Chapter Fourteen #2
Ethan set his phone down and looked at Livvy.
All of this was clearly taking a toll on her, so despite what she’d said earlier about falling apart if he touched her, he pulled her into his arms. She didn’t back away.
Just the opposite. She came off the stool where she’d been sitting, and she pressed herself against him.
“I’m so tired of all of this. The memory gaps are making things much worse,” Livvy muttered. “In fact, if I could just remember, I might be able to say who the killer is.”
Maybe her mother’s killer, yes, but it was possible someone else had murdered Zadie and Chloe. So, getting her memory back might not give them what they needed to keep Sunny and her safe.
He eased away, met her gaze, and for some reason, he smiled.
Despite everything, it warmed him to see her face.
Livvy, his friend. That was first and foremost the basis of their relationship, and it had been that way for years.
However, this extra level to it, this lovers’ pull, felt good, too.
And yeah, it still caused some guilt, but Ethan could feel that cooling just as the attraction was heating up.
“When this investigation is over, maybe we can go on a date,” he suggested.
For a moment, she just looked stunned. Then, she smiled. “That’s the third thing on the agenda after we catch a killer. That long talk you wanted. The gender reveal. And now a date. I’d love to go out with you,” she tacked on.
Ethan’s next breath was one of relief, and he risked touching his mouth to hers. Just the slightest of kisses. No more. Because more was only going to land them in bed and not working on the investigation.
“All right,” she said, as if sensing they were about to go back into cop mode. “Back to Eden’s list. And by now, some of the reports might be in from the CSIs.”
“True, and I want to read the one from the spot where Sunny was attacked.” The CSIs had found some shoeprints, and Ethan was eager to find out if they matched Hank’s.
Or find out if they were dealing with someone else. Like Vernice or Anthony.
Livvy made a sound of agreement, and she pushed the rest of her salad aside and dragged over the laptop as she sat back on the barstool.
“And I want to have another conversation with Sunny when she gets here. There’s a reason Sunny’s a target,” she said.
“Maybe because the killer thinks Zadie said something to her, but it could be more than that. It could be something that Sunny heard or saw.”
Yeah, and that went right back to all their suspects.
Ethan grabbed his laptop, too, and he moved it next to Livvy’s so they could work the list. They’d barely gotten started on that, though, when he heard something he hadn’t been expecting.
A car engine.
Because he was nowhere on the route to and from town, he rarely got visitors, and with Livvy here, he didn’t like the timing of anyone just showing up. That was why Ethan slid his hand over his gun as he made his way to the front window.
Livvy did the same thing, and she went with him to peer out at their visitor. The black Lexus that pulled to a stop in front of his house wasn’t familiar, but the man who stepped out certainly was.
Franklin.
What the hell was he doing here?
Franklin fired some nervous glances around himself, and he tucked a manila folder under his arm before he started toward the porch.
“Stay back,” Ethan muttered to Livvy.
He disengaged the security system only on the front door so he could open it a couple of inches. “What do you want?” Ethan snarled, and he made damn sure it was not a friendly greeting.
Franklin stopped in his tracks, eyeing Ethan’s stance and gun. He swallowed hard. “I need to talk to Deputy Walsh. She’s not at her house, so I figured she was here with you.”
“How’d you get our addresses?” Ethan demanded.
He lifted his shoulder. “Renegade Canyon’s a small town, and people talk.”
Yeah, they did, but Ethan couldn’t imagine something like that just coming up in random conversation. Franklin had likely sought out the information.
But why?
“What do you want?” he repeated.
This time Franklin sighed. Gone was the surliness that’d been present during the interview at the police station. Franklin looked exhausted. Maybe an act though, Ethan reminded himself.
“I have some things to tell Deputy Walsh. Livvy,” he added in a barely audible whisper. “Things she’ll want to know. We can talk out here,” he said, still glancing around, “but it’d be better if I come in. I have something to give her.”
“You’re not coming in,” Ethan was quick to tell him. “Whatever you have to say, you can say it there. Then, you can explain why you didn’t bring it up when you were being questioned.”
The man sighed again. “Because what I have to tell her is personal. It has nothing to do with Zadie’s and my sister’s murders.”
