The Ideal Man

NINETEEN

Ellie was going stir-crazy, desperate to get out of the house for a little while. Max had disappeared into William’s home office and was making calls on his cell phone, so she tried to keep busy and not interrupt him. She came across her father, who was searching through the kitchen and hearth room for his car keys.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Lipton,” he answered. “The only thermostat available for the new air conditioner is at Waid’s Hardware Store.”

“What about the Waid’s Hardware Store here?”

“They’re out, which is why I’m driving all the way to Lipton now. They won’t be charging me for the new thermostat, since the first one was faulty, but if you and Max want air-conditioning tonight, I’ve got to get over there and back lickety-split.”

“Max and I will go,” she offered.

Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go out. Besides, Max has done enough. If he hadn’t talked to the owner of the appliance store, I wouldn’t have gotten a new air conditioner. I think he scared them into doing the right thing. Eighty percent off broken is still broken, right? It isn’t legal to sell something you know doesn’t work.”

“Did he say that?”

“No, I did.”

Ellie was pleased with Max. She hadn’t known that he had done that for her father.

“It would be a big help if someone could go to Lipton for me,” William admitted. He thought for a few seconds and said, “And I wouldn’t need the thermostat until four. That would give us time to install it.”

“But you said you had to get back lickety-split.”

“Because the air conditioner is going to be delivered, and I’ve got to sign for the fountain and all the rest of the things your sister ordered for the garden party. Someone has to be here to direct where everything goes, and your mother is going to get her hair done and her nails and God knows what else. Pots today, more plantings tomorrow, and fresh flowers Saturday morning.”

“Can’t Ava and Annie help while Max and I go pick up the thermostat?”

“Ava can’t leave her store… oops, I mean her boutique. She hates it when I call it a store. And Annie won’t get in until late afternoon. Besides, there’s no reason for anyone to help me. All I have to do is sign and point to where I want the pots.” He smiled as he added, “Ava drew me a diagram. And while I’m waiting, I’ll get some paperwork done.”

“All right. I’ll go get Max now, and we’ll leave right away.”

“Eleanor, you’re jumping the gun. Max agreed to let you stay here if he could get extra protection, remember? Are you sure he’s going to let you remain in Winston Falls?”

“I’ll go ask him now.”

She went down the hall to her father’s office. Max was sitting at the desk talking on the phone. She stood in the doorway waiting for him to notice her. When he motioned to her, she walked over and leaned against the desk facing him.

“Okay then, and thanks. I really appreciate this,” he said and disconnected the call. He looked up at Ellie. “I’ve got two agents until Saturday. Both of them are coming from Columbia. They’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Who are they?”

“Agents Clark and Hershey.”

“Aren’t those candy bars?”

Grinning, he said, “Don’t let them hear you say that.”

“Then we can stay here.”

“Until your yard-party thing is over.”

“Garden party,” she corrected.

He noticed a frown cross her face. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m concerned about two agents showing up suddenly. Won’t they be hard to explain? Everyone at the party will wonder who they are.”

“They know how to blend in,” Max assured her. “But I’ll meet with them ahead of time, and we’ll work out a game plan.”

Her frown had eased a little, but Max could tell she was still thinking about possible problems. He tilted his head toward the desk. “See that new book?”

“Which one?”

“The big one. It’s your dad’s new math book. He can’t wait for you to work the problems.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I hate math,” she whispered.

He laughed. “I know.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

He grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap. “I saw how you grimaced when he was telling the story about the visiting professor. Why didn’t you tell him?”

“He loved doing math with me, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”

He slipped his arm around her waist. She pushed his hand away as she stood. “My father is in the next room,” she whispered. “Tell me what Ben said.”

“Ben is going to sit in on the interview with Cal Landry. When he’s finished with him, he’ll tackle his wife, Erika.”

“Which one is the weak link?” she asked.

“Neither one,” he answered. “They’re both hard as”-he started to say a crude word but substituted-“nails.”

