Page 34 of Scorched (Killer #2)

Elise sat beside Brandon in the waiting room of the emergency room at Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio.

Luke had a cold compress on his forehead and was sleeping, stretched across Elise’s lap.

The doctor told her to wake him several times during the night in case of concussion, but that he should be all right.

Agent Melissa Bradley had called to tell her that someone would be there in a few minutes to take her home. She wouldn’t have to come into the police station to answer questions until tomorrow, when Trevor Cain was securely locked up in jail.

As she sat with one arm around Brandon and the other cradling Luke, she wondered if it was time to move on.

As if on cue, her cell phone rang. Hoping it would be Paul, she answered, her voice breathless. “Hello. ”

“Alice!” Her sister’s voice shouted in her ear.

“I just heard. Oh, my God, I can’t believe all this happened to you.

I’m taking a leave of absence and getting on a plane in the morning.

I would have been out tonight, but they’ve got some wind advisories keeping all planes from entering or leaving Minneapolis tonight. ”

“It’s okay, Brenna. I’m fine, the boys are fine. It’s all over.”

“When I got the call from Fletcher, I couldn’t believe it. I should have been there with you.”

“Really, I’m okay.” Elise smiled, for what seemed the first time in a week. “You don’t need to come down here. You have to think of yourself and your baby. Flying at eight months pregnant probably isn’t a good idea. I’m sure you’d make the flight attendants nervous. Besides, they caught the guy.”

“That’s what I heard. I can’t believe it was another agent.” Her sister sighed. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’d feel better seeing you in person.”

Elise thought of the bruise on her cheek and Luke’s forehead and shook her head. The outward wounds would heal quickly. Getting Brandon and Luke over the trauma of the kidnapping might take a little longer. But they’d muddle through together. “No. We’ll be okay.”

“If you’re sure...”

“I’m sure.”

“I tried to call you earlier, but my cell phone reception stunk. I wanted to tell you that I’d spent the day on the phone with a number of agencies and hospitals located along the Red River south of Riverton.”

Elise’s heart rate kicked up a notch. Although they’d captured the Breuer killer, they still didn’t have a definitive answer about her husband. For all she knew, he could still be out there, waiting for his chance to make her life hell. “Did they find anything?”

“Hospitals came up blank. But I found a small town along the river who’d recovered a John Doe skeleton just recently. They’d done a dental X-ray but couldn’t find a match locally. I had the North Dakota crime lab run a comparison against Stan’s dental records and guess what?”

Elise’s eyes filled with tears and her hand shook. “It matched?” she whispered, afraid voicing her heartfelt hopes, would jinx her yet again.

“It matched, sweetie. Stan Klaus is well and truly dead. You don’t have to run anymore.”

With her eyes blurred by tears, Elise didn’t see the group of people walking in the door. Brandon jumped up from his seat beside her, shouting, “Kenny! Alex!”

Elise brushed the moisture from her eyes and cheeks and looked up at a group of people walking toward her in the emergency room lobby. Principal Ford, Kendall and Alex.

“What’s going on?” Brenna asked in Elise’s ear.

“I have to go. I’ll call you back later.” Brenna kept talking, but Elise hit the off button and stood, hugging Luke’s sleeping body next to her. Had word gotten out? Had she been exposed for the serial killer’s wife? Was her entire world about to crash around her?

Principal Ford stepped forward. “Ms. Johnson...Elise.” She held out her arms and engulfed Elise in a giant hug, taking in Luke and her in the effort. Kendall and Alex crowded in, all trying to hug her, everyone talking at once.

The one face she didn’t see was Paul’s. When Melissa said someone would be there to pick her up, she'd thought it would be Paul. Throughout the outpouring of well-wishes, hugs and love, Elise tried to hide her disappointment.

Kendall nudged Principal Ford. “Are you going to tell her?”

The principal smiled and winked at Kendall and Alex. “No, I think you two should.”

Kendall cleared her throat. “Ms. Johnson, we just wanted to let you know how much of a difference you’ve made in our lives.”

Elise wanted to laugh, but tears choked her throat from making any noises. Those tears flowed down her cheeks now.

“Yeah, and we know about what happened to you up in North Dakota,” Alex said.

