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“He loves you very much.”
“I want to be here for him,” she said. “Until he’s ready to leave this hospital, I want to be sure he has everything he needs.”
“All he needs is you, Caroline.”
She nodded, blinking back tears. “I know, but would you mind if we go over to the Sea Cliff house? I’d like to pick up some of his personal things and bring them back here. He’d be happier, I think.”
“Sure. The investigators are finished at the house, so I see no reason why we can’t do that.”
* * *
JASON HAD BEEN RIGHT—the crime tape was gone. Pulling into the driveway of the home, nobody would ever guess that the house had been the scene of a horrific crime just days earlier.
“I sent a cleaning crew out here yesterday,” he told her, shutting off the engine. “You won’t see anything in the front entrance to upset you.”
Caroline nodded. “Thanks.”
Jason glanced in his rearview mirror; Deputies Black and Mitchell had pulled in behind them. “Let’s give them a few minutes to secure the house, and then we can go in.”
They sat in the car while the two men did a quick sweep of the property and the house before coming out to the porch to wave them in.
“All clear,” Jason said.
Caroline hadn’t been inside the house in years, and entering the large kitchen, she was immediately struck by how little it had changed in her absence. She realized it was one of the things she loved about being home—she could always count on it feeling familiar and safe.
“There’s nobody else in the house,” Jason said, coming to stand beside her. “The staff won’t return until your father is discharged and sent home. Unless, of course, you want them here sooner.”
Caroline shook her head. “No, that’s not necessary. I’ll see that their wages are paid for the time they’re not working, but there’s no point in them coming to the house. They may not even want to. Until the shooter is caught, I don’t think I’d want to come back here.”
“You’re safe,” Jason assured her.
Caroline knew without being told that the two deputies had taken up positions near the front and back doors of the house, and that nobody would get past them.
“I’m going to run upstairs and pack a small bag,” she said.
“I’ll come with you.”
She paused. “You don’t have to, Jason. You said I’m safe.”
“Call me old-fashioned,” he murmured. “I take my job seriously.”
She was acutely aware of him following her up the wide, curving staircase to the second floor. She was filled with bittersweet memories of the times when Jason had stayed in their house during his college years, but had never seemed to notice she existed. She’d been so head over heels crazy for him.
She still was.
“Have you ever been upstairs?” she asked now.
“Sure.”
She glanced at him. “I think there was a reason my father put your room down on the first floor.”
He grinned up at her. “Absolutely. Although, until you were about fifteen, you were just this cute little annoyance.”
Caroline laughed, recalling how she used to spy on Jason, thinking he wouldn’t notice. “And after I was fifteen?”
He expression was rueful. “I’m ashamed to admit that I did check you out. But I never would have crossed that line with you. It was just hard to ignore you when you seemed determined to wear as little clothing as possible.”
They’d reached the second floor, and Caroline paused on the landing. “I was determined to make you notice me.”
“Oh, I noticed,” he said, laughing. “And the older you got, the more I couldn’t help noticing.”
“You seemed so different from any of the boys I went to high school with.”
“Yeah, I was a lot older.”
She studied him now. “No, it had more to do with your attitude. You seemed a little dangerous, and I always wondered, after you left, if I’d ever see you again. You were a little bit like a wild creature, always on the verge of bolting for freedom.”
“I felt a little wild back then.”
She turned and continued down the carpeted hallway until she reached the door to her bedroom. After opening it, she stood back so that he could see. “This is where I did all my fantasizing about you.”
The room was spacious and airy, with sweeping views of the water. The canopy bed was draped with sheer curtains, and the walls were covered in posters, while decorative minilights dangled from the ceiling. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves contained her youthful collection of novels, music boxes and stuffed animals, and Caroline knew that if she were to open the wide closet doors, all her old clothing and shoes would still be neatly lined up.
