Ties That Bind (34 page)

“Okay.” He accompanied her into the house and back to the kitchen.

“Want something?”

“A scotch. Neat.” He sank down in a chair at the table while she went to the counter. His fingers drummed on the granite surface. “I have to know some things before we start with the case again.”

Pivoting, she held the Johnnie Walker bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other. She crossed to the table, sat, and as she poured, said, “I think I know what.” They’d spoken on the phone, but hadn’t inquired about Dray and Tyler. Neither had volunteered information then.

“Did you talk to him?” Reese said simply.

“Yes. It was horrid.” She bit her lip. “Did you talk to Dray?”

He nodded. “It was equally as hard. I feel rotten about hurting her.”

“I know.” He saw tears in her eyes. “It about killed me to tell Tyler what we’d done.”

“You broke it off, though, didn’t you?”

“Yes. He was willing to forgive me if sleeping with you was just a slip up.” She shook her head. “Even after I betrayed him.”

“I guess infidelity isn’t the death knell of every relationship.”

Instead of anger, hurt shadowed her face. “Are you saying I should have been more understanding about your affair?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“I wanted to. You were so furious at me, and couldn’t forgive what I’d done.”

“I guess we were both wrong.” He ran a restless hand through his hair. “Let’s make a pact and not rehash the past again. We’ll never be able to go forward if we keep doing that.” And he’d realized, with Emily’s premature death, time on this earth could be short.

“You’re on.”

“What did you finally tell him?”

She met his gaze directly. “That it wasn’t a slip up, that I’d never stopped loving you.”

“Good.” He heard the masculine satisfaction in his voice but didn’t care.

She ran her finger around the rim of the glass. “What did you tell Dray?”

He was moved by the vulnerability in her voice. “That I was in love with you, too. That I couldn’t continue a relationship with her.”

“How did she react?”

“She got angry. She stormed out, rented a car and drove home by herself. When I got there a few hours ago, all her stuff was gone.”

“Wow, that’s uncharacteristic behavior for her.”

“I guess she’d finally had enough of my waffling.” He took a gulp of scotch for reinforcement. “So, where do we go from here? In our relationship?”

“I think we should just get through this thing with Bingham and adjust to life without…with the boys. Too many decisions have to be made there to clutter the present with anything else.”

“Some of those decisions will depend on what happens with us.”

She raked back her hair. “I know.”

“But you’re right. We don’t need to make life-altering choices tonight.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Just being with you helps. “

“I’m glad. It’s the same for me.”

He sipped his scotch and relaxed. “Let me take a look at the journal before Sanders gets here. What time is he coming?”

“Soon.”

Kate rose and got Anna Bingham’s book out of the drawer in the corner desk and brought it back to the table. Reese studied the heavy black back and front, then frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure. Odd bindings, maybe. Or something else I can’t put my finger on.”

The doorbell rang. “That must be Chase,” Kate said, standing. “God, I wish we could solve this case. I’m tired of having that monkey on our backs.”

“Well, let’s go try.”

They greeted Sanders at the door and settled in the den again, with the private investigator facing them. “Before I read the journal, I took the names of Bingham’s visitors that you sent me by email and had a cop run them through his files.”

“What did you find out about the men?” Kate asked.

“That they don’t exist.”

“Excuse me?”

“Arnie Anders and Bernie Benson don’t exist. They have no Social Security numbers, no credit cards, no trace of anything to say they’re real people.”

Reese shifted in his seat. “What does this mean?”

“That Bingham’s visitors at Longshore provided false identities.”

“Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know. It’s a lead though. Something’s not right about her life there.”

Kate leaned forward in her chair. “What do we do next?”

“Take a look at the tapes of these guys’ visitations. I called the warden and she said that the okay came through for us to view them.”

“Terrific.”

The private investigator’s eyes danced. “There’s something else. That guard mentioned in the journal—Nell Sorenson. She and Lena Parks knew each other from when Parks was imprisoned in Atlanta and Sorenson had just been hired as a guard in that very same institution. Also, when I went out to Longshore to talk to some of the inmates, I found out Sorensen was a black-market provider.” He paused for effect. “Of drugs.”

