Enright Family Collection (24 page)

India swallowed hard, and Nick knew that the hardest part was just ahead. He stroked her arm gently with a big open hand and waited until she could go on.

“They found her in the marsh over by the fishing pier at the other end of town.” Her voice had gone flat and had a hollow sound to it, as if to distance herself as much as possible from the very words she uttered. “She had been raped and stabbed to death. While I sat on the dunes, eating her popsicle, someone was raping and murdering my friend.”

Her voice faded to a whimper, and she began to cry, silently at first, then huge, painful sobs that racked her chest and tore at her throat. Nick held on, steady and sure, while it swept through her, waiting patiently for it to subside, and knew that he had found the key to India Devlin. The child’s guilt had become the woman’s obsession.

When the sobbing stopped, he asked gently, “How many will you have to convict, sweetheart, how many will you have to put away, before you can forgive yourself?”

Chapter 14

Corri stood in the doorway, ashen, her eyes wide with terror.

“Did Aunt August die?” she asked solemnly, her bottom lip trembling like tall grasses set dancing by a stiff wind.

“No, sweetie, Aunt August didn’t die.” Poor baby, India thought, that the sight of someone crying could only mean the death of someone important in her life. India opened her arms and the child walked slowly into them.

“Then why are you crying?”

“Because I was thinking about a friend I lost, long ago, and it made me feel sad.”

“Did your friend die?”

“Yes. Yes, she did.” Indy helped Corri climb onto her lap.

“Why did she die?”

“Because a very bad man hurt her.”

“Like the bad men you send to jail?”

“Exactly like them.”

Corri twirled a strand of hair around her index finger, then watched it unwind.

“That’s why you have to be in Paloma? Because that’s where all the bad men are?”

“No, not exactly. There are bad men everywhere.”

“Even in Devlin’s Light?”

“I suppose there could be.”

“Why do you have to send the bad men from Paloma to jail but not the bad men from Devlin’s Light? Who sends them to jail?”

“The county district attorney.”

Corri’s eyes brightened. “I think you should come back to Devlin’s Light and make sure that all of the bad guys are in jail. You could help the distant attorney—”

“District
attorney.”

“You could help him so that there would be no more bad guys in Devlin’s Light.”

“Keep going, Corri. You’re doing a fine job,” Nick stage-whispered conspiratorially.

“I guess you wouldn’t want to move to Paloma and live here with me.” India ran her fingers through Corri’s hair.

Corri sat up like a shot, studying India’s face for a sign that she was teasing her.

“I can see that’s an idea that has no future.” India tried to smile.

“What would Aunt August do without me?” the child asked earnestly, with no hint of conceit. “She always says she doesn’t know what she’d do without me, Indy.”

“Well, there is that.” India pondered the situation. The look of sheer panic that had crossed Corri’s face put an end to any thoughts India might have had of bringing her to Paloma to stay. “Maybe I should just do the smart thing here.”

“Which is…” Nick asked, wondering what would qualify as a smart thing in India’s present state of mind.

“Maybe I should finish up this case, then take a leave of absence when it’s over. What do you think?” She turned to Nick.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea.” Nick grinned broadly.

“I don’t know what it means.” Corri shrugged.

“It means that instead of staying here in Paloma, I would take some time off and not work for a while.”

“Like a vacation?”

“A very long vacation.”

“How long?” Corri asked cautiously.

“Pretty long. Maybe three months or so.”

“That sounds like a long time.” Corri thought this over.
“You mean you’d be in Devlin’s Light with me and Aunt August, for a long time?”

“Umm-hmm.” India nodded.

“That would be very good.” Corri tried to contain herself.

“Very good,” Nick whispered in India’s ear.

The three of them snuggled for a long moment, India on Nick’s lap, Corri on India’s.

“We’re like a little family,” Corri observed innocently, “only we’re not.”

“Family is where you find it,” Nick reminded her.

“Like I found Indy and Aunt August after Ry,” Corri said.

“Right.”

“That would be very good,” Corri repeated.

“How long do you think the trial will last?” Nick asked.

