Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [627]
She saw her parents maybe a half-dozen times a year. Every Christmas she made her annual pilgrimage to New York, accepting her parents’ traditions as her own. She went through the motions, never really considering if there might be an alternative. It wasn’t until last Christmas when R. J. Tully had asked her to join him and his daughter for Christmas Eve that she realized she had no traditions of her own.
She missed Tully, and she didn’t particularly like admitting that even to herself. She had gone for over a decade without missing anyone. She considered calling him. Just to talk. Before he and Emma left on vacation he had made sure she had his cell-phone number along with the number for their hotel and another for a friend they would be visiting. Yet he had been careful in telling her that it was no big deal if she called and no big deal if she didn’t. But she had been able to read his tight smile as an indication that he really would like it if she did call. And so of course she didn’t. Which was silly. That at their age they still played games like they were a couple of teenagers, not wanting to let the other know just how much they might care. When in reality they were two very independent adults, comfortable and complacent in the lives they had carved out for themselves and a bit reluctant to relinquish some of that independence. Perhaps she was also a bit reluctant to take a chance at having her heart broken again. She had gotten to a point in her life where she was happy, content with being alone. But somehow, despite how careful and calculated she had tried to be, she ended up caring for R. J. Tully. And…she missed him.
She heard the door to the reception area open and Harvey stood up again, looking at her, waiting for her direction. With no appointments scheduled, Gwen thought it would be quiet most of the day, but Dena evidently had decided Mondays would be delivery day. Gwen had already signed for a case of her beloved gourmet coffee, three boxes of supplies from Office Depot and a new patient’s medical report sent via messenger service from a Dr. Kalb.
“Package for Dr. G. Patterson?” The messenger didn’t look up from his electronic pad, punching in numbers. He had already set the box on the reception desk. “Just need a quick signature.”
When he looked up, he jumped at the sight of Harvey. He had been so focused he hadn’t noticed that the big dog had managed to sit down on the floor beside him.
“He’s harmless,” Gwen assured him and signed the electronic pad he held out for her.
“Not a bad idea to have extra security.” He gave Harvey a pat on the head before he left.
She shoved the box aside on the reception counter, glancing for the sender’s address, but not concerned when she didn’t find one. She picked up the phone, tucking it under her chin, checking voice messages while she slit open the envelope that accompanied the box. But there wasn’t a note inside. Instead, a single gold earring slipped out of the envelope, falling onto the counter. Gwen watched it spin like a coin on one end. For a second everything stopped, all sound, all movement other than the earring that now spun in slow motion. Even her heart seemed to stop. She didn’t need to examine it closely. She knew this was the match to the one left on Saturday.
Gwen slowly put the phone back in its cradle, her eyes never leaving the earring. The dread immediately gripped her stomach. She forced herself to look at the box. It was about a one-foot cube. Much bigger than any of his other packages. More instructions? Another map? Could it be another cell phone? What would he have sent her this time to direct her to his victim? And why the box? Certainly he wouldn’t…no, he wouldn’t dare. Or would he? She couldn’t help thinking it was probably the right size, just