Part 21 (1/2)
”Yeah?”
”Thank you for understanding,” he whispered.
Ethan acted as if she'd done him a favor. Angel knew better.
Chapter 15.
An hour later Outside Chicago Angel had picked up Ethan Chandler near a back alley that was a discreet distance from his residence where the media were still camped out. With a knapsack over his shoulder, he looked like a college student dressed in jeans, a black T-s.h.i.+rt, hiking boots, and an oversized blue plaid s.h.i.+rt worn tail out.
On the drive to Lake Zurich, Ethan had been preoccupied and quiet. He carried on polite conversation whenever she instigated it, but as usual, his facial expressions gave insight into the darkness cast over his life. The long bouts of silence felt comfortable between them. Angel understood what it meant to lose someone special, but Ethan had a great deal more to lose if he had a personal connection to the killer. That dark turn was still to come.
She got off the freeway and pulled into a gas station that had a convenience store.
”I have to fill up my tank. Do you need anything from the store?”
”Yeah, see if they have a jumbo bag of good judgment,” he said. ”I could use that. Make it two.”
”With or without salt?”
When he smiled, and his cheeks blushed with color, she couldn't help but return his grin even though she knew he wouldn't see it.
Ethan had an unusual way of drawing her in. His good looks were part of it, but he had an intimacy to his voice and a way he moved that made her want to touch him. Maybe with him being blind, she felt the urge to communicate in a different way.
Had Olivia felt the same with him in bed? Angel hadn't thought about what it would mean to make love to a man who didn't have his eyesight...or for him to love a woman without the benefit of his sight. She could see how easily fantasy played into it. It would be like using a blindfold that never came off.
”I'll be right back,” she told him.
After getting out of her vehicle, Angel set up the gas pump to top off her tank, but the real reason she needed to stop had been for privacy. She had to call Gabe, and she didn't want Ethan to overhear. Her partner answered his cell on the third ring.
”Are you sitting down?” she asked.
Angel told her partner about Ethan's call and how she now had a hitchhiker onboard.
”What? Why is he with you?” Gabe asked. ”That wasn't part of the deal.”
”I didn't expect this either, but I've had time to think about it. He came clean and admitted that he'd lied about who had instigated the fantasy s.e.x, and he said there might be something personally d.a.m.ning in these recordings.”
”Anything to do with Olivia's murder?” he asked.
”He said no. Just the s.e.x, but he didn't have to admit anything, Gabe. I think he's being straight with me.”
”Go on.”
”If we believe Ethan is at the center of the killer's world, it seemed like a reasonable idea to have him with me. I trust my gut that he's not the one who pulled off Olivia's murder and staged McFarland's death to look like a suicide. Even if he ordered it, in a murder for hire scheme, he didn't do the actual killing.”
”Oh, yeah. That makes me feel a lot better. Thanks.”
”I figure this'd be a *keep your enemy close' kind of deal.”
”Is that how you look at him now...the enemy?”
She hadn't expected that question from Gabe. Even though it bordered the edge of their professional relations.h.i.+p and crossed the line into her private feelings, she felt a tight bond with her partner that didn't make the question out of bounds for them.
”It doesn't matter what I think of him. He is involved in this, Gabe, whether he's aware of it or not.”
The phone went silent. For a second, Angel thought she'd lost the connection until she heard Gabe's voice again.
”If he admitted there could be something McFarland caught on video, I'm convinced we'll uncover it at the lake house.”
”Yeah, agreed.”
”And look, Angel. I know he's blind, but please don't let that rub off on you,” he said. ”Eyes behind your back, partner. Stick to the plan.”
”Will do.”
Lake Zurich Evening The last few turns of the GPS app on Angel's phone took her down Rand Road Highway 12 across Main Street of the quaint village of Lake Zurich. She headed along Paulus Park and made a right that led onto a private drive nestled tight to the northwest side of the lake.
When Angel saw the cottage on the water, it looked like a picturesque Thomas Kinkade painting. It had a wrap-around deck, large picture windows on the backside that looked out onto a cove, and was surrounded by tall trees.
”Wow. Perfect,” she whispered as she turned off the engine and got out of the vehicle.
”What is?” Ethan asked as he opened his pa.s.senger door.
”It's beautiful here.”
McFarland had inherited the lakefront property. He'd been a lucky man until his good fortune ran out.
”Describe it to me.” Ethan stood near her vehicle and moved his head as if he was guided by sound and the warmth of the sunset.
Angel felt heat rush to her cheeks. She didn't know what to say that would do justice to the pristine property, but Ethan waited for her to find the words.
”The lake looks like a mirror to the sky. It's dusk. The sun is an orange fireball on the horizon, about to dip over the edge of the world. The water is glistening, reflecting the color of the sun, like it's on fire. The forest and the water remind me of the camping trips I took with my family growing up.”
”That's beautiful.” He breathed in the evening air and said, ”Shall I tell you how it feels?”
She smiled. ”Yes. Please.”
”Close your eyes.”
Angel shut her eyes to listen to him and to feel what he felt.
”Listen to the lapping water on the sh.o.r.eline. It has a rhythm that's calm and forgiving,” he said. ”The night's chill is winning a battle with the sun. Can you feel the fading warmth?”