The Wreck (23 page)

Her skirt impeded him, so he pushed it up
and out of the way.

She tightened her arms and legs around
him.

A groan rumbled through him, straight
into her.

The sensation of falling had Carly
opening her eyes just as she landed on the sofa.

Brian settled on top of her and gazed
down at her.

She tucked her hands under his shirt,
desperate for the feel of his warm skin.

“I want you,” he said softly as he slid
his lips over hers. “But I’m afraid we’re moving too fast.” He sucked in a
sharp, deep breath when she pushed her hands into the back of his shorts.

Smiling, she said, “Am I moving too fast
for you?”

He answered with a passionate kiss, and
desire surged through her. She wrapped her legs around him, lifting her hips to
press against him.

“Carly,” he said hoarsely. “Are you
sure?”

She nodded and brought him back for
another kiss.

His fingers brushed against her chest as
he unbuttoned her yellow uniform dress. He moved slowly, his lips following his
fingers on a path straight down the front of her. His hazel eyes went hot with
lust when he caught the first glimpse of her lacy bra. “Do you always wear such
sexy underwear to work?” he asked as he unhooked the bra and pushed it out of
the way.

“I wore the good stuff today—just in
case.”

He chuckled. “In case of what?”

“In case I got very, very lucky.” With
her fingers buried in his hair, she directed him to where she wanted him most
and gasped as he drew her nipple deep into his mouth. “
Oh
,” she said,
turning her head away as if to escape from the overwhelming sensations. She
opened her eyes and shrieked when she caught a glimpse of someone watching them
through the door.

Pushing at Brian, she urged him up. “He
was there!” she cried. “He was watching us!”

Brian bolted from the sofa and raced for
the door.

With shaking hands, Carly quickly
buttoned her dress.

Brian returned a minute later, his
expression grim. “He’s gone. Call the police.”

B
rian kept his arm tight around Carly as
she told Matt Collins and Nathan Barclay what she had seen.

“And you’re sure you didn’t catch
any
part of his face?” Matt asked again.

“She already said she didn’t,” Brian snapped
and then immediately regretted his tone. Matt was only doing his job. “I’m
sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Matt said. “I know this is
frustrating as hell for you. It is for us, too.”

The man who had been so good to Brian the
night of his brother’s death had remained remarkably youthful looking in the
years since Brian had last seen him. He kept his blond hair short, and only a
few lines in the corners of his blue eyes indicated that he was approaching his
mid-forties.

“He had a hat on that shaded his face,”
Carly said. “But he was tall. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.”

“We already have people canvassing the
downtown area,” Barclay said.

“I’m sure he’s long gone by now,” Brian
said. “Do me a favor and don’t tell my dad about this. He’s supposed to be taking
it easy, and this’ll get him all fired up.”

“I’m afraid it’s probably too late for
that,” Matt said with a smile. “You know he’s got his ear pressed to the
scanner.”

“Great,” Brian mumbled. “I’ll call him.”

They left a few minutes later, promising
to keep Carly and Brian posted on the investigation.

Brian saw them out and then returned to
sit with Carly on the sofa. He took her hand and was alarmed by how cold it
was. Rubbing both her hands between his, he asked, “What are you thinking?”

“That he just keeps taking things from
us,” she said in a small voice. “Your brother, all our friends, the willow,
each other.” She turned to him, and the sadness in her eyes tugged at his
heart. “We were going to make love, and I wanted to. So badly.”

“We will,” he assured her. “And when we
do, that creep won’t be watching us. I’ll guarantee you that.”

“He has before,” she said with a shudder.
“Under the willow, he was watching us.”

“That makes me sick.” He had never
imagined himself capable of killing someone, but to have just one minute with
this guy… Just one minute. That’s all it would take to get revenge on behalf of
Sam, Carly, and the others. He would be lying if he said he didn’t want some
for himself, too.

“You’re all tense, Bri.”

“I just wish I could somehow get you out
of this town and away from all of this.”

“I’d like that, too.”

“But with the whole car thing, I don’t
know how we could do it.”

“I’ve been thinking I might be ready to
try that.”

Surprised, he looked over at her.
“Really?”

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “I’m
so tired of being afraid. If you were with me, I think I might be able to do
it.”

He thought it over for a minute. “My dad
bought my mom a convertible a couple of years ago. You’ve probably seen it.”

“She’s adorable roaring around town in
that little red car.”

Brian laughed as he imagined what the
police chief would have to say about his wife “roaring” around town. “I’m sure
she’d loan it to us. Having the top down might make it easier for you the first
time.”

“What if I can’t do it? Will you be
disappointed in me?”

“Of course not.” He kissed her cheek. “If
it’s too much for you, I could call the psychologist who prepped the Gooding
children to testify. He specializes in trauma, and I wondered at the time if he
might be able to help you.”

“You thought of me like that?”

“I thought of you
all
the time.
That day in court, when the jury found Gooding guilty? You were the first
person I wanted to tell.”

She hugged him for a long, quiet moment.
“There’s something I want to show you.” Carly went into her bedroom and
returned with what looked like a photo album.

“What’ve you got there?”

She handed it to him. “I thought of you,
too.”

Brian opened the book and was stunned to
find clippings from the local newspaper about his graduations from Michigan and
Northwestern and his appointment as an assistant district attorney in
Manhattan. He winced when he found mention of both his marriages. “I wondered
if somehow you knew,” he said in a hushed tone.

