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Silent Witness
Leona Karr
Colorado detective Ryan Darnell found the quiet of his small mountain town shattered when a young, hearing-impaired boy witnessed a brutal murder. With the help of the boy's summer guardian, Marian Richards, protecting the child became his first priority. Yet as he closed in on the truth behind the crime, Ryan found that sharing long days and even longer nights with the beautiful, brown-eyed Marian was a temptation he couldn't resist.As both the investigation and the summer drew to a close, Ryan knew it was only a matter of time before Marian returned to the city…and left him wanting a future he'd never imagined possible.
Ryan had to resist putting his arms around her.
He settled for lightly tipping his chin up so he could look straight into those soft brown eyes. “It’s going to be all right.”
She nodded, but her eyes betrayed her fright. He was startled by a suddenly overwhelming need to protect her at all costs. More than that, he realized he wanted to draw her close and kiss those trembling lips. His gaze must have dropped to her lips, but instead of pulling away from his touch, her mouth seemed to part slightly with anticipation.
Then she suddenly did pull back as they heard a noise in the hall. And without much more warning than that, they were back to business.
Before turning away, she hesitated as if she wanted to say something more. Then she headed for the door.
“Good night, then,” he said, but all she gave him in return was a quick nod. And then she was gone.
The moment was over.
LEONA KARR
SILENT WITNESS
TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND
To Leslie Pitz and Angela Hart, with thanks for their help,
encouragement and love.
Contents
About the Author
Cast of Characters
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A native of Colorado, Leona Karr lives near the front range of the Rocky Mountains. She delights in being close to craggy cliffs, dramatic peaks and hidden valleys. It is no surprise, then, that she chooses this setting for many of her books. She has been on the Waldenbooks bestseller list and received many awards as a multipublished author of novels of romantic suspense, gothic, historical romance, time travel and mystery.
Books by Leona Karr
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
574—INNOCENT WITNESS
623—THE MYSTERIOUS TWIN
672—LOST IDENTITY
724—SEMIAUTOMATIC MARRIAGE
792—A DANGEROUS INHERITANCE
840—SHADOWS ON THE LAKE
900—STONEVIEW ESTATE
949—CHARMED
973—SHADOW MOUNTAIN
1056—SILENT WITNESS
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CAST OF CHARACTERS
Marian Richards—Director of the summer program for deaf children.
Ryan Darnell—Detective at Rock Creek Police Department.
Scotty Tanner—The eleven-year-old rebellious boy attending the summer program who may have witnessed a murder.
Alva Wentworth—Wealthy elderly owner of Wentworth mansion and estate.
Ruth Tilman—Officious personal secretary to Alva Wentworth.
Henry Ziller—Cantankerous caretaker of Wentworth estate.
Victor Blaise—Henry’s nephew is both transient and dangerous.
Toby Bower—Forensic detective at Rock Creek Crime Laboratory.
Arthur Kennedy—The Denver lawyer hired to oversee the summer program may have come with his own agenda.
Nancy Collins and Ron Harman—Teachers involved with the summer program.
Bertha Higgins—Motherly nurse who helps children in the summer program.
Elsie Mullens—Wentworth estate cook, who is both outgoing and friendly.
Joyce Phillips—Is Ryan’s attractive ex trying to stir up trouble?
Prologue
Hidden in a thick drift of pine and cedar trees, Scotty Tanner didn’t hear the shot inside the mountain cabin even though a sharp gunfire report echoed loudly from the house. A chatter of blue jays in a nearby ponderosa pine went unheard as he waited and watched. Nothing but stillness dominated the deaf eleven-year-old boy’s world.
Scotty was spending the summer with a dozen other hearing-impaired children in a privately sponsored rehabilitation program held on a large mountain estate near Rock Creek, Colorado. He’d only been there for a week and had managed to duck out of most of the scheduled activities. He was patting himself on the back for slipping away right after lunch to investigate the mountain surroundings on his own.
About a half mile downstream from the large main house and outbuildings, he’d discovered a small cabin built near a swift-flowing mountain stream.
As he slowly moved out of the trees, his eyes darted in every direction.
No sign of anyone living in the place. No telling what kind of loot was waiting inside.
His heart jumped a beat as he boldly walked up the front steps. Shuffling nervously, he knocked on the door. He was glad he was good at reading lips and was ready with a lie about needing a drink of water if anyone opened it.
He’d lost his hearing a couple of years ago when he was running with a gang of older guys and had been experimenting with homemade bombs. One of them had gone off prematurely, injuring both his ears. Things had gone from bad to worse after that. He’d been made a ward of the court and the authorities took him away from his drug-addicted mother. Hating the close supervision and boring daily routines of foster care, he intended to make the most of this summer program for disadvantaged hearing-impaired kids. He’d go his own way and get some kicks this summer any way he could.
When no one responded to his knock, Scotty tried the door. Locked. Maybe he’d have more luck with a back door. A narrow deck circled the cabin and he quickly made his way around to a rear door flanked by two windows.
