Page 83 of Kiss Marry Kill
“I know.” Awkward as it was, I forced myself to add, “I want to.”
She opened her eyes, smiling faintly. “Even if you think I’m mad as a hatter, thank you for being kind to me, Dr. Thornton.”
“I’m afraid I feel completely useless in this situation.”
“At least you listen to me. I know what I’m saying goes against everything you believe, but at least you’re nice to me.”
I gave a gruff laugh. “I don’t hear compliments of that nature very often.”
“Well, the world is filled with stupid people.” She closed her eyes again. “You truly are one of the few I trust.”
My chest tightened oddly as I gazed down at her. After a few moments, her breathing changed, and I knew she’d fallen asleep. If Royce hadn’t had his hands full with Archie’s murder, I might have urged him to pursue the stalker angle we’d batted about the day of the wedding. It was so easy to just dismiss Janelle as crazy, but what if she wasn’t crazy? What if she truly did have a stalker? It wasn’t inconceivable that she could have a stalker. Maybe that person had killed Archie?
I gathered my bag and left her room, feeling muddled. I didn’t have the brainpower to try to get to the bottom of everything tonight. I groaned inwardly as I reached the bottom of the stairs because Angela was in the foyer waiting for me.
Looking resentful, she asked, “Did you enjoy your little secret meeting withmydaughter?”
I stopped in front of her, not wanting to engage in her temper tantrum but feeling compelled to talk to her. “You need to get Janelle into therapy. She needs help dealing with all of her emotions.”
“You can’t do that for her? As amazing as you are?”
Irritation prickled me. “Mrs. Raiden, are you at all concerned about your daughter?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then please stop obsessing about the conversation I had with her and listen to what I’m saying. If you care about Janelle, you’ll find her a qualified psychiatrist. I’ll be happy to give you some suggestions.”
“My family is more than capable of handling Janelle’s needs.”
I stamped down my frustration. “Excellent. If you need me, don’t hesitate to call.”
“I won’t call you. I wouldn’t have called you tonight, only Janelle insisted,” she hissed.
Gritting my teeth, I moved to the door, trying to let her unpleasantness roll off me. “Have a good evening, Mrs. Raiden.” I stepped out onto the porch, and without another word, she shut the door hard behind me. Rolling my eyes, I hurried down the steps toward my car.
Once more, the security lights bathed the area like a prison yard. I clicked the beeper, and the doors of my car unlocked. I was about to open the door of my vehicle when something near the fountain caught the corner of my vision. I turned quickly, certain I’d seen movement. The hairs on my nape stiffened because I was positive I’d seen someone duck behind the fountain.
If the security lights hadn’t been so glaringly bright, I might not have noticed the person at all. I opened the door of my car and tossed my medical bag onto the passenger’s seat. I struggled with my desire to go investigate whether or not there really was someone there. I wasn’t a police officer. If there was someone there, what was I going to do about it?
Still, I was driven to look. Janelle had been positive she’d seen someone near the fountain. I was positive I was seeing someone too. Unless I investigated further, I’d never know whether or not my eyes were playing tricks on me or not.
Straightening my shoulders, I closed the door of my car. I moved slowly toward the fountain, and just as I reached it, the security lights went out. Swearing under my breath, I hesitated. There was a full moon, but the bright artificial light had messed with my eyes. It took a few moments for them to adjust to the moonlight. When I felt I could see again, I moved closer to the fountain.
Heart pounding, I forced myself to move quickly around the water feature. My muscles were tensed, just in case someone lunged at me. When I rounded the back of the fountain, there was no one there. I almost felt disappointed, which seemed like an odd reaction. I’d been positive I’d seen movement, but there wasn’t a soul to be seen. Had Janelle’s story simply influenced me, and so I’d imagined I saw someone lurking?
An owl hooted above my head, hidden in the dark branches. I shivered in the cool night air as my gaze dropped to the muddy ground. Water splashed the ground every few minutes from the gurgling fountain, creating mud. I frowned at something wedged into the mud. I widened my eyes as I realized I was looking at a high heel. The patent leather shoe looked completely out of place, which made me think I couldn’t be seeing what I was seeing.
Kneeling down, I took a closer look and determined it was indeed a red shoe. The heel was sunk deep into the mud, which was probably why it had come off the foot of whoever had been wearing it. The shoe hadn’t been there long because when I pressed my fingers to the inside of the shoe, it was warm to the touch. That fact sent a shiver down my spine, and I once more glanced uneasily around the area.
As I stood, the shadows were even eerier, and the breeze through the swaying trees seemed to whisper a warning. Rattled or not, I couldn’t just run away. If that high heel belonged to someone who was stalking Janelle, then it was possible evidence. I was no expert in gathering evidence, but I wasn’t about to wake up Royce to come bag up a shoe. I also wasn’t going to just leave the shoe there.
With a grunt, I hurried back to my car, and I opened the door. Reaching into my medical bag, I dug around for a pair of gloves. Once I’d found them, I returned to the high heel stuck in the mud. Hopefully, by using gloves, I’d preserve any prints on the shoe.
I carefully tugged the high heel from the sloppy ground and returned to my car. I had yesterday’s newspaper on the floor in the back. I set the shoe on the newspaper and got in my car. Feeling anxious, I quickly locked my doors. I started the car and took off down the driveway in the direction of Royce’s house. While I knew chain of custody was important, I wasn’t exactly sure how it worked. Perhaps I should have taken the high heel to the police station, but I felt foolish doing that. If Royce had been on duty, I’d have gone straight there, but I knew he was at home sleeping.
Gripping the wheel, I felt a spark of hope for Janelle and her sanity. She wasn’t crazy. She truly had seen someone down in the garden tonight. Only, despite what she thought, she hadn’t seen a ghost. Because as far as I knew, spirits didn’t tromp around the garden in the middle of the night, wearing size seven heels.
Chapter Twelve
