Murder List

Chapter Fifty-two

She wasn’t kidding about being a crybaby. Every time Alec thought she was finished, she started in again. He wasn’t concerned. He knew that crying was her way of getting rid of all the tension inside her. She had been through hell today and had shown remarkable courage and strength and grace, but now that it was over and she was safe, she could let it all out.

Alec sat next to her on the sofa in her suite, and had they been alone, he would have lifted her onto his lap and cradled her in his arms. They weren’t alone, though. The room was crowded with family and friends.

Aiden and Spencer were sitting in easy chairs, leaning forward as they listened to John Wincott explain once again how their brother Walker had unknowingly triggered Gage’s obsession for revenge.

Sophie and Cordie, looking as if they were about to burst into tears themselves, sat in straight-back chairs by the French doors leading to the bedroom.

Regan was dabbing at the corners of her eyes and trying to pay attention to the conversation, but Alec kept distracting her. He had taken hold of her hand. She pulled it away. He grabbed it again. When she looked up at him, he winked at her. She was confused.

He shouldn’t be teasing her. Had he forgotten he was leaving? Maybe she should remind him.

She didn’t know how she was going to get through another good-bye. Just thinking about it made the tears flow again. John Wincott leaned forward to hand her another tissue from the box he’d placed on the coffee table and said, “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes,” she assured him. “It’s just what I need to do sometimes.”

Wincott glanced around the room. Her brothers and her friends were obviously used to the tears because they all nodded. Alec didn’t seem fazed either. Wincott smiled then. In the crisis, she’d been incredible, and if she wanted to cry now, it was fine with him.

“I do this a lot,” she admitted.

Everyone nodded again. Even Alec. She decided to ignore him and turned to ask Cordie a question, but he distracted her again. Before she realized what he was going to do, he’d put his arm around her and pulled her in to his side.

Regan noticed that neither one of her brothers looked the least bit surprised. Sophie and Cordie, on the other hand, looked astonished.

“So that’s some good news, isn’t it, Regan?” John had asked the question.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s been a long day. I was talking about Peter Morris and saying that the murder charges were dropped, of course, but he had already confessed to stealing that grant money and gambling it away. If the judge throws that confession out, they’ll still get him for embezzlement. Seems Morris was dipping into the center’s bank accounts. He’s going to be doing some hard time.”

“That’s good to hear,” Spencer said.

Regan agreed. Both of her brothers were calmer now. When they had arrived at the park, they were half out of their minds with worry. Regan was sitting in the back of an ambulance with Cordie and Sophie while the paramedic cleaned her cuts. Regan had never seen Aiden or Spencer carry on so. It was another revelation. Aiden was actually shouting at a detective. Spencer had tried to punch out one of the TV cameramen when he tried to climb into the ambulance to get a close-up of her. Spencer needn’t have bothered. Alec wouldn’t let the man get near her. He reined in Aiden too and got him to calm down.

“We still haven’t been able to get hold of Walker,” Spencer said.

“Do you think he’ll remember the accident?” Sophie asked.

Regan frowned. “Of course he’ll remember.”

“He didn’t cause it.” Wincott repeated what he had already told them. “According to the patrolman’s notes, he cited the truck driver and Gage for reckless driving.”

“Then Gage did have a hand in the accident,” Cordie said.

“That’s right,” Wincott said.

“Why did the truck driver’s insurance company settle then?” she asked.

Alec answered. “There was an eyewitness who swore the truck driver deliberately increased his speed so Gage couldn’t get back in when he was passing him. I’m sure the insurance company didn’t want a long legal battle. It was cheaper to settle.”

Regan looked at Aiden. “And more practical.” She was thinking about Emerson and how they had decided to give him a small settlement to get rid of him.

“Gage shouldn’t have tried to pass that truck,” Sophie said.

No one disagreed with her. Then Alec said, “I don’t think Gage could accept responsibility for any of it.”

“Walker got around the truck without any trouble, but Gage couldn’t, and maybe that’s what set him off.”

“You should have seen that bedroom upstairs in their house. It was Eric’s private domain because Nina couldn’t climb the stairs. He had all sorts of interesting things sitting around.”

“Like what?” Sophie asked.

“Nina’s medical records from the hospital and the rehab facility. Among some of the papers were bills for Eric Gage from a psychiatric hospital.”

“How did he get medical files?” Sophie asked.

“He must have stolen them,” Cordie said. “But why?”

“Maybe she wanted him to steal them,” Wincott answered. “He was the unstable one in that marriage. She wasn’t, though.”

“How do you know that?” Regan asked.

“Bradshaw went through her records and read me some of the comments the doctors and the therapists had written about Nina and her progress. She was an extremely difficult patient,” he said. “And that’s putting it mildly. She didn’t want to get better; she wanted to get even. I think she pushed and pushed until Eric did what she wanted. Nina Gage was a bitter, broken woman.”

“I think Eric was real conflicted about killing you,” Wincott told Regan.

“He sure didn’t act conflicted when he was chasing her through that park and shooting at her.” Alec got angry thinking about it.

“He found your murder list, and maybe he was trying to fulfill your last wishes before he… you know,” Cordie said.

“What a sick bastard,” Aiden remarked.

“I’m with you on that,” Alec said.

“Do you suppose he wanted someone to stop him?” Regan asked. “And that’s why he sent the e-mail and the faxes? He knew the police would get involved.”

