Reunion (16 page)

The skin on the back of Gabriel’s neck began to crawl. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something dark and ugly began pushing itself forward.

“No,” he muttered, and turned quickly away, afraid to let anyone see his deep fear.

Harry Wallis’s mind was scrambling for answers. He was stunned that the man hadn’t known. And then another fact hit him hard, sucking the breath from his body and the blood from his face. If these people hadn’t known about Garrett, then what had happened to him? Althea had said that the family had moved him. But the family couldn’t move someone they knew nothing about.

“Look,” Harry said. “I came because I’m concerned about Garrett’s welfare. I was told that the family had him moved to another facility. Is that so?”

Gabriel was fighting panic. He had a brother? Even more than that, an identical twin, and he didn’t even remember him?

“I have no idea,” Gabriel mumbled.

Laura stepped in to explain. “Gabriel was only recently released from the hospital himself. He was in the wreck that killed his parents.”

Harry blanched. “Oh. Oh my. I am so very, very sorry. And I’ve bumbled in here and dumped all of this on you, as well. Still, you must understand my position. I have to know that Garrett is all right. People’s lives could depend on that.”

Gabriel’s stomach turned. People’s lives. Oh, God.

“How so?” he asked carefully. “Is he dangerous?”

Harry sighed and then nodded. “He can be.” It was so hard to explain someone like Garrett.

Gabriel kept thinking of the violence he’d witnessed and the people who’d died. He felt sick all the way to his soul.

“I did not have him moved,” he said.

Harry shuddered.

Gabriel took a step closer, needing to hear something that would make this okay.

“If he was put in your care, why don’t you know where he is?”

Harry’s voice was shaking. “Our administrator said that you had him moved.”

Gabriel’s voice had lowered to a low, angry growl. “But how could I move someone I knew nothing about?”

Harry was at the point of panic. “I don’t know.”

“So,” Gabriel continued. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. I have a brother who isn’t right in the head. And you people lost him. Is that about right?”

Harry groaned. “I was gone on vacation,” he mumbled. “I only got back today.”

“When would he have been released?” Gabriel asked.

Harry hesitated, but there was no use lying. “More than a month ago.”

Gabriel closed his eyes. That would be about the same time he started hearing the voices.

Oh, God.

His brother had been calling out for help, and Gabriel had shut him out of his mind. Slow anger began to build, both at God for letting this happen, and at his parents because they’d never told him.

“They must have had their reasons,” Laura said.

Gabriel jerked. It was disconcerting to know that the woman he loved could read his mind. His fingers curled into fists. One more push and he could easily explode.

And then Laura touched the side of his face. “Look at me,” she urged.

Gabriel did, and within seconds was left with nothing but an overwhelming sadness.

“Lost. He kept saying he was lost. Dear God, he was just trying to get home.”

Before anyone could react, they heard sobbing at the end of the hallway. It was Matty.

Gabriel felt weak with relief. Matty would know. She would help them understand.

“Matty?”

Once again, her face crumpled, but this time she didn’t look away. Without having said a word, Gabriel found himself staring into a truth he didn’t want to believe.

“Matty, for God’s sake!” he said. “Talk to me!”

“You were both so beautiful. Tiny little
niños
with so much black hair and such healthy appetites. You grew so big so fast.” Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears, but she kept on talking, purging herself of a secret she’d kept for almost twenty-six years.

“By the time you were both three, we knew something was wrong. Garry—that’s what your mother called him then—didn’t talk. Autistic. That was the first diagnosis. Then they changed that to something else, and then something else again, until no one had a name for what was wrong. All they could say was that he would never be right.”

“But why?” Gabriel asked. “Why don’t I remember him?”

“Because when you were five, you and Garrett were on your way outside to play baseball. You fell down the stairs and broke your arm. When you started screaming with pain, Garrett went crazy. He hit you with the bat he was carrying so many times, you almost died. It was then your parents knew they’d been fooling themselves. Garrett had been violent before, but never like that. Your mother made your father promise that if you lived, they would put Garrett in a place where he could never hurt anyone again. When you woke up, you never asked for him—never even spoke his name.”

Gabriel turned away to stare out a window at the oncoming darkness, trying to imagine what that little boy, who was already crippled in his mind, must have thought when they took him out of the only home he’d ever known.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Laura said softly.

