Willow Pond (22 page)

Since they’d sat, not a word had passed between her and Virginia. Their dishes were removed from the table and replaced by a creamer, sugar bowl and two coffee cups.

“I’d rather have a cup of tea,” Laura said.

“You’ve hardly eaten anything,” Virginia said. “Aren’t you feeling well?”

“I’m just not hungry.”

Laura was stirring her tea when she sensed someone standing next to her. She turned to her left and gazed up into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Erich. For just a moment she forgot herself and wanted nothing more than to leap to her feet and fall into his arms. Then she remembered. Being with him was no good. They loved each other, but it could never work.

How wonderful it was to see him, though. God, she’d missed him. It was like he’d taken a part of her when he’d left. She saw the love in his eyes and hated him for putting her through this. Why hadn’t he stayed away like she’d asked? What was he doing here? She glanced at her aunt and saw the truth. Virginia was a good liar. She could lie to anyone but Laura. From the expression on Virginia’s face, Laura could tell she had invited him.

Virginia had set this up and uprooted all the pain Laura had been trying to bury. She glared at her aunt, her eyes slits of rage. “How could you do this to me? Don’t you know what I’ve been through?”

Virginia covered Laura’s hand with hers, but Laura slid hers away and glared up at Erich. He stood without saying a word, his eyes filled with such longing it made her uncomfortable. She looked back at Virginia.

“I asked you not to interfere in my life and yet you continue to do so. How can I make you understand?” she asked Virginia, then shifted her gaze to Erich. “How can I make you both understand? I need to be by myself right now.”

“If that’s what you want,” Erich said. Laura felt a warm current pass through her at the sound of his voice. “If it makes you happy. Are you happy, Laura?”

“I don’t even know what ‘happy’ is. All I know is that this is the way things have to be right now.”

Before she could move, Erich touched her face lightly with his fingertips, then turned and walked away. Laura was overwhelmed by confusion and almost burst into tears at the sight of his receding back. His touch had sealed it for her. She would never love anyone else. Someday, somehow, they would have to be together. Otherwise she would lose her mind.

Chapter Forty-Three

The hunt for Todd’s kidnapper hit a snag toward the end of the year. New leads were rare, and the ones which came in made Detective Wilson laugh. First there was the woman who claimed to have dreamed about the kidnapping. Then there was the old man who brought in a picture of his grandson. He’d said it was Todd, and he was hiding in the woods somewhere in New Jersey.

It was frustrating. Wilson felt powerless. Laura Austin called every day, and every day he had to tell her the same thing: there were no leads but they were investigating every tidbit that came into the department, no matter how silly. Phillip Austin called too, though not as often. Maybe two or three times a week.

Virginia Kingsley never called. He knew she was in the middle of her own investigation and that her lover, Police Commissioner Jaeger, had sanctioned her activities. Wilson didn’t approve, but he couldn’t do anything about it. If she came up with the solution to the crime he wouldn’t have a problem, except he doubted she would. Good old-fashioned police work would eventually solve the Austin kidnapping. He just hoped it didn’t have a tragic ending.

He removed a soggy tuna sandwich from a brown paper bag in his desk drawer and tossed it into the garbage. The phone rang and he grudgingly picked it up, knowing it would be Laura Austin. Whenever he spoke to her he wished he had something tell her.

“I know,” she said. “You don’t have any news.”

“I wish I did.”

“I know you do,” Laura said. She paused. “Maybe I have something for you.”

That stopped him. “Do you have a lead? What is it?”

“Now, I know this sounds strange, but hear me out. I went to a psychic the other day and she told me …”

His heart sank. He’d seen this so many times, desperate people hanging onto the last shred of hope. He had thought Laura Austin would be different. Sure, she was young, but she was smarter than a lot of people. Educated, too.

“Those people are charlatans, Mrs Austin. They take advantage of people’s misery. You can’t pay any attention to them.”

“Aren’t you even going to listen to me?”

His voice was gentle. He might as well listen. He had nothing else to go on. These predictions were usually fairly entertaining. “Of course. Tell me what she told you.”

