Righteous Obsession (45 page)

“Hi, Jeff,” she said and noticed Amanda, her lips
folded tightly, turning away.

“How are you?”

“We’re fine.  How are you?”

“Feeling a little rattled, actually.  I imagine you’ve
been under siege by the media too?”

“Yes!  In fact, we’ve spent the last two days at Peter
and Amanda’s.”

“My daughter, her best friend and myself have spent
the last couple of days at our vacation home, in northern Minnesota, avoiding
the press!”  He paused then asked, “How’s Colin feeling?  I was really worried
when they’d told me he’d left the hospital early.”

“He tires easily, but there haven’t been any other
problems.”

“I’m relieved to hear that.  Can I speak to him?”

“I’m sorry, Jeff, but he lying down.  Can he call you
later?”

“Yes, please, Alethea.  He can reach me at my home
number.”

“I’ll tell him you called, Jeff.”

“Thanks, Alethea.  Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Jeff.”  She hung up and heard Amanda saying
to Peter.  “I know, Peter, I know!  I can’t do anything about it so there’s no
point in getting upset – hard as it might be!”  She turned back to Alethea,
gave her a hug.  “Goodbye, be sure and call if you need anything.”

“Okay, Amanda.  Thanks for all your help today.”

Peter gave her a hug and then said, “Alethea, tell
Colin he can call me anytime he wants to talk, okay?”

Alethea knew he meant if Colin wanted to talk about
Jeff, but she nodded and replied, “I will, Peter.”

“I’ve got to go, too, Alethea,” McGregor said.  “I
left my number by Colin’s cell phone. Don’t hesitate to call me if either of
you think something’s not kosher.  I’m just down the street and I can be here
in a few minutes.”

“That makes me feel a lot easier, Buck.”

“I’m also going to be checking around here every night
before I turn in so if you see a light outside later tonight, it’ll be me.”

“Okay.  I’ll warn Colin.”

Alethea locked the doors and set the alarm.  She
busied herself around the house, feeling very secure with Buck close by and
keeping his eye on things.  She went into the kitchen to start supper.  Alethea
worked on some ideas she had for redoing the house while it cooked.  She wanted
to paint the living room and dining room a softer color.  Some owner had
painted over all the woodwork in the kitchen and she planned to strip that and
restore it to its natural tone.  It would be a huge job, but she wanted a big
job to keep her from missing Colin when he went back on tour.  She went into
the kitchen, checked on her supper then decided to wake Colin.  She went
upstairs to their bedroom, but didn’t find him.  He was in the guest room, next
door.  “Colin?”

“I’m awake, Alethea,” his sleepy sounding voice
answered.

“Do you have any pain?”  She asked, sitting next to
him.

“No.”

“Well, supper’s just about ready.”

“Great!  You know, I had dreams about your Cajun
spaghetti in the hospital?”

“Let me guess?”  Alethea teased.  “You and I were
swimming in a vat of my sauce and when we got out, you licked it off every inch
of me!”

“Are you suggesting all my dreams are racy and not fit
for polite conversation?”

“You said it, I didn’t!”

“Get out of here!” Colin laughed, giving her a playful
swat on her rear as she rose.  He carefully and slowly got to his feet.  He
grimaced at a sudden flash of pain.  As he came downstairs, he noticed the
light on the panel of the security alarm was lit.  He was glad Alethea had set
it.  He went into the kitchen.  “It smells so good in here, I don’t know if I
can wait any longer!”

Alethea tested the spaghetti then drained it.  “It’s
ready now.”

“Too bad we can’t eat on the deck,” Colin remarked. 
He sighed as he recalled last time they’d had her Cajun spaghetti.

Alethea handed him a plate.  “What are you thinking
about?”

“I have a doctor’s appointment in a week and I’m
hoping he’ll give me some good news.”

Alethea knew he was referring to their not being able
to make love.  “I’m sure it won’t be too long,” She replied soothingly.

“I’ll probably forgotten how to make love by then!” 
Colin grumbled.

“Well, I’ll look forward to re-teaching you,” Alethea
teased as she poured herself a glass of diet soda while Colin poured himself
another glass of the herbal tonic.  They both sat down and started to eat.

“Colin, Buck asked me to tell you he’s going to be
checking around here every night before he goes to bed so if you see a light outside
later tonight, it will be him.”  She debated whether or not to tell him about
Jeff’s call, but decided she’d better tell him.  “Jeff called while you were
sleeping.”

“I hope you told the jerk to go to hell!”

Alethea set her glass down so sharply the ice cubes
rattled noisily.  Colin looked at her in surprise.  “Jeff is your father,
Colin, and if you don’t want to speak to him; you’re going to be the one that
tells him!  I’m not going to run interference for you!”