Lead dropped to the pit of Elise’s gut, followed by overwhelming sadness. She’d have to leave. To uproot the boys once again and leave.

Kendall pulled Brandon under one arm, hugging him. “We know about the Dakota Strangler and what you, Brandon and Luke have lived through since then.”

Yeah, her days in Breuer were definitely numbered. She stared at Kendall, Alex and Principal Ford. She’d miss them. Had it been too much to hope she could find a home for herself and her boys? Were they destined to move from town to town for the rest of their lives? “Does everyone know?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Kendall nodded. “The news reporters got a hold of it and aired it when they captured Agent Cain.”

“When Agent Fletcher put the call out to me and Kendall, we knew we had to do something to convince you.”

“Agent Fletcher?” Through the darkness of her depressing thoughts, a light of hope burned like a reviving ember buried deep in the ashes.

“Yes, Agent Fletcher.” His deep voice rumbled from the lobby entrance, and the students and principal parted, letting him come through to the front.

Paul stood with a cowboy hat in his hands, his shirt muddy from when she’d clung to him out by the river and his face streaked with grime.

But he was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

She stood, holding Luke in her arms, afraid to move, afraid to say anything to douse the tiny flickers of optimism daring to build inside.

“As soon as I heard the radio make a big announcement about the capture of the copycat Dakota Strangler, I knew you’d be thinking about leaving.” Paul’s brows rose, challenging her to deny it.

She couldn’t. Even now, everyone in Breuer would know she’d been married to a killer. Leaving would be her only choice.

“Mom, I don’t want to leave,” Brandon said, looking up to Kendall and Alex. “I have friends here.”

“I know, honey. I know.” She hugged Luke tighter.

He stirred, his eyes opening. Her youngest son blinked once, then again, focusing on the tall man in front of him. Then he held out his arms to Paul.

Paul lifted him and laid him on his shoulder. “How are you, big guy?” The small boy and the big man with the sandy blond hair and blue eyes, almost the color of hers looked right together.

For a fleeting moment, Elise wished Paul were a permanent part of her family. The father the boys deserved, the man she could possibly learn to love. “I can’t stay. You, of all people, know why.”

“You can’t go. We need more teachers like you,” Principal Ford insisted. “I suspected you had a history and that something wasn’t quite right, but I also saw how much you wanted the job, how much you cared whether or not the students did well.”

“Yeah, besides, we love you, Ms. Johnson.” Kendall hugged Brandon. “And we love Brandon and Luke.”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “You can’t leave us. What would the school do without you? ”

Paul smiled over Luke’s head. “Everyone wants you to stay in Breuer.”

Suddenly shy and with nothing to hold in front of her, Elise felt exposed, raw, emotional. More tears pushed their way into her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “Everyone?”

“Everyone.” Paul reached out and brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Including me.”

“Why? I don’t know if we can be anything more than friends.”

Paul’s smile faded, his blue eyes serious. “Then I’ll settle for that.”

“You’d be my friend?” Elise’s heart swelled at that. “Stan had never wanted to be my friend.”

“I keep telling you, I’m not Stan.” Paul laughed. “When are you going to start believing me?”

“He’s really dead,” she whispered.

Paul tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, he is.”

“Brenna told you?”

“News on the grapevine travels fast.”

Elise couldn’t stop the sob from rising up her throat. “I’m free.”

Paul pulled her into his arms and held her, Luke crushed between them. Brandon broke away from Kendall and pushed his way in between Elise and Paul, so they stood hugging, just like a family. “So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to stay and give these folks a chance to know and love you? ”

Elise nodded, for the first time in two years daring to hope. “On one condition.”

“And that is?” Paul kissed the tip of her nose.

“I get to know you as well.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his.

“Good, because I still have a fence to build and a puppy to get settled. I promised the boys.” Then he kissed her long and hard and a cheer went up from the crowd. When he came up for air, he smiled and held her close. “Then it’s settled. You’re coming home.”

She nestled into his chest, her arms around him and her boys. The promise of a bright future ahead, with the chance to get to know this tall, handsome man filled her with a happiness she never dreamed would come her way. “I’m coming home.”