would be good.” Laurie took a seat at the table.
“Did Vincente send you?” Even as she asked the question, Beth realized how foolish it was. If Vincente knew where she was, he would never send someone else in his place. He would be here himself, filling this room with his presence. With his dangerous masculinity. The thought sent a thrill of remembered longing down her spine.
“Vincente has no idea I’m here. And I won’t tell him where you live.” Laurie’s tone was reassuring, the words confirming what Beth had just been thinking. “This is actually an official visit, but it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
Beth carried the coffee over to the table and took a seat opposite Laurie. “Now I’m intrigued.”
“It’s an intriguing story, and not a pleasant one. You may have heard about it if you’ve been following the news from Stillwater. Have you heard of the Red Rose Killer?”
“Goodness, yes.” Beth had hardly been able to believe what she had been hearing when she had visited the grocery store and overheard a conversation about what had been happening in her hometown. Although Stillwater was a three-hour drive from Casper, the story of the murders had been gruesome and newsworthy. “I don’t know all the details, but I knew Grant Becker. Was it true? I couldn’t believe it when I heard someone saying he was responsible for killing all those women.”
Laurie’s expression was grave as she nodded. “I was a newcomer in Stillwater at the time, but I know how it rocked the whole community. I was working undercover on another job when I found out that Carla Bryan, who everyone thought had died in an accident, had actually been murdered. Carla was my cousin. Once I started investigating, it turned out that Grant had killed at least six other women who had the same physical characteristics as Carla. We’re saying at least six because the investigation is still ongoing.” She took a sip of her coffee. “It’s the reason I’m here.”
Startled, Beth raised her brows. “It is?”
“You left Stillwater very abruptly, and you have the same physical features as the women Grant Becker killed,” Laurie said. “Dark hair, blue eyes, clear skin, slim figure, nice smile.” She ticked the characteristics off on her fingers. “This was a huge investigation involving the FBI and the Stillwater Police Department. We couldn’t rule out the possibility that you might have been one of Grant Becker’s victims.”
Beth took a moment to let that information sink in. “So you’ve been looking for me all this time?”
Laurie nodded. “Almost twelve months. When we didn’t find your body with the others, we put out an alert asking you to come forward.”
“I didn’t see anything.” Beth bit her lip. “I don’t have much time for TV or newspapers.” In a way, it was better that she hadn’t known the police were looking for her. Knowing would have been a dilemma of epic proportions. How could she have ignored that? Yet, at the same time, how could she have responded to it? “How did you find me?”
“Even though you’ve been using an alias, your boss saw your picture in our newspaper advertisement and phoned in.”
And there you have it. It was that easy. If the police could find her that way, anyone else could. Vincente could. Worst of all, he could find her. She always thought of the person who sent the letter and photographs as a “he”, but it could just as easily be a woman.
Her thoughts must have shown on her face because she became aware of Laurie watching her with concern. Leaning across the table, the other woman clasped Beth’s hand. “This is really not a big deal. Now that we know you are alive, I can cross you off our list of possible victims. I just came out here today to ask you a few questions. I hope that’s okay. I certainly didn’t want to worry you.”
Beth forced her features into a smile. It would be very easy to confide in this woman. To go upstairs and get that envelope, lay everything on the table and tell her the whole story. That way she could hand over her cares to someone else. But she didn’t have that luxury.
It’s not just my own safety that’s at stake here.
“Ask away.”
The searching look in Laurie’s eyes was still there as she flipped open her notepad. “I need to know whether you left Stillwater to get away from Grant Becker.”
Beth shook her head. “Apart from the fact that Grant was friends with Vincente, he and I barely knew each other.”
“So why did you leave Stillwater so suddenly?” Laurie asked.
At that moment—and with monumentally bad timing—a soft, demanding cry crackled over the baby monitor.
* * *
Vincente parked his car in a side street at right angles to the little house. From this vantage point, he could watch the front door without being too obvious.
Following Laurie around for the last three days had not been easy. Pursuing a seasoned detective in the small town where everyone knew them both? He had set himself an almost impossible task. But Laurie had said she would be questioning Beth about the Grant Becker case in the next few days. She had specifically said she would be “going to see” Beth. Vincente figured that, sooner or later, Laurie would lead him to Beth.
He decided the only way to check on his sister-in-law’s whereabouts was to make it look like, by some fluke, they kept bumping into each other. At the end of the second day, Laurie was joking that she’d seen more of her brother-in-law lately than she had of her husband.
Chasing around town, getting in Laurie’s way had played hell with Vincente’s work schedule. His younger brother, Bryce, who ran Delaney Transportation with him, had sent him an increasingly frantic series of messages demanding to know why he had abandoned his office. Unable to explain that he was stalking Laurie, Vincente had feigned illness.
“You’re never ill.” Bryce managed to make the statement sound like an accusation.
“First time for everything.” Vincente had done his best to sound feeble.
“Steffi was hoping you’d come over for dinner tonight. Cameron and Laurie will be there.” Knowing how much Vincente enjoyed evenings spent around the table in his brother’s rambling, comfortable home, Bryce had clearly decided to try another approach. Since his recent and blissfully happy marriage, Bryce enjoyed gathering the family together while his wife, Steffi, regaled them with stories of the animal sanctuary she was establishing. They had come a long way from the days when Bryce had been the local stud, and Steffi was a famous Hollywood actress.
“Maybe next week when I’ve shaken off this flu.” Vincente had turned down the invitation with real regret.
His stalking tactics had proved frustratingly unsuccessful. Until today. Today, his patience, or thinly disguised impatience, had finally paid off. Laurie had left home at her usual time this morning, but instead of going into town and making her way to the police headquarters, she had headed south.
After an hour of following her at a discreet distance, Vincente had gained an inkling about her destination. Beth’s parents were dead, and she’d lost touch with most family members over the years. But he remembered that she spoke about friends of her parents who lived nearby in Casper whom she had visited now and then as a child. Although they weren’t relatives, she had called them her aunt and uncle and always regretted losing touch with them. Vincente had forgotten