“Fine!”  He snapped.

Alethea sighed.  “Colin, when I was so angry with you
recently; I was determined never to see you or speak to you again!  It was mom
who changed my mind.  She said I couldn’t make a fair decision if I didn’t have
all the facts.  She meant I had to listen to your side of the story even though
I was determined not to.  You have to do the same thing with Jeff.”

Colin toyed with his spaghetti then threw down his
fork.  “All right, but I’m not promising anything more than that!”  He said
ungraciously.

“I left Jeff’s number by your phone,” Alethea replied
quietly.

They finished dinner without any further conversation
and Colin went upstairs to call Jeff.  He sat down on the edge of the bed and
punched in Jeff’s number.

“Hello?”

Colin felt taken aback by how much alike their voices
sounded.

“Hello?”

“Jeff, its Colin.”

“Colin!  I’m so glad you called!  How are you?”

“Fine.”

“Good.  There’s something I’d like to discuss…”

“You mean your call to Father Michaels, warning him to
leave town or be arrested?”  He asked coolly.

“Colin, I didn’t call him for those reasons!  I was
going to plead with him to turn himself in and make it clear to him if he
didn’t; I would.  Unfortunately, I never got a chance to talk to Dave.”

“I don’t care why you called him!  That call tipped
him to the fact he was going to be arrested and caused him to skip town to save
his ass!”

“Colin, Dave’s my son and I couldn’t just stand by and
do nothing!  I had to try to convince him it would be in his best interest to
give himself up!”

Hearing that, Colin lost his temper.  “Well, I’m your
son too, but you only seem to remember it when it’s convenient for you!  You
just sold me down the river and not only me, but Alethea, Liam and my parents
as well!”

“I see Amanda’s had her say!  She never cared for
anybody’s point of view except her own!”

“Damn you!  Don’t you dare criticize her!  She’s
always been there for me which is more than I can say for you!”

“Colin, don’t you dare use language like that to me! 
I’m your father, damn it!”  Jeff yelled.

“Hallelujah and praise the Lord!  His memory has been
restored!”

“If you’re going to continue being a smart-ass, I
don’t see any point in us talking further!”

“I agree!”  Colin cut the connection and tossed his
cell down on the night stand.

Caitlin knocked on the door of her father’s study and
peeked inside.  “Daddy?”

Jeff was sitting at his desk with his face covered by
his hands.  He looked up when Caitlin called him.  “Yes, Cait?”

“Did you finally get hold of Colin?”

 “Yes.”

“How did it go?”

Jeff rubbed his hands across his face, looking very
tired and then shook his head.  “Not very good, I’m afraid.”

“What happened?”

“Colin refused to even try to understand about the
situation with Dave.  I made the mistake of attacking Amanda and saying she was
the one who had put those ideas in his head.  We both lost our tempers and
things went steadily downhill from there!  He swore at me and I acted like a
typical enraged, offended father in return.  I really blew it, Cait, and I’ll
be lucky if he ever speaks to me again!”

“I’m so sorry, Daddy!”

Jeff shook his head again.  “I swear if I had any
inkling about how this was going to turn out; I never would have started
searching for Colin!”

“Don’t say that, Daddy!   After Colin calms down, I’m
sure he’ll realize he jumped to the wrong conclusion and apologize.”

“Possibly, but I’m not going to hold my breath!”  Jeff
rose.  “Excuse me, Cait.  I’m really tired and I’m going to bed.”  He gave her
a hug.  “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Daddy.”  After her father had gone upstairs,
Caitlin went into the family room and searched through her mother’s roll top
desk, looking for stationery.  She finally located some, sat down and wrote a
letter to Alethea, introducing herself and asking if there were some way they
could work together to get her father and Colin back on speaking terms.

Alethea finished cleaning up the kitchen then went
upstairs to find Colin.  She looked into the guest room and he appeared to be
sleeping.  She decided she wasn’t going to ask him what had transpired with
Jeff.  His relationship with Jeff was his business and she had no intention of
letting it drive a wedge between them.  She went into their bedroom, called her
parents on her cell phone and spent an hour talking to them.  She felt relieved
to hear the press was leaving them alone.  Alethea told them Colin was fine,
but said nothing about Jeff.  After she said goodbye, she went downstairs to
shut off the lights.  As she was going back upstairs, from the window on the
stair landing, she saw a moving light and knew Buck was doing his security
check.  She got undressed and slipped into bed beside Colin.  He sighed
slightly, but did not awaken.

Colin woke up abruptly, feeling Alethea thrashing
around and crying.  He shook her gently.  “Alethea?”  She woke up and started
to cry in earnest.  He put his arms around her and held her tightly.  “It’s
okay,” He said, rocking her gently.  “You had a nightmare.”

