Tracie Peterson (28 page)

She started to leave, but at the way Serena dropped her voice in the charade of seductress, Cara couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

“No, I have no idea,” Serena was saying. “Her name is Melissa Jordon. She was here the day Debra Kerns went berserk.”

At the mention of Melissa’s name, Cara felt a blanket of dread wrap itself around her. Was Melissa in danger?

“Kerns had her removed, that’s all I know.” There was a long pause and Serena finally said, “Okay, I’ll let you know if I learn anything.” Another pause. “Yes, I know he has to pay. There are a great many things he’s going to answer for if I have my way.”

Cara hurried from the office, remembering to stay on her toes until she was well away from the door. What was going on? And who was Serena talking about? She burst into her own office and found Harry reading a copy of
The Capital-Journal.

“Something’s wrong!” she declared, reaching for the telephone.

Harry threw the paper down and got to his feet. “What?”

“I just overheard Serena talking to someone on the telephone. She mentioned Melissa being taken away on Kerns’ orders and something about someone having to pay for what they’d done.”

Harry frowned and sat back down. “Who are you calling?”

“Peter.”

“Where’s Kerns?”

Cara shrugged. “Serena was unable to pinpoint a location for him.” She held up her hand to stop Harry’s next question. “Peter, it’s Cara. Is Melissa there?”

Cara grimaced. “When did you last talk to her?” Pause. “Two days?” Harry came to the edge of his chair as Cara continued. “No, I haven’t seen her either. Look, we need to talk. Harry and I will come to Lawrence. Stay home. We should be there in about half an hour.”

She hung up the telephone and turned to Harry. “Melissa’s been missing for two days, and Peter’s half out of his mind.”

“I want you out of this.”

“I can’t, Harry. Now he has Melissa. I got her into this and I have to get her out.”

“It may already be too late.”

“Don’t say that!” Cara exclaimed, then lowered her voice. “Come on, I told Peter we’d come to the house. We need to work together.”

They rushed out and had just reached the elevator when the gate-styled door opened and Danielle Kerns hurried off. She seemed to be crying and, from the look of her puffy eyes, had been doing quite a bit of it.

“Danielle?” Cara called out, but the girl would have nothing to do with her and hurried around the corner and into her father’s office.

“I wonder what that was all about,” Cara said, getting on the elevator.

“It may all be related,” Harry said, then nodded his head to the elevator attendant. “First floor,” he instructed.

Cara remained silent until they were safely in Harry’s car. “Forty-eight hours is a long time,” she whispered.

“Yeah, I know.”

****

Melissa pushed at the steel door one more time, as though the other fifty or more times had never occurred. Kerns had locked her in a basement area of the Capitol building, nicknamed “The Dungeon.” This area, now used for storage, had once housed state prisoners in bygone days. The walls were thick stone, and with the steel doors, they became silent tombs from which no cry could be heard. This particular cell was far removed from any traffic flow, and after two days of confinement, Melissa knew this cell might be her final resting place.

The heavy musty smell was overwhelming, and the only thing that brought her any comfort at all was that the light switch was on the inside of the cell and couldn’t be turned off by Kerns. She paced the small room and knew by heart that it was ten steps to the end and five steps across. There had once been a stack of boxes at one end because the dusty outline was still imprinted on the floor. Apparently, Kerns had emptied the room to house her.

The rattle of a key in the lock and the sliding bolt being pulled back caused Melissa to come to attention as Kerns appeared with two security guards. Unsure of what he planned, Melissa blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Kerns, I want to make a deal.”

“You have nothing I want,” the governor replied with a humorless smile.

“I think I might,” Melissa hurried on. “Maybe we could discuss this without your sidekicks. After all, it has to do with a certain baby.”

Kerns’ lips tightened as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. With a flick of his wrist, he motioned the two guards outside. When the door was closed, he turned back to Melissa.

“If you and Cara would have stayed out of things, you wouldn’t be here now.”

“If I’d stayed out of things, I wouldn’t have proof of Jamie Davis’s existence.”

“There is no proof.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Melissa summoned all of her courage. “I finally had my audience with the coroner.”

