"Tess, talk to me. Tell me what's bothering you." He pulled the car into an empty parking lot and hooked a finger under her chin. Her throat worked as she fought to control the tears, but still they rolled down her face. "Please talk to me."
"I would have killed her, Aidan. She was like my sister and I would have killed her."
He narrowed his eyes. "She deserved to die, Tess. She killed so many."
"She was sick." She swallowed hard. "And I never helped her."
He sighed. After everything, he was a cop. And she was a doctor. "You know what I realized yesterday afternoon, standing in her apartment? That one of the things I'd been afraid of was that you would worm your way into my mind, take away my privacy. Then I realized that you don't do that with the people you care about the most. It left you vulnerable with Amy, with Phillip. But it puts you on equal footing with me."
She blinked at him. "So I'm inept with my loved ones... which is good."
He ran his tongue over his teeth. "Essentially, yes."
Her lips curved. "That's so sweet." She wiped at her eyes. "I'm a mess."
"You're beautiful. Tess, the night before last, I asked you what you wanted. You said it was what you'd always wanted. Somebody to love you."
She lifted her chin. "And you said it didn't scare you away."
"It didn't. It doesn't. You never asked me what I wanted that night."
She bit her lower lip. "So? What do you want, Aidan?"
He hesitated, self-conscious. "I always wanted a woman like my mom."
She smiled. "Somebody to cook for you?"
"There is that. But more of what she's been to my dad all these years. He'd come home, tired and worn and upset over something that had happened on his shift. And she'd be there. She'd always... just be there. And she loves him for who he is."
"I can see that. She's a good person, Aidan."
"So are you, Tess." He took her hand, pressed it against his lips. "I think I was afraid that you would do more than just be there. That you'd analyze and judge and maybe tell me I was crazy, because sometimes that's how I feel."
"I wouldn't do that." Her mouth quirked up. "Apparently, I'm inept."
"Only in that. In everything else, you're quite the expert. Let's talk to Carmichael."
Saturday, March 18, 9:45 A.M.
Carmichael was standing on the curb outside her apartment, a suitcase in her hand. She was pale, dark circles shadowing her eyes. She didn't look happy to see them.
"Miss Carmichael?" Tess said. "I was so sorry to hear about your friend."
Joanna eyed her head to toe, speculative, yet detached. "I should say the same."
But she didn't, Tess realized. "I'd like to speak with you."
She looked down the street. "I'm going to the airport. I have only a few minutes."
Tess nodded. "That should be enough. I want to know how you discovered Amy Miller had been working for organized crime families."
A mirthless smile bent Joanna's mouth. "It really wasn't that difficult. I was looking for dirt. I found it. Your friend Jon's story was little, but your friend Amy's... Real big. I knew she hung with the doctors that met at the Blue Lemon every second Sunday and I wondered why all those doctors and one lone lawyer. That's when I found she'd gone to med school in Kentucky while you were in med school here in Chicago."
"We couldn't get into the same school," Tess told Aidan. "She dropped out because she couldn't stand the cadaver dissections. Ironic, isn't it?"
"She didn't drop out, Dr. Ciccotelli. She was expelled, or she would have been if she hadn't managed to get some incriminating photos with one of her professors."
Tess blinked. "She was nothing if not predictable."
"I tracked down one of her old roommates through the dean's secretary at the med school. Apparently she hadn't liked Miller and had no hesitation in pointing me in the right direction. I caught up with Kelsey Chin, who is now a doctor in Lexington. She told me about the expulsion and the pictures. She said that Miller had tried to enlist her help in taking the photos, then went to their other roommate when she said no."
"So how did you find out about the organized crime?" Aidan asked impatiently.
"I wondered at the ethics of someone who could do such a thing. Plus, she lost a lot of cases, yet still she had the money for clothes and cruises."
"Actually, I paid for the cruise," Tess said.
Joanna's smile was bitter. "Then I guess I just lucked out, because that made me check her client list. From there it was just connecting the dots." A cab stopped at the curb. "And now I've got to go. I'm flying home to bury Keith."
"And then?" Tess asked.
"I'll be back." Her bitter smile twisted. "I got a promotion. Big raise. I've learned to be careful what I wish for." She got into the cab without a backward glance.
The cab disappeared around the corner. "I don't know if I feel sorry for her, Aidan."
He put her back in his car. "She's got to live with what she's done. She pulled the tiger's tail and her boyfriend paid the ultimate price." He climbed in beside her and squeezed her hand. "There was nothing you could have done, Tess."
Tess drew a shaky breath. "I know. And maybe that's the hardest part to face."
"Look... I know this cop who has a bachelor's degree in psychology and whose couch is available for a moderate fee."
Tess laughed and it felt good. "Moderate?"
"Oh, all right. I'll give you my advice on the barter system."
"What barter did you have in mind?"
