Reunion (19 page)

“I’m not leaving you. I won’t leave you, too.”

Gabriel dropped back against the seat in a panic. Laura had seen her own death. She’d also seen the face of the killer. He had to make somebody believe him before it was too late.

Laura was starting to get scared. The receptionist she’d just talked to had probably told Laura more than she should have, but she had been so desperate for news that she’d encouraged her to talk. According to the woman’s story, Dr. Wallis hadn’t shown up for work this morning, and everyone at Reed House was in an uproar. It seemed that he and the administrator, a Miss Althea Good, had had words yesterday, and Dr. Wallis had stormed out in a huff. They didn’t know whether he’d quit, or whether he was just forming a new plan.

“A plan for what?” Laura had asked.

At that point the receptionist’s information became sketchy. She wasn’t really sure why a plan would be needed, but that was what she’d heard.

As Laura listened to the woman talk, a feeling came over her that she knew all too well. Something had happened to Harry Wallis that had nothing to do with his argument with Althea Good. As soon as they disconnected, she reached for the phone book and flipped to the yellow pages, trying to find the hospital listings. For some reason, she knew that was where Harry Wallis had gone.

And, in a way, it made sense. Harry Wallis was a doctor. Doctors worked out of hospitals. But he wasn’t that kind of doctor. He doctored minds, not bodies. Still, she couldn’t get the feeling out of her head. With the phone propped between her ear and her shoulder, she began at the top of the listings and started to dial. Harry Wallis was somewhere within the maze of medical facilities in the Oklahoma City area, and when she found him, she would personally take him to OSBI headquarters herself, if she had to.

The early morning thunderstorm had lingered into midday, leaving the city streets wet and slick. Kirby Summers was of the opinion that his day had peaked around five minutes after nine, which was about the time they’d arrested Gabriel Connor. It had been going downhill ever since. He typed the last of his notes into the computer and hit Save just as the phone began to ring. Moments after he picked up the receiver, he was telling himself he’d been right all along. That downhill roll he was on…it was getting steeper with each passing minute.

Not trusting the weather any more than he trusted his mood to stay even, he grabbed his raincoat on the way out the door. He’d just gotten an order to see a man at Saint Anthony’s Hospital. The man’s name was Harry Wallis—Dr. Harry Wallis.

All the way out the door, he kept hearing Laura Dane telling him that he’d made a mistake. Kirby yanked his hat down low on his forehead, muttering as he strode to his car, “Damn this day. Damn that woman. Damn this whole miserable mess.”

All he knew was, if Gabriel Connor’s arrest hadn’t been righteous, he would never hear the end of it.

A short while later, he stopped at the nurses’ desk to ask directions to Harry Wallis’s room when someone touched his elbow. He turned. It was Laura Dane.

“Agent Summers, thanks for coming.”

His smile never reached his eyes. “I wasn’t given any choice,” he said briefly.

“Dr. Wallis’s room is this way,” she said, and started down the hall. “He got mugged last night on the way to the precinct. He was in surgery all morning, but I understand he’s going to be fine.”

Kirby looked skeptical, but Laura couldn’t blame him. This whole incident was too impossible to be believed. She paused at the door before taking Kirby inside.

“He’s still pretty groggy,” she explained. “But he’s been so insistent on talking to the police that his doctor has allowed this visit in the hopes Dr. Wallis will calm down after he’s said his piece.”

Kirby didn’t respond. He was reserving the right to judgment until after he’d heard what the man had to say. Right now, he was of the opinion that this was nothing more than a crazy alibi that had come a little too late. And then they entered the room, and the array of flowers stunned him. He couldn’t help but glance at some of the cards, and when he did, his opinion of this man quickly changed.

“Well I’ll be a—”

Laura turned. Her voice was just above a whisper. “Is something wrong?”

Kirby held up the card he’d just plucked from a basket of mums. “These are from the mayor, and those over there are from the governor and his wife.”

Laura nodded. “Dr. Wallis has a fine reputation.”

As Kirby poked the card back in the arrangement, he could feel that ball rolling him faster and faster downhill.