“Have they said where they’ve been? Or did they admit they were there at the park?”

“No,” he answered. “They insisted they’ve been on their yacht, cruising from island to island. They have several witnesses who will vouch for them.”

“Do they know about the eyewitness? Greg…”

“Greg Roper,” he reminded her. “And no, not yet. We’re keeping quiet about him.”

“Ellie, can you go?” Her father poked his head into the library.

“Go where?” Max asked.

She quickly explained she’d offered to pick up the new thermostat. “It’s a beautiful day, and I really would like to get out.”

Max didn’t have any problem leaving as long as she didn’t take any chances and listened to what he said.

They were on their way minutes later. Ellie grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator on the way out the door, tossed her purse on the floor of Max’s SUV, and put her cell phone next to his in the cup holder.

Her father knocked on her window, and when she rolled it down, he said, “You remember how to get to 26, don’t you? If you pass the exit for Mays Hill, you’ve gone too far. You might want to cut over on 223, then turn back on 168. That will take you right into the north side of Lipton. It shouldn’t take you more than an hour to get there. Stop at the Goose for lunch,” he added. “Great food.”

Max drove down the street, turned left, and then said, “Did you get any of that?”

“Directions?”

“Yes, directions,” he said.

“No. Did you?”

“I wouldn’t have asked…”

“I know where Highway 26 is,” she said cheerfully. “I can get you that far.”

Max programmed the GPS to locate Lipton, and they were on their way. It was a pretty day, but the heat was rising. Ellie wished she could roll all the windows down, but she knew the humidity would make her miserable in no time at all.

She checked the weather app on her phone. “It’s supposed to be in the mid-eighties,” she said. “Seems hotter to me.”

A half hour into the trip, the GPS indicated that they should turn off at the next exit and that Lipton was just twelve miles ahead. Max took the turn and said, “Why did your dad make it so complicated?”

“Maybe he didn’t know about this exit.”

They drove for a couple of miles on a two-lane road, and the GPS gave them another order to take a left at the next intersection. Fifteen minutes later, they were bumping along a dirt road with few signs of habitation in view. The GPS announced that it was recalculating the route, and Max looked as though he wanted to empty his gun into it.

“Maybe we should have paid attention to Dad,” Ellie said. She could have sworn she saw Max’s jaw flinch as he turned the SUV around on the narrow road and headed back in the direction from which they had just come.

Several miles and several turns later, they ended up on a road lined with construction signs but no construction equipment or workers.

“Is anyone following us?” she asked with a straight face.

They hadn’t seen a single car or person in the past half hour.

Max was trying to turn the car around without sinking a tire in one of the multitude of holes.

“Not funny,” he said. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

He picked up her bottle of water, took a swig, and handed it over to her. He finally got the SUV turned around, and they backtracked to a somewhat decent two-lane road. It took another half hour before they found 168. Ellie wanted to laugh, but she didn’t dare, so she rode in silence the rest of the way.

As they finally passed the sign proclaiming they had arrived in Lipton, Max grumbled, “Damn GPS.”

Ellie couldn’t help herself. She burst into peals of laughter.

Other than giving her a vexed look, Max didn’t respond.

He slowed the car as they pulled into the town, which was tiny and quaint. There was a main street two blocks long with shops lined up on both sides. Cars were parked in front of most of them. Toward one end of the street was the hardware store, and at the other end was the Goose restaurant. Max noticed the first storefront they passed had SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT etched on the glass above the door.

He stopped the car in front of Waid’s Hardware Store, and they walked inside. Odors of leather and wood shavings and paint and engine oil greeted them. The old hardwood floors creaked when they stepped on them. A man wearing a carpenter’s apron stood behind the counter waiting on two young men. As Max and Ellie entered, they all turned toward the door, raising their eyebrows when they saw the strangers.

