The Ideal Man (Buchanan-Renard #9)

The Ideal Man (Buchanan-Renard #9) Page 22

“I’d like to get Ellie out of here today, but there’s this party…”

“My parents pleaded that I stay for Ava’s garden party,” Ellie explained. “If Max can make it safe.”

“I can help you with that,” Spike said. Turning to Ellie, he said, “You can’t catch a break, can you?”

Trying to stay positive, she said, “Everyone has their ups and downs…” She stopped when she noticed their incredulous expressions. “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging.

“Let’s talk strategy later,” Max suggested after seeing how pale Ellie’s face had become. He knew this had to be difficult for her, but she was handling it with courage.

“Good idea,” she said. She didn’t want to talk about the Landrys or Patterson any longer and asked Spike to catch her up on all the people she remembered. By the time their food arrived, her appetite was coming back.

“What about you, Ellie? What are you doing these days?” Spike asked.

“Looking for a job,” she answered.

“Would you ever consider moving back here?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I could.”

“Even if Patterson was living somewhere else?”

“Even then. All my memories revolve around him. I just don’t think I could do it. What about you?” she asked. “What made you decide on law enforcement?”

“After I helped you, I kinda liked doing some good, I guess, and after college I decided this is what I wanted to do and this is where I wanted to live.”

Spike asked a few personal questions about her life away from Winston Falls, but Max wouldn’t let her answer. He was smooth about it. He skillfully deflected the questions or changed the subject. Ellie realized what he was doing when he put his hand on her knee.

When they were once again in the car and on their way back to Winston Falls, Ellie said, “I noticed you wouldn’t let me tell Spike about where I live or what I’m doing. I do trust him.”

“That’s fine, but how much do you want to bet he’ll go home and tell his wife about running into you, and she might tell a neighbor…”

“I understand,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been specific.”

“Your dad went to a lot of trouble and expense to hide you until you were old enough to take care of yourself. None of the people here know where you live, do they?”

“No,” she answered. “Not even the relatives know much about me, only that I was sent away to school after I got out of the hospital. They don’t ask questions, though, which is good. At least that’s what my mother told me.”

“None of them know you’re a surgeon?”

“I don’t think so. My aunt Vivien thinks I’m a perpetual student. Her sister thinks I’m still in school because I’m slow.”

He laughed. “You don’t do anything slow.”

“Is that a criticism?”

“No,” he answered, glancing at her. She looked disgruntled, which amused him. “You just don’t know how to relax.”

“There hasn’t been time.”

“Now that your full-time work at St. Vincent’s is over, you’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Did I mention I owe around two hundred thousand dollars?”

“You could still take some time off.”

She didn’t disagree.

Her father was in the backyard with the repairman when they arrived home. The huge space had been transformed into a construction site while they were gone. Empty flowerpots lined the porch and were scattered around at strategic spots on the lawn. A large fountain was being erected in the center. Max handed William the thermostat and stood talking to the two men while Ellie went on into the house. She noticed that some of the flowers had been delivered early. There were bouquets on the kitchen table and more in the living room on the sofa table. The arrangements, white hydrangeas and white roses mixed with vivid green leaves, were simple but elegant.

The dining room table was set for dinner. Seven table settings. She knew what that meant, and she immediately tried to think of somewhere she and Max needed to be. She would go to any lengths not to have to sit next to Ava or John. The problem was, she couldn’t think of anything.

Her stomach felt a little nauseous, so she poured herself a glass of milk and leaned against the kitchen sink drinking it.

Max walked in, took one look at her, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Was it that obvious that she was irritated?

“Nothing’s wrong. Just wanted some milk.”

When her mother entered the kitchen, Ellie noticed she was dressed for a special occasion, wearing a white sleeveless sheath and heels. “Is that a new dress?” she asked.

“No, I’ve had it a couple of years. You just haven’t seen it.”

“It’s pretty,” she said. “You look nice, Mom.”

“Thank you, dear. Now, Ellie,” she said, “there’s something I want to discuss.”

Ellie finished her milk. Putting her glass in the sink, she said, “Oh God, here we go.”

“What did you say?”

“Whenever you start a sentence with ‘Now, Ellie,’ I know you’re going to tell me something I don’t want to hear.”

“Your sister Ava and her fiancé are coming over for dinner.”

“And I was right. I didn’t want to hear that.”

“They’re picking up Annie at the airport and should be here around six thirty.”

Ellie turned to Max. “You’ll love Annie. Growing up, she had the nickname Candy Annie because she was so sweet.”

Her father had come into the kitchen in time to hear Ellie’s remarks. He shook his head. “Until you went away,” he said. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow, then dropped into a chair to catch his breath before continuing. “Annie became withdrawn, and it took her a long time to recover, and that’s when she decided she wanted to do something in law enforcement when she grew up. She couldn’t understand why Patterson hadn’t been locked up for life. Frankly, neither could we.” He added, “She felt so helpless.”

Max nodded. Helpless. He could identify with Annie’s mindset. When he was a young boy, he’d felt the same way after he’d run away from foster parents.

“Annie’s still sweet,” Ellie insisted. “We text each other all the time. She’s still got a wicked sense of humor, too.”

“And Ava?” Max asked. “Did she have a nickname?”

He mother tried to stop Ellie from answering. “They’re twins, you know. Identical.”

“There are times I still can’t tell them apart,” her father exaggerated.

“I can,” Ellie said. “Ava’s eyes glow red in the dark.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” her mother muttered.

Her father decided to ignore the comment. “The repairman installed a window unit because he said the replacement air conditioner was missing a few parts. He’ll be back tomorrow to fix it and put in the new thermostat. I’m going to keep the window unit, though. I got a real deal on it.”

