The Sharpest Edge (17 page)

That’s when he realized how wide her eyes were, how white her skin was. Crud. She was terrified, and he was barely paying attention to the risky situation they were in. What was he thinking?

He wasn’t thinking. That was the problem. Fear gripped his spine at the thought of endangering her because he screwed up. He cursed and ordered himself to focus.
Forget Kim. Stop thinking about love. Screw California.

He turned to face the house, his eyes narrowing as he examined every window, each bush and tree, the front door. He tensed. “The front door is ajar.”

“That’s bad?”

“I don’t know.” He readied his gun and eased toward the door, aware of every movement, sound and odor. “Stay right behind me. If I swing around, duck.”

“So you don’t shoot me. Nice.”

She didn’t sound afraid anymore. Good.

They reached the front door and he rapped the door with his knuckles.

No one answered.

He knocked again and the door swung open slightly from the force of his touch.

“Will Ambrose,” he shouted. “It’s Officer Templeton. Are you there?”

Silence.

Kim shifted closer to him and he could smell the scent of her shampoo.

Cut it out. Don’t think about that!

Sean yelled again, tapping the door open with his toe.

The front hall loomed before them. Empty and silent.

“Something’s wrong,” Kim whispered. “I can feel it.”

“Me, too.” He eased into the front hall, taking a quick glance in the family room and dining room. Nothing looked out of place.

The stairs stretched up above them, but he ignored them, sliding past the railing toward the back of the house.

“Wish I had a gun,” Kim muttered.

“You’d probably shoot me.”

“That’s why I want one.”

He shot a glance at her, but she was looking behind them so he couldn’t see her face to determine if she was joking.

The door to the kitchen was on swinging hinges, so he hit it with his hip and leaned through with his gun. He cursed. There was enough blood on the floor and cabinets to convince him that Will would never be getting up from the kitchen floor again.

Kim leaned in behind him, then squawked in surprise. “He was shot in the head?”

“Looks that way.” He scanned the room and listened but heard no sounds. “Be careful in case the shooter isn’t gone.”

She let out another noise and moved closer to him while he called it in to dispatch. Made him realize that this was no place for Kim. If the killer was still here, Sean had just brought a civilian into serious danger. “We need to get out.”

“Don’t you need to check the house?”

“No.” He grabbed her arm with his left hand and moved back down the hall, watching the upstairs landing especially carefully. “Keep an eye out. And be quiet.” No sense in giving away their position.

For once in her life, Kim didn’t protest and they made their way back out to his car without being shot at. He shoved Kim into the passenger seat and shut the door, then watched the house until backup arrived. By then, he was pretty sure that no one was still at the house, but it wasn’t until his team did a thorough search of the area that they decided it was safe.

Safe for them. Not for Will Ambrose.

Sean explored the house but found nothing that could have been what Will was going to “show” them. Whatever Will knew had died with him.

“Guess that leaves Carl,” Kim said, when he returned to his cruiser and delivered the news. “Tom exonerated himself. Will is dead. Carl’s the only one left who could be John Ramsey.”

He nodded. “I already called him and asked him to come down to the station for an interview. At this point, we have nothing on him other than that he’s the right age and works at the camp. Not enough for anything.” He sighed. “We called in the regional crime-scene investigators to work this scene, so with any luck, Carl left behind some evidence that will get him, but it’ll take a while to get results back.”

“So that’s it? There’s nothing you can do, even though Will is lying there dead?”

He scowled at her. “We’ll do everything we can, but I can’t snap my fingers and solve the crime. And until we do solve it, you’re in serious danger.”

She rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. I’ve been in serious danger this whole time. I can’t be freaking out every second or I’d lose my mind.”