Laura stood at the side of Harry’s bed, hating to disturb his uneasy slumber, but cognizant that Gabriel’s well-being depended on what this man knew. Yes, in time, they would have been able to subpoena records from Reed House that would have proven their story, but they didn’t have time to waste. Every minute that Garrett Connor was still free on the streets was another minute someone’s life was in jeopardy.

“Dr. Wallis…it’s Laura. I got the policeman, just as you asked.” She motioned for Kirby to come closer and turned to him. “Say something to him,” she said. “Let him know you’re here.”

Kirby leaned forward. “Dr. Wallis, I’m Kirby Summers, OSBI. Miss Dane said you wanted to talk to me.”

The police? Why did he need the police? And then Harry remembered and began struggling to pull free of his drug-induced haze. He lifted his hand.

Kirby caught it, surprised by the strength of the man’s clasp.

“Nee’ tell you,” Harry mumbled. “Stop him.”

“Stop who, Dr. Wallis? Who do I need to stop?”

“Connor. Dangerous.”

Kirby frowned. “But we already have him in custody,” he said.

Harry stumbled on words and thoughts. “Found him? You found him already?”

“Yes, sir. We arrested him this morning.”

Laura glared at the agent. He was purposefully misinterpreting what Harry Wallis was trying to say.

“Tell him who you arrested,” she urged. “Tell Harry who you put in jail.”

Kirby rolled his eyes. He was tired of playing games with this woman.

“Gabriel Connor. We arrested Gabriel Connor. The DNA was a perfect match.”

Harry’s grip suddenly tightened on Kirby’s arm. “Wrong one, wrong one,” he kept muttering. “Not Gab’rel…Garrett. Garrett…my patient. Stop him…don’t let him do it again.”

Kirby’s last hope died. Short of calling this man a liar, which in his condition he could not, he had to accept what he’d said. At the least, he had to investigate it as fact.

“Are you telling me that you have a patient named Garrett Connor and that he’s Gabriel Connor’s identical twin?”

Harry closed his eyes and swallowed before whispering, “Yes.”

Kirby was fit to be tied. “I suppose you’re also going to want me to believe that Gabriel Connor did not know he had a brother?”

Harry nodded.

Laura added. “The housekeeper knew…the one who fainted at your feet this morning. But she’d honored her employers’ wishes and kept their secret.”

Kirby felt sick. Not only had they arrested the wrong man, but he was going to have all that paperwork to do over again.

“So, do we know where he is?” Kirby asked. “Has he been in contact with the family?”

Laura sighed. Unless Kirby was willing, here was where she would lose him again.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” she said quietly. “But only with Gabriel…and only from a distance.”

Kirby frowned. “What do you mean, from a distance?”

“Umm, it’s a bit like telepathy.”

Kirby threw up his hands. “Now, why didn’t I think of that myself? With psychics and visions, of course it would be telepathy. How could I have missed it?”

“Make fun all you like,” Laura said. “But Gabriel is the only link that we have to Garrett, and even he can’t control it.”

Kirby looked at her and then shook his head in disgust. “Why am I not surprised?” he muttered.

Laura refused to be swayed by the agent’s undisguised sarcasm. “You remember we told you that Gabriel kept hearing a voice?”

Kirby nodded.

“It’s Garrett. Somehow, I believe he’s linked himself to Gabriel…sort of like a homing device…and that he will eventually wind up at the Connor estate.” Then she played her last card. “Your best bet of capturing Garrett Connor before he does any more harm is to free his brother. Let Gabriel go home. Garrett will come, I know it.”

“Just like you knew Henry Loo would die?”

She lifted her chin and stared him straight in the eye. “Just like that,” she said softly.

“How do you live with yourself?” Kirby asked. But her answer shamed the cockiness out of him.

“Carefully, and only one day at a time.”

Gabriel hit the ground running and didn’t look back at the cab that was driving away. Before it dawned on him that he didn’t have his keys, Laura was standing in the doorway. In one leap, she was in his arms, laughing and crying all at once as he pulled her close.

“You’re home. You’re home,” she kept saying.

“And you’re still here,” he said gruffly.

“Someone had to be here to welcome you back.”