Ellie assumed they had noticed the gun at Max’s side. Max knew they were all noticing her.

After finishing his transaction with the two men, the clerk addressed them. “I know what you’re here for,” he said as he pulled the thermostat from a shelf behind the counter. He dropped it in a paper bag and handed it to Ellie.

Back outside, Max locked it in the car, and they headed down the street to the restaurant.

A cartoon caricature of a goose, who apparently was a close cousin to Donald Duck, was painted on the large front window of the establishment. It was a narrow space with a cash register at the front door and red vinyl booths along the walls. The lunch crowd filled most of the seats. Max spotted an empty booth toward the back, and they were heading for it when Ellie stopped suddenly.

“I don’t believe it,” she said.

Max looked over at her. She was standing dead still and staring wide-eyed. When he turned back to see what had caught her attention, he saw a tall, burly man walking toward them. He wore a baseball cap with the word SHERIFF embroidered above the brim.

Ellie ran to him and threw herself into his arms.

Max was right behind her. He wanted to peel her off the sheriff but decided on diplomacy first.

“Let go of him,” he snapped.

She ignored him. “Oh my God. I knew you’d either end up running from the law or becoming the law. I’m so happy to see you.”

A huge smile spread across the man’s face. “Ellie Sullivan. Where have you been?”

She finally let go of him and introduced him to Max. “This is Spike Bennett… Sheriff Spike Bennett,” she corrected.

“You sure grew up nice,” Spike said.

They were standing in the aisle, and a waitress was patiently waiting to get past. Ellie slid into a booth, and Max sat beside her across from the sheriff.

If Spike hadn’t been wearing any identification, Max would have thought there was a possibility he’d just been paroled from prison. Both his arms were covered with tattoos, and there were a couple of scars near his elbows. A larger scar ran from his hairline down to his right eyebrow. It made him look dangerous.

His affection for Ellie was apparent.

“How do you two know each other?” Max inquired.

“We were in school together,” Spike said. “Are you married, Ellie?”

She shook her head. Max had the insane urge to put his arm around her shoulders and haul her into his side. Was he trying to mark his territory? Jeez, he was acting like a caveman.

“What about you? Are you married?” she asked.

“Yes, two years now,” he answered. “I met my wife in college,” he added. “You’d like her.”

“I’m sure I would,” she said. Turning to Max, she said softly, “Spike saved me from Patterson. That’s how he got the scar on his forehead.”

“Tell me about it,” Max said to Spike.

“It was a long time ago,” Ellie said.

“Yes, it was,” Spike agreed, “but I remember every minute of it as though it happened yesterday. It was lunch hour, and I was hiding behind that big oak tree by the chapel. Remember that tree, Ellie?”

She nodded. “Kenny Platte climbed it and fell. He broke his arm.”

“Why were you hiding?” Max asked, curious.

Spike grinned. “I was trying to get the matches to work to light a cigarette I had stolen from my uncle. I had a plan. Once I got it lit, I was going to stroll past the principal’s office puffing away. I figured smoking would get me kicked out of school no matter how much money my father had. The matches were wet, though, and I never did get the cigarette lit.”

“Spike had a bad-boy image to keep up,” Ellie explained.

“Yes, and it took work,” he admitted. “So there I was behind that tree when I heard you screaming. I ran around the corner to see what was happening, and Patterson was trying to drag you away.” Turning to Max, he said, “The guy was built like a bull, and was at least six feet. By the time I got to him, he was on top of Ellie, using his fists. She was curled up in a ball on her side, so her shoulders and her legs took most of the beating. Sister Mary Frances tried to pull him off, but he knocked her down and-”

“He hit Sister Mary Frances?” Ellie was appalled.

“You don’t remember?”

She shook her head. “I just remember you jumping on top of him.”

“That’s right. I did get him off of you, and I shouted for you to run, but you wouldn’t.”

“I thought I could help you.”