“No, this is different.” He ran his hand through his hair. “The initial contacts were planned to scare you. With the destruction of the house and the murder of Will, things are escalating. Maybe now that Jimmy is dead, John is losing control. Grief has sent him over the edge. He’s becoming desperate, irrational and unpredictable. Maybe he doesn’t worry about getting caught anymore. What does he have to live for now that Jimmy’s dead?” He leveled a serious stare at her. “No, Kim, it’s different now, and you’re in danger.”

“Then so is my dad. And Helen if she’s innocent.”

He thought of something then. “Didi was questioning Carl the other day after I filled her in. If Carl realizes that Didi knows something…”

Kim was dialing the office number for the Loon’s Nest before he’d finished talking. “Is Didi there?” She frowned. “Do you have her home number? This is Kim Collins, the owner.” She waited, then wrinkled her nose at Sean. “Thanks anyway.” She hung up. “Didi isn’t on duty until tonight and the person working the front desk doesn’t have access to employees’ personal files to get her phone number.” She stomped her foot. “What if something happens to her?”

“Call Alan. The way they were looking at each other, I bet he didn’t stay at a motel last night.”

“Good idea.” She hit speed dial on her phone, then visibly relaxed when Alan answered. “Alan! It’s Kim. Is Didi with you?” She gave Sean a thumbs-up sign and he felt tension ease from his shoulders. “Where are you guys?” She frowned, then covered the mouthpiece. “They’re at her house.”

Sean held out his hand for the phone. “Alan, it’s Sean. Will’s been murdered.” He paused. “We think it’s Carl, but we have no evidence yet. But Carl might know Didi is working with us and he’d certainly know you are. So the two of you need to get out of Didi’s house and get to the police station. We’ll figure out a safe place for you guys to hide until we get Carl into custody.” He listened. “Well, get there
as fast as you can. That’s where we’re headed. And be careful, okay?”

He handed Kim’s phone back to her. “They’ll meet us there in a couple of hours.”

“A couple of hours? What are they doing until then?”

“I didn’t want to ask.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “They can think about sex while there’s a murderer running around?”

“Didn’t stop us last night.”

Her cheeks immediately turned red. “That’s all last night was to you? A little sex?”

Crud. He hadn’t meant it that way. He’d just wanted to force her to acknowledge that there was something between them, even though she’d been shutting him out all morning. “No, that’s not what I meant.”

She held up her hand. “Forget it, Sean. I don’t want to talk about it. You’ve made it clear where you stand and that’s fine.”

“Obviously, it’s not.”

Officer McKeen cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir. I don’t mean to interrupt, but I have Chief Vega on the line. He says he needs to talk to you.”

“The interruption is fine. We weren’t getting anywhere anyway.” He took the phone. “Yeah?”

“Get down here now. I got the photo of John Ramsey. The most recent one they have is from when he was fourteen, so I don’t recognize him as anyone I’ve seen around town. Maybe you or Kim can.” He paused. “And someone named John Ramsey visited Jimmy in prison twice. So there’s been contact between them. The last time was a week before he was paroled.”

“We’re there.” Sean hung up and tossed the phone back to Officer McKeen. “We have an identification to make,” he said to Kim.

God, he hoped they could match the photo. If not, more people would die.

Kim’s gut was twisted in such a knot by the time they walked into the police station, she was sure she’d never be able to eat again. What if she couldn’t match the photo to someone she knew? What if this lead failed entirely, then what? Where would they start? How long could she keep hiding? Will Ambrose had known what was coming, and he hadn’t been able to escape.

They walked in and a trio of cops were huddled around a desk, all of them staring at something on top of it. The picture?

Chief Vega glanced up as they walked in. “We can’t match it, but we don’t know the folks at the camp that well.” He gave Sean a look. “It’s not anyone on the force.”

What was that scowl for? It wasn’t exactly hostile, but it wasn’t friendly, either.

Sean simply nodded. “Good.”

“Damn right, it’s good.”

Kim realized that the chief had been worried that someone on his team was actually John Ramsey, despite his insistence that his team was innocent. Guess Chief Vega wasn’t the big, tough guy he pretended he was.