He closed his eyes as he pulled her close. His last homecoming had been from the hospital, and except for Matty, he’d come home to a huge empty house. Now there was Laura, and although she was only one more small female, she was everything that mattered. He gave her a quick, hungry kiss.

“How’s Matty?”

“I sent her home.”

He grinned. “Good.”

Laura chuckled. “I know that gleam in your eye.”

Gabriel’s grin widened. “Well, you know how it is in the Big House. No comforts of home. No women.”

Laura laughed aloud. “You were only gone a little over ten hours.”

“Ten hours, ten years—from where I was sitting, they seemed about the same.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “I can only imagine.”

Gabriel led her into the house, shutting the door behind them.

“Did you call Uncle Mike?”

She nodded. “He’ll be over tomorrow. Said he has an idea he wants to share.”

Gabriel’s eyes gleamed darkly as he raked her face with a hungry gaze.

“How late tomorrow?” he asked.

She grinned. “Oh, late enough. Besides, since you’ve been away for so long, I don’t imagine your uh…endurance…is quite up to par.”

He laughed and then stood in sudden silence as the dying sound echoed within the great hall.

“What is it?” Laura asked.

He looked at her, and then briefly touched her mouth with the tip of his finger.

“I didn’t think I would ever be able to do that again,” he said.

“Do what?” Laura asked.

“Laugh.” He held out his hand. Laura took it. “Come make love with me, Laura Dane.”

Tears quickened in her eyes, but she refused to succumb. “It would be my pleasure.”

She led the way upstairs.

H
e stood on top of a small, grassy knoll, silhouetted against the night sky like a strange, tragic beast. His thick dark hair, in need of a cut, brushed the edge of his collar and almost covered his ears. Even though his clothing was dirty and stained, he still changed his clothes every day, just like he’d been taught. His broad shoulders were thrown back, his arms outstretched, as if he were trying to catch hold of the world.

Only the moon saw the tears streaming down his cheeks. Only God knew the depths of his sorrow. In his mind, his people had thrown him away. The only link he still had was what came from his soul. Somewhere out there was a place he belonged, and he was following his heart to get there.

An owl hooted from a nearby tree. His hands instantly curled into fists as he spun around, his eyes straining and wide with fright. The bird lifted off from the tree, its great wings carrying it silently out of sight. When it was nothing but a memory, he relaxed.

Down below the hill, there were lights as far as the eye could see. He thought of his mother’s smiling face, his father’s happy laugh. Without making a sound, he dropped to his knees and began rocking himself to and fro.

Sometime later he slid all the way to the ground in exhaustion and pulled his bag up against his chest, cuddling it as if it were a pillow. The grass felt damp against his cheek, the ground rock hard against his bones. Too weary to find somewhere else to hide, he let his eyelids droop to a slow, sleepy close. A whisper slid out into the darkness. The whisper became words, one after the other, spilling out into the silence.

“‘Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die…”’

He fell asleep.

One minute Gabriel was asleep, and in the next breath he was awake and wondering why. Laura was right beside him, with her backside curled up against his lap. Her eyelashes fanned the crests of her cheeks; her breathing was slow and even. Even though all seemed well, there was an uneasy feeling he couldn’t ignore. The alarm system was on, so the security of the house had not been breached. Still concerned, he tilted his head, listening for sounds that were out of place. He heard nothing.

He glanced back at Laura, and as he watched her, she sighed deeply. He leaned close, eyeing a slight frown that was beginning to indent the middle of her forehead. After that, her lower lip slipped out in a pout.

He grinned. Must be one hell of a dream. He brushed a curl away from the corner of her eye and then pulled the covers up over her shoulders. As he did, the pout and the frown went away.

“Love you, baby,” he said softly, then slipped out of bed, careful not to waken her. Until he knew for sure that everything was all right, he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

As he stepped out into the hall, the hair on his arms suddenly stood. At that moment, he was struck with a sadness so profound that it was all he could do to keep walking. He moved past room after empty room, compelled by an urge he didn’t understand. And then the voice filled his head, and he knew what was happening.

Can’t find you…can’t find you.

It was Garrett. He was trying to come home.