He pulled away from the curb. "If you have to ask, you're not as smart as I thought."
"I did say I wasn't a mind reader, Detective."
He grinned. "So you did. I guess I'll just have to spell it out for you later. For now, I'll take you to your father. He'll be waiting for you."
Epilogue.
Philadelphia, Saturday, October 28, 7:25 P.M.
He's having a good time," Tess said, a catch in her voice.
Michael Ciccotelli was dancing with his wife, who for once wasn't telling him not to overdo it. Tess's wedding day was a day to be overdone, everyone living it as if it might be the last time the Ciccotelli family gathered together. It was bittersweet, but Tess had come to peace with her father's condition even as they all hoped for a donor.
Aidan stood behind her, his arms around her waist, his feet completely covered by the six-foot train of her grandmother's satin gown. "Yes, he is. Are you?"
She shivered as he brushed kisses against her bare neck. "It's getting better."
"I can guarantee it will get better tomorrow." They'd rejected a cruise as too "Phillip" and a European vacation as too "Shelley" for their honeymoon, opting to spend a week at the Jersey shore. Then they'd return to Chicago for a party at the Lemon with all their friends, although most of them were right here with them now. Aidan's family was here, Rachel and Kristen as bridesmaids. Abe was his best man and even Murphy had agreed to don a tux as an usher. Vito looked right at home in his tux, and at the moment was trying to fend off a determined young woman. As Tess always said, all the girls flirted with Vito.
At Vito's side was his friend Leon who had been released months before after DNA testing proved he had not raped Amy Miller. With Tess's testimony and Amy's mental illness, Leon's entire conviction had been overturned. It was good to see justice prevail.
Jack and Julia were here, as were Robin and Jon and Patrick and Flo Ernst and Ethel Hughes, and even Lynne Pope who planned to show a clip of the wedding on Chicago On The Town. Closure, she'd said. Which of course it was.
The rest of the hall was filled with more Ciccotellis than Aidan could count. Right now Michael Ciccotelli was approaching, his face a picture of paternal pride. "It's my father-daughter dance, Tessa. You'll have to let her go, Reagan."
Aidan obliged and noticed he wasn't the only one wiping his eyes when Michael swept his daughter onto the dance floor. They made a beautiful pair. When the DJ had played the final strains, Tess leaned over and whispered in her father's ear. Michael delivered her back to Aidan, his smile gone wry. "You'll take care of her," he said.
Tess rolled her eyes. "She can take care of herself."
Ignoring her, Aidan said, "With my life," which seemed to please his new father-in-law. Michael walked to his wife and sat in a chair before she nagged him to. "What did you tell him out there?"
"That he has to stick around for the next family function. No checking out allowed."
Aidan narrowed his eyes. "And what might that family function be?"
"A christening."
His narrowed eyes popped wide. "Tess?"
She laughed. "No, I'm not. But I intend to be very soon. I know this cop, see, whose therapy couch could be used for something far more exciting than therapy."
"Really?"
"Oh, yes. And I'm told his fees are moderate."
"Downright cheap."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Aidan kissed her soundly, drawing hoots from everyone close enough to see. "I'm not waiting for anything anymore. I have it all right here."
About the Author.
RITA Award-winning author Karen Rose has always loved books. Jo Marsh from Little Women and Nancy Drew were close childhood friends. She was introduced to suspense and horror at the tender age of eight when she accidentally read Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" and was afraid to go to sleep for years, which explains a lot...
After earning her degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, Karen married her high school sweetheart. She started writing when characters started popping up in her head and simply wouldn't be quiet. Now she enjoys making other people afraid to go to sleep! When she's not writing, she teaches high school. She lives in sunny Florida with her husband and their daughters.
Karen was honored and totally thrilled to receive the Romance Writers of America's highest award in 2005-the RITA for Best Romantic Suspense for I'm Watching You (Warner Books, 2004).
Visit Karen's Web site at www.karenrosebooks.com [http://www.karenrosebooks.com] for more information on Karen, her books, and upcoming events. She loves to hear from readers, so please contact her at [email protected].
"Rose is making her mark on the suspense genre."
-Romantic Times BOOK.
club Magazine.
Reading Order:.
http://www.karenrosebooks.com/related.htm.
1- Don't Tell (2003) [Suspense 1].
2- Have You Seen Her? (2004) [Suspense 2].
3- I'm Watching You (2004) [Suspense 3].
4- Nothing to Fear (2005) [Suspense 4].
5- You Can't Hide (2006) [Suspense 5].
6- Count to Ten (2007) [Suspense 6].
7- Die for Me (2007) [Daniel Vartanian 1].
8- Scream for Me (2008) [Daniel Vartanian 2].
9- Kill for Me (2009) [Daniel Vartanian 3].
10- I Can See You (2009) [Suspense 7].
11- Silent Scream (2010).
ALSO BY KAREN ROSE.