shoulder
and turned her in the direction of the porch. He briefly looked over his shoulder.
“Are you coming, Mary?”

“Yes, dear, I’ll be right there,” Janelle’s mother replied, and Janelle heard her
footsteps on the gravel behind her.

As they reached the bottom step of the porch, Kelsey opened the screen door and stepped
out of the house. “Daddy, what are you doing here?” she repeated Janelle’s earlier
question.

“Do I need a reason to come see two of my favorite girls?” George asked as he removed
his arm from Janelle’s shoulder and climbed the steps to hug his youngest child.
“I haven’t been here in a while and thought I owed you all a visit.”

Janelle followed him up the porch stairs and rested her shoulder against the column
at the top. Even in the fading light, she could see the brittleness of Kelsey’s smile
and the dull look in her eyes. Patrick’s return wasn’t a moment too soon. She only
hoped it was lovesickness that was making her
sister so wan and not some bigger problem.
Janelle cast a quick glance at her mother and frowned.

Mary had stopped on the bottom step and was looking up the driveway toward the road.
She turned and met Janelle’s stare, pulled her shoulders back, and continued up the
steps, past Janelle to a point along the rail behind her. Janelle shook her head
and turned her attention back to her father and sister as they stood in the glow
of the house coming through the open front door.

“It’s good to see you. We just finished dinner but maybe we can have some dessert,”
Kelsey said softly and spun slowly around. “I’ll go see what we have.”

Before George could stop her, Kelsey was in the house, the screen door closing quietly
behind her. George turned and looked at Janelle with a raised eyebrow. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. I just don’t think she’s been sleeping too well. She’s been a little
out of sorts for the last few days.” Janelle scanned the driveway as she folded her
arms across her chest. “To my knowledge, she doesn’t know he’s coming home today,
so she doesn’t have any reason to be excited.”

“Ah,” George responded as he sat on the porch swing. Janelle smiled at him, then
even wider at the little heads still in the window beside him.

Tires on the gravel caused her head to swivel in the direction of the sound, and
her heart skipped a beat. Nathan was home and the excitement bubbled in her stomach.
She couldn’t wait to see him, and she was even more eager to see Kelsey’s reaction
to Patrick’s return.

“Nathan’s here!” Janelle heard Zach’s little voice shout through the house.

She waited for a response from Kelsey but never heard her. Nathan’s truck came to
a stop in the curve of the drive, where Janelle had greeted her father, and Nathan
hopped out with a large smile on his face. He looked past Janelle, and she watched
his grin fall. When he looked at her again, Janelle shrugged.

Nathan quickly ran up the steps and scooped her into his arms. It was almost like
he hadn’t seen her in days, instead of the hours it had actually been. Janelle squealed
with delight and quickly kissed him on the lips. He released her and stood by her
side as Patrick exited the vehicle.

“Things have certainly improved between you two,” Patrick’s casual tones drifted
toward them as he closed the truck’s door.

“Patrick’s home!” Zach screamed from inside the house, and Janelle caught the movement
of the two heads scrambling out of the window. In a heartbeat, Zach had flung the
door open and was racing across the porch toward Patrick.

Patrick waited at the bottom of the steps and caught Zach as he leapt off the porch
and into his open arms. Zoe followed Zach out of the house at a slightly slower pace
and eased herself down the steps. She wrapped her arms around Patrick’s leg as he
held on to Zach. Janelle, Nathan, and George laughed at the scene the children were
creating then slowly turned their attention to the front door.

It wasn’t until after Patrick had dislodged the kids and sent them to stand beside
Janelle that Kelsey appeared, silhouetted against the screen door. One hand pressed
against her lips as she slowly pushed the door open with the other hand. She took
a tentative step onto the porch then another as the screen door slammed behind her.

“Patrick,” Kelsey gasped. “You came back.”

Tears pricked the corners of Janelle’s eyes, and Nathan put his arm around her shoulder.

“Of course I did,” Patrick replied with a large smile as he bounded up the four stairs
in two steps.

He rushed toward Kelsey and pulled her into his arms. His mouth quickly covered hers,
and Janelle looked down at the kids, who were watching the reunion with wide eyes.
Janelle covered those eyes with her hands and tried not to laugh.

Nathan slid his arm down her back and laid his hand on her hip. He pulled her closer
to him and pressed his lips to her head. “Let them watch, it’ll do them good to see
her so happy,” he murmured.

Janelle nodded and slowly removed her hands from the children’s eyes as Patrick and
Kelsey continued to kiss. She couldn’t help the smile that began to form on her own
lips, and she laid her head against Nathan’s shoulder as a sense of peace settled
over her. Patrick was home, and she hoped that Kelsey wouldn’t look so stressed all
the time. Nathan was by her side, and things
were going smoothly between them. Things
were finally starting to look up for the Morgan girls.

