Love at First Sight - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,75

see him. Nor hear his apologies. Or witness his guilt. It was easier to believe the lie he’d told her than reality. As crazy as it seemed, she still thought of him as her husband. She would always remember what it had felt like in his arms. Making love to him. And ache for him.

She knew in time she would convince her heart that it hadn’t been real. But right now, it was just better if she didn’t see him.

Between the newspapers, her mother’s grapevine and Howie’s and Denny’s visits, Karen put all the pieces of Liz Jones’s death together over the days that followed.

Dr. Carl Vandermullen was dead, but he’d left a signed confession at his home, detailing why he’d killed Liz. He’d never forgiven her for being pregnant with another man’s baby. She’d told him it was his child, not realizing he was sterile. He’d played along, disposing of the baby—and making sure Liz never had any others.

When she’d found out what he’d done, she’d divorced him and gone looking for her baby. He’d killed her to keep her from exposing him. But he’d also killed her because he just couldn’t let go.

As Denny had said, the clues had been there all along. The panty hose around Liz’s neck. The cord about the doll’s neck. Vandermullen’s fabrication of how the baby had died.

Liz’s search for her lost child had set off a string of events that had led to her death—and had almost gotten Karen killed because of a chance meeting on a street corner.

Karen’s mother was shocked, of course. Karen didn’t tell her about Jack. Or the fake marriage. Or her heartbreak. She didn’t have to.

Pamela Sutton was glad when no charges were brought against Annette Westbrook and the bridge club didn’t have to look for another member. Karen figured Annette had just been trying to protect her brother and had never meant her any harm.

Denny finally admitted that the woman he’d been seeing on the sly was Annette Baxter Westbrook. They’d met one night when he’d gotten a police call about a prowler in her neighborhood. Annette had been separated from her husband at the time and later divorced.

Baxter had found out about Denny and Annette. He’d threatened Denny and finally used Jack as leverage to try to keep Denny away from his sister. That’s why Baxter had put Jack on probation—to make Denny back off.

Denny had, for Jack’s sake.

Detective Captain Brad Baxter confessed to a long list of wrongdoing, including the hit-and-run attempt to scare Karen at El Topo and the assault in the phone booth near the carousel. He also admitted using his position on the force to coerce Denny and Jack and giving Vandermullen Karen’s location at the safe house.

He said he’d had no choice. Vandermullen had been blackmailing him, threatening to take Danielle from his sister. He’d done what he had to protect his sister and his “adopted” niece. Baxter swore he’d escaped custody, though, to go to the ski lodge to try to keep Vandermullen from killing Karen. His trial was set for later in the fall.

The best news was that Denny had met his daughter and he and Danielle had hit it off. Annette and Denny were seeing each other again, taking it slowly.

Danielle had always suspected she was adopted. She seemed relieved to have found herself in Denny, as if discovering a missing piece of a puzzle.

Jack was off suspension and he and Denny were going to get commendations. Karen was glad Jack hadn’t lost his job. He was a good cop. Just the kind of man any woman would want protecting her.

Aunt Talley sent goodies with Howie for her. All her favorites. Too bad baked goods didn’t cure a broken heart. Then brownies, fried pies and cinnamon rolls would be the perfect food.

True to form, Howie and his aunt tried to fix her up with his cousin J.T., her perfect match. But she’d sworn off blind dates, even if she hadn’t figured out that J.T. was Jack Thomas Adams.

She’d hoped that as the days passed she’d get over the heartache. Her mother and Denny and even Howie and Aunt Talley convinced her that work would be the best thing for her. Finally one morning late in March, she headed for her shop. She’d been avoiding the shop, knowing that Jack’s ghost would be everywhere she looked.

She hadn’t gone but a few blocks when she heard the siren and looked in her rearview mirror to see the flashing red-and-blue