Gabriel turned, unable to quit staring at her face. Again she’d shown an amazing knowledge of what he was thinking. He held out his arms.

Laura stepped into his embrace, wishing she could give him peace, but knowing that he would have to come to terms with this revelation on his own.

“He didn’t hate you, Gabriel. It was the sounds that set him off, not a lack of love. His hearing is very acute. Noise causes him pain, not anger.”

Harry couldn’t hide his surprise. “Miss Dane, I don’t know how you know these things, but you’re right. That’s why I was so concerned when I learned he’d been released.”

Gabriel interrupted. His voice was tinged with despair.

“He’s lost, you know.”

Harry’s hopes dropped. “We’ve got to find him before he does any harm.”

Gabriel turned, his eyes blurred with unshed tears. “It’s too late. Haven’t you been reading the papers?”

Harry’s belly began to knot. “I’ve been out of the country for the past two months.”

Gabriel pointed toward a bank of windows in the adjoining room and the rose garden visible beyond.

“My…our…mother loved roses. She had a habit of picking the thorns off all of her roses before she arranged them.”

Harry caught himself holding his breath.

Gabriel’s gaze locked on the doctor’s face.

“During the last two weeks, five people have been murdered in the greater Oklahoma City area. According to police reports, they died from a blow to the head. Most of them from broken necks.”

Bile began rising in the back of Harry’s throat. He wanted to run. He wanted to hide. He couldn’t move.

“The killer—the press has named him Prince Charming—leaves a rather remarkable calling card with each victim.”

Harry closed his eyes and tried to picture the color of the Caribbean at sunset, but nothing would come. He couldn’t get past the ugliness of what Gabriel Connor was saying.

Gabriel continued, needing to get it all said before he came undone.

“He leaves a rose with each victim. And the damnedest thing…something the police have not made public knowledge, but it’s something I know—the stems have no thorns.”

Harry Wallis’s face was as white as his shirt. “Oh, God! Oh, dear merciful God. What have we done?”

W
hen Harry Wallis could think without needing to throw up, he staggered to the nearest chair and sat down. Gabriel was sitting on the staircase, his hands covering his face. Laura was beside him, uncertain of what to say. At this point, there wasn’t anything Harry could say that would help. He’d already done enough.

The housekeeper had slumped into a nearby chair and was sobbing quietly. The knot in Harry’s belly tightened as he stared at the trio. They were suffering, and mostly because of what his colleagues had done. He couldn’t fix what had already happened, but he knew how to stop it from happening again.

“Mr. Connor, I need to notify the police. Garrett must be stopped before anyone else suffers. They’ll need a picture of him, but I’m not sure we have a recent copy on file.”

Gabriel looked up, his expression still blank with disbelief.

“I don’t suppose they could use one of mine?” he asked.

Harry’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he stared at Gabriel. He’d seen Garrett Connor every day of his life for the past fifteen years, and he wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart.

“Yes, I suppose they can.”

Even though Harry Wallis had made the decision to call the police, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away…at least, not just yet. Gabriel Connor’s pain was almost palpable. Harry caught himself watching the man without figuring out why. It took a bit for him to realize that he was expecting Gabriel to react as Garrett would have done. Then he shook off the feeling. Just because the two men looked alike, that didn’t mean they would react in the same manner. He needed to remember that Garrett was the one who kept coming unglued.

Gabriel wanted to lie down and never get up. Only Laura’s presence right now was keeping him sane. And yet, as badly as he needed her to be here, he couldn’t face her—at least, not yet. He could only imagine what she must be thinking. He wouldn’t blame her if she got on the next plane and never looked back.

As for Matty, he couldn’t bring himself to even look at her. In a way, he felt as if she’d betrayed him, too. Truth was, he didn’t want to talk to anyone. What he wanted was to find the man—he amended the thought: find his brother—before anyone else died.

Gabriel pushed himself up from where he was sitting and walked to the windows at the front of the house.

The yard needed to be mowed. He needed to remember to call the lawn service tomorrow. He glanced up at the sky. It was getting dark. He could hear the others talking, making plans, trying to guess and then outguess what this lost man might do, but he couldn’t focus.

Guilt gnawed at him.

A brother.

