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“He was hurt, too. He’s in the hospital at Courage Bay. They said he’s not injured too seriously but—”
Grant didn’t hear the rest. He was already running for his car.
ANDREA DECIDED her guardian angel must be working overtime. First, when she’d dashed back inside the house, she’d found Vicki’s address book in the kitchen and had been able to contact Grant Corbin’s office. Now, speeding to catch up with the ambulance, it seemed her luck was holding. Using the mobile phone she’d borrowed from Alex, Andrea released a sigh of relief when her father answered. Nine times out of ten, her mother was the one who picked up first, and Andrea wouldn’t have been able to give her the news.
A retired Navy man, Jack Hunt was the rock of the family. The rest of them, including Karen, Andrea and Vicki’s mother, depended on him. He started speaking before Andrea could say anything.
“Your mother’s out shopping again,” he said. “I swear, Andrea, I think she’s determined to spend every dime I make! As far as an inheritance goes, forget about it. I know you won’t need any help, but Vicki’s another story. She’s never been able to hold down a decent job and—”
“Dad… Dad, hold up for a minute, okay? I…I need to talk to you.”
He fell silent and Andrea told him what had happened. By the time she finished, she was crying, but he reacted as she’d expected. Stoic and in control. Only his voice gave him away and no one other than Andrea would have caught that.
“I’ll find your mother,” he said hollowly. “We’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can.”
“We’re pulling in right now,” she said. “Look for me in the emergency room.”
Tossing the phone aside, she parked her Jeep and jumped out. Just as she reached the entrance, the ambulance driver wheeled Kevin’s gurney through the E.R. doors at full speed. One of the trauma nurses, Jackie Kellison, ran to meet them, the newest E.R. resident, Amy Sherwood, right beside her.
Andrea explained the accident as the nurse and doctor rolled the child into one of the examining rooms. Without his mother or father present, Andrea had no legal basis to sign for his care but in Courage Bay, lives counted more than the rules.
“Tell me where it hurts, Kevin.” Dr. Sherwood pressed her fingers against his belly while glancing down at his leg. When he didn’t answer, she looked at him and repeated her question. When he still said nothing, she looked at Andrea.
“He’s got some…communication issues.” Andrea searched her rattled brain for the term Vicki had used and finally came up with it. “His mother said the condition’s called ‘selective mutism.’”
The resident nodded once, then without missing a step, continued her examination, talking to Kevin all the while as if she fully expected him to answer.
She was still poking and prodding when Andrea’s parents bustled into the room.
Karen Hunt’s slim figure and blond highlights usually hid her real age of sixty, but the news of Vicki’s accident had added years. Her eyes were frantic and wild, her face pale and lined. Even her clothing was disheveled—she’d clearly changed before they’d rushed to the hospital and her blouse was misbuttoned.
She caught Andrea’s eye and shook her head minutely, a silent understanding passing between mother and daughter. This wasn’t the place for them to cry and console each other. Not in front of Kevin. For his sake, they had to stay in control of themselves. Nothing meant more than him right now, including their own grief.
Andrea acknowledged the message then moved away from the bed so they could get closer. Her mother grabbed Kevin’s fingers and began to talk to him softly, Jack Hunt going to the other side of the bed to place a beefy hand on the child’s shoulder.
Andrea slipped into the corridor, leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
GRANT COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time he’d been to Courage Bay. Speeding south from L.A., the Impala pushed to its limit, all he could think about were the times he hadn’t come.
The Hunts’ twentieth anniversary. Christmas two years ago. Vicki’s birthday the first year they’d been married.
She had wanted to visit Courage Bay more often, but each time they’d tried, his job had seemed to interfere. Vicki hadn’t bought his explanation that murderers didn’t take off on holidays. She’d accused him of manufacturing excuses, saying he didn’t want to go with her because he hated her family.
She’d been half right. Sometimes he had used work as an excuse, but not the way she thought.
His problem was actually the opposite of her complaint. He loved Karen and Jack Hunt but in the L.A. world he’d come to consider his own, people like them just didn’t exist. Years of working Vice and now Homicide had made him forget how to act around moral and sane individuals. The only way he could deal with the situation seemed to be by avoiding them.
Then there was Andrea. Vicki’s little sister.
The first time he’d met her, he’d been shocked. He’d never seen two individuals, including twins, who resembled each other so strongly.
A striking woman with thick honey-colored hair and dark-blue eyes, Vicki had brought the JP’s office to a standstill the day they had walked in to get married. Grant had felt eyes on him, too, everyone wondering why in the hell someone like her would be marrying someone like him. Andrea shared that beauty but there was more to her than there had been to Vicki, something deeper, something darker.
After he’d gotten to know her a bit, Grant had relaxed enough to hold a decent conversation with Andrea, but he’d always found himself wondering if she’d feel the same, kiss the same, make love the same…as Vicki. He knew his disquiet came from somewhere other than just the uncanny resemblance the two women shared yet he hadn’t wanted to examine his reactions too closely. He had been married to Vicki, after all.
