Violets Are Blue - James Patterson [93]
Was he still watching me? Had he somehow followed me back to Washington? I shouldn’t have been entertaining thoughts like that, but I was, and I couldn’t stop them from coming.
Did he have binoculars focused on me as I walked up the sidewalk to my Aunt Tia’s house in Chapel Gate, Maryland, about fifteen miles from Baltimore? How could Kyle know I was here? Why, because that’s what he did for a living. Could he get past Sampson and me? I didn’t think so. But how could I know with complete certainty?
The kids were enjoying their short vacation from school. Aunt Tia had always spoiled them, just as she had spoiled me as a kid. “Same old, same old” she likes to say when she serves you a piece of hot pie in the middle of the afternoon, or gives you an unexpected present. Nana was more understanding than I thought she would be. I think she liked being with her “little sister.” Tia was younger than Nana, “only seventy-eight,” but she was spry, very contemporary in her outlook, and she was a fabulous cook. That night, she and Nana made penne with gorgonzola cheese, broccoli rabe, and sock-it-to-me cake. I ate as if it were my last meal.
Then the kids and I played and talked until the outrageous hour of eleven o’clock, way past their usual bedtimes. They are by no means perfect, but the good times with them certainly outweigh the bad. I tend to talk more about the good, and why not? I’m a father and I love Damon, Jannie, and little Alex more than life itself. Maybe that says something too.
I went back to Washington the following morning. A team of FBI agents had been assigned to my family. It was the kind of attention I’d hoped we would never need. Frankly, it scared the hell out of me.
That afternoon, I attended a meeting at the FBI building and learned that more than four hundred agents were assigned to finding and capturing Kyle Craig. So far, nothing had gotten out to the press, and Director Burns wanted to keep it that way. So did I. More than that, I wanted to catch Kyle quickly, hopefully before he killed again.
But who would he kill? Who might Kyle go after next?
Chapter 103
“CHRISTINE, IT’S Alex,” I said. I had butterflies in my stomach. “I hate to bother you like this. It’s important or I wouldn’t call.” That was sure the truth. God, I hadn’t wanted to make this call.
“Is little Alex okay?” she asked. “Is it Nana?”
“No, no. Everybody’s fine.” I told a half-truth.
There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. Christine and I had been engaged to be married. She was the one who had broken it off, because she couldn’t handle my life as a homicide detective. Too many bad scenes just like this one.
“Alex, this isn’t good news, is it? Geoffrey Shafer? Is he back in the country?” she asked. She sounded afraid, and I felt for her. Geoffrey Shafer had kidnapped her.
“No, this isn’t about Shafer.”
I told her about Kyle Craig. She knew him, liked Kyle, and I could tell she felt violated. She had been hurt badly by the monsters I had met in my work. She couldn’t completely forgive me for that, and I didn’t blame her much. I couldn’t forgive myself sometimes. Talking to Christine made me remember how much I’d loved her. Probably, I still did.
“Is there somewhere safe you can stay for a while? It’s important that you go there,” I finally said. “I hate to do this to you. Kyle is extremely dangerous, Christine.”
“Oh, Alex. I came out here to be safe. I felt I was safe, but now you’re back in my life.”
She said she would stay with somebody she trusted, a friend. I asked Christine not to say who or where it was over the phone. When she hung up, she was crying. I felt so bad for her, so terrible about what had happened. The call brought back everything that was wrong between us.
I called Jamilla next. My excuse was that I wanted to remind her to be careful — even now. But I think I just wanted to talk to her. She’d been in on so much of this. Unfortunately, she was out when I called. I left a message that I was worried about her, and to please be careful.
I kept calling people I cared about.