Prologue
Corey Handleman woke up, surprised to find it as late as it was. Being in the navy, he rarely slept in. But it was already six-thirty. He rolled over and checked his cell phone for a text from Macklin. Corey was not at all sure what had gone on last night. But he had a suspicion his friend was taking a step that might not be in his best interests. He sent a quick text. Where are you?
There was no response. He frowned, got up, had a quick shower and put on some coffee. His phone rang.
It was Mason. “Did you hear the news?”
“What news?”
“They caught Marsha’s killer.”
Corey let out his breath with a heavy gust. “Thank God for that.” He frowned. “Who was it?”
“Her girlfriend.”
“But nobody said she had one.”
“Marsha kept her a secret. Even though the girlfriend lived there, she wasn’t allowed to let anybody know. She went in and out of the balcony door. The police only found out at the station after picking her up.”
“Ouch. Makes it hard to have a relationship if you’re always going out the back door. How long were they together?”
“Off and on for over a year, but they’ve known each other for quite a few years. It wasn’t somebody Marsha ever talked about.”
“And I suppose they didn’t go to parties together—do girl stuff?”
“Never.”
“And how did you get all this information?”
“I contacted the station and talked to them this morning. Alex was just leaving. Anyway, she gave me the heads-up on some of the details. She and Macklin were heading to bed.”
“So that’s why Macklin didn’t answer his phone.” Corey chuckled. “Well, I could see that one coming.”
“It’s good for Macklin. He’s waited a long while to find somebody.”
“Yeah, he has.”
“Your turn, Corey,” Mason said. “Isn’t it time for you now?”
“There’s nobody special in my life,” Corey explained. He walked to the window and stared out. “Maybe it’ll happen one day.”
Mason smiled, his voice laughing as he said, “Pretty darn sure it will happen sooner than later. You seem to have a lot of women in your life.”
“Not really. Although I did meet one for coffee a few days ago. But that wasn’t a girlfriend. She was my sister’s best friend. And it was hardly a social visit.”
“If it wasn’t a social visit, what was it? What did she want?” Mason asked with curiosity in his voice.
Corey hesitated.
“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s all right,” Mason said. “I’m just curious.”
“The thing is, I don’t know what she wanted. She called me and asked to meet. We sat and had coffee. Then she suddenly seemed to get nervous. Changed her mind. I tried to talk her into staying, but she wouldn’t. She just said she had to go.”
“Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. I called my sister, left several messages, but I haven’t heard from her either.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Two days. But with all this going on with Macklin and Marsha, I put it out of my mind.”
“How do you suggest we make sure both of them are okay?”
“I should have heard from my sister, but she’s been really busy. I don’t know what’s going on with Angela.”
“Was she looking for help?”
“I don’t know. She told me that she was fine, apologized for having bothered me. Then she stood and left. I walked out to the car with her. But she wouldn’t have anything to do with me. Honestly, she pissed me off, so I just put it out of my mind.”
“So it’s not like she was being followed or anything?” Mason asked in a sharp tone.
“Not that I could see.”
“So tell me. Who was she?”
Corey sighed. He turned to face the small room, walked over to the coffeepot, poured himself a cup and said, “Somebody from my past.”
“This sounds interesting. You sure it isn’t more than that?”
“No, it’s not more than that. I haven’t seen her since high school graduation.”
“That doesn’t mean much. Look at Merk.”
Corey gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah, but he at least married his girlfriend. In my case, a whole lot of other emotions were tied up.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Corey shook his head. “Nothing to talk about. She was my little sister’s best friend. We fell in love—as strong as first loves are. I was sure she was the one for me. I thought she felt the same way.”
“That happens,” Mason said, his tone neutral. “Then what?”
“She found out she was pregnant.” Corey winced, feeling the same old feelings of frustration and pain flow through him. “We didn’t have much chance to sort out our feelings and what we would do when she had a miscarriage. Next thing I know, she didn’t want a thing to do with me. When I saw her two days ago, it was the first time I’d seen her in twelve years.”
“And yet she looked you up after all this time?”
“Yeah. She did.” He frowned. “I sure wish I knew why though.”
“But you saw her after the miscarriage?”
“Yeah. She had to finish school. I saw her, so it’s not like she had the baby and that I didn’t know anything about it.” He shrugged it off. “It’s old water under the bridge.” He talked another couple minutes with Mason and then said, “I’ll catch you later.”
He hung up, picked up his coffee and stepped outside on his little deck. Those old memories were hard. He’d wanted that baby something awful. He’d always loved children, always planned to have children. No, he hadn’t been ready for fatherhood back then, but that was what he’d been handed, so he would have made the best of it, and he was pretty damn happy with that plateful. When she’d lost the baby, he’d lost it too. He had never expected to experience grief when it wasn’t even his body, when the child wasn’t even fully formed yet in her belly.
She’d barely been through her first trimester. But it had been a keen loss that, even now, twelve years later, still hurt. With no children of his own, he wondered and worried what would have happened if they had been able to keep the child. He thought back to seeing Angela at the coffee shop—his shock, his surprise.
It had also been a joy, a bittersweet joy. She’d looked exactly the same, and it had taken his breath away. The same angelic blond hair, even in the same hairstyle, straight but curling against her shoulders.
His phone rang. It was his sister. “Hey, sis, there you are.”
“Sorry,” she said, fatigue in her voice evident. “It’s been a hellish couple weeks.”
“Work?”
“Work and studies.”
His sister was almost done at Thomas Jefferson School of Law here in San Diego. She had a brutal class and work schedule, but she was coming through with flying colors. “Hopefully this will be done soon.”
“Well, it would be. But two days ago something else happened.”
“For you too, huh?”
Her voice piqued in interest. “What happened to you?”
“Angela walked into my life again.”
She gasped. And then suddenly went silent.
Instincts on alert, he asked, “Why? What was that reaction for? What’s wrong?”
“She told me that she might stop in and see you,” Bridget said quietly. “Something was really bothering her.”
“Well, she came, but she got up in the middle of coffee, even though we had lunch ordered, and said she had to go, that it was a mistake to see me. I walked out to her car, trying to talk to her, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
“So why did she come?”
“Somebody was threatening her. She was hoping you could help.”
He frowned. “Why me?”
“I’ve kept her up-to-date on your life.” She gave a bitter laugh. “To make things worse, Angela’s gone missing.”