I’m not a cop. I’m not here to arrest him, and I’m not interested in making any charges. All my client cares about is having him sign her papers I’ve brought with me.”
“And if he decides instead to disappear?”
“Then I’ll find him again,” he promised, and she knew he meant it.
Karen stood, and there was another precarious moment when the forceful blue eyes under the heavy black eyebrows sought hers. All out of nowhere the thought struck her that she need no longer consider herself a married woman. It was a treacherous idea. It even felt like an immoral one, and she quickly smothered it. She was suddenly anxious for Devlin to leave. But, maddeningly, he lingered.
“Did your assistant give you my business card?”
“Yes.”
“My cell phone number is listed on it. Use it if you need me.”
“Yes.” Why didn’t he just go? She wanted to be alone so she could try to deal with this monstrous thing.
“It may be necessary for you to sign a deposition. You’ll have to consult your lawyer about just what your situation is legally.”
“Yes.”
There was another uncomfortable pause. What was he waiting for now?
“If we had to go and meet again, Karen,” he finally said, his voice raspy with emotion, “I would have wished for it to be anything but this.”
HE WAS FINALLY GONE. She was mercifully alone again. Too dazed to go on standing, she sank back into her desk chair. She sat there, struggling to accept what she had just learned. Devlin was too careful an investigator to have brought her anything but the truth. She could no longer question it.
Bigamy! Michael was guilty of bigamy, and she was his victim!
Whatever had vanished from their relationship, it was a cruel blow to learn that her marriage to him had been nothing but a lie. Which meant everything he had shared with her about his past—and she realized now it wasn’t all that much—must also be a lie. Then exactly who was Michael Ramey, and what other secrets might he be guarding?
Whatever the explanation, she would no longer need to seek a divorce since it seemed she had never been legally married to him in the first place. It occurred to her there was a terrible irony in that.
All of this was too agonizing. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. Livie. She wanted to be with Livie, to hold her securely in her arms. She longed for someone she could trust and who trusted her, someone who belonged to her without question in a world that suddenly seemed shadowed with uncertainties. Only her daughter could satisfy her need.
Maud and Robyn must have thought her a little crazed when she rushed away from Dream Makers a few minutes later after the most inadequate of explanations. But they didn’t try to delay her with questions she was in no mood to answer. Claiming her blue Camry from the parking garage across the street, Karen drove across the Mississippi River into St. Paul.
The tree-shaded house was located near one of the colleges and not far from a park. It had a soothing quality about it. There was an old-fashioned glider on the front porch and a fenced yard in the back with a sandbox and a playhouse.
Parents were grateful for Mildred Gustafsson. A retired kindergarten teacher, she provided their children with superior care. One of her toddlers, an inquisitive boy named Joey, peered around her leg when she answered Karen’s ring.
“Mrs. Ramey!” The lanky woman, who seemed far younger than her mature years, was a little startled to find Karen standing on her porch.
“I know this is way ahead of the usual hour we pick Livie up. But I got back from Atlanta earlier than scheduled, so I thought I’d collect her now. She’s not still napping, is she?”
Mildred Gustafsson looked bewildered. “But Livie isn’t here.”
Karen felt her stomach lurch sickeningly. “What do you mean she’s not here? She has to be here.”
“I thought you knew. I thought he must have told you. Mrs. Ramey, your husband came for Livie yesterday morning. She’s with her father.”
Chapter Two
Devlin had been far too busy to think of food. It wasn’t until he came away from Dream Makers that he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since the plane that had brought him from Denver. Locating a fast-food joint, he ordered a burger and fries and carried them out to his rental car.
It was midafternoon by the time he polished off his belated lunch, and the sun was hot. Even though he had removed his suit coat and tie and rolled up his sleeves, it was much too warm to go on sitting here in an unshaded parking lot. But that’s exactly what he did.
He had an unconscious habit of whistling a slow tune whenever he was considering all the angles of a difficult case. Or when he was dealing with an emotional situation he didn’t like. And since that was exactly what he was experiencing now, he began to whistle so softly that the result was almost inaudible. But the action enabled him to concentrate.
He’d made a mistake, a serious one, in going to see Karen. Even though it would have been an insensitive way to give her the brutal truth about the man she’d married, he should have handled it by phone or even left a letter for her with her assistant. But he hadn’t expected after almost four years to find himself aching in the gut at the sight of the woman. Never mind how that sweet mouth and lithe body affected another area of his anatomy, stirring unwanted memories of the fantastic nights they had shared in that Colorado chalet. He could still see the snow drifting through the evergreens on the mountain outside the window while a fire blazed on the bedroom’s stone hearth. Not that they had needed its warmth. They had created their own heat.
What was he doing? This was stupid. Getting all nostalgic about something that had ended badly. Because if he was going to start examining memories, then he’d better focus on the only one that had any reality. She’d abruptly left him and flown back to Minneapolis, making it clear that her goodbye was a permanent one. No real explanation, just as though she’d offered him some blithe: Been fun, babe, but gotta go.
Funny. Devlin would have sworn that, unlike the women who usually appealed to him, Karen Howard’s values were traditional ones. That, because of the intenseness of their relationship, she might have been interested in exploring a more lasting connection. But, as intimate as the two of them had been, he hadn’t really known her, even though they had been together for many weeks.
He’d told himself he was lucky, that a commitment was the last thing he wanted, anyway. The truth was, she had hurt him when she walked away without a backward glance. Hurt him for a long time, though eventually he’d managed to forget all about her. Or so he had believed. But now…
Damn, this was no good. Even if, technically, she wasn’t a married woman, he needed to stay away from her. He’d learned this afternoon that he couldn’t trust himself anywhere near her, and he sure as hell didn’t want to be wounded again. For all he knew, she was madly in love with the bastard who had deceived her, would forgive him and go on loving him.
Checking his watch, Devlin decided it was time to head back to Michael Ramey’s office, which was located near the Metrodome. If Ramey still wasn’t there, he was prepared to wait