“Keep going.”

The rest of the book contained articles
about all the major cases he had prosecuted, with the Gooding trial dominating
the last few pages. “How did you get this stuff?” he asked, incredulous.

“I subscribed to
The New York Times
,”
she confessed, looking almost embarrassed. “I wanted to know what you were
doing.”

“I have no idea what to say. That you
cared enough to do something like this … I’m amazed and humbled, Carly.”

She leaned in to kiss him. “Carly
Holbrook loves Brian Westbury,” she whispered.

Overwhelmed by the familiar words, he put
the book on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around her. “And he loves her
right back.”

“Get me out of here, Brian. Please.”

“You’re off for the next two days,
right?”

She nodded.

“Call your parents and pack a bag. I know
just where we should go.”

Carly
approached the cherry red convertible with trepidation. Behind her, Brian and
his parents watched.

“Do you think you can do it, hon?” Brian
asked.

“I want to, but I’m afraid I’ll lose my
nerve the minute we drive away.”

Brian rested his hands on her shoulders
and kissed the top of her head. “If you do, we’ll come right back. I promise.”

Carly turned around. “Thank you for
loaning us your baby, Mary Ann.”

She smiled as she hugged Carly. “It’s my
pleasure.”

Michael kissed Carly’s cheek. “I’m proud
of you for even trying this. You’re not letting him win.”

Something about that statement seemed to
fill Carly with courage. She reached for Brian’s hand. “Let’s go before I
chicken out.”

He held the door for her and crouched to secure
her seat belt. With his hands resting on her legs, he kissed her. “Okay?”

She nodded.

“I’ll see you in a couple of days,” he
said to his parents as he walked around to the driver’s side. “Call my cell if
you need to reach me.”

“Have a good time,” Mary Ann said.

Brian started the car and let it roll
slowly out of the driveway. He glanced over at Carly. Her face was set in an
unreadable expression, and her hands were clenched together in her lap. On the
way out of town, he took a roundabout route to avoid Tucker Road.

“Doing all right?”

She nodded.

“Your knuckles are white.” He reached
over to work his hand in between hers. “I’d forgotten how much I like to drive.
I don’t get much chance, living in the city.”

Her head whipped around to face him. “How
long has it been?”

He laughed. “It would probably be better
if I didn’t tell you.”

“Brian!”

Laughing, he said, “Relax, honey. I drove
my mom all over the place when I was in Florida.”

Carly closed her eyes and turned her face
into the warm summer breeze. “You were right about the convertible. I don’t
feel closed in.”

“How
do
you feel?”

“Free,” she said softly. “I feel free.”

As
they made their way south, Brian was amazed he remembered so much about getting
around his home state. He had purposely avoided the interstate and had kept a
watchful eye in the mirror to make sure they weren’t being followed. By the
time they crossed the town line into East Greenwich, he was confident they had
made a clean escape.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re
going.”

“It’s somewhere we went a few times, once
with Toby and Michelle. You probably don’t remember,” he teased, knowing that,
like him, she had forgotten nothing about the years they’d spent together.

She mulled it over for a minute. “Oh! I
know! Newport, right?”

“Damn. You guessed.”

Clapping her hands with delight, she
leaned over to kiss his cheek. “That’s perfect.”

He was surprised when her delight faded
as fast as it had come. “What’s wrong? Will it remind you too much of Toby and
Michelle?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Right now, right in this very moment, I
feel better than I have since before the accident. I’d almost forgotten it was
possible to feel this way.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” he asked,
pleased to hear her say that.

“It’s just that I feel guilty, too.”

“Why?”

“With everything that’s going on, it
seems selfish for me to feel so good. Zoë’s devastated over Alicia, this guy is
torturing and killing young girls, maybe because of some grudge he has against
me. All those devastated families and kids. All because of me.”

Brian pulled off the road and reached for
her. “Baby, listen to me. You have nothing to feel guilty about. This guy’s a
psycho, and his actions are no reflection on you.” Struggling to think of some
way to make her feel better he said, “Remember when John Hinckley shot
President Reagan and then said he’d done it for Jody Foster?”

She nodded.

“Did anyone blame Jody Foster?”

“No, but I’m sure she felt bad about it.”

“But it wasn’t her fault, just like it isn’t
yours. We’re going to find out this guy’s had a very unhappy life, and he was
envious of us. You can’t take on the guilt, honey. You haven’t done anything
wrong.”

“I just keep racking my brain, trying to
remember if I was mean to someone without intending to be or who I might’ve
disappointed by going out with you, but I come up empty every time.”

“It’ll probably be someone you never knew
had a thing for you. Hell, it could be anyone. You were the prettiest girl in
school, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was when I asked you out and you
said yes.”

“You’ve never told me that before.” She
caressed his face. “I always thought I was the lucky one.”

He took her hand and pressed his lips to
her palm. “We were both lucky, and other people knew it, too. The fact we had
something special was obvious to everyone who knew us. That’s not our fault,
Carly. So no more guilt?”

“I’ll try.”

“What? There’s something else isn’t
there?”

“It’s just…”

“What, honey?”

“I have so many questions about what
happened to me, about why I lost my voice, and how I got it back the way I did.
I don’t understand why I couldn’t talk a month ago when I tried to call 911,
but when I found Alicia, it was just there again. Why do you suppose that is?”