Ethan doubted that. He figured anything to do with Franklin was also connected to the murders.
“What do you want to tell me?” Livvy asked, stepping into the doorway next to him.
He had hoped she would stay to the side where she’d be better protected, but he understood her need to face this man head-on, too.
Ethan would just need to stay vigilant in case this was some kind of ploy.
Franklin could have come here to draw them out for a hired gun.
Or Franklin himself could plan on doing the killing.
He shifted his attention to Livvy, and Ethan wished he could read that expression on the doctor’s face. It seemed to be a tangle of all sorts of emotions.
“Livvy,” Franklin said, “I think you remembered something. I think that’s why you left the interview. What did you remember?”
She huffed. “I thought you were here to tell me something, not ask questions that I won’t answer.”
He nodded as if he understood that. “I knew your mother,” he blurted.
For only four words, they certainly packed a wallop. Ethan had to hand it to Livvy though. Other than a quick intake of breath, she didn’t react. She just stood there and waited for Franklin to continue.
“At least I think it was your mother,” he said. “I didn’t realize it until I had a closer look at you and that sketch the sheriff showed me. That’s when it all clicked for me. Her name was Belinda Anderson,” he explained, “and she was a surrogate at New Hope.”
“Belinda Anderson,” Livvy muttered, no doubt testing it to see if it was familiar. She shook her head though. Obviously, it wasn’t ringing any bells.
It didn’t ring any bells for Ethan either, and he wished he could take out his phone and do a quick search of the woman. It was too risky, though, since he didn’t trust Franklin. Added to that, all of this could be more lies.
“Was I one of the surrogate babies Belinda carried?” Livvy asked. “Am I your child?”
“No,” the doctor answered. “No,” he repeated, as if shocked by the questions.
“You were four or five years old when Belinda came to New Hope. If I recall, she said a friend of a friend had referred her to New Hope and that she needed a place to stay with her little girl. With you,” he emphasized. “But I don’t remember your name.”
“That makes two of us,” she murmured. “Tell me about her. Was my father with her? And where is she now?”
Franklin scrubbed his hand over his face.
“No, your father wasn’t with her. I got the feeling she was running from something.
Maybe him or an abusive relationship. Maybe she was just looking for a new start that the surrogacy money would give her.
I’m afraid I don’t know. In fact, I hadn’t thought of Belinda in years until your sheriff showed me that sketch of her. ”
“And since you recognized it, why didn’t you mention it then and there?” Ethan demanded.
“Because like I said, that doesn’t have anything to do with now. Well, other than how this is affecting Livvy.” He stopped, muttered some profanity. “As for where Belinda is…” His words trailed off. “I think I should start at the beginning.”
“Do that,” Ethan snapped. Still not offering up any niceties. And still not sure he was buying any of this. But with a name at least now Livvy might possibly have a starting point. She might finally learn who she was and what had happened when she was a child.
“Like I said,” Franklin went on, and he wrapped his arms around himself and hunched against the cold wind, “Belinda came with you to New Hope, and after I examined her, I hired her for a gestational surrogacy. She lived at New Hope with you during the pregnancy.”
He paused again and seemed to rethink what he’d been about to say. Ethan was certain the man was holding back on something. Maybe something important.
“The delivery went fine,” he continued a moment later, “and Belinda asked if she could stay on for a while and maybe have another gestational surrogacy. We don’t usually do back-to-backs like that, but I made an exception.
I told her she could recover for six months and then she could carry another baby.
Five months into that waiting period, she disappeared. ”
Beside him, he felt Livvy’s arm tense. “With me?”
Franklin nodded but then stopped again. “Or so that’s what Chloe told me,” he amended.
Ethan felt the ice slide through his body, and it had nothing to do with the cold wind. “Chloe?” he questioned.
“Yes, when I asked where Belinda was, Chloe said she’d up and left with her daughter.
And I believed her.” Franklin’s voice cracked a little.
“I knew that Chloe didn’t like Belinda. Paul was alive then, and she was jealous of the attention he was showing Belinda.
So, I figured that Chloe had paid Belinda off or done something to convince her to leave. ”