He had a brother, and he’d forgotten him—tossed his memory away like an unwanted toy. As he stared out the window, he began to see his surroundings for what they truly were. He turned, looking up at the grand staircase and the opulence of the decor in the room beyond. His gaze traveled from that to the paintings hanging on the walls, a passion his father and mother had shared. For the first time in his life, he looked at his surroundings and realized that he’d taken the excess and comfort for granted. He’d led a privileged life. What about Garrett?

“Dr. Wallis?”

Glad to have something to do besides breathe, Harry jumped to answer. “Yes?”

“Reed House. Is it nice?”

Harry sighed. He understood what Gabriel Connor couldn’t bring himself to ask.

“It’s beautiful,” he said softly. “Garrett had his own room. Your parents had it decorated especially for him and visited at least twice a month, sometimes more.”

It was impossible for Gabriel to hide his shock. He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. It would seem his brother hadn’t been the only well-kept secret in this house. Obviously he hadn’t known his parents, either.

Matty knew Gabriel all too well. She could only imagine what he must be thinking. And in spite of her reluctance to interfere, she knew she was the only one left who could help. She shifted nervously and then cleared her throat. Everyone looked at her, but her attention was focused entirely on Gabriel.

“I heard them once, talking about telling you.”

“Then why didn’t they?” Gabriel asked.

Matty shrugged. “I don’t know. Your father wanted to. Your mother did not. But they loved him dearly, as dearly as they loved you. That is all I know.”

Gabriel frowned. It would seem that he wasn’t the only one who’d been irrevocably affected by their premature deaths. He couldn’t quit thinking about the brother he didn’t know. He could only imagine how confused and frightened Garrett must have felt when his parents never showed up. And no matter what bullshit the people at Reed House were trying to sell, something awful had happened to him there. Gabriel could feel it.

He couldn’t get over the image of a child trapped in a grown man’s body, trying to fend for himself on the streets. One did not just…lose an entire human being without a reason. It was more than Gabriel could stand. He suddenly erupted.

“That’s bull! If Mom and Dad loved him so much, then why didn’t they make provisions for him? I didn’t know about Garrett, but our lawyer should have. This shouldn’t have happened.”

He walked away without looking back.

Harry glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late. I should call the police.” Then he thought of all the parameters concerning this case and shifted mental gears. “On second thought, I think I’d better go in person. This is too complicated to explain over the phone.”

Laura’s first instinct was to follow Gabriel, but getting Harry Wallis’s information to the police seemed more pressing. She grabbed the doctor’s arm, begging him to wait.

“Before you leave, let me give you the name of the officer in charge of the case.”

Gabriel was standing on the patio overlooking the rose garden when he heard the sound of a car engine starting. He didn’t bother to look. It would be the doctor leaving.

He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply and then exhaling slowly. When he looked up, Laura was standing at his side. She didn’t speak. He tried to smile, but it just wouldn’t come. There was too much pain in his heart.

“Ah, God, baby, what a monumental mess.”

She laid her head against his arm and began rubbing her hand up and down the middle of his back in slow, measured strokes. He shuddered as the tension in his body began to subside.

“Is Matty gone?”

Laura nodded.

He started to speak and then paused. Laura felt his hesitation.

“What?” she asked softly.

“My whole life has been one big lie. The people I loved and trusted most have been lying to me. And why? I’m not a little kid. Why would they think I couldn’t handle this?”

He turned and pulled her into his arms, burying his nose against the curls on her head.

“Maybe it wasn’t about you as much as it was about them,” Laura said.

Gabriel stilled. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Matty said your father wanted to tell you but your mother refused. Look at it from her point of view. From the time you and Garrett were babies, I’ll bet she found herself watching every move Garrett made in order to protect you.”

It was a direction he hadn’t considered. He straightened, listening carefully as Laura continued.

“If Garrett was as easily provoked as the doctor said, then I’ll guarantee that cracking your head with a baseball bat wasn’t the first time you suffered at his hands.”

It made sense, yet Gabriel still couldn’t let go.

“Okay, but look at me now. I’m past thirty years old and nearly six and a half feet tall. I have shoulders like a pro linebacker, and I’ve been all but running the security business single-handedly for the past four years. I’m not weak, and I’m damned sure not helpless.”

Laura smiled gently and then shook her head. “No, Gabriel, you still don’t get it. A mother may grow old and feeble, but in her eyes, her children never grow up. I think it was that instinct to protect that kept her silent, and if your father was anything like his son, he loved her too much to deny her what she wanted.”