“I was back in the trauma unit and Doctor Trumbull was
saying you were bleeding to death and he couldn’t save you!”  She sobbed.

“It was just a bad dream.  I’m fine,” he replied
soothingly.

Alethea wiped her face then sat up suddenly.  “What if
this is only an extension of my original nightmare?  What if I wake up tomorrow
and realize I’m never going to see you again?”

“You will because this isn’t a dream.”

“How can I be sure?”

He took her hand and placed it over his heart.  “Feel
that?”  She nodded.  “That’s reality.”  They lay down again.  Alethea kept her
hand over his heart.  It comforted her to feel it beating strongly underneath
her hand.  Colin wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. 
“Alethea, I’m really sorry about the way I acted about Jeff.  Jesus!  I behaved
like a spoiled brat!  I promise I won’t do that again.”

“I promise not to try to force you into having a
relationship with Jeff!  Whatever you decide to do about him is your decision
to make and your business.”

“And I promise not to throw anymore tantrums.”  He
gave her a kiss.  “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Colin and Alethea had been home barely a week and were
just beginning to settle in and relax when Jazz called.  He asked Alethea to go
to Arizona and interview Rob Halford about his band’s new CD.

“Isn’t there someone else you can send?  I’d go, but
Colin goes to the doctor tomorrow and I want to go with him.”

Colin motioned for her to put Jazz on hold. She did
and asked, “What?”

“My appointment tomorrow isn’t any big deal.  He’s
just going to pull out these staples, and that’ll be the end to it.  I probably
won’t be in there for more than five minutes!”

“How will you get there?”

“You can drop me off on your way to the airport and
I’ll grab a cab home.”  He picked up the phone and spoke to Jazz, “I’m going to
insist McGregor go with Alethea, okay?  Great!”

Alethea took back the phone, spoke for a few second
more then hung up.  “He said McGregor’s and my tickets will be at the airport
by late this afternoon.”  She sighed.

“He wants to send his best reporter and you’ll only be
gone one night.” 

“I know, but I’ll miss having you next to me at
night.”

“I’ll bet you won’t miss my snoring,” he teased.

She giggled.  “Believe it or not, I think I’m getting
used to it!  In fact, I probably won’t be able to sleep – it’ll be too quiet!”

“Come on, I’m not that bad!”

Alethea got ready to go grocery shopping.  Colin
offered to come with her.  “You in a grocery store?”  She laughed.  “This I’ve
got to see!”

“Hey!  It’ll be a new experience.”

They ate supper and Colin turned on
CNN
.  His
stabbing by Father Michaels was no longer the subject of intense interest and
scrutiny!  Hopefully, it would die out altogether or at least, until the police
located and arrested him.  Colin had very little faith they’d ever catch him! 
He turned off the television and the downstairs lights, set the alarm, and they
went upstairs.  Alethea packed a small bag to take with her.  “Maybe, I
shouldn’t take Buck with me.”

“No!  I want him to go with you.  Please, I know
you’ll be safe with him.”

“I worry about you being here alone.”

“I’ll be fine.  This security system is state-of-art;
it notifies the police the moment it’s breached!  It’s an excellent system –
trust me.  With all my valuable guitars and other expensive electronic
equipment, I’ve got the best system money could buy!”

Alethea appeared more relaxed after she heard his
explanation.  She got ready for bed and slipped in beside him.  She kissed him
then settled into her usual sleeping position.

“God!  I hope I hear some good news tomorrow!”  Colin
said.  “It’s damn hard to be this close to you and not be able to make love!”

She brushed his face with her hand.  “Well, watch out
when we get the green light!”  She had only been asleep a short time when a
blood-curdling scream from Colin woke her.

“Colin!  What’s wrong?”  She put her arms around him
and held him.  He was sweaty and she could feel him shaking and hear his heavy
breathing.  “Was it another nightmare about Father Michaels?”

“Who else?”  Colin pulled himself away from her, took
a deep breath and pushed his hair back.  “Jesus!  Is this ever going to stop?”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Colin shook his head and lay back.  “I just want to
forget it.”

“Okay.  Try to go back to sleep.”

He tried, but he was too afraid the nightmares would
return.  “I’m sorry, I just can’t do this!”  He got out of bed, pulled on his
jeans and T-shirt then left the room.  He went downstairs, turned off the
security alarm and went outside.  There was a gentle breeze blowing through his
sweat-soaked hair, cooling him.

“Mind if I join you?”

Colin turned around to find Alethea, wearing a short,
silky nightgown that, despite her best efforts, kept blowing upwards, exposing
her slim thighs, gorgeous pussy and ass.