“It was crazy,” Spike said. “Soaking wet, you probably weighed fifty pounds back then,” he exaggerated. “And it all happened so fast. I got in a couple of good punches, but Patterson shook those hits off like a dog shaking water off, so I decided to choke him. I was squeezing his neck for all I was worth, but it didn’t faze him. To this day, I’ll never forget the look in his eyes. Not crazy eyes,” he stressed. “Evil… mean.”

“What did he cut you with?” Max asked.

Spike touched the scar on his forehead. “A penknife. It was on his key chain.”

“You became my hero that day,” Ellie said.

His neck turned pink. “I’m no hero. I just got to him before anyone else could. It took three big seniors to pull him off me and pin him down until the police arrived.”

“We both went to the hospital,” Ellie interjected. “Sister Mary Frances rode in the ambulance with you.”

He nodded. “The nuns called me the town terror, and if it hadn’t been for my dad’s donations to the school, they would have thrown me out, but after that day, they all but sainted me.” He laughed and said, “My bad-boy image was ruined.”

He turned serious again, shaking his head. “I’ve seen Patterson’s record, and I can’t understand why he didn’t end up in prison. Any one of his assaults should have been enough to lock him away, but it looks as though he had some pretty shrewd attorneys who convinced the court he needed treatment not incarceration.” He looked at Ellie with genuine compassion. “I’m really sorry for what happened to you. Your dad did everything right with the restraining orders, but I know Patterson didn’t stop. After he kidnapped you and nearly killed you, we heard you were in critical condition and they airlifted you to Harrisburg. My dad promised he’d take me to see you as soon as you were awake, but you disappeared. No one knew where you were.”

The waitress interrupted to give them menus, but talk of Patterson had soured Ellie’s appetite. She ordered a salad. Max looked over the offerings and decided on the specialty of the house, the Paul Bunyan. The menu boasted it was the largest barbecue beef sandwich in the state. Ellie decided she didn’t have to worry about Max’s dangerous profession. Cholesterol would get him before any bullets did.

“There was talk that you’d moved in with a relative in Los Angeles and you had become an actress,” Spike continued. “But years later I heard you were an attorney in Miami. There was even a rumor floating around not too long ago that you were working on the space shuttle in Houston.”

The waitress smiled at Spike as she placed three iced teas on the table. He nodded to her and took a drink.

“Your dad was smart to hide you from that lunatic.”

“Do you know where Patterson is now?” Max asked.

He shook his head. “I’ve got a couple of suspicions, but nothing concrete. He got out of the last institution about six months ago, and then he up and vanished. His parents swear they don’t know where he is.”

“You asked them?”

“Yes, I did. I wanted to know if I could expect more trouble. My concern was that he’d latch onto another girl or try to hurt someone else.”

“His parents still live in Winston Falls?” Ellie asked.

“Yes, they do. In the same house.”

Ellie got goose bumps and leaned into Max’s side. “Four blocks over and three down from my house,” she said. “That’s how far away he was. Is he wanted for anything now? Was he supposed to report in to anyone?”

Spike shook his head. “He’s not wanted for anything, and no one’s looking for him-at least not officially. When he was released, it was recommended that he continue his therapy. That’s all I know.” He sighed as he added, “Everyone thinks he’s crazy.”

“From what I’ve read and heard, when it comes to Ellie, he’s certifiable.” Max made the comment.

“You’re right about that. She’d been in the same school, but he hadn’t paid any attention to her until they were at a science camp together. He saw her there, and he instantly wanted her. The fact that she was only eleven years old didn’t matter to him. He couldn’t let her go. And he certainly couldn’t accept rejection. I believe that, if he saw her today, he would attack her.”

Max handed Spike one of his cards. “If you hear anything about him, please contact me. Day or night.”

