Girl By Any Other Name Read online

  She sat on her bed, folding clothes into a suitcase. I rushed over to her and took her in my arms. She melted into them.

  “Baby, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m fine. He busted through the door, but as soon as the alarm went off, he ran away. I was in the bathroom getting ready to head out. You were right about the alarm.”

  I held her face in my hand, kissing it all over, not caring how many other people were in the room.

  “Sophie, we need to get moving,” a gruff voice said from behind me.

  I turned and looked at him, trying not to give him the benefit of my shock. “Well, well, what do you know? Uncle Joe.”

  “Hello, Caleb. As I said the last time we met, do not call me that.”

  “He’s not my uncle. Joe is the US Marshall assigned to me,” she explained.

  “I figured that out on my own. What’s going on? Are you leaving?”

  She nodded. “I’m getting another identity.”

  “Were you just going to leave me…again?”

  She widened her eyes, backing away from me. “I was going to tell you.”

  “When? When it was too late for me to do anything about it? Were you going to send an anonymous postcard or something?”

  Joe cleared his throat. He had a coffee carrier in his hands. “Here you go. You still take it black, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, taking the cup from him. “Thank you.”

  He turned to me. “We have other things to worry about right now, Caleb. You need to leave.”

  “Get the hell out of here, Joe. I need to talk to Sophie.”

  “Excuse me?” Joe grabbed my shoulder, but I moved out of his reach. I didn’t want to take my eyes off her.

  “Joe, can you please have everyone wait outside? I need to talk to Cal privately.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Soph.” Soph? He had a nickname for her?

  “She didn’t ask your permission, Uncle Joe.”

  “I just need a few minutes…please,” she pleaded with him.

  I was looking at her while she looked at him over my shoulder. The expression she offered him was one of familiarity…possibly intimacy, as if I was the interloper in this situation.

  “Are you done with forensics?” Joe asked someone.

  I zoned in on the coffee cup in her hand. Black, just the way she liked it.

  “Yes, all set,” said the one woman in the room who had been dusting for fingerprints and gathering items.

  He gave Sylvie a long warning look. “Don’t take long.”

  “Oh, and Joe?” I said. “One more thing.”

  “Yes, Caleb?”

  I slammed my fist into his face.

  Chapter 32

  Present day

  “Cal!” Sylvie screamed as she took in Joe’s face.

  “Are you crazy?” Joe asked, holding his bloody nose. “I could arrest you.”

  It was a sucker blow on my part, but there were just some things a man couldn’t keep to himself. I’d waited ten years to land that punch. I wanted it more than ever now.

  “I might be, Joe, but from where I’m sitting, you’re the one who has some answering to do. I don’t want to waste valuable time discussing your wrongdoings unless you think we should. Right now, I have to talk to my girl. Y’all need to leave us alone.”

  He looked at Sylvie and back to me. His demeanor changed. I’d caught him off-guard, but he caught the curve ball I pitched.

  “Everyone, let’s go outside and figure out the game plan. Haynes, start making the calls.” They all looked shocked and confused, but after a second, they followed his orders and shuffled out of the apartment.

  He still stood there.

  “You, too, Joe,” I said. “Especially you. Get the fuck out.”

  Joe turned to Sylvie before leaving. “I can only give you ten minutes, Soph. Then we need to leave.”

  She handed him a box of tissues. “Thanks, Joe.”

  When we were alone, she sat down on the bed, wringing her hands against her lap. “Why did you do that? What were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t. I was just so angry.”

  “Joe was doing his job.”

  “I didn’t punch him because he’s taking you away.”

  “Then why?”

  “I don’t want to talk about that.”

  “Well you have some answering to do.”

  I threw my hands up in surrender. “Looks like I met number one, huh?”

  Her eyes widened, providing all the confirmation I needed. She was never good at hiding her feelings…at least not from me. “Cal, you don’t understand. Nothing happened between us until I was twenty-three. We were just there for each other when we both needed someone.”

  “He’s known you since you were ten years old.”

  “Actually, not until I was sixteen. That’s when he was assigned to our case.”

  “That doesn’t make it any better. It was wrong…on his part. But it’s not important right now.” I tilted her chin so she was looking at me and could hear the conviction in my words. “I don’t want to talk about him. I want to talk about us. I’m going with you.”

  She shook her head, her lower lip trembling. “You can’t.”

  “You promised you wouldn’t take away my choices again.”

  “That was before.”

  “Before what?” I spat.

  “Before Eddie found me. It’s different now.”

  “What kind of bullshit is this?”

  Her beautiful face constricted with pain. “It’s because I love you that I don’t want you to choose. You don’t understand what this kind of life is. How would you feel never seeing your mother or Mandy again? You wouldn’t be there to walk your sister down the aisle when she got married. What if your mother got sick? You’d come to resent me.”

  I took her shoulders and pulled her against my chest. “I will never resent you. I lost you once, and I won’t do it again.”