“She said Todd was in southern state, in a town that begins with the letter V.”

“Did she call him by name?”

“No, that’s just it. I’m certain she didn’t recognize me. If she had I wouldn’t have paid any attention to what she told me because I’d figure she just read it in the newspaper. I got the feeling she lived in her own little world and didn’t pay much attention to what went on outside of it.”

“You could be right. Those people always sound crazy to me. Very little contact with reality.”

“I can see you don’t believe me,” she said, sounding annoyed. “But look. She knew things I hadn’t told her. Things she couldn’t possibly know. She described a picture of me and some friends down to the smallest detail. She even knew my friend was pregnant, even though my friend herself barely knew. I’m begging you to look into this. See if a child matching Todd’s description was seen down south recently. Please, Detective.”

“I’ll put one of my men on it tomorrow.”

He heard a choked sob from the other end of the line. “Thank you.”

***

She hung up the phone, relieved that at least he had listened to her, even if he hadn’t taken her seriously. She wished she could go looking for Todd herself, but she didn’t know where to start. If Erich were still a part of her life he would have been a help, but right now that was impossible. What had happened at Bacchanal had made things worse.

How could she explain to anyone that for the first time in her life she felt as if she had to finally make her own decisions? That was so important to her. All her life someone else had been in control of her life. First her parents, then Virginia, then Phillip. He was the worst of all, insisting on knowing everywhere she went and everyone she saw. Erich wasn’t like that, but still. She needed this time to herself, though someday she would have to tell him about the baby. No. She didn’t have to. That wasn’t right. She wanted to.

She knew she was being selfish, not letting him know. This was Erich’s child she was carrying. He had the right to share this pregnancy, to watch her belly grow, to share in the first flutter of life. She remembered feeling those first movements with Todd and how incredible they had been. No one had been there to share that with her either. Phlliip had either been off on some movie set or with another woman. This time was different. This time the father of her child was the man she loved. So why was she doing this to them?

The truth was she was being stubborn. She wanted him to be with her because he wanted to, not because she was pregnant. It was going to be difficult to hide this pregnancy much longer. She would start showing soon. Then what? It wasn’t just Erich she needed to worry about. How would she keep it from Virginia?

The phone rang and she picked it up reflexively. Erich. When she heard his voice tears welled up in her eyes.

“I want to see you,” he said, his voice gruff. “We can’t go on this way any longer. If I knew what I’d done to make you so angry I would fix it, but I don’t.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You accused Virginia of kidnapping my son. How could you even think such a thing might be true?”

“Laura,” he said, sighing deeply. “Listen. The truth is, there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence against her. It might not hold up in a court of law, but the police should be investigating her. The trouble is her relationship with the police commissioner has made that impossible. No one in the department will touch her.”

“You know that for a fact?”

“If anyone even tried to investigate her, he’d answer to Commissioner Jaeger.”

Laura fought back tears. She didn’t believe him, but she didn’t want him to know how much it hurt to hear his voice. It reminded her of how much she still loved him.

He changed topics. “Peter told me you and Dorothy have become good friends.”

“Yes, she’s a wonderful person. I enjoy her company.” She didn’t tell him that she had plans to meet Dorothy for lunch later that day.

After an awkward pause, Erich let out an exasperated breath. “Laura, why won’t you see me? I can’t believe what I said about your aunt has destroyed our relationship. That’s not right. I won’t believe it.”

“Believe whatever you want,” Laura snapped. She hung up the phone and burst into tears.

A couple of hours later, she walked down the steep flight of stairs leading to the Village Vanguard. The Vanguard had opened about six years earlier as a small theatre. Over the years it had gained a reputation for serving some of the best coffee and sandwiches in the city. She loved their taleggio cheese with heirloom tomatoes on a Kaiser roll. Laura was tremendously relieved to be at the end of her first trimester. She’d really missed eating.