“If you’ll do the same,” Spike said, giving Max one of his cards. “I’ve been watching the Patterson house whenever I get over that way. It’s a big Victorian house, and I swear one afternoon I saw the curtains move in the third-story attic dormer. I had seen Patterson’s parents leave a few minutes before, so it couldn’t have been them up there. A couple of kids were walking past his house, and I happened to be at a stop sign adjacent to the street. No one in the house could have seen me.”

“You think he might be hiding in the attic?”

“Maybe,” he allowed. “Keep in mind, Patterson’s parents insist they haven’t seen Evan, and the father threatened to bring harassment charges if I kept bothering them. I did a little experiment, though. Several times during the last month of school I made a point to watch the house just about three o’clock in the afternoon. Kids walk past the Pattersons’ house every day. I saw the curtains move once more. Just once more, though. So, yeah, it could be him hiding up there.”

“Living in a house for six months and never going out, never being seen?” Ellie said. “I don’t know about that.”

“There’s another problem you should know about,” Max said, and for the next ten minutes he talked about the Landrys and the shooting Ellie had witnessed.

“I think it’s going to be Willis Cogburn coming after her,” Max said. “I have to consider the possibility that the Landrys could send someone else, but they like working with Cogburn.”

“He’s been in prison, so he’s in the system. I’ll pull up his photo when I get back to the office.”

“What’s your cell phone number?” Max asked. “I’ll send the photo to you now.”

Less than a minute later, Spike was looking at Cogburn’s face. “Okay,” he said. “What can I do to help?”

“I’d like to get Ellie out of here today, but there’s this party…”

“My parents pleaded that I stay for Ava’s garden party,” Ellie explained. “If Max can make it safe.”

“I can help you with that,” Spike said. Turning to Ellie, he said, “You can’t catch a break, can you?”

Trying to stay positive, she said, “Everyone has their ups and downs…” She stopped when she noticed their incredulous expressions. “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging.

“Let’s talk strategy later,” Max suggested after seeing how pale Ellie’s face had become. He knew this had to be difficult for her, but she was handling it with courage.

“Good idea,” she said. She didn’t want to talk about the Landrys or Patterson any longer and asked Spike to catch her up on all the people she remembered. By the time their food arrived, her appetite was coming back.

“What about you, Ellie? What are you doing these days?” Spike asked.

“Looking for a job,” she answered.

“Would you ever consider moving back here?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I could.”

“Even if Patterson was living somewhere else?”

“Even then. All my memories revolve around him. I just don’t think I could do it. What about you?” she asked. “What made you decide on law enforcement?”

“After I helped you, I kinda liked doing some good, I guess, and after college I decided this is what I wanted to do and this is where I wanted to live.”

Spike asked a few personal questions about her life away from Winston Falls, but Max wouldn’t let her answer. He was smooth about it. He skillfully deflected the questions or changed the subject. Ellie realized what he was doing when he put his hand on her knee.

When they were once again in the car and on their way back to Winston Falls, Ellie said, “I noticed you wouldn’t let me tell Spike about where I live or what I’m doing. I do trust him.”

“That’s fine, but how much do you want to bet he’ll go home and tell his wife about running into you, and she might tell a neighbor…”

“I understand,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been specific.”

“Your dad went to a lot of trouble and expense to hide you until you were old enough to take care of yourself. None of the people here know where you live, do they?”

“No,” she answered. “Not even the relatives know much about me, only that I was sent away to school after I got out of the hospital. They don’t ask questions, though, which is good. At least that’s what my mother told me.”

“None of them know you’re a surgeon?”

“I don’t think so. My aunt Vivien thinks I’m a perpetual student. Her sister thinks I’m still in school because I’m slow.”

He laughed. “You don’t do anything slow.”

“Is that a criticism?”

“No,” he answered, glancing at her. She looked disgruntled, which amused him. “You just don’t know how to relax.”

“There hasn’t been time.”

“Now that your full-time work at St. Vincent’s is over, you’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Did I mention I owe around two hundred thousand dollars?”

“You could still take some time off.”

She didn’t disagree.