“So?” Kerns seemed unconcerned.

“I talked the man out of papers. Papers that confirm that Teri Davis had given birth recently, enough to be nursing a baby.”

“Mrs. Jordon, if you thought to win your freedom by this, you’re gravely mistaken. If anything, you are only making it clear that I can never let you go.”

Melissa swallowed hard. “My husband knows about the papers. If I’m gone much longer, he’ll turn them over to the police.”

Kerns’ face contorted and he took a menacing step toward Melissa. Cowering back a pace, Melissa pressed her case. “I could turn the papers over to you. But only if I’m released.
You could then eliminate the originals, and no one would be the wiser.”

“I could just kill you and your husband and put an end to this nonsense once and for all.”

Melissa could stand it no longer. Surprising both Kerns and herself, she charged at him, connecting her fist to his chin. It was the only strike she made, as Kerns easily maneuvered her arms behind her back, pivoting Melissa until her face was just inches from his.

“You’ve just signed your death warrant,” he said, his breath landing hot against her cheek. “Maybe your husband’s as well.”

“No! He hasn’t done anything to deserve this!” She struggled against him, but he pushed her away, knocking her onto the damp floor.

Kerns pulled open the steel door and looked down at her, the thrill of power evident on his face. “You should have played the game my way.”

The door closed, shutting her off from the world and life. The only thing left to Melissa was her tears. Breaking into sobs, she laid her head against her knees and gave in to despair. Her bluff had failed. Now she would die.

****

“But, Peter, there has to be some clue as to what she was doing—what she was working on.” Cara looked at Melissa’s husband with hopeful eyes.

“I was gone for two weeks,” he said, getting up to pace for the fifth time. “We talked on the telephone, but only briefly and never about much of anything related to her job. Two days ago, she stopped returning my calls, and when I got back I found all my messages still on the machine.” He paused and shook his head. “I called the newspaper thinking that maybe they’d sent her out on an assignment somewhere.”

“And?” Cara questioned.

“And her last assignment was to get an interview with the budget director regarding state finance.”

“That would have put her at the Capitol,” Cara said, looking at Harry.

Harry asked, “Have you checked with the budget office?”

“She never made it there,” Peter said dejectedly.

Cara looked around the room. “Does she have an office here?”

Peter nodded. “Sure, we share the second bedroom as an office. I have a desk and so does she.”

“Can we look?”

“Of course,” Peter said, sounding completely exhausted.

“Hey, buddy, why don’t you rest,” Harry suggested. “Cara and I might be able to spot something quicker.”

Peter laughed dryly. “I haven’t been able to rest since I got back, and I doubt you could either if it was your wife involved instead of mine.”

Harry said nothing, but Cara felt his eyes on her as Peter led the way through the house. He showed them to the office and stood aside while Cara and Harry rummaged through papers and folders.

“We’ve got to find out what she was doing apart from her assignment at the paper. My guess is that somehow Kerns got wind of it and didn’t like what he heard. Melissa probably knew too much and he felt threatened.”

“So you think Kerns has her?” Peter asked in a voice that broke. “But why?”

It was obvious to Cara that Melissa had told Peter very little of their concerns regarding Kerns. Finding nothing that seemed to make any sense, Cara straightened up and tried to smile sympathetically. “I can’t tell you everything, Peter. But I will find her, and I will see that Kerns pays for this.”

Her hand was on the corner of the desk where a manila envelope sat precariously perched on the edge. Moving her hand, the envelope fell to the floor. All three stared at it for a moment before Cara reached down and picked it up. Somehow
knowing this was the key, Cara opened the envelope and read through the contents.

“She found proof of the baby,” Cara said, meeting Harry’s questioning gaze. “These are papers from the coroner’s office.”

“What baby?” Peter asked, but both Harry and Cara ignored the question.

“She must have told him,” Harry said, looking at Peter with a pained expression.

“Told him what?” Peter demanded to know.

Cara replaced the papers and folded the envelope in half. “Melissa has probably told Governor Kerns that she has proof of his illegitimate child. A child he may already have murdered as he did her mother.”