“Depends on how many witnesses actually show up.”

“You sound worried.”

“I’m always worried about someone like Alvin Fletcher slipping through my fingers.” She sighed. “He’s smart and he’s rich and he’s resourceful. He has to be watched like a hawk. He’s been arrested before and has always managed to wiggle away. I don’t want that to happen this time.”

“Then I guess that we should get out of your way and let you prepare for tomorrow.”

“I like you being in my way.” She turned her face to him slightly. “I could get used to having you in my way.”

“Do we have to leave now?” Corri frowned.

“What did you have in mind?”

“I wanted Nick to help me build the biggest pile of leaves in the world so I could jump in them.”

“Well, you could do that while I work for a while.” India wasn’t ready to have them leave. It felt too good. Her house felt too good with them there. She felt too good with them there.

“Sounds like fun to me.” Nick placed his hands on Indy’s hips to propel her forward and off his lap.

“Only Indy has to jump in it too,” Corri told them. “Me and Nick will build it, but everyone has to jump in it.”

“Deal.” India stood up, taking a giggling Corri with her.

Setting up her files on the dining-room table, India
organized her work into piles. Statements from witnesses. Forensic evidence. Photographs. Copies of files from other jurisdictions where Fletcher had been arrested over the past eight years. As she read through, file to file, she took notes on a yellow legal pad, notes that would later become her opening statement. She was totally immersed when Nick came in to tell her that the pile was ready for her jump.

He leaned over her right shoulder and placed a kiss on her temple, then froze.

“That’s a pretty nasty photograph,” he said, noting the top picture on the pile.

“Alvin Fletcher’s last victim,” India told him. Searching through a pile of photos, she found the one she sought and held it up. “This is what Barbara McKay looked like before he got his hands on her.”

He did not reply. No words were necessary. The smile of the bright-eyed teenager spoke of a girl who was confident, happy, pretty.

“And this is what she looks like today.” The third photo depicted a young woman with frightened eyes and no expression whatsoever.

“Wow,” was all he could say.

“Right. Wow.” India shook her head. “Alvin Fletcher ruined this girl’s life.
Ruined
her life. Destroyed everything she had been before the night she had the unfortunate luck to have crossed his path.”

Her jaw hardened as she spoke, her shoulders squared, as if setting off for battle. She looked up at him and watched his face as he looked at the three photographs of the young woman. She thought that maybe he was beginning to understand.

“Do you have time for a jump in the leaves?”

“Is that anything like a roll in the hay?” She tried to smile as she slid the photos back into their protective sleeve.

“When I roll you in the hay, you’ll know you’ve been rolled, woman.” He pulled her out of her chair and propelled her toward the back door.

India giggled and allowed herself to be led outside. Corri had insisted that all the leaves from the entire yard be piled right off the deck, making an enormous mound, so that they could jump from the top step right into the leaves.

“You go first, Indy.” Corri jumped up and down with gleeful anticipation.

“Well, I haven’t done this in a long time, so maybe we should go together.” India took Corri’s hand and they counted together, jumping at three into the crunchy mattress, sending leaves flying. After two or three jumps, they made Nick jump too. India spent the next twenty minutes combing dead leaves out of her hair and Corri’s while Nick made a small fire for her in the living room.

“You can set up your files here”—he pointed to the table—“and sit on the sofa to read. It might be more comfortable.”

“It might be too comfortable,” she said, though she was terribly pleased by the thoughtful gesture.

“When will you be coming home, Indy?” Corri asked as she strapped herself into the seat of Nick’s car.

“May not be for a few weeks.” She frowned. “Depends on how long this trial lasts. And how it goes.”

“I’ll miss you.” Corri held her arms out to her and India’s heart nearly melted. She leaned into the car to kiss the little girl goodbye.

“I’ll miss you too.” India straightened Corri’s seat belt and looked over to the driver’s side, where Nick was already strapping himself in. “I’ll miss both of you.”

“Good.” Nick nodded cheerfully. “That’s a very good thing, as Corri would say. Now come around here to my side of the car and kiss me goodbye.”