Sean approached the desk, and after a moment, Chief Vega stuck out his hand and Sean accepted it. They shook hands once and Kim felt an immediate easing of tension between them, strain she hadn’t realized was there.

The chief picked up the photo and handed it to them. “It’s an old photo, but maybe you can make a match.”

Sean held it where she could see it and they both inspected it. It was a photo of two teenage boys. The taller one had his arms folded across his chest and looked angry, and the shorter one was standing a distance away from him, his eyebrows tweaked so he looked wary.

The boys looked completely opposite; no one would have considered them brothers.

She pointed to the taller boy. “That’s Jimmy.” She shivered. “Those eyes never changed.”

Sean set his hand on her shoulder, and she wasn’t in the mood to shrug it off.

“What about the other one?” Chief Vega asked, and there was no mistaking the hope in his voice.

Kim studied it and frowned. “There’s something familiar about him.”

Sean nodded. “I swear I know him, but I can’t place it….”

At that moment, Kim recognized the picture, and her world shattered. “Oh, my God.” No, no, no. It couldn’t be him. She had to be wrong.

“Who is it?”

She grabbed the picture out of Sean’s hand and stumbled across the room, staring at it. “Magnifying glass.” She had to be wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Wrong.

“Kim? Who is it?” Sean’s voice sounded so far away, tinny and distant, and she ignored it.

Someone set a magnifying glass into her hand and she almost dropped it, her hand was shaking so badly. She sank into Sean’s chair, turned the lamp on, set the picture on the desk, pulled out the magnifying glass and then closed her eyes.

She felt Sean’s presence before he spoke, his breath hot on her neck. “Who is it?”

Right. She could do this. Totally. “Give me a sec.” She
positioned the magnifying glass over the boy’s face and she knew instantly. There was no doubt. She felt sick. She set it down, spun around in the chair and faced Sean. “It’s Alan,” she whispered.

He grunted in surprise and touched her shoulder. Then he took the magnifying glass and examined the photo.

She leaned back and waited for confirmation, which was coming. There was simply no other conclusion.

Sean set down the magnifying glass and looked at Kim.

She managed a tight smile. No time to fall apart. But her mind was reeling, spinning, spiraling downward in a mass of heartbreak and confusion. How could Alan be John Ramsey? How could he have betrayed her like that?

No wonder Jimmy had been on his way out here. Alan had told him exactly where to find her.

Sean set his hands on her upper arms. “You can deal with this.”

She nodded. Not a good time to try to speak.

He studied her for a minute, then squeezed her arms. “I’m here.”

Earlier in the day, she might have been tempted to kick him in the shin for assuming that she cared whether he was there for her, but at the moment, it sounded pretty good to her. Sean might be a lot of things, like more in love with her dad than with her, but he was who he was and he’d never lied about it.

Honesty was something that seemed kind of important at the moment.

He didn’t remove his hands, but he turned his head to address Chief Vega, who by some magic of transportation was now standing by their side. How did he get there?

“It’s Alan Haywood, Kim’s friend who is visiting from California.”

Triumph lit up Chief Vega’s face. “Are you positive?”

“Yes.” She’d managed to speak. Good for her! Almost
made it seem as though she hadn’t been ripped to shreds by the man who she thought was her best friend. “He’s on his way to the police station.” Double bonus. An entire sentence. She felt kind of wobbly though, as if she might topple off the chair at any moment.

Chief Vega addressed his question to Sean. “Is she right? He’s coming here?”

“Yeah. I told him to come here with Didi so we could arrange to protect them from Will’s murderer.” Sean grimaced. “I told them I thought it was Carl.”

“Good. Then they won’t think it’s a trap, and they’ll show up.” Chief Vega turned away, barking orders to get prepared for the arrival of John Ramsey.

