Page 398 of A Matter of Time

And I remembered suddenly the way his face had looked when I was kidnapped in front of him. How terrified and helpless. He had liked me from that moment. Had cared about me from that moment. He would never hurt me; it wasn’t in him. “Caleb.”

“What?”

But there was someone else who didn’t like me. Someone he knew wanted me dead. And I had finally figured it out. “On the phone that time…when you called me when I got back…do you know what you said?”

“What are you…” He trailed off. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I nodded. I knew it hadn’t been Caleb on my new phone after I’d been kidnapped. It wasn’t Caleb who wanted to kiss me when I was cold.

“I didn’t think so.”

His eyes suddenly got huge. “Wait—no—you’re wrong.”

But I wasn’t, and because I was about a second ahead of him, I grabbed the muzzle of the gun and shoved it out, away from me, so that when it went off, the bullet hit the wall a few feet from us. I was more agile and wearing fewer clothes, so I was able to twist and fall on top of him before he could get his feet under him. He fell back, and I rammed his face into the side of the car, and then the back of his head down onto the concrete. His eyes rolled back, and he went still. I heard the yelling and the pounding feet, and then there were hands all over me as I was lifted up and away. Caleb’s gun was kicked to the wall, well out of his reach had he been conscious enough to even try for it. I was yanked around hard, and was suddenly face-to-face with Agent Calhoun.

“I’m going to throw you in jail for a very long time, Mr. Harcourt.”

“Fine, whatever, listen to me,” I rasped out, because I was breathless. “I got a call when I got home from being kidnapped, but it wasn’t from Caleb.”

He glared at me. “I have no idea what you’re⁠—”

“Whoever called said they wanted to kiss me when I was cold.”

“Again, I have no idea what you’re⁠—”

“Caleb would never say that—he’s covering.”

“Covering for who? What are you talking about?”

“He knew. I don’t know when…probably not until just recently, but since he found out, he’s been putting himself between us…protecting me,” I finished quickly.

“You’re not making any sense. He just tried to shoot you.”

“He didn’t do it on purpose; he was probably just surprised.”

“What are you⁠—”

“Caleb doesn’t have it in him to kill, I know he doesn’t, but she does.”

“I’m not following you at all.”

“It’s his mother…it’s Susan Reid. She’s the one he’s protecting. She’s the only one he would go to jail for. I promise you, she’s the guilty one.”

“Do you even know what you’re talk⁠—”

“It makes sense. Susan thinks I’m the thing that keeps her from getting close to Dane, but Caleb knows I’m not the problem. It’s him—it’s Dane. He feels nothing for her.”

“I’m not⁠—”

“Don’t you see? It’s everything. It’s every long-lost-happy-reunion movie ever made, and her idea, her belief about what was gonna happen. I think she thought that even though she gave him away, later on, down the road, he would forgive and forget. She could bring him back into the fold and everything would be okay. Maybe she clung to that delusion her whole life, and then, faced with his coldness and at the same time his warmth with me and Aja… I dunno. I think somewhere along the way she just snapped.”

“But that doesn’t explain⁠—”

“It had to be her and Greg. I mean, I heard people struggling that day in the shed. She and Greg must’ve gotten into it, and then she shot him.”

“Why would she kidnap her own son?”

“She didn’t kidnap him. He was there to talk to me, to keep an eye on me. He was in on the kidnapping, but not the murders.”