Don't Say a Word - Barbara Freethy [87]
"I'm all right," she assured him. "I was worried about you. I thought he might have had a knife or some other weapon."
"He ran into a park and disappeared. I didn't even get a good look at him. All I know is that he was fast."
"Was he blond? Did he have a baseball cap on his head? A man came up to me at the radio station earlier today, and he made me really nervous."
Alex's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"There was a guy watching me when I was talking to Christine Delaney. He came up to me when she left, and he said something I didn't understand. I think it might have been in Russian. My friends interrupted us, and he took off. Do you think it was the same guy?"
"Could have been. Why didn't you tell me about him before?"
"Didn't I?" she asked in confusion. "I guess I told Michael or Liz. I can't remember now. Did I also mention that Liz said a man with a thick, probably Russian accent called our apartment yesterday?"
"Goddammit, Julia," Alex swore. "What else don't I know?"
"I think that's it. I'm sorry, but everything is happening so fast, and I don't know what goes together and what doesn't." Overwhelmed, she had the terrible feeling she might burst into tears at any moment.
Alex put his hand on her leg. "It's okay. It's fine. We'll deal with it all, Julia. Don't worry."
"The man who came at us just now… He was after my purse, don't you think?" she asked, trying to focus on one issue at a time. She'd had a few minutes to think, and she distinctly remembered the man trying to rip her bag off her shoulder.
"Yes," Alex said, meeting her gaze. "I'd say it's a safe bet he couldn't find whatever he was looking for at your apartment, so he decided you have it on you."
"Should we call the police?"
"Let's go back to my apartment first and take another look at the doll and the necklace. Maybe we missed something."
She nodded and turned the key in the ignition. She didn't realize she was shaking until she flooded the engine with too much gas.
"Easy, Julia," he murmured.
"I was so scared," she whispered. She gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white and her hands stung, but she didn't care, because it felt good to have something solid to hang on to. "When you disappeared, I didn't know what was going to happen." She looked at him and saw nothing but understanding and support. "I just got back in the car and protected myself. I should have gone after you, but I was a chicken."
"Sh- sh," he said. He leaned forward, putting a finger against her lips. "You did exactly the right thing."
She blinked back a tear. "I was so worried that I was going to lose you, Alex, and I've lost so much lately that-"
Alex cut off her words with a tender kiss. "I'm not that easy to lose," he murmured against her mouth. "I'm fine, Julia. He ran. He wasn't looking for a confrontation."
"Maybe not this time. What about the next time?"
"Don't think about all the things that might happen. It will drive you crazy." He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.
"I'm already feeling crazy. Should I stop looking for answers? Should I try to go back to my normal life? How do I even do that?"
"You can't go back to normal, because it doesn't exist anymore."
"If it ever did. What I thought was normal was a fictional story my mother created for me to live in. Nothing about my life was based on anything real."
"That's not true. Your mother may have created a cover story, but she lived her life with you, your sister and your stepfather. I don't think she was spying for the government when she was taking you to Girl Scouts," he added lightly. "In fact, we don't know if she was spying for the government at all. Maybe she simply went on that trip to Moscow because she wanted an adventure, and my father gave her the opportunity."
"I'd sure like to believe that. But if that were the case, why would she have hidden it from me? Why would she have disappeared from her parents' lives? Why would she have changed her name? Lived a lie?"
She wanted Alex to give