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THE COFFEE MAKER RUMBLED as the last of the brown fuel filled the pot and Steve glanced at the clock. Neither Tom nor CJ was up, and he closed his eyes, focusing on Tom. “Get your ass out of bed,” he whispered and shot the thought with the accuracy of a master archer.
A thump upstairs was his reward and he focused back on the fry pan, flipping his eggs. He grabbed the plate and slid his breakfast from the pan before settling down at the table.
Tom wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. That was mean, he signed.
Steve met his gaze. “I could have dumped a bucket of ice water on you.”
Tom rolled his eyes and stared at the spread on the table. His stomach growled in response and he took a seat where Steve had put a stack of pancakes.
“I told you I wanted you up and ready to talk before your lawyer got here.” He pointed toward the clock. “You’ve got enough time to eat and clean up.”
Thanks, he signed and downed the stack before Steve was finished with his breakfast.
After Tom disappeared upstairs and the shower started, Steve flipped open his phone, and pressed the speed dial. Cleary answered after the first ring. “Ron, did you follow up with...”
“Tom wasn’t at their house that evening. They were out at a dinner party.”
“Shit,” Steve said.
“The lab results came back and there were traces of Tanya’s blood on the knife found in Tom’s room.”
“I’m aware of that. Tom said Tanya got a splinter in her foot and he used the knife to remove it. They should have a record of her getting a tetanus shot,” he paused and rubbed his face. “Please tell me his knife doesn’t have the same signature as the one used on the victims,” he said and waited.
“That’s about the only good news I can offer you.”
Steve let out the breath he was holding, exhaling audibly. “Thanks, Ron.”
“Are you one hundred percent sure he is innocent?”
“Yes, I am. Tom is not the Windwalker.”
Cleary responded with silence. Paper shuffled in the background. “One more thing...”
Steve closed his eyes, gleaning the information through the phone line even before Cleary said the words.
“The press was given a heads up, so expect things to get even nastier.”
The conversation with CJ surfaced and Steve sighed. “Maybe that’s not a bad thing.”
“It’s going to make that kid’s life a living hell,” Cleary said.
The creak of the stairs caught Steve’s attention and he glanced up into Tom’s questioning stare. “I imagine it will, but if we play this right, it could also draw the real killer out of the woodwork.”
Silence greeted his comment from both Tom and Cleary.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking...” Cleary started.
“Thanks for giving me a heads up,” Steve interrupted. “Tom’s lawyer just arrived.”
“Don’t do anything I’ll have to arrest you for,” Cleary shot through the line before Steve terminated the call.
Steve put the phone on the table and met Tom’s inquisitive gaze. “Expect the press to hound you wherever you go until this is over.”
Tom’s eyebrows rose.
“Someone leaked the details of your arrest to the press.”
Tom crossed the room and took a seat, his eyebrows scrunched together in thought. When he raised his gaze, he signed, “So do you think the press being focused on me will bring the killer out?”
Steve didn’t have an answer for him. He hoped it would, but he wasn’t sure what kind of backlash this would cause. “I don’t know,” he answered.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Tom asked and shrugged.
Steve stared at him for a moment. “He could come after you,” he said, finally voicing his underlying fear.
Tom’s gaze widened, and his thoughts jumped to his last view of Tanya. The shiver that followed was visible and Steve gave a nod, stood from the table, crossed to the front door, and glanced outside.
His mood soured at the sea of reporters lining the road outside the gates and he closed his eyes. “God damn vultures,” he muttered and crossed to the television. He flipped it to a local news station.
Tom made the headlines all right, and that wasn’t the only buzz on the airways. The fact that Chris Ryan was really Ty Aris was all over the news channels as well. Steve threw the remote onto the table and stared at the continued speculation of the media, none of which had a grain of truth.
The phone rang, and Steve picked it up without looking at the caller id. “Hello.”
“Can I speak with Agent Williams?”
“This is Steve,” he said, recognizing the frail voice of Russ Campbell, Jessica’s father.
“Did you know?”
Steve closed his eyes. “Yes, sir,” he said, not offering the litany of excuses filling his mind.
“That bastard...” he started.
“Jessica knew who she married, sir. She knew it was Ty,” he said stopping the pending rant.
Silence met his statement.
“How do you know?”
Steve inhaled, “Because she offered to help me in return for not arresting him.”
More silence.