A
N HOUR AND A HALF
later, Kim dialed Alan’s cell phone, with Sean and the rest of the Ridgeport Police Department positioned strategically around the station, ready for him to appear. Sean was the one with his head next to hers so he could listen in on the conversation.

Could she do this? She felt as though she was betraying her best friend, but hadn’t he deceived her already?

Alan answered on the first ring. “Hey there.”

She had to take a moment to regroup at the warmth in his voice. “Just checking in on your status. Sean and I are at the station now and if you’re not going to be here for a while, we were going to grab something to eat.” Liar, liar, liar!

“We’re pulling up outside the station, alive and well. We haven’t seen or heard from Carl, so that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“You okay? You sound down.”

Sean set his hand on the back of her neck and rubbed gently. “I’m a little stressed,” she admitted.

“I can’t believe you saw Will’s body. What was Sean thinking, letting you in there?”

Okay, that was it. She could take being manipulated only
so long. “I’m sick of you putting down Sean, so cut it out. I walked in, so it’s my fault, not his. Quit trying to make me doubt him. It’s not going to work and you’re ticking me off.” Then she hung up on him.

“That was subtle,” Chief Vega said.

She glared at him. “Don’t even get me started.”

“Not even a fraction of what he deserves,” Sean said.

“They’re here.” A rookie ran in the front door and everyone took their places. So many cops being industrious at their desks. Yeah, right. Every other time she’d been in here, there’d been one cop in the office at most.

Would Alan bolt?

A part of her wanted him to realize it was a trap and run. The smarter part of her kicked herself in the head and reminded herself that he had just murdered Will and probably Pete Gibbs and maybe even set up her dad’s accident.

She felt sick again.

No time to run to the bathroom, as Will and Didi walked in. Poor Didi. Her previous boyfriend dead, her current one a murderer. Talk about bad luck in love.

Alan waved at her and Sean. She managed a smile. “Hi, guys. Good to see you.”

“You look like hell,” Alan said, reaching out to give Kim a hug.

She ducked out of his grasp and moved to the other side of the desk, prompting a frown to mar Alan’s face. “What’s wrong?” He narrowed his eyes at Sean. “I get it. You’re responsible for her outburst on the phone, right? Somehow you’ve managed to convince Kim I’m the bad guy.” He flashed anger at Kim. “How can you listen to him?”

“Shut up, Alan!” She threw the photo at him. “Just shut up.”

He caught the picture and looked at it. Expression left his face until it was carefully blank.

Yeah, nice try.

“What is this?” he asked.

“A picture of Jimmy Ramsey and his brother, John, when they were teenagers,” Sean said.

“No, let me.” Kim set her hand on Sean’s arm. She wanted to do this. She
had
to do it. “Recognize the boy on the left?”

Alan looked at her. “Should I?”

“I do.”

She saw the instant when he realized she knew who he was. The pain shackled his face and panic flew into his eyes. “You told them?” He nodded at the roomful of police officers who were pretending not to listen.

“Yes.”

Betrayal flickered in his eyes. “How could you? You know what they think.”

“That you murdered Will and Pete Gibbs and tried to kill my dad? Yeah, I know what they think.”

“You think that, too?”

“What else am I supposed to believe?” She clenched her hands around the back of Sean’s chair. “Did you destroy my house? Write that horrible message?”

“No!” He slammed his fist on the table and Sean moved closer to him, his body tense and ready. “Don’t you remember how angry I was that the vandal blamed John Ramsey? Because I knew I didn’t do it!”

“Oh, come on, Ramsey. You expect us to believe that? You lied to Kim for a year and a half. Why would you start telling the truth now?”

Alan spun around to face Sean. “I hate Jimmy. I know what he’s capable of, and I’ve been trying to expose him for years. He killed our mother. Did your records search show that? They said it was an accident, but I know the truth. When I saw the engagement announcement in the paper for him, I knew what would happen to Cheryl, so I decided to get in there and do what I could.” He turned to Kim. “I
swear I was trying to protect you and Cheryl. I haven’t seen Jimmy in fifteen years, so I made sure I wasn’t around when he was, but I did it to keep you safe!”