In a strange way, what Laura said helped. A weight lifted from Gabriel’s heart as he took her in his arms, hugging her close and then placing kiss after kiss on her face.

Laura closed her eyes, savoring the taste of him on her lips. For a time, the world slipped away. But there was too much at stake for her to stand silently by. It wasn’t long before Gabriel carried her to a chaise longue and sat down with her in his arms.

Night closed around them. Out on the lawn, fire-flies began to make an unannounced appearance onto evening’s darkening stage. Gabriel held her close, partly because he loved the feel of her near his heart, and partly because he needed to hold on to someone warm—someone sane.

A car honked. The faraway squawk of a siren drifted through the air. The scent of charcoal was in the air. Someone was barbecuing their evening meal. In the midst of it all, an emptiness within Gabriel’s heart began to expand, growing wider and deeper with each oncoming breath. And in that second, between the exhaling of one breath and the drawing of another, Gabriel knew that what he was feeling belonged to someone else.

Garrett.

It struck him dumb.
Ah, God. I thought I knew what lonely felt like…until now.

“Laura?”

“What?”

“How will we ever find him? The city is so big, and he’s so damned lost.”

She hadn’t known until he asked, but the moment the words were given life, she knew what the answer was.

“I don’t think we have to,” she said.

Gabriel frowned. “Of course we have to.”

“No, you misunderstand,” she said. “What I meant was, we won’t have to find him. I think he will find us.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Think about it, sweetheart. He’s connected to you in a way we don’t understand. At times your thoughts are the same. You hear his voice. You see what he sees.”

“Yes. So?”

Laura slipped an arm around Gabriel’s waist and leaned into his strength. “You know what I think? I think that he’s locked onto you like a homing device. I think he will find his way home through you.”

For the first time since Harry Wallis had knocked on his door, Gabriel felt a measure of hope. “Really?”

She nodded.

But then his hopes crashed. “Even if he gets here, look at what he’s facing. They’ll never let him go back to Reed House, and he’ll never understand why.”

Laura turned in Gabriel’s arms, cradling his face in the palms of her hands. “One worry at a time,” she said softly. “Remember, Dr. Wallis is on his way to the police. The decision is out of our hands. All we can do is pray. Tomorrow…if we have to…we worry.”

Gabriel turned his face into the palm of her hand, tracing her lifeline with the tip of his tongue. As badly as he wanted her here, the fact that she was made him sick with worry. He kept remembering that she’d seen her own death at, she’d thought, his hands. Now they both knew she’d been wrong. It was Garrett who would try to kill her.

“I should send you home on the first plane out tomorrow.”

But he cupped her face, then her breast, teasing the nipple until it peaked into a hard, achy nub. She swayed with a sudden longing. The flashfire of need that swept through her was staggering. Leaving was the last thing on her mind.

She leaned forward, whispering against his ear, “I’d much rather you took me to bed.”

His eyes glittered dangerously, his nostrils flaring with need. He gathered her into his arms and then stood.

Love. He loved Laura Dane.

Then he thought of Garrett. Who did Garrett love? Could Garrett love? He groaned as Laura’s arms slid around his neck.

Ah, God, love was good. He urged her toward the door, for the time being shutting Garrett and everyone else from his mind.

Acting more on instinct than reason, he got them both inside, set the security alarm, and then headed upstairs with the blood pounding against his eardrums.

He stripped her standing and then laid her on his bed. He watched her eyes grow heavy, her breath coming in shudders as he stripped off his own clothes, leaving them in a pile upon the floor. His body was hard and straining toward her, his pulse ragged with need. He buried his face between her breasts and then took a deep breath, making himself calm, forcing himself to regain some control.

Laura’s hands were shaking as she tunneled her fingers through his hair.

“Gabriel, I—”

She gasped as he slid downward, leaving a trail of kisses to mark his passing. When it dawned on her what he was about to do, she froze. Could she? Should she?

“Oh! Oh, Gabriel, I don’t think I can—”

His voice was ragged, his cheeks high with color as he raised his head and met her wild gaze.

“Yes.”

One word. But it was enough to push her over the edge. She took a deep breath and then sighed.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered.

She did as she was told and felt his lips upon her belly, then on the inside of her thigh. Well aware of what was coming, she tensed nervously. Then out of the darkness, she felt his hands upon her hips and heard his voice, beckoning, demanding, promising.