“Sal, I didn’t mean—”
“Call me Crow. After all, that’s who I am to you. A long-haired guy with a tattoo. That’s all you’ve ever seen when you’ve looked at me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” he said. “I come to tell you I’ve found your stalker, and you don’t even believe me.”
She wanted to say she believed him, but she couldn’t. Not when she knew it wasn’t the truth.
“Christine Jablonski wrote the notes,” Crow said flatly. “She was angry with you for ignoring her calls but she never meant any harm. In fact, she’d still like to hear from you. Here.” He handed her a sheet of paper with two names and phone numbers written in bold black print.
“Chris?” Sara was too surprised to even glance down. “She wrote the notes? Are you sure?”
“She confessed.”
Her body sagged with relief. Gary hadn’t come back after all. She’d worried for nothing. Her gaze drifted to the paper in her hand. Sara frowned. “What is my mother’s name doing on this?”
“I talked to her today,” he said.
She spoke with a deceptive calmness. “About what?”
“About you,” he said. “About what happened before you went into foster care. And about a guy named Gary Burke.”
Chapter Sixteen
The blood in Sara’s veins turned to ice. Her heart pounded so hard she could barely breathe, much less talk. Still, she had to say something.
“What about Gary Burke?” she finally choked out.
Crow’s brows drew together, his expression sharp and assessing.
Sara stifled a groan. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut? He’d clearly expected her to ask about her mother but like a fool, she’d focused on Gary. She took a seat in a nearby chair and tried to act nonchalant. “I mean, he and my mother aren’t still together, are they?”
“No.” Crow took a seat on a nearby couch. “She said he’s in prison.”
Sara released the breath she’d been holding. Praise the Lord.
“I still can’t believe Chris wrote the notes,” she murmured, unable to understand how the girl who’d been such a good friend and confidante could have done such a thing.
“She said she did it to get back at you for you not wanting to get together.”
“Seems a bit extreme,” Sara said dryly. “I’m just glad it’s finally over.”
They sat there in silence for a long moment until Crow spoke. “You know, I spoke to your mother. Aren’t you going to ask about her?”
Sara lowered her gaze, not wanting Crow to see her uncertainty. “How is she?”
“She’s a beautiful woman,” he said. “I was surprised at how much you two look alike.”
They always had. She remembered when she’d started junior high and everyone thought they were sisters, rather than mother and daughter. Her mother would roll her eyes and they’d both giggle.
Sara’s heart clenched. “Yeah, well…”
“She’d like to see you.”
“I’ll bet,” Sara said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
“I’m just telling you what she told me,” he said with a shrug. “I think not seeing you has been hard on her. I got the distinct feeling she’s been carrying around a ton of guilt.”
“Guilt?” She’d imagined her mother feeling a lot of things over the years but guilt wasn’t one of them. That was Sara’s cross to bear. “What does she have to feel guilty about?”
“How about for leaving you in foster care?” Crow stared as if she’d suddenly lost her mind. “For never coming back to get you?”
“I understood,” Sara said. And she did. Her selfish action had almost cost her mother her life. Why would anyone want a daughter like that? “Anyway, it was no big deal. My foster parents were great.”
“That’s what your mother said. She thought they’d be able to give you the kind of life you wanted, the life you deserved.”
“She said that?” Sara shot him a skeptical look, but surprisingly he appeared sincere.
Crow nodded and gestured to the paper she still held in her hand. “I put her phone number on that sheet. Are you going to call her?”
“I’m not sure. I have to think about it.” She crumpled the piece of paper between her fingers but kept it in her hand. “You said she talked about what happened before I went into foster care. What did she say?”
Crow shifted uneasily in his seat. “She said she and…? What was his name? The one we were just talking about. Her boyfriend at the time?”
“Gary,” Sara said, her voice strangled.
“That’s right,” he said. “Anyway, she said they hadn’t been getting along, but you probably knew that.”
Sara gave a noncommittal nod. “Go on.”
“Basically she said they’d been out partying and he was all over these other women. She said she’d finally had enough. The next morning she told him she had a new guy and that she wanted Gary gone. Gary showed her with his fists what he thought of that idea.”
Sara had seen firsthand the aftermath of that encounter. The picture of the blood-drenched carpet and upturned furniture that had greeted her when she’d arrived home was still vivid in her mind. The Social Services worker that met her at the door had assured her that her mother would be fine and that the doctors at the hospital were giving her mother the best of care. But even at fifteen, Sara had been nobody’s fool. From the way the place had looked, she’d known her mother was in bad shape.
Sara’s stomach churned and it took all she had to shove the memories aside. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. He’d obviously saved the worst for last.
“And the money?” Sara said. “What did she say about that?”
Crow frowned. He’d told her everything he knew. Money hadn’t even been mentioned, except in a roundabout way. “Not much, except maybe how hard it would have been for her to make it on her own.”
“That’s all?” Sara demanded. “She didn’t say anything about some missing money?”
Missing money? Crow paused and thought for a moment.
“The only one that had anything to say about that was Chris.” Though Chris hadn’t exactly specified what had been stolen, Crow followed his gut feeling and took a chance. “She said something about you stealing money?”
He riveted his gaze on Sara and waited for her reaction.
Sara blanched. “She did?”
He pressed his luck. “She told me all about it. But I’d like to hear your side.”
Sara rested her head against the back of the chair and briefly closed her eyes. “You know.”
Crow’s heart twisted at the despair in her tone, and despite his earlier anger, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and comfort her. But if he did she might continue to keep whatever this secret was locked inside. And he had the distinct feeling this was something that had already festered too long.
“I’d like to hear your side,” he repeated softly.