  “I would be doing this to them too, Cal. They don’t get a choice here. They’ve already lost one good man in their life. I won’t be responsible for them loosing another.”

  “They would understand.” I put my forehead against hers. “Don’t. End. Us.” There was an unmistakable plea in my voice. I couldn’t stomach the thought of her out in this great big mean world without me.

  She hugged me, her arms drawing close. I pushed her away. Fuck her good-bye hug. I wanted no part of it.

  She looked hurt. She straightened and took a deep breath. “Cal, I would spend all of eternity with you if I could. I love the life we found here, even if it was only a few short months.” Her voice cracked on every other word. “I never thought I would ever be this happy again. But this is fate’s plan, and it leaves few choices.”

  “A great philosopher once said, ‘Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.’”

  She stared up at me. “Who was that? Socrates?”

  I smiled. “No, Optimus Prime from the Transformer’s movie.”

  Her lip quivered once more, but this time she broke into a giggle. “How am I laughing right now?”

  I tucked a loose, silky strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re going to need someone to make you smile when times are dark. I’m the right man for the job.”

  “The only man.”

  Joe cleared his throat, interrupting our moment. She jerked, but I held her against my chest, fighting my desire to knock him in the teeth this time.

  “Ready to go?” he asked.

  She looked at me and then back over to him. “We need another identity. Cal is coming with me.”

  “That’s not possible, Soph.”

  I turned to him, trading my relieved smile for a seething scowl. “Make it possible, Joe.”

  Chapter 33

  Present day

  It was funny. This morning had been a normal day, or at least as normal as things had been since Sylvie came back. I’d been teaching my class. We’d planned to go to the m
ovies tonight. I wanted to see the newest Marvel movie. We were going to grab a pizza at Angel’s place. Tomorrow, we’d spend the day at the WC. She’d gotten a license to do sketches. I offered to be her assistant for the day. We talked about saving up for a trip to rent a cabin on Big Lake. We’d go fishing and hiking and make love near the waterfall.

  Now she lay asleep in my arms at some hotel in Medford as we prepared for our new life. I would miss Mandy and Momma something terrible, but this girl in my arms was a part of me. I couldn’t be without her.

  I slowly shifted away from her, getting out of bed so as not to wake her. I placed a gentle kiss on her temple and tucked her in again. I opened the door to face Joe who was sitting in the chair outside of our room. He looked as tired as I felt.

  “We need to talk.”

  “Yes, I think that’s a good idea, Caleb. Join me for a drink at the bar.”

  I turned back, looking at her lying on the bed. “I don’t want to leave her.”

  “Haynes is here,” Joe said, as an older man appeared behind him. “He’s taking this shift.”

  I nodded and began walking toward the elevator. The hotel bar was empty except for us. Joe ordered a Jack neat. I ordered a Beck’s in the bottle.

  “How’s your nose?” I asked.

  “Just fine.”

  “Yeah? Cause where I’m sitting, it looks busted up.”

  “I need to explain to you how all this works,” he said, taking some papers out of his folder. He slid them toward me. It was a list of rules. I ignored it, shoving the papers aside.

  “That’s not what I want to discuss.”

  “Well, that’s really all I have to say to you, Caleb.”

  I slammed my bottle down. “What happened was sick. You’re a pervert.”

  He laughed, only infuriating me further. “I doubt she would agree.”

  “How long?”

  “We didn’t do anything until she was an adult.”

  “I mean how long have you been lusting after her? Did it start when you met her, you sick bastard?” If Sylvie didn’t need his protection, I swear I could have killed him.

  He clenched his jaw and fists at the same time. I could see his internal struggle to keep his composure. “We don’t owe you an explanation.”

  “Oh, let me be clear, Joe, I don’t think she does, but you sure as hell do. She was lost, scared, and alone. You were supposed to protect her. Instead, you took advantage of her vulnerability.”

  “I did.”

  I paused, surprised he admitted it. “What would your bosses say about this? Surely, such a breach of trust would cause a great deal of trouble for you.”

  “She would never tell.”

  “Maybe I will.”

  His cold façade cracked. He leaned forward. “You are such an asshole, Tanner. You think that’s doing her any favors? You may not trust me, but she does. This wasn’t some tawdry affair. I’m not a pedophile. Hell, I’m only eight years older than her.” His voice got quieter, filling with the slightest emotion, as if he was trying like hell to fight against it. “My wife had passed away a few months before. She helped me through that time. I helped her, too. She needed someone who knew her. Knew her history.”

  “And there you were, ready to pounce.”

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me.”

  “I loved her.”

  What the fuck? I narrowed my eyes, willing myself not to jump across the table and slam his head into the wall. “She loves me. She always has. And she always will.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know.”

  “How long did it go on?”

  “Three days. That’s all. I ended it.”

  “You suddenly came to your senses?”

  “I ended it the night she called out your fucking name in bed. Is that what you needed to hear? Does that make you feel better?”

  I hated to admit it, but it did make me feel better, but not by much. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

  “But it did, and it’s over.” He sighed and shuffled the papers around. “That’s everything and much more than you deserve to know about us. If you have any more questions, ask her.”

