Shadows from the Grave (41 page)

Nerves settled, Annie reached out and knocked softly on the door. Within seconds, Charlie opened it. Seeing Chase and Annie, he held up a hand. “Lauren, I’ll be right back.” Chase and Annie stepped back as he came out into the hall. He made sure the door was closed behind him and turned to Annie with a scowl.

“What the hell happened yesterday? Are you okay?” Before she could respond, he pulled her into a bear hug and held on tight. “I heard the news this morning and damned near had a heart attack.” Charlie released her to hug Chase, who was surprised by the other man’s display of emotion.

Annie sniffled back tears and tried to smile. “I’m fine. Just a little out of sorts. Does Lauren know?”

“No, she was asleep when the report came on. She has been asking when you were going to get here, though. I think she’s a little hurt,” he said. Seeing Annie’s distress, he grimaced. “I don’t mean it like that. With the birth and everything, her hormones are in turmoil more than ever. Once you explain, and she calms down, it will be fine.”

“So do we need to tell her now or wait?” Annie asked.

“Go ahead and tell her now,” Charlie advised. “She’s doing fine, physically, and she shouldn’t stress out too badly.” He smiled. “You ready to meet our youngest daughter?”

“I would love to meet her,” Annie said. “Have you decided on a name? Beth said you couldn’t.”

Charlie’s look was sheepish. “We’re pretty sure it’s going to be Katy something. Maybe.” He held his finger up to his lips and opened the door. “Lauren, honey, I brought you something.”

“Another present? Charlie! You’ve already given me enough,” Lauren protested with a laugh. “But bring it on in. What is it?”

The curtain was drawn between the room and the door, and Charlie peeked around it. “You decent?”

Whatever Lauren said was lost when Charlie drew the curtain back so she could see who stood behind him. Annie and Chase walked into the room quietly, and when Lauren saw them, she instantly teared up.

“You came! Oh, Annie. Chase. Where have you been?” she asked quietly. She was seated in the rocking chair feeding the baby. “Are you okay?”

“We’re fine, Momma,” Annie said. She moved to Lauren’s side and pulled up the footstool beside the chair to sit on. Very carefully, she embraced her friend, all the while keeping her eyes on the baby. Eyes alert, the infant was noisily sucking down the contents of her bottle.

“Oh God, Lauren. She’s so tiny! And beautiful,” Annie said. When Chase handed her some Kleenex, she took them with an absent thanks and wiped her face. He handed more to Lauren, who smiled up at him.

“What do you think, Counselor?”

“I think she’s gorgeous, just like her mother. Congratulations, Lauren.”

“Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit,” she said. “She looks like Charlie, I think. Do you want to hold her, Annie?”

Annie’s eyes were huge. “Um, sure?”

“You’ll be fine,” Lauren assured her. She set the bottle in her lap and handed the baby to Annie. “Just support her head.” When Annie was more comfortable, Lauren handed her the bottle.

“Just put it up to her mouth, keeping the bottom up. She knows what to do,” Charlie instructed. Sure enough, as soon as the nipple brushed her lips, the baby latched on.

“So what’s with the name debate?” Chase asked. “You can’t just keep calling her ‘Baby’ and ‘she’ and ‘her.’ I like Gertrude, myself.”

“No, she’s not a Gertrude,” Annie said softly. She glanced up at Charlie. “You mentioned Katy?”

He nodded. “That’s the name de jour, at least right now.”

“She looks like a Katy. It’s cute, perky, adorable.”

“Yes, but when she grows up, people won’t take her seriously if she’s a Katy,” Lauren said.

“Sure they will,” Chase said. “It’s all about how she carries herself. It won’t hold her back unless she lets it.”

“True,” Lauren said. “And it’s better than a fluffy name no one can spell. You really like Katy?”

Charlie smiled. “I do like Katy. It’s nice with the middle name we’ve picked out, too. Katy Grace. What do you think?”

Chase laughed softly. “Does Beth know about the Grace part?” When Lauren and Charlie both looked at him with puzzled expressions, he explained, “Beth’s middle name. It’s Grace. It was our grandmother’s name on Mom’s side.”

Lauren’s eyes widened. “Oh. I forgot about that.”

“Bottle’s empty. Now what?” Annie asked.

“Now she needs to be burped,” Charlie said. “I’ll take her.” He put a clean cloth over his shoulder and, very carefully, he lifted the baby to his shoulder. Seeing her brother’s expression so full of love set Annie off again.

“Ah, hell,” she said. Chase handed her another tissue. “I like the name—Katy Grace.”

“So where have you two been?” Lauren asked. “Beth said something about a break in the case?”

“Actually, it’s a little more complicated than that,” Annie said. Slowly, she explained. Chase added details along the way and, before long, they’d brought Charlie and Lauren up to date. Lauren was subdued, her expression troubled.

“Travis. All this time, it’s been Travis?” she asked. “I can’t believe it. My God, I was alone with him last year. I liked him, damn it.”

Charlie laid the sleeping baby in her bassinette and moved to Lauren’s side. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

Lauren let him hold her for a few minutes, and then she straightened. “I’m okay. I’ll deal with it later. Right now I’m just glad Annie’s okay and this whole ordeal is over.” She shook her head. “I just wish it had turned out to be someone else.”

After telling Lauren and Charlie about everything that had happened the day before, Annie was exhausted. She could tell that the strain was wearing on Lauren, as well. “We’re heading out,” she told her sister-in-law with a hug. “I think we could all use some rest.” Charlie walked them to the door and hugged both Annie and Chase again before they headed to the nurse’s station to sign out.