Blanking out everything but following his heart, he disarmed the security system and then walked toward the French doors that led to the patio.

The flagstones were cold beneath his feet, the night air slightly damp from the rain that had passed. By the time he walked off the path and into the grass, the cuffs of his pajama bottoms were already wet, but he didn’t notice, and if he had, he wouldn’t have cared.

The sadness was growing stronger. Every breath he took caused him pain. By the time he’d walked past his mother’s rose garden and into the grounds beyond, tears were running down his face.

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the lawn and looked up at the sky. A few straggly clouds still lingered, drifting across the face of a new moon. Beyond that, a sprinkling of stars could be seen, winking and blinking as if they knew a secret they couldn’t tell.

“What is it?” Gabriel whispered, and then spread his arms, reaching for something that just wasn’t there. “What do you want from me?”

Another great wave of sadness washed through him, sending him down to his knees.

Find me. Find me.

“Why, God, why is this happening to me…and to Garrett? Haven’t we lost enough? Haven’t we suffered enough?”

Now I lay me down to sleep…

Gabriel choked on a breath. The words in his head were as clear as if someone were standing beside him reciting the rhyme. He exhaled sharply and then shuddered, waiting…waiting. But nothing happened. Just when he had decided the messenger was gone, something flashed in his mind—the image of two little boys on their knees by their bed. And in that moment, he knew what he was supposed to say. The next line. He was supposed to say the next line.

“‘I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”’

If I should die…

By the time the voice answered again, Gabriel was shaking with an odd sort of joy. This was beginning to feel familiar, and he wondered if he and Garrett had communicated like this as children. He took a deep breath. It was his turn next.

“‘Before I wake…”’

Gabriel waited, expecting the next line of the verse. But none came. For some reason, Garrett must be unable to finish. Gabriel lowered his head. It was the least he could do.

“‘I pray the Lord, my soul to take.”’

As soon as the words left his lips, the sadness disappeared, leaving him drained. Weary in both body and spirit, he stretched out on the ground and closed his eyes. Within minutes, he was asleep.

Laura was dreaming. In her dream she was lost in a house with no doors. There were bars on the windows, and if she stood on tiptoe, she could see Gabriel outside in the rose garden, but he couldn’t see her. She couldn’t get out—and he couldn’t get in.

She heard footsteps behind her. As she turned, frustration turned to fright. Gabriel was standing before her with a rose in his hand. Behind her, someone was beating on the window. She looked over her shoulder. There was Gabriel again, staring at her through the bars. That didn’t make sense. He couldn’t be in two places at once.

Just as she was about to scream, she awoke, and in the few seconds it took to regain her sense of self, she realized she was alone in the bed.

There were any number of reasons why Gabriel would be up. It could be anything from going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water, to suffering a case of insomnia and simply deciding to read a book. But instinct told her it was none of the above. Without giving herself time to think, she rolled out of bed and reached for her robe, slipping it on as she ran.

Hurry. Hurry.

The urgency of the message left her shaking. That wasn’t the same voice Gabriel kept hearing. This voice was soft and definitely feminine and, from what she could tell, hadn’t bothered to speak to anyone else but her.

“I am,” she whispered, then raced up the hall and down the stairs, led by an inner sense to the man she loved.

When she realized the security system had been turned off again, her hopes plummeted. That meant he’d gone outside. She kept thinking of the other times she’d found him out on the grounds, disheveled and bleeding, sometimes confused, and each time convinced that he’d watched someone die.

Hurry. Hurry.

The same word kept pounding over and over in Laura’s head as she searched through the rooms.

“Then help me,” she begged, and when she turned, the first thing she saw was that the French doors were ajar! Ah, a place to start looking. “Thank you very much,” she said softly, and bolted outside.

As she stepped out on the patio, she said a quick prayer. Someone—and she was calling on God for the job—needed to be looking after Gabriel, because she didn’t seem to be doing a very good job.

The grass was damp beneath her feet, and in spite of the heat of the days, the night air was almost cool. Glad for the robe she was wearing, she pulled it close around her neck and kept on walking. Past the rose garden, out beyond the tennis courts, onto the wide expanse of lawn that lay between the rock wall and the road.