Her father was in the backyard with the repairman when they arrived home. The huge space had been transformed into a construction site while they were gone. Empty flowerpots lined the porch and were scattered around at strategic spots on the lawn. A large fountain was being erected in the center. Max handed William the thermostat and stood talking to the two men while Ellie went on into the house. She noticed that some of the flowers had been delivered early. There were bouquets on the kitchen table and more in the living room on the sofa table. The arrangements, white hydrangeas and white roses mixed with vivid green leaves, were simple but elegant.

The dining room table was set for dinner. Seven table settings. She knew what that meant, and she immediately tried to think of somewhere she and Max needed to be. She would go to any lengths not to have to sit next to Ava or John. The problem was, she couldn’t think of anything.

Her stomach felt a little nauseous, so she poured herself a glass of milk and leaned against the kitchen sink drinking it.

Max walked in, took one look at her, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Was it that obvious that she was irritated?

“Nothing’s wrong. Just wanted some milk.”

When her mother entered the kitchen, Ellie noticed she was dressed for a special occasion, wearing a white sleeveless sheath and heels. “Is that a new dress?” she asked.

“No, I’ve had it a couple of years. You just haven’t seen it.”

“It’s pretty,” she said. “You look nice, Mom.”

“Thank you, dear. Now, Ellie,” she said, “there’s something I want to discuss.”

Ellie finished her milk. Putting her glass in the sink, she said, “Oh God, here we go.”

“What did you say?”

“Whenever you start a sentence with ‘Now, Ellie,’ I know you’re going to tell me something I don’t want to hear.”

“Your sister Ava and her fiancé are coming over for dinner.”

“And I was right. I didn’t want to hear that.”

“They’re picking up Annie at the airport and should be here around six thirty.”

Ellie turned to Max. “You’ll love Annie. Growing up, she had the nickname Candy Annie because she was so sweet.”

Her father had come into the kitchen in time to hear Ellie’s remarks. He shook his head. “Until you went away,” he said. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow, then dropped into a chair to catch his breath before continuing. “Annie became withdrawn, and it took her a long time to recover, and that’s when she decided she wanted to do something in law enforcement when she grew up. She couldn’t understand why Patterson hadn’t been locked up for life. Frankly, neither could we.” He added, “She felt so helpless.”

Max nodded. Helpless. He could identify with Annie’s mindset. When he was a young boy, he’d felt the same way after he’d run away from foster parents.

“Annie’s still sweet,” Ellie insisted. “We text each other all the time. She’s still got a wicked sense of humor, too.”

“And Ava?” Max asked. “Did she have a nickname?”

He mother tried to stop Ellie from answering. “They’re twins, you know. Identical.”

“There are times I still can’t tell them apart,” her father exaggerated.

“I can,” Ellie said. “Ava’s eyes glow red in the dark.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” her mother muttered.

Her father decided to ignore the comment. “The repairman installed a window unit because he said the replacement air conditioner was missing a few parts. He’ll be back tomorrow to fix it and put in the new thermostat. I’m going to keep the window unit, though. I got a real deal on it.”

The doorbell rang, and her mother hurried to answer. She crossed back through the kitchen saying, “William, tell the tent people where they can set it up.”

Her father was slow to get up, and after the two of them had gone into the yard, Ellie said, “I’ll be right back.”

She ran into her parents’ bathroom and went through the medicines in the cabinet. Her father’s color was much better than it had been, but she was concerned about him. Stress could be a killer. She was looking for heart medicine but didn’t find any. The only prescribed medication she found was a bottle of sleeping pills. She read the label and unscrewed the cap. About half the pills were gone. She knew these were nothing to worry about, but she was troubled nonetheless.

“What were you doing?” Max asked when she returned. He was standing at the window in the living room looking out at the street.