“I don’t understand.”
“Your daughter was in love with Ty for years, and when he came back into her life, neither one of them was willing to walk away again.”
“But...” he trailed off.
“Ty laid his life on the line several times for her, sir,” Steve said.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Something happened with Eric and that’s when I found out,” he said. The Campbell’s never knew about her special talents, or that of her children, and Steve didn’t want to be the one to try to explain that.
More silence.
“I knew there was something off about Chris, but I had never seen my daughter that happy,” Russ whispered.
“She was happy, sir,” Steve said, remembering the way she looked at Ty. She was happy until he walked into their lives. A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed it.
“How did he do it? How did he make it out of that place alive?”
“Supernatural intervention,” Steve said.
Silence filled the line and then Russ said, “Eric.”
Shock filtered through Steve. Maybe he knew more than Steve gave him credit for. Russ was one of those people he could never get a read on and now he knew why. The man knew how to create static. “Yes. Eric was a very special kid.”
“My Jessie was special too, but I didn’t think she knew it.”
“She didn’t until she met Ty.”
That statement hung on the air and Steve heard Russ blow a stream of air through his lips. “They are accusing you of blackmailing him,” he said. There was no underlying question, just a statement in a fashion that left it open.
Steve glanced at Tom and then out the window at the sea of reporters. “I traded my wife’s life for his freedom,” he admitted. “But I never blackmailed him for money or custody of their kids.”
“Can you explain to me why he insisted that you raise those boys?”
“It’s going to sound insane,” he said.
Russ laughed. “Son, right now nothing would surprise me,” he said.
“He wanted me to watch over CJ.”
“Why?”
Steve turned his back on Tom’s blatant stare. “Because CJ is more special than Eric, Jessica and Ty put together,” he whispered. “And I’m now equipped to deal with that,” he added, hoping Russ would be able to piece together the truth through his cryptic answer.
When Russ didn’t speak, Steve added, “The transfer started with Eric when we were at Quantico and that’s how I knew who Chris really was.”
“Did anyone else know who he was?” Russ asked. The bite in his tone traveled through the line and Steve winced.
“More people than you realize, but there was no proof to back up the accusations. I didn’t have proof to haul him in. I only had what I saw in Eric’s memories, and that wouldn’t have stood up in court.”
“Who else knew?”
“Besides Jessica and Eric?”
“Yes.”
“Emily, Tom and Dan,” Steve said.
Russ coughed on the line, wheezing as he sputtered and tried to catch his breath. Finally, his wheezing calmed. “Dan knew?”
“He figured it out around the time they got married.”
“And Tom?”
“Yes, he knew the minute Ty walked back into their lives.”
“And they didn’t kill him?”
“No, but that’s not to say they didn’t want to. Dan did get a punch in and Tom pulled a gun on him once, but that was about the extent of it.”
Russ exhaled on the phone. “If I had known, he wouldn’t have been so lucky.”
Steve chuckled. “Yeah, he pretty much knew that about you.”
Russ’s laugh was genuine this time. “How are the kids handling all this?”
Steve took a seat on the couch. “They knew about their father’s past, but I’m not sure how they’re going to handle it now that it’s public.” He slumped into the thick cushions. “Did the news down there also carry that Tom’s been arrested?”
“No. What happened?” His concern filled the line.
“They think he’s the Windwalker.”
“The Windwalker?”
“The serial killer here in Maine.”
“That’s insane.”
The buzzer rang, and Steve stood, crossing to the window. A car waited at the entrance. “Russ, I’ve got to go, Tom’s lawyer is here,”
“If you need anything, let me know,” Russ said. “And thanks for leveling with me. Most people in your predicament would have lied.”
“I’ve got no reason to lie,” Steve said. “I’ll tell the kids you send them your best,” he added and hung up the phone.
The buzzer sounded again, and Steve crossed to the controls, opening the gate for the car waiting amidst the press. He stared at the line, putting up an invisible wall against the stragglers who tried to breach the security, smiling at the confused expressions when they couldn’t move through the opening. As soon as the car was through, Steve shut the gate on the crowd.
“Your lawyer’s here,” he said to Tom and opened the front door.
Sheldon Kryminski looked nothing like what Steve imagined. He was young, not even thirty, and he looked like he belonged more on a beach volleyball court than in a courthouse. Steve looked beyond him at the car thinking there must be some mistake.