“She could have gotten the pills Bingham took.” Reese shook his head. “But that doesn’t rule out suicide.”

“One thing at a time.” Sanders checked his notes. “I’m going to the prison tomorrow to get the tapes. And I plan to talk to this Anita Ruiz that Bingham had some run-ins with. She might be able to link everything together.”

“Well, that would make my day.” Reese’s voice was tinged with sadness, despite his words.

“By the weekend, we might have some good news.”

“We could use that,” Kate said, squeezing Reese’s hand.

“I’m sorry about your sister, Reese. I meant to say something earlier.”

Reese nodded. “This bright spot in the case helps.”

“Good then.” Sanders stood. “I’ll be on my way.” He touched Kate’s arm and gave her a very male smile before he headed out.

“He’s attracted to you,” Reese told her in the foyer after Sanders left.

“What?”

“I can tell.” Reese placed his hands on her arms and rubbed up and down. “I recognize the signs, I guess.”

She chuckled. “Do you now?”

“Uh-huh.” He tugged her close and his middle bumped with hers. “I’m intimately acquainted with what it feels like to be under your spell. We said no decisions should be made now. Does that preclude this?” His erection pressed against her.

She tilted her hips forward. “Not in my book. How about yours?”

“It reads the same way, babe.” He met her forehead with his. “I want you, Katie. I want the oblivion that making love with you brings. And I need to be close to you.” He sighed. “Is it awful to want that when my sister just died?”

“No, of course not.” She drew away, took his hand, and led him up the steps.

When they reached the bedroom, Kate felt unaccountably shy. She and Reese had made love hundreds of times, and once recently, so she wasn’t worried that he’d notice the sags here and there, or less muscle tone in places. But that last time they were together, in Emily’s home, had been in a blur of pain. Now, tonight, was clearer, more real—both of them had their wits about them. Making love was a conscious, I-know-what-I’m-doing decision. Her heart pounded with the thought as she went to the bathroom to get condoms.

“What is it, love?” he asked when she came to the bed and dropped the foil packets on the nightstand. “You’re frowning.”

“I don’t know. I’m…scared, I think.”

“Of us together.” His words weren’t a question, but a statement of fact. “I feel it, too.”

“Why, I wonder?”

He kissed her shoulder. “Maybe because we aren’t doing this out of grief. Maybe because we’re free from other commitments, and nothing’s keeping us from each other. Maybe because we can really be together now.”

“I suppose. I’m terrified of getting hurt, of hurting you and Sofie again.”

He eased open the front button of her pretty striped top. Then the second, stopping to kiss the skin he exposed. Kate closed her eyes and steeped herself in his touch. The brush of his fingertips. His mouth on her ear. She let herself drown in the sensations of what he was doing to her—kneeling on the floor, tugging off her pants, seating her on the bed and removing her shoes, underwear, everything.

Then he stood. His grin turned a bit cocky, reminding her of the boy he used to be. She realized with blinding force that she wanted that boy back! He yanked his navy golf shirt over his head, baring sleek muscles and chest hair placed perfectly, as if by God. His hands went to his beltless jeans, and she watched, enthralled.

Snap, snap.

The whoosh of the zipper.

The thunk of his shoes as he kicked them off.

She got a peek at tight blue boxers before he pushed them down with his jeans. Now they were both bare. Exposed. Physically, yes. But emotionally, even more so. After he rolled on a condom, he knelt again, kissed her navel, her breasts. When he looked up his eyes were shining with surrender. To whatever was between them now.

She was eased back on the bed.

Then stretched out.

His touch was gentle, increasing in urgency by increments.

When she was ready, and he was more than, he entered her. She cried out, not in pain, not even in ecstasy, but with a deep sense of coming home, of finding what they had lost five long years ago. And she held on to him—this man who had been her husband, felt him push and plunge, thrust and parry, until they both lost themselves in each other.

o0o

ON THURSDAY MORNING, at Bishop Associates, once again Reese felt a sense of disorientation. It had subsided briefly while he was with Kate, but now, being here wasn’t the same because of Emily’s death; the sense of loss threatened to overwhelm him.