In the end, he had let his wife visit her family alone. They had all been so happy to see Kevin, no one had really noticed his father was absent and that had been fine with Grant.
He gripped the steering wheel and prayed the little boy would be okay. Kids had never figured much in Grant’s life until Kevin had been born, then he’d begun to understand what all the fuss was about. Despite the circumstances, Grant couldn’t have possibly loved Kevin any more than he already did—it had damn near killed him when they’d packed up and left.
Kevin had been four, almost five, at that point. Grant shook his head. Where had the time gone? He and Vicki had been divorced a bit more than a year and Grant hadn’t seen Kevin once during that time. Would he even remember who Grant was? Would he still throw his arms around Grant’s neck and hug him tight?
Grant had expected little from his marriage, and he hadn’t been disappointed. He’d known the score from the very beginning, however, and he had no right to complain. Vicki could have had any man on the planet yet she’d picked him. He still didn’t know why but he no longer cared, either. Kevin was all that mattered.
Reaching the outskirts of Courage Bay, Grant realized that his love for Kevin was all he had left. With sudden resolve, he promised himself he’d take care of this once and for all. He’d be the kind of father the little boy deserved.
And that was a promise Grant Corbin would keep.
CHAPTER THREE
ANDREA’S MOTHER AND FATHER stood by the edge of Kevin’s gurney while his doctor and the hospital’s orthopedic surgeon discussed his situation. At the foot of the bed, Andrea listened, as well. The two physicians came to a consensus quickly. An operation might be necessary, but it would be simple and straightforward, a matter of aligning Kevin’s bones. Pending the outcome of the X rays, they might even be able to avoid surgery completely.
The radiation technician came to take the child for his tests and Jack leaned over his grandson. “I think I’ll come along with you, big guy,” he said. “If you don’t care, I’d like to see how they do this.”
Kevin blinked twice and his expression cleared. He couldn’t have spoken and made his relief more known.
Andrea watched them leave, her mother at her side.
“We might as well go to the cafeteria and get something to eat,” Andrea said. “He’ll be in X ray for a while. I’ll tell the nurses where we are and they can come get us.”
Taking off the mask of cheerfulness she’d put in place for Kevin’s sake, Andrea’s mother let her features collapse into the shell-shocked expression she’d worn earlier. She held up her hand at Andrea’s suggestion and shook her head. “No. No food. I don’t want anything to eat. I want a cigarette.”
Karen Hunt hadn’t smoked in ten years. Andrea opened her mouth to protest but she swallowed her words. They all needed whatever help they could get, wherever they could find it.
They walked across the street to a convenience store and bought a package of cigarettes, returning a few minutes later to the benches near the ambulance bay doors. Her mother lit up while Andrea sat in silence.
Karen Hunt smoked with determination, repeatedly drawing on the cigarette until she started to cough. After a bit, she dropped the butt, ground it beneath her heel, then looked at Andrea. There was steel in her voice. “Tell me what happened. And I want the truth.”
Andrea gave her mother as many details as she could remember. “I didn’t have time to check before we left,” she said as she finished, “but I think Vicki was probably trying to anchor the armoire to the wall and that’s when it went over. It always was unstable and top-heavy.”
Her grief segued into anger and she hit the bench with her fists. “I told Vicki it was silly to cart that damn thing all around the state. She should have left it—”
Her mother, revealing a strength that surprised Andrea, reached out and covered Andrea’s clenched hands. “Drop it, Andrea. The reason the armoire fell over isn’t important. What matters is that…” She paused and drew a shaky breath. “What matters is that Vicki is gone. What she’d want us to do now is take care of Kevin. That’s what we have to concentrate on. Kevin.”
Andrea struggled to pull herself together. The effort took the last of her energy. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re right…. In fact, Kevin’s the first thing she mentioned when I called and offered to help her unpack. She said she’d take the help, but she needed advice regarding him more than she needed anything else.”
Her mother nodded. “About his silence?”
Andrea stared at her mother in surprise. “You knew?”
“Vicki told me of the problem several months back. I advised her to talk to a therapist.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Vicki asked me not to say anything.” Her mother wrapped both hands around her package of cigarettes, then looked into the distance. “She was upset. She felt it was her fault for being a bad mother and said you’d never have a problem so lame and she didn’t want you to know. I guess her concern for Kevin finally overran her embarrassment and that’s why she told you.”
Andrea felt her mouth drop open. “But Vicki was a good mother! And I would never have said anything regardless of—”
Karen Hunt held up her hand. “I know that and you know that, but Vicki didn’t. She was very insecure, Andrea. She always looked up to you. She thought you were perfect.”
“Perfect? Me? Oh, God…” Andrea buried her face in her hands. “Why on earth would she think that?”
“Mrs. Hunt?”