“I was checking out the prescription bottles in the medicine cabinet to find out what they’re taking. If something was wrong with either one of them, I would never know. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Sleeping pills for my dad,” she answered. “I think the anxiety I’ve caused him over the years-not to mention all the stress of Ava’s wedding-has taken its toll.”

“Are you going to tell me about Ava? I sense a little hostility.”

She laughed. “No wonder you’re an FBI agent. You’re so perceptive.”

“No reason for sarcasm.”

She crossed the room and stood beside him looking out at the street with her arms folded. “I’m here to attend Ava’s wedding because my mother insisted. Really insisted,” she stressed emphatically.

“Okay.”

“She’s marrying John Noble, my ex-fiancé.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“John had only just asked me to marry him a few days before I brought him home to meet the family.”

“I see,” he said when she hesitated.

“Everyone wanted to make him feel at home… especially Ava.”

Max suspected where this was headed and waited to hear her tell him.

“The night after we arrived, I found him in bed with her.”

“Ah…”

Frowning, she said, “Ah, what?”

“Do you blame him for what happened, or do you just blame your sister?”

“Ava knew what she was doing.”

“And he didn’t?”

“Of course, he did,” she said. “But Ava and I always had a contentious relationship, and this was the last straw. I packed up and went back to St. Louis.”

“What had made it so contentious?” he asked, curious.

“When we were young and anything went wrong, Ava blamed me. She and Annie each had her own birthday party, and Ava accused me of ruining one of hers. In a way, I guess I did.”

“How did you ruin it?”

“I was beaten and unconscious,” she said. “And my parents had to go to the hospital.”

“That was when you were taken away from Winston Falls, wasn’t it?”

“No, not that time.”

“Jeez, Ellie, how many times did Patterson send you to the hospital? The court records didn’t tell that.”

“Just a couple.”

She tried to act blasé about it, but he knew talking about the bastard made her anxious. He could hear it in her voice.

“Is it difficult to be here, even though it’s just for a couple of days?”

She didn’t see any reason to lie. “I get this stone in the pit of my stomach, and it doesn’t go away until I’m out of here, all because of him. I used to think it was odd that he didn’t try to find me.”

“How do you know he didn’t?”

“I don’t think it would have been all that difficult to find out where I was. I took the Wheatley name for a long time, but I went back to my name for my M.D. A psychiatrist suggested to me that Patterson’s obsession was somehow tied to Winston Falls.”

“Maybe,” he allowed, though he wasn’t convinced.

“The doctor said that part of Patterson’s obsession or fantasy was that he had to kill me here. It’s one theory,” she added with a shrug.

Max had another theory. A man with a violent obsession would stop at nothing to get his victim, and the only reason he hadn’t killed Ellie was because he couldn’t find her. From what he’d read in the file, he also knew that Patterson would never stop until he was locked away for life.

“I’d rather not talk about him anymore.”

“Okay, tell me about this Noble guy. Did you love him?”

“He looked good on paper.”

Max laughed. “In other words, no,” he said. “What exactly does looking good on paper mean?”

“John’s a dermatologist, so there’s very little chance of danger in his job. That made him safe.” And God knows, I’d love to find out what it’s like to feel safe, she thought to herself.

“What else?”

“We were both residents, so we had the hospital and medicine in common.”

“What else?”

“He was extremely polite and easygoing.”

Max noticed she hadn’t mentioned an emotional or physical connection. “You wouldn’t have married him.”

“No, I wouldn’t have,” she admitted. “I realized after that fiasco that I can’t marry anyone. My life’s too unpredictable.”

“And it wouldn’t be safe for the man you married?”

Had he read her thoughts? “Yes, that’s right. It wouldn’t be.”

“You’re letting that bastard, Patterson, continue to run your life.”

She didn’t disagree. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I slept with John?”

“No,” he replied. “I already know you didn’t.”

She looked up at him. “How could you know?”

He didn’t say what he was thinking, that any man who had gone to bed with Ellie would never want or need any other woman. Instead, he said, “I just know.”