The doorbell rang, and her mother hurried to answer. She crossed back through the kitchen saying, “William, tell the tent people where they can set it up.”

Her father was slow to get up, and after the two of them had gone into the yard, Ellie said, “I’ll be right back.”

She ran into her parents’ bathroom and went through the medicines in the cabinet. Her father’s color was much better than it had been, but she was concerned about him. Stress could be a killer. She was looking for heart medicine but didn’t find any. The only prescribed medication she found was a bottle of sleeping pills. She read the label and unscrewed the cap. About half the pills were gone. She knew these were nothing to worry about, but she was troubled nonetheless.

“What were you doing?” Max asked when she returned. He was standing at the window in the living room looking out at the street.

“I was checking out the prescription bottles in the medicine cabinet to find out what they’re taking. If something was wrong with either one of them, I would never know. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Sleeping pills for my dad,” she answered. “I think the anxiety I’ve caused him over the years-not to mention all the stress of Ava’s wedding-has taken its toll.”

“Are you going to tell me about Ava? I sense a little hostility.”

She laughed. “No wonder you’re an FBI agent. You’re so perceptive.”

“No reason for sarcasm.”

She crossed the room and stood beside him looking out at the street with her arms folded. “I’m here to attend Ava’s wedding because my mother insisted. Really insisted,” she stressed emphatically.

“Okay.”

“She’s marrying John Noble, my ex-fiancé.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“John had only just asked me to marry him a few days before I brought him home to meet the family.”

“I see,” he said when she hesitated.

“Everyone wanted to make him feel at home… especially Ava.”

Max suspected where this was headed and waited to hear her tell him.

“The night after we arrived, I found him in bed with her.”

“Ah…”

Frowning, she said, “Ah, what?”

“Do you blame him for what happened, or do you just blame your sister?”

“Ava knew what she was doing.”

“And he didn’t?”

“Of course, he did,” she said. “But Ava and I always had a contentious relationship, and this was the last straw. I packed up and went back to St. Louis.”

“What had made it so contentious?” he asked, curious.

“When we were young and anything went wrong, Ava blamed me. She and Annie each had her own birthday party, and Ava accused me of ruining one of hers. In a way, I guess I did.”

“How did you ruin it?”

“I was beaten and unconscious,” she said. “And my parents had to go to the hospital.”

“That was when you were taken away from Winston Falls, wasn’t it?”

“No, not that time.”

“Jeez, Ellie, how many times did Patterson send you to the hospital? The court records didn’t tell that.”

“Just a couple.”

She tried to act blasé about it, but he knew talking about the bastard made her anxious. He could hear it in her voice.

“Is it difficult to be here, even though it’s just for a couple of days?”

She didn’t see any reason to lie. “I get this stone in the pit of my stomach, and it doesn’t go away until I’m out of here, all because of him. I used to think it was odd that he didn’t try to find me.”

“How do you know he didn’t?”

“I don’t think it would have been all that difficult to find out where I was. I took the Wheatley name for a long time, but I went back to my name for my M.D. A psychiatrist suggested to me that Patterson’s obsession was somehow tied to Winston Falls.”

“Maybe,” he allowed, though he wasn’t convinced.

“The doctor said that part of Patterson’s obsession or fantasy was that he had to kill me here. It’s one theory,” she added with a shrug.

Max had another theory. A man with a violent obsession would stop at nothing to get his victim, and the only reason he hadn’t killed Ellie was because he couldn’t find her. From what he’d read in the file, he also knew that Patterson would never stop until he was locked away for life.

“I’d rather not talk about him anymore.”

“Okay, tell me about this Noble guy. Did you love him?”

“He looked good on paper.”

Max laughed. “In other words, no,” he said. “What exactly does looking good on paper mean?”

“John’s a dermatologist, so there’s very little chance of danger in his job. That made him safe.” And God knows, I’d love to find out what it’s like to feel safe, she thought to herself.

“What else?”

“We were both residents, so we had the hospital and medicine in common.”

“What else?”

“He was extremely polite and easygoing.”

Max noticed she hadn’t mentioned an emotional or physical connection. “You wouldn’t have married him.”

“No, I wouldn’t have,” she admitted. “I realized after that fiasco that I can’t marry anyone. My life’s too unpredictable.”

“And it wouldn’t be safe for the man you married?”

Had he read her thoughts? “Yes, that’s right. It wouldn’t be.”

“You’re letting that bastard, Patterson, continue to run your life.”

She didn’t disagree. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I slept with John?”

“No,” he replied. “I already know you didn’t.”

She looked up at him. “How could you know?”

He didn’t say what he was thinking, that any man who had gone to bed with Ellie would never want or need any other woman. Instead, he said, “I just know.”

TWENTY

Bridezilla arrived at the house at seven o’clock with her fiancé and her sister.

Max watched from the window as John carried Annie’s suitcase and walked between the two striking women. The twins were identical, all right. Both were of medium height and had long blond hair a shade darker than Ellie’s, and delicate features. In Max’s opinion, the sisters were very pretty, but in no way could they compete with Ellie’s beauty.

John Noble was something else. He looked as though he should be working on Wall Street or maybe as a mannequin in a department store window. He was tall, thin, and neatly dressed in a starched, light blue shirt and pressed khakis. Not a hair was out of place. There was something odd about him, though. Max couldn’t figure out what it was until John got closer to the house. He realized then that John’s forehead didn’t move when he smiled. It was as though his skin had been frozen. Botox? Surely not.

Ellie came up behind Max. “The bad seed’s the one on the left,” she whispered.

He tried not to smile. “Try to get along,” he whispered back.