It was there that she saw him, asleep on the ground, curled up on his side. One arm was stretched above his head for a pillow, the other tucked under his belly, as if he were cradling something—or someone.

Laura dropped to her knees beside him and then laid her hand on his heart. He shifted in his sleep but didn’t seem aware she was there. She took a deep breath and then slowly closed her eyes, opening her mind for whatever was there to come in.

At first there was nothing but darkness and the memory of the last thing she’d seen; a vast, velvet sky with a sprinkling of stars. His heartbeat was strong beneath the palm of her hand, and for a moment all she could feel was his life’s blood pumping in, pumping out, pumping all through his veins. Then the feeling began to expand.

She felt his breath.

Felt his skin.

Felt his tears.

Felt his pain.

Cold. So cold.

Laura shivered. That wasn’t Gabriel’s voice. She listened more closely, but when silence prevailed, she opened her eyes. Gabriel was looking up at her in sleepy confusion.

“Laura?”

She shook her head. “Not now,” she said softly. “Let’s just get you inside.” Then she pressed her hand against his cheek, frowning at what she felt. “Oh! You’re so cold!”

“What happened? Did I—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Laura said, and helped him to his feet. “Just come with me, love. We’ve got to get you warm.”

She was right, Gabriel thought. He was freezing. What in hell had prompted him to lie down outside in the dark? And the moment he asked himself that question, he realized he already knew. He stopped and looked back at where he’d been, and the knot in his belly hitched a little bit tighter.

I’m still mimicking Garrett’s moves.

His hands clenched into fists as he stared across the grounds.

“Garrett…where are you?”

Laura paused, her heart aching for all he and his brother were suffering.

“Gabriel, I’m so sorry.”

His eyes were dark with pain.

“How can I help him? I don’t know how to help him.”

Laura took him by the hand. “Come inside. You won’t be able to help anyone if you get sick.”

He followed her into the house, locking the doors and then resetting the alarm without speaking. By the time he got upstairs, she had a hot shower running and dry clothes on his bed.

When he entered the room, she saw the guilt on his face but refused to let him accept it.

“Don’t say it,” she said shortly. “This is not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

Gabriel was silent as he picked up his dry clothes, but as he got to the bathroom doorway, he stopped and turned.

“Laura, I
am
my brother’s keeper. I have no other choice.”

Althea Good was in a panic. Harry Wallis was in the hospital and talking his fool head off to anyone who would listen. The CEO had called her twice. It seemed Harry had raised one too many questions about a missing patient. She feared it would be a matter of time before it spread to the others.

Damn them all. If they only knew how desperate her life had become, they would have understood. These people in Reed House were of no use to society. They were nothing but a drain on their families and on humanity. In her opinion, most of them were less than human. They didn’t need all this extra care. She was the one who needed help, not them.

She laid her head down on her desk and wanted to cry. If only she could take back that day from her past. It had started as a flight of fancy. A fun but foolish thing to do on her fortieth birthday. After all, she’d thought, if she couldn’t make her own decisions by now, it was never going to happen. And it wouldn’t have been a big deal, except her old friend had lied.

“One hit won’t hurt. Just one little line. You only turn forty once in your life. After that, everything will be going downhill. Try it while you’re still young enough to enjoy it.”

That in itself had been enough to make Althea give a foolish taunt some serious consideration.

“Come on,” he cajoled. “You’ll love it. You’ll fly high and come down like a feather on the breeze. No fuss. No muss. What do you say?”

She stared down at the neat little lines. White powder on glass to sniff up one’s nose. Such a treat! Such a gamble! And he’d promised the sex would be great.

So she sniffed.

And she lost.

And he lied.

Her old friend hadn’t turned out to be a friend after all and her habit was pushing a thousand dollars a day. Desperate to fund her growing need for the drug, she’d sold her interest in the co-op in Aspen. She’d sold her Mercedes and was driving a Ford. Her jewelry was gone, and her credit cards were maxed out. It was after she’d realized she had nothing left to sell that she’d come up with the plan. And up until now, it had worked like a charm.