During the evening the Vanguard often hosted up-and-coming singers, and the owners were gaining the reputation of discovering some amazing talent. When they were first married, she and Phillip had gone there, but he’d said everyone was too scruffy for his taste. Because of that, she didn’t have to worry about seeing him there, which was a relief. He still called her a few times a week to talk about the investigation, but he had stopped asking her to come back to him.

She found a table and waved at Dorothy when she saw her by the door. It was the first time they’d seen each other in weeks. Dorothy was so far along in her pregnancy she looked as if she had a basketball in front of her. Laura grinned.

“Yes, I know,” Dorothy said wryly. “And I still have two months before my due date. Peter swears I’m carrying twins.”

Laura watched her friend squeeze into the seat.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me, Laura Kingsley!”

“I’m not laughing. Really I’m not.” I’ll be in the same boat pretty soon, she thought. “What does the doctor say? Does he think it’s twins?”

“No, he only hears one heartbeat. I didn’t feel this way the first time, though. I’m constantly tired, my back hurts and I have no patience with either my husband or my son.”

Laura wanted to commiserate but caught herself in time. “Peter should understand and try to help you as much as he can.”

“You know how men are,” Dorothy said, then paused and gazed at Laura. “Laura, Erich is miserable without you. He’s a broken man. Don’t you know how much he loves you? Peter and I are worried about him. Why won’t you see him? Talk to him. If you do I just know the two of you can straighten things out.”

“I can’t. I’m not ready. He has to stop saying things about my aunt.”

Dorothy glanced over the menu then put it down. “But what if he’s right about her?”

“Oh no. Not you, too. I’m telling you he’s wrong. I know her and I know she’s no angel, but she’d never do anything to hurt either me or Todd. She loves us both too much. No. What it comes down to is Erich and I don’t understand each other. I wish we did, but we don’t. He refuses to see my point of view and I’ve already been married to one man like that. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Chapter Forty-Four

A few days before Easter, Virginia sat at her desk in the living room of her brownstone, finalizing plans for Bacchanal’s annual New Years Eve party. She glanced up when someone knocked on the door, but when she opened it, no one was there. They’d left an envelope in the mailbox, though. She stepped back inside and used her letter opener to slice it open and reveal a note. She’d received quite a few of these little anonymous nuggets recently.

Whoever had written it claimed to know who had kidnapped Todd and where he was. This time they’d included a lock of what they claimed was the little boy’s hair. She doubted it was important, but she’d take it to the police so they could compare it to the lock Laura had. Then again, she didn’t know why she should bother. The whole police investigation was little more than a farce. That inept detective, Ben Wilson, didn’t have any idea what he was doing.

She hadn’t seen her niece in nearly two months, and she missed her very much. Every time Virginia called, Laura didn’t want to talk. If she suggested they get together for lunch or something, Laura came up with one excuse after another. Many of the excuses were so ridiculous Virginia wondered if Laura were trying to hide something from her. She’d made it very clear she didn’t want to see her. Virginia had even gone unannounced to her apartment once, but Laura had refused to let her inside.

She’d had enough of Laura’s nonsense. Whatever was going on, Virginia needed to know. She showered quickly, changed into black slacks and a white blouse and headed out to her Packard. The traffic was terrible. Forty-five minutes later she pulled up in front of 12 Patchin Place, pleased she had been able to find a parking space.

When she rang the doorbell, no one answered for several minutes. She waited, wondering if Laura were even home. Then the door opened, revealing a hugely pregnant Laura, who stared open-mouthed at her aunt. Suddenly everything fell into place. Especially Laura’s reluctance to see her and Erich. She wondered briefly if the baby were Phillip’s or Erich’s but quickly dismissed the idea. It had to be Erich’s.

Laura’s lips were pursed tight, her brow drawn down in a furious scowl. “You should have respected my wishes.”

“I couldn’t, honey,” she said, trying to disguise her shock. “I missed you too much. Let me come in?”

Grudgingly, Laura opened the door the rest of the way and let her inside. They headed into the living room and sat on the flowered chintz sofa. Virginia faced her niece, staring at her anguished profile. Laura stared straight ahead, studying a painting on the wall which her mother had commissioned when Laura and her sister were little girls.