“Agent Williams, I presume,” Sheldon said as he climbed the stairs.
The voice was right, but it didn’t go along with the boyish appearance. “Mr. Kryminski?” Steve asked.
“Please, call me Sheldon,” he said and stuck out his hand.
Steve reciprocated and was pleased to find a firm handshake. This kid transmitted confidence and had an open mind, despite all he’d heard relating to the case. Steve waved him inside and sent one last glare toward the paparazzi before closing the door on the high zoom lenses.
“Right this way,” Steve said, leading Sheldon into the family room where Tom sat staring at the television and the continuing flow of news about the man who raised him. Steve reached over and turned the television off. “Tom, this is your lawyer, Mr. Kryminski.”
Tom stood and nodded hello before offering his hand.
“Please, call me Sheldon,” he said, shaking Tom’s hand.
Tom nodded again and signed, “Thank you, Sheldon.”
Sheldon put down his attaché case, stripped his coat and handed it to Steve before settling across from Tom. Once he had his legal pad and pen placed on the table, he launched into fluid sign language, surprising both Tom and Steve.
“I a hea,” Tom said and when Sheldon’s brow creased, Tom signed, “I can hear, I just can’t talk.”
Sheldon smiled. “I’m sorry, I just assumed you were deaf when Agent Williams asked if we had a sign language expert on staff,” he said and shrugged.
“He appreciates the gesture,” Steve said.
Sheldon nodded and focused on Tom. “Now, let’s start at the beginning,” he said.
“Tom...”
“—I’m sorry Agent Williams, but I’d like to talk with my client alone if you don’t mind.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’d like to talk with Tom alone. Once I’m done, I’ll want to ask you some questions as well,” Sheldon said and smiled.
Steve exchanged a glance with Tom and nodded, heading upstairs, leaving them alone.
* * * *
TOM’S GAZE MOVED FROM the stairway and he waited a moment before turning his attention to his lawyer. “What do you want to know?” he signed.
Sheldon picked up the pad and met Tom’s gaze. “Tell me about Tanya,” he said.
Tom inhaled and nodded. The fact that the lawyer knew her name without glancing at a note impressed him. “I’ve dated a lot of girls, but Tanya was special, you know?” he signed. “So, when she broke up with me, it hurt. A lot. Especially when she told me the reason.” He looked down at the floor.
“What was the reason?”
Tom met his lawyer’s gaze. “Because I can’t French kiss,” he signed and almost smiled at the horror reflected in Sheldon’s expression and the fact his hand paused on the notepad.
With a couple of blinks, Sheldon seemed to regain his composure. “Take me through the rest of the day after she broke up with you.”
“I got angry and started slicing up all the pictures I have of her,” he signed and felt the heat bloom in his cheeks. “I wish I hadn’t done that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have any more pictures and she’s gone,” he signed. His vision wobbled under the sudden sheen of tears. He blinked them away.
Sheldon nodded for him to continue.
“CJ and I snuck out that night. We had been told we couldn’t go to a party on the other side of town, and I thought Tanya was going to be there. I decided the best way to get her back was to take her to Steve’s place in Brooksfield and try to talk some sense into her, but she wasn’t at the party.” He shrugged. “I ended up hotwiring a car and CJ and I took off for Brooksfield anyway.”
“You stole a car?”
Tom nodded. “Yes, and we got caught, but Uncle Steve got them to drop the charges.”
“Okay, then what did you do?”
“Tanya runs on the river paths every morning before school. I figured that was my best bet to get her alone. I needed to know if there was anything I could do to get her back,” he stopped and looked at the coffee table. “I didn’t even know if she’d still be out there.” He met Sheldon’s gaze and bit his lip. “I ran the path once and her car was still in the parking lot, so I turned around and ran it a second time, that’s when I saw her in the water.” He dropped his hands to his lap, balling them into fists and then stretching the ache out of his fingers. “I don’t know if she was there the first time...” He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and covered his face.
“What did you do when you saw her?”
“I ran into the water and pulled her up the bank. I kept slipping in the mud and it wasn’t until I got clear of the water that I really took a closer look. I’m not sure I could have touched her if I had looked before I reacted,” he clenched his fists again.
“Why not?” Sheldon asked.
Tom’s vision blurred, and tears overflowed, burning hot paths down his cheeks. “The Windwalker took her face.”