Colin smiled.  “Good thing we don’t have any close
neighbors or they’d be getting an eyeful!”

Alethea put her hand on his shoulder.  “Are you sure
you’re all right?”

“Yeah, I just need some time, okay?”

“I understand.”

“You’d better go back to bed.  You’ve got an early
flight.”

Alethea nodded.  She was getting chilly.  “Are you
coming?”

“In a while.”  After she went in, he remained outside,
contemplating his view of the San Francisco skyline until he realized his feet
were getting cold because he’d forgotten to put on shoes.  He went back inside,
locked the door and reset the alarm.  He turned on the television and wrapped
himself in the afghan Grandma Beth had crocheted for him.  He channel-surfed,
trying to find something that didn’t remind him of Father Michaels, but the
problem was everything did!

The sound of the alarm woke Alethea.  She reached out,
fitfully trying to find the shut-off button without having to open her eyes. 
She finally got it turned it off and rolled over to wake Colin, but found his
side of the bed was empty.  She got out of bed, slipped into her nightgown and
went downstairs.

Colin was bleary-eyed, had dark circles under his eyes
and was unshaven.  He sat hunched over a steaming cup of coffee and looked up
as she came into the kitchen.  “Hi.”

She stood over him and brushed back his hair, studying
him with a worried expression.  “You look exhausted.  Did you get any sleep at
all?”

“Very little.”

“You never did tell me about your nightmare,” She
said, pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting down next to him.  She took a
sip of her coffee.

“I don’t want to talk about it.  I’d rather forget
it.”

“Okay, I won’t bug you about it.”  She put down her
cup and started to get up, but Colin caught her arm and stopped her.

 “I’m sorry.  I’m not trying to shut you out; it’s
just hard for me to admit the damn thing scared the hell out of me!”  He
sighed.  “It was so real!  I was backstage at an arena and I could hear the
fans screaming, yelling and clapping.  Clem handed me my guitar and I walked
out on the darkened stage with Jake, Mace and Liam, like usual.  The stage
lights came up and all of a sudden the whole front row turned into a bunch of
Father Michaels and climbed onstage with their knives raised.”  Colin shuddered
and his voice shook.  “I turned to Jake for help, but he’d turned into Father
Michaels, too!  Mace had already changed and was stabbing Liam over and over
again!  I ran off stage, looking for help but, everybody …”

“Had turned into clones of Father Michaels,” Alethea
finished softly.

“Every one of them surrounded me, trying to stab me! 
There was nobody to help me and no way to flee from them either!  I guess
that’s when I woke up screaming.”

She squeezed his hand.  “It must have been horrible!”

Colin shrugged.  “It’s not something I’d care to
repeat.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.  I can’t promise you
that you’ll never have another nightmare.”

“I know.  I just have to find some way to deal with
it, I guess.”

Alethea decided it wasn’t a good time to bring up the
subject of therapy.  Instead, she patted his hand.  “I know you will.”  She
rose.  “I’m going to take a shower.”  She went upstairs, showered and dressed
then finished packing.  While Colin took his shower, she made breakfast.  After
they finished eating she went back upstairs, leaving Colin fidgeting in the
foyer.

“Alethea?  We’re going to be late!”  Colin called
upstairs.  He paced restlessly around the foyer; his hands shoved into his
pockets.

“Coming.”  She came down the stairs, carrying her
overnight bag with her purse slung over her shoulder.

He grinned at her.  “Sure you’ve got everything?”

“Everything but the kitchen sink,” she teased.

Colin set the alarm and they got into his Jeep.  After
stopping to pick up McGregor, they drove across the Golden Gate and continued
downtown.  Alethea pulled up in front of the medical complex and turned to
Colin, “I’ll call you later, okay?”

He nodded and looked back at McGregor.  “Take good
care of Alethea for me.”

“I won’t let her out of my sight,” McGregor promised.

He leaned over and gave Alethea a kiss.  “I’ll see you
tomorrow afternoon.  I love you.”

“I love you, too, Colin.”

Colin slid out of the Patriot, causing himself as
little pain as possible, and McGregor climbed into the front seat.  He waved as
they pulled away from the curb and he watched until he could no longer see
them.

Debbie was watching television.  Her orders were to
rest, but she’d been having so many nightmares about Father Michaels; she’d
decided to watch television.  She was feeling bored and kept flipping the
channel, looking for something to occupy her time until Din came.  She felt
worried, too, about what would happen to her when she got dismissed in a couple
of days.  She knew she was welcome to stay with Din and her mom, but she also
knew they didn’t have a lot of money and it would strain them financially.  
Suddenly, the door to her room flew open and her mother stormed into the room. 
“Mom!”