It was locked. Now what? What about a window? Both of them were locked, too, but he was able to remove one of the screens.
He hurriedly found a rock big enough to use as a sledge and used it to shatter the window glass. Carefully and swiftly, he removed the jagged shards and then hoisted himself through the opening into a small kitchen.
Inside, he hunched down in a waiting position, motionless and animal alert for any sign of danger. In the enveloping silence, he knew he had to depend entirely on sight to alert him. There would be no sounds to tell him what lay ahead, behind or beyond his peripheral vision.
Scotty could feel the skin on his neck prickling. He was alone in his silent world—or was he? Was some second sense warning him? As he fought the temptation to turn and bolt out the window, an inner voice mocked him. You turning into some yellow-bellied coward?
Straightening up and clenching his fists, he walked into the center of the kitchen and looked around. He opened some of the cupboards but didn’t see anything of interest. He couldn’t believe his luck when he spied an ashtray on the table with three long cigarette butts. He’d been dying for a smoke. He carefully put the butts in the pocket of his shirt and looked around for some matches but didn’t see any.
Then a portable radio sitting on the counter caught his attention. For a moment he forgot his deafness and reached for it. Then the truth stabbed him! Never again would he hear rap music blaring out of a radio station.
With childish fury and frustration, he lifted the radio over his head and threw it on the floor. Then, with a vicious kick he sent it sailing across the room.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair!
He knocked over two chairs, swept the counters clean, spilling objects all over the floor. Then stepping over the shattered and broken clutter, he left the kitchen through a doorway that opened into a front living room. Pressing up against one wall, he waited until he was satisfied that it was as empty as the kitchen.
Boldly he moved forward to see what he might find that was worth lifting. If he was lucky, he might even find a full pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
He had just taken a few steps into the room and was looking around, when he froze with sudden terror. Lying on the floor in front of the fireplace was the crumpled body of a man. His chest was bloody and his dead eyes stared straight at Scotty.
In that paralyzing moment, a shadow flickered across the front window, warning Scotty that someone was outside near the front door.
Frantically, he bolted back to the kitchen and pushed himself out the broken window. As he scrambled to his feet, he felt vibrations on the deck boards, warning him that someone was coming around the house.
He ran as fast as he could for the nearby cover of trees, not knowing if someone right behind him might be yelling, “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
Chapter One
As Marian Richards entered a large reception room in the Wentworth mansion, a hum of childish voices greeted her. The spacious, high-ceilinged room had been turned into an activity center, and as director of a summer program for disadvantaged hearing-impaired children, Marian was learning the hard way that the mountain estate with its imposing three-storied mansion had never been meant for a dozen eight-to twelve-year-old youngsters.
The property belonged to Alva Wentworth, a widow in her late seventies who was in a local nursing home. Located near one of the state’s popular tourist areas in southern Colorado the estate was worth a fortune and ripe for development. Countless investors had tried to persuade the wealthy widow to sell the estate but she had stubbornly held on to it. Her only heir had been a grandson, Stanley, whom she’d disinherited when she’d discovered a series of illegal maneuvers of his to get his hands on her money before she died. Everyone was amazed when she agreed to let the Colorado Foundation for Disadvantaged Children use the mansion and grounds for a children’s summer program.
Marian was determined that everything would go smoothly under her leadership. She’d been assistant director at a private school for the hearing impaired when she heard about the summer program and quickly applied for the position. She was delighted and slightly surprised when she was offered the job even though she was the youngest applicant, only thirty years old and still working on a doctorate in social services. She was determined that all would go smoothly, because this experience would be a professional stepping stone to the position of director at one of Colorado’s larger institutions.
Her first challenge had been to evaluate recommended children for the program. After considerable debate with teachers and social workers, she had chosen six boys and six girls of various ages and problems. She’d met with some negative reaction when she’d chosen Scotty Tanner, an eleven-year-old who had both hearing and emotional problems. Even his foster parents had warned her that the boy didn’t do well in groups.
As Marian entered the activity room, she looked around for Scotty but didn’t see the slender boy with unruly blond hair and snapping blue eyes. He usually dominated the Ping-Pong table, furiously venting his anger upon the small ball. Already Marian had learned that Scotty was constantly warring against the acceptance of his deafness and striking out at anything and everybody. He seemed intent upon isolating himself beyond what a hearing loss would create.
Uneasiness began to stir as she walked over to Rob Harman, a middle-aged physical-education teacher who had raised a deaf son and spent his summers working with the handicapped. He was easygoing and patient but at the same time firm enough to maintain control.
Marian had a staff of five people, counting herself, and was pleased they’d developed a summer curriculum that was both instructive and recreational.
“I don’t see Scotty in the room, Rob. Do you know where he is?”
“He was here right after lunch but complained his stomach hurt. He asked to go back upstairs to his bunk but I sent him to the nurse. I decided Bertha could tell whether he was goldbricking or not.” Rob sighed. “He’s not the most sociable kid on the block.”