“And you did a damned fine job of it, too, didn’t you?” Sean said. “You’ve seen the hospital photos of Kim and Cheryl?”

“I was there! I saw it! And I saw him get off in that courtroom.” Alan’s voice was enraged now and shrill, spiraling wildly. “How can he go free when he’s done all that?”

“But why did you go visit him in prison?” Kim asked. She wanted to believe him. More than anything, she did. But how could she?

“To try to convince him to leave you and Cheryl alone. I visited when he first went to jail and he blew me off, but I tried again right before he got out.” He wiped the sweat off his brow. “He laughed at me. Told me to help you so he’d have a reason to kill me, too.”

“Nice try, Ramsey, but we’re not buying the vulnerable little brother thing.” Sean nodded at one of the other cops. “Take him into the interrogation room for a chat. I’ll be in later.”

Alan didn’t move as one of the young cops took his arm. “Kim, if you don’t believe me, your life is in danger. I’m not the one doing this, I swear. You have to trust me.”

No way could she stand there and accept his story. And no way could she refute it. “Prove it to me,” she said. “Please, please, please, prove it to me.”

His face fell. “I can’t. But you can. If you keep digging, you’ll find out who it is.”

That wasn’t the answer she wanted. “How come you lied to me about who you were?”

“Would you have ever trusted John Ramsey?”

“Of course I would have. But I can’t trust you anymore.” She turned away then, unable to stand the look of despair on his face. Despair at being exposed before he could avenge
his brother’s death? Or despair at not being believed when he was telling the truth?

“Where were you between the hours of ten last night and nine this morning?” Sean asked. The window between when they’d spoken to Will and then found him dead.

She closed her eyes and waited for an answer that would exonerate him.

“I was with Didi for part of it.”

“What about the rest of it?”

“I was alone.”

Kim picked up her purse and walked out of the station, not even stopping to console Didi, who was standing by the door, a look of utter shock on her face. Yeah, poor Didi. At least she’d been victimized by his lies for only a few days, not a year and a half.

“H
ANG ON A SEC
,” Sean said to his team. It would be good for Alan to sit in the interrogation room anyway. Kim was more important.

He jogged out of the station to find Kim in his car starting the engine. “Hey!”

She glanced at him, then rolled down the window. “What do you want?”

“Just checking in. You okay?”

“No, of course I’m not okay. The man who slept on my couch during the trial is actually a liar and potentially a multiple murderer. How do you think that makes me feel, huh?”

He squatted next to the car, his arms resting on the door frame. “It sucks.”

She looked surprised. “Well, yeah. It does.”

“He deserved more grief than what you gave him.”

She managed a half smile. “You think?”

“Definitely. You took it easy on him. You should have kicked him in the nuts and then shot him.”

“Shut up.” But she was smiling. “How can you joke about this?”

“Because it’s the only way to survive.” He grinned. “I cracked a lot of jokes after you left.”

Her smile faded. “Are you going to make a lot of jokes when I leave this time?”

“Why leave? Why don’t you stay here and run the camp? You have all of us here.”

She touched his cheek, let her finger trail over his jaw. “Sean, you just don’t get it, do you?”

He felt as though she was slipping out of his grasp and he couldn’t stop it. But he didn’t know why he was losing her. “Get what?” Frustration made his tone harsher than he intended. “Tell me.”

“Never mind.” She reached for the gearshift, but he caught her hand.

“Don’t drive away without telling me the truth.” He tightened his grip on her wrist. “Not again.” He couldn’t handle not knowing again.

She looked at him. “I can’t be with a man who loves me for my family.”

“So you want me to reject your family?” He frowned. What did she want from him? “Hurt them to make you happy?”

“No.” She sighed. “Forget it. I guess I’m not making sense.”