“I can’t tell you.”
He had backed her into a corner, verbally and literally. She felt the wall, and saw his hands shoot out, caging her in. “Then you know where she is.”
“Aye.”
“Is she alive?”
“What do you think I am? A monster?” Her eyes poured fury on him. “Of course she’s alive.”
“Why hasn’t she come home?” He fired questions faster than she could process them, forcing her answers before she realized what she said.
“She can’t.”
“Why not?”
He moved in closer, she couldn’t catch her breath. “It isn’t safe. Don’t you understand that? ’Tis dangerous for Tara to return here.” She trembled, and cursed herself when she felt a tear fall out of her eye. Spent, she stood there shaking, and unable to control it. Damn him! Damn him for pushing her like this.
He cursed himself under his breath and tried to gather her close. She held herself stiff in his arms.
“I’m sorry.”
She didn’t cry, not really. A few tears trailed down her cheeks, but she refused to fall into the abyss of depression.
When he let her go, she put distance between them and started to clean up the broken dish in the sink. “Let me get that.”
She stopped, her words void of emotion. “If I had somewhere to go, I would leave here this minute. If I could go home safely, I would pop out of here in the blink of an eye.” Literally, she thought. “But since I cannot do either, I’m stuck. So unless you are going to make me leave, can you please give me a little peace so I can gather my thoughts? Or would you still like to interrogate me?”
Maybe she wasn’t being fair to him under the circumstances, but she’d had just about all she could take for one night.
He left her alone and stood next to the fire. Flames lapped up the wood, bringing a nice warm glow to the room. He couldn’t remember the last time he lit a fire. It would have been nice if he wasn’t so miserable.
Sometime later, Myra returned to the room holding a piece of paper. “This is a letter from Tara to her sister. I promised Tara I would give it directly to Lizzy as soon as I could. You obviously don’t trust me, so here.” She handed him the letter sealed in wax. “I trust you not to read it.” She swallowed hard.
“Take it to her.”
Todd grasped the letter. The paper was unlike any he had seen before. He had no idea how much information he held in his hand, but if he opened it and read it himself, Myra would know.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because I want you to trust me. Because I’m not the monster you think I am.”
He wanted to stop her when she turned to leave, but didn’t know what to say if he did. The misery etched in her eyes was something he knew he put there. Knew he couldn’t erase.
He was gone when she woke the next morning. He’d left a note by the door asking her to meet him at a nearby park at twelve-thirty.
She was never one to exercise patience. Left with nothing to do but wait and worry, she manufactured a dozen reasons why Todd wanted to meet her outside his home.
Did he want her to leave? Was this his way of making her? Could he have her imprisoned for not revealing where Tara was? More importantly, would he? She thought of his lips on hers during their one shared moment, remembering how quickly he melted her resolve. She wanted to believe he would trust her now, even if she had given him so little to trust.
Once again, she pined for her family, and for her mother’s counsel.
Todd asked Elizabeth McAllister to stop by the park on her lunch hour, thirty minutes before Myra was supposed to meet him.
His plan was simple. Give Miss McAllister the letter, and let her read it. If she wasn’t satisfied with its content, he would arrest Myra when she arrived.
His stomach clenched at the thought of putting handcuffs on her, but she left him no choice. She knows where the missing woman is and refuses to tell me. He pulled the letter out twice, fully intending to read it before giving it to McAllister. Each time, he put it back after picturing Myra’s striking brown eyes asking for his trust.
At exactly the time Myra should have been leaving his home, he stood in the park waiting for Miss McAllister.
Liz looks like her sister, he thought, watching Elizabeth walk toward him. Her hair was shorter than the photos he’d seen of Tara, and Liz’s was strawberry blonde. She was terribly thin, most likely from the stress. Having a missing family member probably took away her appetite. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
“Miss McAllister, thank you for meeting me.”
Todd shook her hand, and asked her to sit.
“You know something, don’t you?” She left her sunglasses on and stared at him.
“I might.”
Liz looked at Officer Blakely and saw a torn man. She had a feeling when he called her an hour ago that she was finally going to hear something about Tara. It had been over five months since her sister dropped off the face of the earth, leaving a gaping hole in her and Simon’s life. “I’m listening.” He drew in a long, audible breath then let it out slowly. “The woman in the hospital, the one who gave us your name, claims to know where your sister is.” Todd reached into his pocket for the letter. “She asked me to give this to you.”
Liz looked at the sealed paper with her name written on top.
A trembling hand went to her lips, covering the cry that escaped, “My God.”
“What is it?”
She finally sat and took off the sunglasses clouding her view. “It’s Tara’s writing.”
She ripped off the seal, pulled out the uneven parchment, and started to read.
Dearest Lizzy,
I have started this letter four times now, unsure of how to tell you what you need to know. Forgive me if I leave things out, and listen to Myra, as she will fill in all the blanks.
First, know that I am safe. I can only guess at what you and Simon have been through since I left.
And for that I am so very sorry. But I am safe, and oh, so happy, Lizzy. I have found my Knight in Shining Armor. The one you always told me to wait for. He is the most wonderful man and I cannot imagine my life without him. His name is Duncan MacCoinnich. He is the same man who I’m sure by now the police are looking for in regards to my disappearance.
I could go on and on about him and the life we are living. I can’t go into details in this letter in case it gets into the wrong hands. Besides, if I wrote everything that has happened, you would toss this letter in a fire and claim it was forged. Again, I ask that you listen to Myra. She is my sister-in-law now, and more than that, a blood sister by choice.