Wincott flipped his notepad closed, put it in his pocket, and said, “At first he did, but then Gage set Morris up to get us away from you, so he must have changed his mind. It appears to have been a game to him. Nina was the controller in their marriage, and Eric was eaten up with guilt. He did whatever she wanted him to do.”

“And they blamed my brother for their misery,” Regan said.

“She knew exactly what she was doing. As soon as she was strong enough, they packed up everything they owned and moved here, to Walker’s hometown. It’s my belief that Walker was their first target, and Eric was waiting for an opportunity to kill him.”

Alec nodded. “But plans have a way of changing.”

“There were photos on Gage’s kitchen table, and a clipping file on Walker. They were keeping track of where he was,” Wincott said. “And you know what else was on that table? About twenty copies of a photo of all of you that was in the newspaper. I think that’s when their plans changed. Imagine how she must have felt every time she looked at your smiling faces. In that picture, Walker is standing behind Regan, sort of looking down at her, and he’s got his hand on her shoulder. He’s looking so proud of her and happy, and that must have sent the Gages into orbit.”

“They wanted to make Walker suffer before Eric killed him,” Alec said. “They had a real hate going on.”

Regan shivered. “The accident turned them into monsters.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t think they were real nice people before the accident.”

“You almost have to pity them,” Regan said.

“The hell with that. He tried to kill you. If I could, I’d shoot him again.”

Wincott stood and stretched. “That’s about it.”

Sophie also stood. “I’m going home. You scared me to death today, Regan. I swear it’s going to take me a week of shopping to get over it.”

“Am I supposed to apologize?”

Sophie grinned. “If you want to.”

“Sophie, you have to drive me home,” Cordie said. “And if Regan apologizes to anyone, it should be me. I didn’t want to walk in that race anyway. If you’ll remember, I suggested we go to the frozen custard shop.”

“No, we were supposed to meet there after the race,” Sophie said.

They were arguing as they walked out of the suite. Wincott said good-bye, shook hands with her brothers, and also left. Alec followed him.

“Hey, John, hold up. I want to run something by you.”

Aiden and Spencer also headed for the door. “Are you going to be okay tonight?” Spencer asked Regan.

“I’ll be fine.”

She walked over to Aiden and nudged him in his back as he was walking out the door. “You want to hear something funny?”

“I could use a laugh about now.”

“You know that little problem I had?”

“Which little problem?” He made it sound as though she had too many problems for him to keep track of.

“The problem with sleazebags.”

“You mean old men marrying young women?”

“Yes.”

“I remember telling you to get over it.”

“I did get over it, but that’s how I noticed Eric Gage. There was this older man with this very young woman walking across the street. I, of course, homed right in on them. Old habits die hard,” she explained. “And I was thinking that I shouldn’t react with such disgust, just because… well, let’s face it, he was a sleazebag.”

“Oh, yes, I can tell you’ve gotten over your problem.”

“If I didn’t have that problem, I wouldn’t have noticed him. That’s all I’m trying to say.”

“And did noticing him in any way affect what happened later?”

She knew where he was headed and was sorry she’d started the conversation.

“Never mind.”

He laughed. “You know what, Regan?”

“What?”

He tweaked her nose just to aggravate her and said, “We love you. You know that, don’t you?”

She nodded and became teary-eyed again. “Does that mean you’ll triple my budget next year?”

“No, it means we love you. But nice try.”

Alec had walked with Wincott to the elevator and was on his way back to the suite when Aiden stopped him. Spencer was in the doorway talking to Regan.

Neither Aiden nor Alec minced words.

“What’s going on with my sister?”

“I’m going to marry her.”

“You are?”

Alec nodded. “It’s going to take some time for me to convince her, but I’ll eventually wear her down.”

Aiden obviously approved. He shook Alec’s hand, looked at Regan, and said, “I don’t think it will take too long.”

Spencer joined them, and Alec told him his intentions. Spencer was more protective and reserved. “If you ever make my sister cry…” He suddenly stopped. He glanced at Regan just as she wiped a tear away from her cheek and said, “Never mind.”

Regan waited for Alec. She stood in the doorway and watched him walk toward her.

He thought she looked as if she wanted to give him hell.

“I want to thank you for your help today,” she said.

He smiled. “Okay.”

“You saved my life.”

“You saved mine.”

“Then we’re even.”

She stepped back and had every intention of shutting the door in his face just to let him know how upset she was, but his next question stopped her.

“How come you’re so cranky?”

She swung the door wide and stepped forward again. “I am not cranky. I assume you’ll be going on your way now… you know, going forward” she stressed. “And I want to wish you good luck with your career.”

“Really.”

“Yes.”

He started to reach for her, but she put her hand up and shook her head.

“I am not going to let you break my heart again. You listen to me, Alec. You can’t tell me you’re leaving and then come back and put your arms around me and… you just can’t.” She was just warming up. She folded her arms across her chest. “You’re moving forward, remember. That’s what you told me. So go ahead, Alec. Go forward, right out the door.”

She was ready for a fight, but he didn’t play fair.

“I love you, Regan.”

She blinked. “No.”

His grin was adorable. “Yeah, I do. I love you.”

She wouldn’t believe him. “But ‘If I’m ever in Boston’… you said, ‘If I’m ever in Boston’…”

“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

She was determined to make him squirm a little before she forgave him. But her heart belonged to him.

She stepped back and said, “If you’re ever in Chicago…”

She tried to shut the door. His foot got in the way. He was laughing when he backed her up and then shut the door behind him.

“Maybe you didn’t notice…”

Oh, but she loved him. “Yes?”

“I’m already here.”