Thirty-Nine

“Cara, you have to let the professionals handle this,” Harry said, unlocking the door to his apartment. “I want you to stay completely out of this. Call in sick for the next week. Tell Serena you’ve changed your mind and you’re heading back to Hays for your full vacation. Just leave it to someone else to find Melissa.”

“I can’t,” she said with quiet resignation. “I’m the reason she’s in danger. If she hadn’t joined up with me—”

“She would have found herself involved in some other way,” Harry interrupted.

He flipped on the light and pulled Cara through the door into the very masculine apartment. Stacks of trade magazines related to piloting and law enforcement were strewn on the counter of the breakfast bar, while unopened mail was tossed on top of the television.

“I’m not the world’s best housekeeper, but that should just prove to you how much I need a wife.”

Cara shook her head. “Not a wife, a maid.”

“Okay,” he said, trying hard to get a smile from her, “I need both.”

“Look, Harry, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I can’t stay here.” They’d argued all the way from Lawrence as to where Cara was going to live until the matter was settled.

“You don’t have a place to stay and there’s no security for you in a hotel.”

“It’s not proper for me to be here with you.” She stared him down with hands on hips. “You may think you own the rights to me, but we’re not married.”

“Not yet. We could easily fix that, though,” Harry stated with a devilish grin. “I have a friend who’s a judge—”

“Harry, stop it! Melissa’s in danger and you aren’t taking this seriously.”

Harry sobered and came to where Cara was making her determined stand. Taking her face in his hands, he thought of how very frightening the situation was for her. He loved this woman as he’d loved no other, and if Kerns was systematically eliminating people who dared cross him, Cara was no doubt on the list.
I can’t lose her,
he thought and gently stroked her cheeks with his thumbs.

“I’m taking it very seriously.” His breath seemed ragged in his own ears. “More seriously than you’ll ever know. I can’t bear the thought of you having to face what Teri Davis faced—what Melissa must be facing now. I won’t let him have you, Cara.” He paused and pulled her close. “I need you,” he whispered against her hair. “I love you.”

Cara wrapped her arms around him. “I know. But loving someone doesn’t keep them from harm. I loved Jack and he was killed by a drunk driver. I love my daughter, and yet she’s hundreds of miles away because of people like Kerns. Now Melissa’s in danger, maybe even dead. I loved her as a dear friend, but that didn’t protect her from harm.”

Harry knew her despair. He pulled her closer, wanting nothing more than to wrap her in a cocoon of protection. His protection.
But what of God’s protection,
a voice seemed to say in his head. Harry felt a great deal of turmoil from that one thought. He wasn’t trying to do God’s job, he reasoned. He was trying to do the job God had given him. Wasn’t that right? Wasn’t that why he’d been placed in a position to legitimately work as Cara’s security?

“I think we’re sidetracked again,” he said, feeling the full impact of his awakening.

“What do you mean?” Cara asked and looked up to search for the answer in his face.

“I mean, I’m trying too hard to do God’s job. I need to turn you over to His care and do the job intended for me. I have friends at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Highway Patrol. I can contact them and get their help in finding Melissa. I guess my mind is so consumed with guarding you
and keeping you safe that I forgot the tools available to me. Serena must know something, given what you overheard. If we find Melissa alive, she and Serena can both testify against Kerns and end his corruption once and for all. I just want to be assured that you will be safe.”

He looked at her for several seconds before releasing her. If she chose to walk out of the apartment and go to a hotel, he wouldn’t stop her.
Okay, God,
he prayed silently,
she’s all Yours and I trust You to know what’s best.

Cara smiled, seeming to sense his need. “I’ll stay here, Harry. If that gives you peace of mind to do your job, I’ll stay here as long as it takes.”

****

“You’re sure of your facts, Harry?” a KBI officer asked. The KBI agents and the Highway Patrol troopers all looked to Harry for assurance.

He nodded. “I am positive Governor Kerns has taken Melissa Jordon hostage or arranged for it. It’s the only answer. She has information that he would kill to keep quiet. In fact, he’s already killed in order to keep it quiet.”