On the way back to Chase’s condo, the ride was quiet. Annie could feel the stress coming off her in waves and, given the way Chase’s hand gripped the gear shift, she figured he could, as well. Once inside the apartment, Annie scooped an ecstatic Murphy into her arms. He had run to them as soon as Chase opened the door.

“Oh, buddy, I’m glad to see you, too,” she told the cat, who was rubbing his face all over hers with a loud purr. Chase stepped up and ruffled his fur, and Murphy climbed from Annie onto Chase.

“Poor baby, he’s so excited to see us. Think he knows something was wrong?” Chase asked.

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the least,” Annie said. “He’s a sensitive little cat.” Feeling a little awkward, she walked into the living room. “I hate relying on you for transportation.”

Chase followed her and put Murphy down on the back of the couch. “I know. But hopefully you’ll have your car back this afternoon.” He paused, and Annie could see he was feeling the tension in the room. “What do you want to do now?”

“About what? Do you mean right this minute, or today in general?” Annie shrugged. “I don’t know, Chase. I guess I would just like to go home right now. Now that I know Murphy’s okay, I need to be by myself, think things through.”

“Okay. I can take you home. Will you call me?” he asked.

Annie nodded. “Yeah, I will. You aren’t mad, are you?”

Chase hesitated. “Mad? No. Hurt a little, but that’s my problem. Let’s just say I understand that it’s been a long couple of days, and leave it at that, okay?”

Without very much more being said between the two of them, they got back in Chase’s car, and he drove her to the guest house. When he pulled in the driveway, he put the car in neutral and set the emergency brake.

“What are you going to do about your car?” he asked.

Annie sighed. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out, though.”

“Does this mean you’re breaking up with me?”

Annie didn’t respond immediately, and she kept her head turned away from Chase so that he wouldn’t see the turmoil on her face. It was taking every ounce of strength in her to get out of the car and walk away, and if she saw how much she was hurting him, she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it.

“I don’t… I’m scared, Chase. I need some time to think about things.”

“That’s not really an answer, Annie. Which is almost an answer in and of itself,” he said. “Is this about Lauren and Charlie?”

Startled, she glanced at him briefly. “What do you mean?”

Chase sighed. “Annie, I’m not stupid. I saw the way you held that baby. I know you already have some issues about being good enough for me, or some such nonsense. Is the fact that you can’t have children why you’re upset?”

“That’s part of it. I just… I can’t talk about
us
right now, Chase. I can’t do it. Please, just give me some time.” She had to close her eyes to stop the tears from falling.

Finally, Chase relented. “Just do me a favor, come to me when you decide, tell me in person? At least do that for me?”

“I will,” she agreed. “I have to go, Chase.” She fumbled with the door handle and, when she managed to open it, she got out of the car and didn’t look back.

~ * * * ~

Chase drove to the house he had bought from L.J. Root, the house he had hoped to share with Annie, even though he hadn’t put that thought into words, even to himself. For a long time, he sat on the front porch steps and watched the river, not really seeing the boats, or even the traffic on the highway in front of the house. When his cell phone rang, he jumped and reached for it so quickly he dropped it. His heart leapt into his throat, thinking it might be Annie calling. Instead, Gordon’s name popped up on the caller ID.

“Hey, man,” Gordon said when he answered. “Where are you?”

“Around. Why?”

“Are you okay, Chase? You sound funny. Something didn’t happen, did it?”

Chase laughed bitterly. “Nah, nothing much. I don’t want to talk about it. What’s going on?”

Gordon sighed. “Not much here, either. Look, I know you’re busy with Annie, and I won’t keep you. I just wanted to… I don’t know. Touch base, I guess. I’m kind of at a loose end.”

“Well, as it happens, I’m not busy with Annie. Good chance I won’t be ever again, if I’m reading things correctly. You want to meet up and go get drunk somewhere?” Chase could tell from Gordon’s silence that the other man was shocked, but Gordon didn’t ask him what had happened. Chase was grateful for that respite.

“Sure, sounds like a good plan to me. Your place or mine?”

“Are you still in Leroy?” Chase asked. When Gordon told him he was, Chase stood up. “Then meet me at my place in thirty minutes. Bring alcohol.”

Chase headed back to the condo and, though he knew getting drunk out of his mind wouldn’t fix anything, for now, it would provide some much-needed oblivion. If he could share that misery with Gordon, who had his own troubles, then all the better.

~ * * * ~

A hundred times over the next day, Annie almost called Chase, almost went to see him. She knew she owed him an explanation, but she wasn’t sure she could even put her feelings into words. She had run away, and she was ashamed of that, but she needed time to get her head on straight. So, as much as she wanted to reach out to Chase, to let him know that he wasn’t the problem, something held her back. By the next afternoon, she knew what she had to do, at least in the meantime. She called Beth to let her know.

“You’re doing what?” Beth asked.

“I’m going to Mom and Ralph’s in Virginia. I need some time to think. You understand that, right? Please, of all the people who know me, you should understand that I need to get away from here. I can’t think when everything I see reminds me of Chase.”

“I guess I understand,” Beth stammered. “But what about Chase?”

“We… I… it’s complicated, Beth. I just need some time, some space. I don’t want to call him right now. I’m not ready for that. Can you let him know that I’ll contact him as soon as I get back?” Annie asked.

“Sure.” Beth sighed. “Why not? Send me to break my brother’s heart. You will be back, won’t you?”

“Yes. I will,” Annie promised. “And soon. I just need a few days to think.”