“You should, Indy,” Corri noted. “Nick made you waffles. And a fire.”

“Corri, you don’t ever have to kiss anyone because they do something nice for you.”
Let’s get rid of that notion right here and now
, India mused. “You kiss people because you want to.”

“Don’t you want to kiss me?” Nick frowned.

“Actually, I think I do.” India leaned over and kissed him on the mouth, not near the way she wanted to, with Corri sitting there giggling, but it would have to do.

“Keep in touch,” Nick whispered. “Let me know how things are going. And call me if you need to talk.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for everything this weekend. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“That’s just the start of it, sweetheart.” He winked, and she stepped back from the car as he prepared to drive off.

“Indy?” Corri called from the backseat. “What about with, like, Mrs. Cummings?”

“What about Mrs. Cummings?”

“Sometimes she kisses me on the cheek and I don’t want to kiss her back.”

“Hmmm. Better talk to Aunt August about that one.” India laughed as the car pulled away, Corri waving furiously out the window.

“Found yourself a nice widower with a little girl, did you?”

India turned to see the colonel and his wife coming down the sidewalk, dressed in their Sunday best.

“Ah, no.” India felt herself blush.

“A divorced fellow, then?” The colonel seemed to frown slightly. Apparently widowers outranked divorced fellows.

“Neither, actually.” India tried to smile.

“Now Henry, it’s none of our business,” the wife, a tiny, birdlike lady, chastised him.

“Actually, he’s a friend of the family, and the little girl is my brother’s stepdaughter.”

“Oh.” The colonel and his wife spoke in unison, clearly disappointed.

“Cute little girl, though,” the colonel told her. “Watched her in your yard this morning. She sure seemed happy.”

“Yes. Yes, she did, didn’t she?” India smiled and made her way back to her front door.

Corri was happy. I was happy. Nick seemed happy too.
For a fleeting minute she thought that they had, as Corri had observed, seemed like a family.
Don’t
, she told herself.
Just
because Nick is sweet and obviously interested… okay, make that more than interested.

He likes me. He likes me a lot.

She dragged some files into the living room and cozied up on the sofa, enjoying the warmth of the fire he had prepared for her. She spread open a file on the table before her and spilled photographs out in a long line, trying to concentrate
on Barbara McKay, but her mind kept wandering back to Nick. She could almost smell that aftershave he wore, a light, herbal scent.

He had turned her insides to butter and made her breakfast. He had made time in his life for a little girl who needed him and took them to the ballet. He checked in on Aunt August several times a week, bringing her firewood and books from his mother.

He could have made love to her last night but he didn’t because he thought the time wasn’t right, in spite of the fact that India had been
this close
to totally losing her head.

He had found her deepest hurt, had seen her most secret wound, and had not been appalled by it.

He had wrapped around her like a favorite blanket and held her while she cried.

He had made her feel safe.

He had made her feel the way a man is supposed to make a woman feel.

She toyed with a pen, clicking it on and off, over and over. How could she walk away from a man like that?

She could not. She knew without even acknowledging the fact that the leave of absence had everything to do with Nick as much as with Corri, as much as having an opportunity to investigate Ry’s death. She wasn’t accustomed to making impulsive decisions, but as soon as the words had slipped out of her mouth, she had known it was right. Corri had had more than enough life changes. Forcing her to come to live in Paloma now was a stupid idea, a truly terrible idea. The child would be totally miserable. What would she do all day while India worked? What about those nights when she worked until midnight or better? Who would watch Corri? The colonel and his missus?

And, India knew, Corri had been absolutely right on the money about Aunt August. She’d be heartbroken to lose Corri. They had held together, these past few months, because they had each other. How selfish of her to expect everyone else to restructure their lives to suit her. No, a leave of absence was exactly the right thing to do, for everyone involved. India could be there for Corri while she was still adjusting to losing Ry, and maybe at the end of her
leave she’d have a clearer idea of what was best in the long run. She’d be there to give Aunt August some help with Corri. It would give India a chance to focus on investigating Ry’s death.