A voice broke through Andrea’s anguish. She looked up to see a woman from the front office approach her mother with an outstretched hand.
“I’m Wendy from Intake. We need some information about Kevin and since his father isn’t here yet and his mother…is gone, I need your help. If you could come with me…?”
Andrea’s mother jumped up from the bench and followed the woman back inside. Feeling numb and empty, Andrea sat quietly, the thought of Vicki fretting over her so-called “perfection” too much to even comprehend. The idea was ridiculous.
Andrea was far from perfect. Very, very far.
GRANT HURRIED toward the double doors of the Courage Bay E.R., the pavement beneath his feet steaming from the sun’s steady heat. A thousand scenarios ran through his head as he walked, none of them good. They fled his consciousness, however, when a flash of motion off to one side caught his eye. He turned and looked closer, suddenly thinking Holly had been wrong.
Vicki wasn’t dead. She was right there, twenty feet away.
A millisecond passed, then he realized his mistake.
He was looking at Andrea.
She wore a pair of white shorts and a red T-shirt, her thick hair pulled back haphazardly, her face free of cosmetics. Obviously prepared for nothing more than an average day at home, she looked devastated by what had happened, her slumped posture reflecting her state of mind, her gaze directed toward the ground as if it held some cosmic secret.
As he continued to stare, she raised her head. Across the grassy slope that separated them, their gazes converged.
Nothing dramatic or heart-stopping occurred. Grant didn’t feel a jolt of awareness or a tingle down his spine. His heart didn’t leap out of his chest or even jump at all.
He merely felt empty.
Vicki Hunt had manipulated him and used him, then she’d sent him on his way. He’d known exactly what she was doing and he’d been a willing victim, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt. He would have thought the old pain might surface upon seeing Andrea, but apparently it’d sliced through him cleanly, albeit all the way to the bone. He felt nothing at all.
Changing directions, he headed toward her and she stood as he came near. Up close her feelings were even more apparent, but instead of the grief he expected, Grant saw anger on her face. He wasn’t too surprised—people handled death differently.
Her voice was hoarse and throaty. “You got my message, I see.”
Grant didn’t waste any time. “How is he? Can I see him?”
“They’re still checking for internal injuries. Kevin’s in X ray right now. When he finishes there, you can probably see him, but that’s going to be a while longer.”
“Tell me what happened.”
She recited the basic facts in a dry and emotionless manner. He could tell she’d already told the story more times than she wanted.
The minute she stopped speaking, questions flooded his mind but Grant stayed silent, approaching the situation the same way he did everything in his life—as if this was an investigation he was about to undertake. He’d gather the facts, study them, then proceed.
He realized belatedly she was waiting for him to comment. “I came as quickly as I could,” he said awkwardly.
Her gaze was steady. “That’s nice. But I only called because I thought you should know what had happened. I can handle the situation.”
“I’m sure you can handle just about anything, but—”
“I can,” she reiterated. “You should have phoned first and I would have saved you the trip.”
“‘Saved me the trip’?” He repeated the words carefully. “I don’t believe I understand.”
“The way Vicki explained things, I didn’t think you’d care that much, one way or the other.”
Doubting Vicki had employed the truth in her explanation, Grant cursed under his breath. The real story could take her down as efficiently as it could him.
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what your sister said?” Grant said. “It might make things easier.”
“It might,” she conceded. “But I don’t intend to share her confidences. I think it’d be best if you left.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Kevin is my son.”
“That’s stretching it a bit, don’t you think?”
Grant put on a rigid mask, his chest going tight. “What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m making a point. You left Vicki and Kevin. You abandoned them. That’s not the kind of thing a loving father and husband does to his family.”
His relief outweighed the sting her words brought with them. Still, a dilemma remained. Should he go along with the assessment and look like an asshole or try to convince her that Vicki had lied? Either way, he’d lose.
He stalled. “Is that what Vicki told you? That I abandoned them?”
Andrea stared at him without answering.
“Well, I guess that answers that,” he finally said. “You’ve made up your mind. I won’t try to confuse you with the facts.”
IN THE FOUR YEARS Grant Corbin had been married to her sister, Andrea had talked to the man maybe half a dozen times. On the rare occasions when everyone managed to shake free from their busy lives and meet in Courage Bay for a family get-together, something seemed to come up at the last minute that kept Grant from attending. Each time, Vicki had excused him by saying crimes weren’t scheduled, but Andrea had always wondered.
Now she wondered even more. Accustomed to facing the unknown and dealing with whatever arose, she still felt a nameless anxiety building.
He was lying to her and she had no idea why.
“My sister gave me the facts. I know what happened.”
“I doubt you know it all….” he retorted. “There were things I did that I shouldn’t have, but the same could be said for Vicki. I love Kevin, though. Surely she didn’t say that wasn’t the case.”
Andrea started to answer, then heard her name. She turned to see her mother standing by the E.R. door.
