Part 27 (1/2)

”It was almost like last time. Claude broke in and shot Chad and Ron and...”

”Oh, Sarah.”

”I didn't fall apart like before, though. I fought back until he shot Daniel's brother.”

”You saw all this?” Serena asked in a shocked voice.

Sarah nodded. ”Yes. I tried to help them, to help Drew, but...”

Suddenly, Sarah grabbed her sister and they clung together. ”I'm so glad you're here.”

”I wouldn't be anywhere else-not when you need me.”

Sarah pulled back and brushed away tears. ”I need Daniel, too.”

Serena blinked. ”Oh.”

”The past few years you've been trying to get me to date and I have stoutly resisted saying I wasn't like you, that I didn't need a man in my life. But I realized I'm more like you than I ever thought. I want a man who loves me-a home and kids. And I want Daniel.”

Serena took Sarah's hand again and settled close to her. ”Tell me how all this came about.”

Sarah told her everything that had happened since she'd last seen her, but she didn't go into detail about that night in Daniel's condo. She was sure Serena could put two and two together.

”All this time I've been suppressing my real feelings for Daniel-out of betrayal to Greg, guilt, whatever. I know now I've been falling in love with him for a very long time.”

”And he feels the same way?”

”Yes. His brother's death has. .h.i.t him hard, though, and he's pus.h.i.+ng me away.”

Serena shook her head. ”I just feel so sorry for what he's going through.”

”I do, too, and I want to be there for him, to help him through this but...”

”But what?”

”I keep remembering back to that time when we were rescued from Boyd and you wanted me to talk. I just wanted to be left alone and that's how Daniel is feeling now. He's shutting the whole world out...including me.”

”The trauma of last night will fade and Daniel will think more clearly,” Serena promised. ”He's probably already regretting what he said.”

”Always the optimist,” Sarah remarked.

”You bet. I believe in happy endings and I know they're real every time I look into Ethan's eyes. And when I look into Ja.s.sy's there is absolutely no doubt.”

”I love you.” Sarah smiled, realizing she'd been yearning for family and roots and she had all that by being part of Serena's life, by being her twin. As a woman, though, she needed so much more.

”I love you, too.” Serena smiled back. ”We'll get through this just like before.”

Sarah wasn't so sure. She couldn't survive this without Daniel and that shook her. Through sheer will-power she'd overcome the past braver and stronger; she wondered how long she could sustain that strength without him. He might want her to forget about him and their love, but she knew she never would.

Not ever.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

DANIEL SAT IN Drew's apartment trying to piece together the shattered remnants of his life. He'd told his parents about Drew and his mother had become hysterical. They'd called the doctor and he'd sedated her. His father had been drowning himself in a bottle of scotch when he'd left.

The room was dark, but outside the sun was heralding a new day. He glanced at the watch on his arm. It was after nine. How long had he been here? He didn't remember nor did he remember how he'd gotten here. All he knew was that he had to be close to Drew. His things were here-the pool table, big-screen TV, video games and a state-of-the-art stereo system. Everything was here but Drew.

There wasn't a sound in the room. He listened to his breath-in, out. He shouldn't be breathing. Claude should have shot him. Boyd should have killed Daniel instead of Drew. But then, Boyd wouldn't have gotten what he wanted. He'd wanted to hurt Daniel and he had. He was hurting worse than he'd ever hurt in his life.

In ways you can never imagine. Boyd's words kept torturing him.

He got to his feet and flipped on the light. A picture of him and Drew stood on a table. The two of them were fis.h.i.+ng and Drew looked happy. Happy? How well did he know Drew? Claude was right; the Garrett family had been eager to hand over the responsibility for Drew. A week of fis.h.i.+ng did not make up for years of closing his eyes to Drew's problem.

When Drew would run away, he'd come to Daniel. He often looked dazed, Daniel had thought from the medication. But it wasn't that-he'd been doing heroin. As a narcotics detective, he should have been able to see that. He hadn't. He hadn't seen a thing. He'd ignored the signs, he'd ignored everything and now Drew was dead.

An overpowering helplessness gripped him and he picked up the picture and threw it against the wall, a vase followed, video games, movies-anything he found, he slammed against the wall.

”Hope you're getting it out of your system because you're making a d.a.m.n mess.” Russ stood in the doorway.

”Get out of here, Russ,” Daniel shouted.

”Ah, Daniel, you know I don't take orders very well.”

”Shut up and leave me the h.e.l.l alone.”

”Sorry, can't do that, either. I promised Sarah.”

Sarah. Sarah. Sarah.

He stuck out his hand as if to ward off the power of her name, but it seeped through his defenses. Oh, G.o.d, Sarah, no. Weak and empty, he sank to the floor and rested his back against the wall. As exhausted as he was, he couldn't let her memory take control. He couldn't. She was better off without him.

Russ sank down beside him on the floor. ”I'm sorry about Drew.”

”Thank you,” Daniel mumbled. ”I should have seen what was going on. There were signs and I ignored them. Claude had scratches on his arms. He said it was from a cat he rescued out of a tree and I believed him. They were Brooke Wallace's scratches as she'd fought for her life. I didn't suspect a thing, just like I never suspected Tom. I've lost my edge. I shouldn't even be a detective.”

”h.e.l.l, Daniel, you're not G.o.d. No matter how hard you try, you can never second-guess a corrupt mind.”

”Boyd planned all this in prison.” The diabolic plan was clear in Daniel's head but the details were sketchy.

Russ stretched out his legs. ”Yep. I've been at the police station and Arnie's talking his head off. We can't seem to shut him up. He said Boyd started telling him about all the money he had stashed away and how he could get it and the clubs if Arnie did what he wanted. The plan at first was to get to you through Drew-seems Drew's been involved with Boyd for a long time.”

”I don't understand that,” Daniel said. ”How could my brother be involved with that lowlife? He knew how hard I worked to get him off the streets.”

Russ rubbed his beard. ”Well, Daniel, you might not like to hear it, but Drew was a drug addict and you've been in narcotics long enough to know that addicts will do anything to get their drug, even betray someone they love.”

Daniel's throat muscles closed up.