  I started breathing easier, surprised by how much his admission eased my tension. “You’re going to have someone else reassigned to her case.”

  “I know you’re going to hate hearing this, but I’m the best shot she has.”

  “You’re too invested.”

  “You need someone invested.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “She’s very special. Take care of her.”

  “You think I don’t realize that? She’s one in a million, and she’s mine.”

  “I have a unique perspective. Most of the time I deal with people who commit crimes and want an easy pass. I hate those cases. Once in a while, I deal with a victim like Sophie. That’s easier to deal with, but she’s different than anyone else. I’ve seen people who have been through half of what she has had to overcome, and they still can’t get past it. She never once felt sorry for herself. In fact, all she did was worry about others. Hell, she worried about me, for God’s sake…and she really worried about you.”

  “Your feelings for her have clouded your judgment. You need to take yourself off the case, Joe.”

  “That’s her call, not yours. I will always be there for her. Besides, as I see it, I’m not the one at this table who compromised her safety.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  He shook his head, chuckling softly. “She never told you, did she? I’m not surprised since she never blamed you. Not once. Like you said, that girl’s one in a million.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Are you really this much of a dumbass? How do you think they found her the first time?”

  I stared at him blankly.

  “Someone submitted her painting to a national art exhibition, and it won. It was in a major museum in New York. A carbon replica of her mother entitled Renee.”

  Fuck.

  My hand clutched the neck of the bottle so tight my knuckles went white. I had done that to her. I was the reason she had to leave. I was the reason for her getting shot. Oh, God, I was the reason her father had been murdered. I felt my hands trembling, and I tried desperately to control them, not wanting to give Joe the satisfaction he craved.

  “I didn’t know.”

  We sat there for a moment in silence, lost in our own thoughts.

  “I’ll leave the papers with you so you can review them.”

  Joe made a move like he was leaving, but I grabbed his arm.

  “Tell me about Eddie. What do you know about him? How close are you to finding him?”

  Joe sighed and stared at me for a minute. It felt like a very long minute. “I suppose you deserve some insights. I’ll tell you all I can, which isn’t much. He fell off the grid after that night.”

  “Do you think his family’s involved with this? Are they helping him?”

  “I doubt it. We’ve been keeping tabs on the remaining members. We believe they have disowned him, as they say. He did kill his uncle, after all. I don’t think any of them are interested in Sophie.”

  “So, it’s just some lunatic guy with an obsession then?” The idea made me feel somewhat better. It wasn’t a mob family after her, but one crazy fucker.

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We just got forensics back from the crime scene. His fingerprints match up to a known suspect who’s wanted in two different states.”

  “What’s he wanted for?”

  Joe swallowed back his drink and discreetly ordered another. “He tortured, raped, and killed two girls.”

  My heart stammered, and I felt like someone had just knocked the wind out of me. “Are you sure it’s him?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

  “The evidence is strong. Besides the fingerprint match, there was a similar MO.”

  “W
hat was that?”

  “Before he killed his victims, he bit them many times. He pulled out their hair. Both actions he did to Sophie.”

  I hadn’t known about the hair. I wanted to kill this bastard more than anything else in the world. I wanted him to suffer like those two girls had suffered at his hands. I wanted to prevent him from ever harming another girl again, especially the girl I loved.

  “Also, both victims were in their mid-twenties, brown hair and eyes.”

  “He’s got a type.”

  “Yes. There are no other murders, but we do have three rapes over the years with a similar MO. We can’t tie them to him since he wore a mask and didn’t leave any DNA. We think he’s escalating. He’s trying to temporarily satisfy himself until he gets to her.”

  “Joe, I made a mistake, but it would never be my intention to ever bring harm to her. I need to know, though, if you’re professional enough to do this. To make sure she’s safe.”

  “Caleb, I don’t think you’re asking to see my credentials here.”

  “I want your word as a man.”

  “The way I see it, we have a common enemy and we both love her. I think that makes us the best men for this job, don’t you?”

  I nodded slowly. He was right. I didn’t want to admit it, but in the end, I’d rather have someone who loved Sylvie keeping her safe than a stranger.

  “How did he not leave any DNA? Did he use a condom?”

  Joe looked down at his drink, swirling the ice cubes with his straw. “He didn’t rape them in the usual way.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  He winced. It was a strange reaction for a man who’d seen a great deal of violence in his line of work. The fact he was having this response caused my scalp to prickle. “He used a rusty steel file. The kind you’d use to scrape wood.”

  I felt the color drain from my face.

  “The FBI profiler believes he’s impotent. He used the file in several places,” Joe continued.

  Don’t do it, I kept repeating. Don’t go there. But I did. I imagined her alone with him.

  “Excuse me,” I said, getting up from the table.

  I walked to the bathroom, my body feeling heavy and dragging. Once I was in there, I crashed into the nearest stall and hurled the contents of my stomach until only dry heaves came out.