Patrick and Kelsey ended their kiss, and Patrick took her hands as he took a step
back. “Kelsey, there’s something I need to ask you,” he said, and Janelle’s heart
rate sped up.

She glanced up at Nathan who was watching Patrick and Kelsey with one corner of his
mouth turned up. Janelle had the feeling she knew what was about to happen and turned
to watch her sister and Patrick so she could see things unfold.

“Mommy, why are police cars coming to our house?” Zoe asked.

Janelle started to shush her daughter until her words sank in. “What?” She looked
down at Zoe, who met her gaze, then pointed up the driveway.

Three cars were in the driveway, moving toward them, two marked squad cars being
led by a dark, unmarked sedan. Nathan’s hand slid away from Janelle’s side, and she
lifted her head.

“Nathan?” she questioned softly as he stepped around her and onto the step below.
“What’s going on?”

He shook his head as he focused on the cars stopping in front of him. “I’m not sure,”
he replied over his shoulder.

Zach slipped away from Janelle, and she watched him skip to Patrick, who had turned
to watch the procession. Patrick picked him up and, once Zach was settled, took Kelsey’s
hand. Janelle noticed the movement of the swing and saw that her father had moved
to stand at the other column at the top of the steps.

Janelle turned her attention to the lead car as the driver’s side door opened. Her
lip curled slightly when she saw the annoying, overbearing, older detective that
had interviewed her climb out. He looked directly at Nathan and sneered, making his
leathery face even more unattractive.

“Well, well, look at you playing house with the weeping widow,” the older man said,
casting a brief glance at Janelle before returning his scowl to Nathan.

“Bonner, what are you doing here?” Nathan growled as he positioned himself between
Janelle and Zoe and the other man. Janelle stooped to pick Zoe up and quickly settled
her on her hip.

“I’m doing my job. What are you doing here?” Bonner took a step toward Nathan and
closed his car door. “I was under the impression you were told to stay away from
this family.” The four doors of the other cars all opened and uniformed officers
stepped out of their vehicles.

An icy fear settled over Janelle’s shoulders like a mantle and slowly trickled down
her spine as she took in all of the officers.

“My directives changed,” Nathan said simply, lifting a shoulder nonchalantly, but
Janelle could see the tension rolling through him. She placed a shaky hand on his
shoulder and took a step closer to him.

“Good,” Bonner said menacingly. “Makes things easier for me.”

“What things?” Nathan ground out.

“I’m so glad you asked.” Detective Bonner stepped to the base of the steps and looked
up at Nathan. He raised his arm and pointed a stubby finger at Patrick. “That’s the
one, arrest him.”

“No!” Kelsey screamed.

Janelle’s eyes widened, and she turned to see her sister step in front of Patrick
and Zach and throw her arms to the side.

“What are you arresting him for?” Nathan asked above the fray as two of the officers
stomped up the steps and onto the porch. George had joined his daughter and stood
in front of all three of them as the police approached Patrick.

“Patrick Lyons,” Bonner called out, ignoring Nathan’s question. “You are under arrest
for the murder of Richard Wagoner. You have the right to remain silent . . .”

“NO!” Kelsey screamed again, and Janelle watched in horror as officers went around
Kelsey and George, took Zach out of Patrick’s arms, handed him to Kelsey, and pulled
Patrick away from the three of them. “NO! Stop!” Kelsey wailed. “Stop!” Her pain
streamed down her cheeks as Zach gripped tightly around her neck and George held
her back, telling Patrick to remain silent as his hands were handcuffed behind his
back. Kelsey’s continuous pleas became weaker. “No,” she sobbed.

Bonner continued to read Patrick his Miranda rights.

“Are you serious?” Nathan yelled at him. “This is ridiculous. You know you have no
basis for this.”

Bonner finished his speech and turned his glare on Nathan. “You’d like to think that,
wouldn’t you?”

“I saw the evidence myself. What happened in that cabin was caused entirely by Richard.
His death was his own fault,” Nathan argued.

“You only saw part of the evidence. I’ve done my job very thoroughly and have reached
a different conclusion,” Detective Bonner snapped.

“I’m sure you have,” Nathan hissed in return.

Bonner raised his arm again and pointed at Nathan. “Him too, boys.”

“What?” Janelle felt all of the air leave her lungs. “No.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nathan retorted as the younger of the two remaining
uniformed officers grabbed his upper arm and pulled him to the side, away from Janelle.

“No,” she protested louder. Her legs felt weak and she gripped the rail beside her.

“Nathan Harris, you are under arrest for being an accessory after the fact in the
murder of Richard Wagoner,” Bonner stated loudly and launched into reading Nathan
his Miranda rights.

Janelle felt the sting of tears as her vision began to blur. Nathan met her gaze,
and the rage in his eyes gave way to a hint of sadness.

“Nathan, say nothing,” George called from the side of the porch where he held a crumpled
Kelsey, Zach still clinging to her neck. “I’ll be at the station right behind you.”