Yolanda met him at the door. She took his briefcase and hugged him. “Are you sure you should be here so soon? It’s only been a week.”

Could that be true? It felt like a lifetime. “I need to work. I’ve taken so much time off.”

“Things are running smoothly here.”

“I don’t doubt that.” He’d been touched when she and most of his staff came to Emily’s funeral. He reiterated his thanks for that. “And I appreciate your concern now, but I’m all right.” He checked his watch. “I need to call Jason and Jimmy before they go to school.” He’d promised them he’d talk to them every day.

“Go ahead, I’ll bring you coffee.”

Inside his office, Reese sat down at his desk and picked up the phone. Though the boys were staying mostly with the Gates, they’d spent last night with his father. He got the little guys just before the bus arrived. They were lackluster on this first day back to school. He knew exactly how they felt. Returning to the routine of daily living seemed blasphemous to the hugeness of the loss they’d experienced.

Pa got on the phone once the kids left. “You doin’ okay, Son?”

“As well as can be expected. You?”

“I…” A choking sound. “I miss her.”

Those few wrenching words stretched Reese’s control. He barely held on to it for his dad. “Me, too. You’re coming this weekend, right?”

“Saturday.”

“Why don’t you drive over tomorrow instead, as soon as the guys get out of school?”

“They’d like that.” His father cleared his throat. “So would I, Reese. It helps to be with you.”

“I know, Pa. For me, too.”

“Will Kate be around?”

“Yes, she wants to spend as much time as she can with the boys.”

“Just the boys?”

He knew what his father was asking. He didn’t want to give his dad false hope, but Bill Bishop could use some good news. “No, for you, too. And me. As you might guess, things have changed between us.”

A male chuckle. “The little ones told me all about finding you two in bed together.”

“Put a muzzle on them, will you? I don’t want the whole world to know.” Which wasn’t quite true. “Nothing’s been decided, Pa.”

“Doesn’t have to be now. It’s not the best time to make big changes, anyway.”

“I know. In any case, you’ll get to see a lot of Kate.”

“Good. Take care of yourself until I get there.”

“Back at ya, Pa.”

He felt better after talking with his father. It was amazing how people sharing their grief could shore up each other.

Throughout the morning, his colleagues stopped by, and he finally left the door open so they could offer condolences. When Greg Abbott came in, Reese asked him to sit down.

“Bring me up to speed on the Crane case. I’m sorry I dumped it into your lap.”

“No problem. Good news, I think. I tracked down the gym teacher. Seems she had a hell of a time with the boys who tormented Mitchell.”

“She document it?”

“Every single time. There’s a whole paper trail of incriminating material. It’ll go a long way when you present it at the trial. The school should have done something about this.”

He watched Greg. The younger man would be wanting a partnership soon. “How about if you take over this case, Greg?”

“Really? I’d jump at the chance.”

“You’ve done a lot of the legwork, anyway.” He smiled. “It’ll look great on your résumé.”

Greg knew what Reese was saying. Bring this one home with the least amount of damage and his partnership was looking good. “I’ll do my best, Reese. I think I can get minimum detention, probation, and counseling.”

“That would be the best we could expect. Do it and things will go well here for you.”

“Thanks.” He stood. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m rethinking my priorities.”

“If there’s anything else I can do, holler.”

“Just holding down the fort here means a lot to me. You and the others.”

“You can count on us.”

No sooner had Greg left than the phone rang. He let Yolanda get it. She was at his door promptly. “Reese, Jane Summers is on the line.”

He drew a blank.

“From the nominating committee. For the criminal court judgeship.”

Shit, he’d forgotten all about that. The head of the committee was probably calling to tell him that because the Bingham case had dragged on so long, his name had been withdrawn. Somehow getting the judgeship didn’t mean as much anymore, so he took the call with calm resignation. “Hello, Jane.”

“Reese. I’m calling to offer my condolences about your sister.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

They made small talk.

“There’s something else,” she said.

Here it comes.