Death Benefits. Hannah Alexander
cherished desire was to have a family. His first wife had chosen not to have children. When she divorced him, it had hit him hard, and he had given up on his dream.
Willow Traynor was an answer to Ray’s prayers for his friend. The widow of a murdered cop, she had lost their baby when her husband’s murderer ran her down with a car nearly three years ago. Last year, that vicious murderer had hunted her down in Branson and tried, again, to destroy her life, and the lives of those around her.
Some might say Lucy and Brittany’s mother had been collateral damage, because she had interfered with Willow’s stalker—had even tried to warn Willow about the danger while in a drugged stupor. That drugged stupor had cost the poor woman her life.
Since last April, Willow had blossomed with the friendship of Graham and Ginger, and the adoration of those two little girls. From what Ray had heard about the children, their lives were far better now than when they were with their confused and drug-addicted mother. But try telling that to Lucy and Brittany. Graham had told Ray last week that Lucy still had nightmares about her mother’s death.
“After this week,” Graham said, “Ginger will be lost without the girls.”
“That’s a bad place for Ginger to be.” Ray had never known anyone with such a need to care for someone.
He’d never known someone who drew him so.
“I’m not really trying to matchmake,” Graham said. “Though I’m sure that’s what Ginger thinks I’m doing.”
Ray shot a wicked grin at Graham. “Ginger knows her brother pretty well, I think.”
Graham chuckled. “Honestly, matchmaking’s Willow’s territory.”
“And you think she might have something like that in mind?”
“It’s possible.”
Ray shook his head. “You’ve never been a good liar. You’re in this up to your eyeballs, I can tell.”
“I don’t like to see my sister so miserable.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, she appears to be pretty miserable now that I’ve boarded.”
“A good heart-to-heart could unravel a few tangles, I think,” Graham said.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to try to convince me to send her back to Minsk.”
“Not at all,” Graham said quickly. “I want her stateside. That heart trouble she had last year spooked me, even though it turned out to be a harmless arrhythmia. What I want is to see her forgive you.”
“I’d like that, too.” Ray sighed, frowning at the puzzle that had confused him since his conflict with Ginger last March. “I’ve never known her to hold a grudge. She’s changed her guiding principle at this stage in her life—and the grudge is with me. It isn’t a comfortable place to be.”
“She’s been hurt deeply. I’d like to see you two work out whatever complications have developed between you.”
Ray nodded. Ginger Carpenter would be a definite complication on this trip. “I’ll see what I can do, but don’t get your hopes up.”
Ginger glanced over her shoulder and saw Ray and Graham with their heads together. As she continued to watch suspiciously, Ray glanced up and caught her gaze.
She held it. He needed to understand that she wasn’t going to just forget the past as if it hadn’t happened. She’d love to be able to do just that, but it would be dishonest. She’d tried to forgive, just as the Bible said to do. She’d even heard the reminder in church yesterday—forgive your enemy.
Forgive. The minister had said nothing about forgetting, and that was good, because she thought that was a stupid idea. If someone stabs you in the back, are you smart to forget, and give them the chance to do it again?
She wasn’t that kind of fool. She’d done a lot of stupid things in her life, but she’d learned from her mistakes, especially the one she’d made with Ray Clyde.
Ray’s expression told her that he and her brother were discussing her blatant, rude response to Ray’s presence. Fine. Let ’em talk.
The plane landed, they de-boarded, and Ginger took Brittany’s hand to keep her close. The child had a tendency to wander away.
Lucy suddenly gasped and dragged Ginger to a stop.
“It’s him, Aunt Ginger. It looks just like him!” Pointing at a slender, dark-haired man in the concourse, Lucy shook with fear.
SIX
Ginger had grown so attuned to Lucy and Brittany that she had known before Lucy even stopped her that she was suddenly in a panic. Her eyes, glistening with fear, were so wide, her expression so vulnerable that it broke Ginger’s heart.
Ginger followed Lucy’s line of vision, and indeed, saw a teenager who looked a lot like Rick Fenrow. He had thick, black hair, a pale, almost gaunt face, and eyebrows that looked like untamable caterpillars.
“No, honey. It’s okay,” she said, squatting to face Lucy, to hold her gaze and assure her she was safe. “That young man isn’t Rick.”
Lucy stared into her eyes, sober, serious, probing, as if attempting to discern if Ginger was merely trying to placate her.
“You’ve seen Rick Fenrow, Lucy,” she said softly. “We both know what he looks like, and if that was him,” she said, pointing at the kid, “I’d be calling for the police. You can trust me. Rick is older than this young man by at least ten or fifteen years.”
Lucy blinked then and sighed quietly, and Ginger saw some of the tension leave her face. “Okay.”
Ginger glanced up to find Ray’s gaze on her again, and the expression on his face suggested that he was trying to determine the wisdom of joining her in her efforts to reassure Lucy.
Did he know about the prison break? He looked confused.
“He’s a doppelgänger,” Ginger said.
Lucy frowned. “Huh?”
Ginger tried not to smile. Whenever Lucy heard a new word, she was distracted for hours trying to pronounce it and understand it. “That means you’re looking at someone who seems familiar, but really isn’t. That young man over there isn’t Rick, because he’s a kid. See, those are probably his parents with him.” She pointed to a middle-aged couple walking beside the youngster. To Lucy, of course, a teenage boy would look like a grown man.
What concerned Ginger was that Lucy obviously did know what Rick Fenrow looked like. That might be because she remembered him from last year, when he lived in the same apartment complex. It might also be because she’d gotten a good look at him in the window last night.
Ginger didn’t want to even think about that.
Oh, Lord, protect us.
Lucy watched the dopoganer—or whatever it was Aunt Ginger called him—hand his ticket to somebody in a uniform, then follow a line of people out of sight. He didn’t look at Lucy once.
Maybe that was because he really didn’t know her. Or maybe it was because he didn’t want her to know he knew her. What if he was pretending? What if he came back and grabbed her or Brittany when no one was looking?
Trying to think like a killer wasn’t easy.
She wanted to watch to make sure he didn’t come back, but Willow took her by the hand.
“Come on, sweetheart. We’ve got a short layover, and a lot of walking to do to get to our next gate.”
Graham picked up Brittany and carried her on ahead of them. Uncle Preston walked on Lucy’s other side, with his hand on her shoulder and his other hand holding his cell phone while he talked to his girlfriend, Sheila.
Uncle