“Does it match the bloody one from the porch?”
“Nope. Unfortunately, not.”
“Are they the same size?”
“Negative on that, too.”
“All that means is that the guy wore a different pair of shoes.”
“Or this break-in is totally unrelated to the murder.” Ethan could hear her frustration. She wanted to catch this guy as bad as he did.
He said, “Yeah, I’ve already thought of that.”
“So, what’s Marianna going to do? Is she staying with her folks right now? I’m really nervous about her going back to that house by herself. Something’s just weird about the whole situation. The murder, then the break-in…weird.”
“I agree. But I’m stumped as to a connection. And yes, right now, she’s staying with her folks.” He sighed, ran a hand through his already mussed hair. “Listen, I haven’t been to bed yet. If you don’t actually need me there, I’m going to run home, take a shower and crash for a couple of hours.”
“Sure, I’ve got it covered. Go get some rest and call me when you get up. I appreciate you not calling me in on it last night.”
“Nothing much you could have done. I didn’t figure you’d hate me for letting you sleep.”
“Never. That’s why I’m willing to put in a few hours on the weekend. I’ll get it back after we catch this guy.”
“Thanks, Cate.”
He hung up, did a U-turn, then took a left to head home. Just a few hours sleep, then he’d be back on it, he silently promised himself…and Marianna.
FIVE
As Marianna dressed for church in the morning, she studied the childhood room she’d shared with two of her sisters, Catherina and Alissa. She smiled when she thought of her twin, Alissa.
As children and even teens, they hadn’t wanted to be separated and had shared a room up until graduation from high school. They’d gone to different colleges, Marianna to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and Alissa to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, just a couple of hours away.
Being the parents of six children, her mother and father had had to get creative when it came to sleeping arrangements. The house had four bedrooms and a basement that had been converted into a small apartment for Marianna’s grandmother, who’d lived with them until she died last year.
Marianna appreciated the fact that her mother still kept the double bed and bunk beds in here so that the sisters could have their “reunion” during holidays. Often all four sisters usually wound up in the one room, staying up all night catching up, then crashing wherever they found a spot.
She said a small prayer of thanks for her childhood, knowing she’d been blessed. Oh, not always with material things but with the things that mattered. And one more thing to be thankful for was the fact that the vet had sent a text message saying Twister would be able to come home Monday. Marianna missed her four-legged friend.
Attached to the pocket of her black dress pants, her BlackBerry buzzed, pulling her from her thoughts. She slipped it from the clip and checked the caller ID.
Curt Wentworth. Why he continued to bother her, she had yet to figure out. This was the man who’d wooed her, had her tumbling head over heels in love, then had turned around and emotionally stabbed her in the back. When he finally let her know she wasn’t good enough for him. Add his physical aggression into the mix and she just wanted him to leave her alone. She read, “Why aren’t you answering my messages? I want to see you, Marianna. It really makes me mad when you just ignore me. Rather rude, don’t you think? At least have the courtesy to answer me.”
She punched the reply button on the machine and typed, “Leave me alone, please, Curt. ALREADY TOLD YOU I’M NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING YOU ANYMORE. If you would stop texting me, I wouldn’t have to ignore you. You are the one being rude.”
He responded, “But I’ve apologized, what else can I do?”
“Honor my request to LEAVE ME ALONE.”
“I made a mistake, Marianna. As a Christian, aren’t you supposed to forgive me?”
This called for caps again. “I HAVE FORGIVEN YOU, JUST DON’T WANT TO BE WITH YOU. I wouldn’t mind trying to build a friendship with you, but it would go no further than that, and you and I both know that you’re unwilling to accept that right now. Late for church. Bye.”
She replaced the device back into the clip and grabbed her purse. When it vibrated once more, she pressed the ‘Ignore’ button, resolving not to respond to him anymore. Maybe that was the problem. She kept answering him intermittently instead of being consistent in just deleting his messages, and that encouraged him or gave him hope. Quite possibly if she just didn’t acknowledge his texts anymore, he would give up and go find someone more suitable.
Such as a hearing girl, one he wouldn’t be ashamed of. Absentmindedly, she smoothed her hair down over her ears, then stared at herself in the mirror above the dresser. In a fit of pique, she grabbed a hair tie and pulled the silky mass into a casual ponytail, exposing her hearing aids for the world to see. There. Eat your heart out, Curt Wentworth.
Marianna clamped the lid on the memories and the feelings they still invoked. Not feelings for him, just the feelings of not measuring up or being good enough.
He’d certainly fooled her for a long time. But she’d learned her lesson well. And while she’d been honest when she’d said she’d forgiven him, she sure hadn’t forgotten his behavior. Or his constant pushing for her to get a cochlear implant, a surgically implanted device that worked as a “mechanical ear.” It was great for some people, she just chose not to go that route right now. She shook her head at her stupidity. He could have asked her for almost anything that wasn’t illegal or immoral, and she would have done her best to oblige.
Anything but to get a cochlear implant. And he’d refused to listen to her or her reasons why she didn’t want one. She didn’t want to risk destroying the hearing she had left. She was also comfortable with her deafness and didn’t need to be “fixed.” It was a concept Curt couldn’t compute and refused to accept that she knew her own mind on this topic. Marianna grimaced. Okay, Lord, give me something more pleasant to think about this morning, please?
Immediately, Ethan’s face appeared in her mind’s eye. She grabbed her jacket as she allowed herself to think about the good-looking cop. She’d been surprised he’d fit in so well with her family—and to find out he’d had a deaf sister…well…
The lamp on her bedside table flashed. All of the bedrooms were wired with a flashing light to alert the occupant that someone was “knocking” on the door. There was actually a small button to push, similar to an indoor doorbell that activated the light.
She opened her door to find Gina standing on the other side. Her sister signed, “You ready?”
“Yes, I guess. Curt’s bugging me again this morning.”
Her sister sighed and shook her head. “I hope you told him to leave you alone.”
They started the walk down the hall to the stairs. Gina turned and walked backward down the steps, gripping the rail with her left hand as she signed with her right. Marianna smiled at the leftover childhood behavior and answered, “I did, but it doesn’t seem to faze him much.”
Gina, dark hair, dark eyes and slightly overweight, still had all the features of the Santinos. Full lips and slightly slanted eyes gave her an exotic look, showing off her Italian heritage, but somewhere down the line the family had some Japanese blood, too. Her sister wore it well.
“Want me to get rid of him for you? I know a guy or two.”
“No,