Yet as she studied him, Kat realized there was something vaguely familiar about the shape of his face.
Damn, he looks like me. She saw a softer, feminine version of those angular features every time she looked in a mirror. The shape of his eyes and chin, the curve of his mouth. Yet because he appeared to be only a few years older than she was, strangers would probably mistake him for her older brother.
“Kat,” Ridge prompted her softly, “do you know why your mother would do something like this?” She went to the china hutch for the sterling silver coffee set her mother used for guests, then added three cups and saucers and carried the heavy tray back to the central island where the coffeepot hissed.
“I had a sister.”
“I remember,” Lancelot said unexpectedly. “Mary mentioned her. She was a little girl at the time. Seven or so. She was spending the weekend with Mary’s ex-husband.” A deep frown line formed between his thick brows. “The divorce had just been finalized.”
Which was why Mary was out getting drunk. “Karen had a stormy childhood. Spent a lot of time shuttling back and forth between her father’s house and Mom’s. Me . . .” Kat managed not to let her gaze slide toward Lancelot. I had no father. “I stayed with Mom all the time, which became kind of an issue. Karen accused Mom of favoring me, but Mom said it wasn’t true. Said I was just younger, needed her more.” She shrugged. “It got really bad when Karen hit eighteen. Typical teenage stuff.
Beer, boys. Lots and lots of really bad attitude.”
But Kat had worshiped her beautiful big sister anyway. Cheerleader and boy magnet, Karen had been as blond and popular as a living Barbie doll. Ten-year-old Kat had probably annoyed the daylights out of her, constantly tagging at her heels. “There was this boy. She said his name was Jimmy Chosen, and that he was a college senior. Mom tried to get him to come to the house, but he kept making excuses, ducking her invitations. That really set off all her mommy alarms.”
“I’d imagine so,” Lancelot said.
“Then, that Christmas Eve, Mom found a package of condoms in a pocket when she went to wash Karen’s coat. It all hit the fan. Lots of screaming, lots of crying. Mom threatened to throw Karen out if she kept dating Jimmy.”
“Probably not the best way to handle the situation,” Ridge observed, moving over beside her.
“No, which is just one of the reasons Momma periodically tries to eat entire bottles of Seconal.” Kat gave him a slightly bitter smile. He brushed a comforting hand across the small of her back. Feeling oddly soothed, she continued, “I heard Karen get up before dawn Christmas morning and attempt to sneak out of the house. I got up and begged her not to go—I was afraid Mom really would throw her out. Karen threatened to kick my ass if I ratted on her. Swore she’d be back in an hour, long before Mom woke up. So I went back to bed.” She stared down at her own reflection in the shining surface of the coffeepot without really seeing it. “I wish to God I’d been the little snitch Karen always swore I was. If I had been . . . ”
She broke off to transfer the coffee into the silver pot, then picked up the loaded tray and led the way into the living room. “By the time two hours had passed, I knew Karen was in serious danger of getting caught.”
Sitting down on the couch, Kat began to fill the delicate cups. Ridge sat down next to her as Lancelot took one of the armchairs. “We lived in one of those lakeside developments then, very upscale. I knew Karen liked to meet her boyfriends out beside the lake, where there was a shady stretch of grass. So I went to get her.”
She glanced up. Lance was watching her, his gaze brooding. “The day before, I’d seen a dog dead on the highway. Been hit by multiple cars, I guess. Probably a truck or two. Its body was all ripped up, red ropes of . . . Well.” Her voice sounded distant to her own ears. “Karen lay on the grass in her favorite picnic spot. And I thought when I saw her that she looked just like that dog. I wouldn’t have known who she was if it wasn’t for her long, pretty blond hair. I recognized the hair.”
“Sweet Jesu.” A muscle flexed in Lancelot’s handsome jaw, and his eyes looked . . . haunted. As if he was remembering something just as unpleasant.
Ridge caught Kat’s cold hands in his own big, warm ones, stilling her mechanical efforts with the coffee. “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” She managed a tight smile for the compassion in his eyes. “I ran back home, screaming.
Mom didn’t believe me at first, thought I had to be wrong. But then we walked to the lake . . . ” Kat broke off for a long moment. “We spent Christmas day talking to cops.”
“And you were ten years old.” Lancelot rubbed both hands over his face. “Merlin’s balls, girl, I’m sorry.”
Now that she’d started telling the story, Kat felt unable to stop. “Some of the cops thought it must have been some kind of animal. Maybe a bear. Something big, with claws, though nobody could say how a bear had gotten to the middle of Lakeside Village without being seen.” Next to her, Ridge stiffened and shot Lance a significant glance.
“Mom and I knew they were wrong. It had to be Jimmy Chosen, especially since it turned out there was no Jimmy Chosen anywhere in town. Not enrolled at the college, not anywhere. And he was never caught.” She stirred her coffee slowly. “Ever since then, we’ve tried to deal. I started taking martial arts, became something of a jock in school. Ran track, played basketball, the whole bit. Momma tried to hold it together for my sake, struggled with periodic bouts of depression.”
“But it got worse.” Ridge rested a hand on her knee, a silent offer of support.
Kat nodded. “When I left home at twenty-one, determined to become a cop, Mom attempted suicide the first time. She was convinced I was going to end up like Karen. So I gave up the cop idea and moved back home. Got a job at the fitness center I worked out at. Spent the rest of my time trying to make sure Mom kept taking her meds.”
“And then Grace showed up.” Lancelot picked up one of the coffee cups and started adding cream and sugar, his movements as mechanical as her own.
“I had hoped that by gaining the Gift—by becoming a witch—I could find Karen’s killer and finally get some justice. Lay Mom’s ghosts to rest.” Kat’s fingers stole to the heart locket.
Ridge nodded at it. “That’s hers, isn’t it? Karen’s?”
“She was wearing it when . . . I hoped I could use it to home in on him. The killer. But Mom—she’s never liked me getting out of her sight, particularly not with a man. I thought she’d know I was safe with you, especially after Grace worked her magic. But apparently her old demons got the better of her.”
A long silence trailed by, broken only by the hum of the refrigerator.
She’s stable.”