Liz ran to the window and peered out, hoping to see which way he had disappeared. He had disappeared completely, the only evidence of his presence a broken palmetto.
She released a strangled breath, then sucked in another. Something had frightened him off. Thank God. Something-
Not something. Someone.
Pastor Tim had returned.
She heard him at the front door. Heard him insert the key into the lock. Imagined his expression as he realized it hadn’t been locked. Heard the door open, then close, heard him mutter something under his breath.
Liz looked around, frantically searching for a place to hide. Her gaze landed on what she assumed was the closet. She darted toward it, yanked the door open and slipped inside.
It was, indeed, a clothes closet, and she carefully inched her way to the very back corner. The closet was deep and jammed full with clothing, sports equipment, storage boxes and even some holiday decorations. It smelled stale, faintly of sweat, aftershave and dust.
Pastor Tim entered the room. He let out a frustrated-sounding breath as he moved about. Liz’s heart beat so hard and fast her chest hurt. She pressed her lips together, struggling not to make a sound, to not even breathe.
He reached the closet; she saw the shadow of his feet at the bottom of the door. She pressed herself farther into the corner. Something scurried on the wall by her ear, and a cry rose in her throat.
The doorknob turned, a sliver of light spilled into the closet. The sliver grew. Liz caught a glimpse of the man. In that glimpse he bore little resemblance to the mild-mannered pastor she had come to expect-he looked angry. And determined. A man who would level anyone who dared cross him.
Pastor Tim was not the man he professed to be.
The anxiety attack came upon her without warning. Smothering in its intensity. The weight of it upon her chest crippling. She pressed her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out and squeezed her eyes shut. In the next moment, he would find her out. How would she explain? He would almost certainly call the police. She could imagine Lieutenant Lopez’s disgust. His satisfaction.
Both sisters, nutty as fruitcakes. And to think I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
Not now, Lord, she prayed. Please, not now.
The door opened a fraction wider, then snapped shut, leaving her in darkness once more. A moment later came the sound of his footsteps and the front door slamming closed.
Liz curled her arms around her middle and sank to her knees. Her pent-up breath shuddered past her lips in shallow gasps. She fought to slow her breathing, to concentrate on the steady pull and push of oxygen in and out. She willed her heart and thoughts to slow to a gallop. She had nothing to fear, she told herself. She had not been discovered.
Gradually, her breathing and heart rate returned to normal. She stood cautiously, careful to make as little noise as possible. She eased toward the door, cracked it open and peered out. As she had thought it would be, the bedroom beyond was empty.
Liz started through the door, then realized she had left the envelope behind. As she bent to retrieve it she caught the glint of metal on the floor of the closet. Curious, she bent closer. A ring, she realized. Peeking out from under a pair of work boots.
She picked it up. Her hand trembled. She recognized the ring-a circle of gold studded with rubies-it had been her mother’s, one of a matched pair.
Liz shifted her gaze slightly. She wore its mate on her right ring finger.
And like Rachel, she never took it off.
CHAPTER 25
Monday, November 12
5:00 p.m.
Hours later, Liz sat alone in her office, evening shadows beginning to gather in the room’s corners. After finding the ring, she had fled the parsonage. She had made it to her office, gotten the door closed and locked behind her before she’d fallen apart.
She lowered her gaze to her right hand and the twin eternity bands, nestled together on her ring finger. Her mother had given them to her and Rachel just months before she died. Liz remembered the day vividly, could recall the color of the sky, the smell of the flowers at her mother’s bedside, what both she and Rachel had been wearing.
At their mother’s funeral several months ago, they’d vowed never to take the rings off. A silly kind of promise, Liz supposed. A vow either one of them could have broken without the other knowing. But she hadn’t. And she didn’t believe her sister had either.
So how had the ring ended up at the bottom of that closet?
The answer hurt. It was further proof that her sister was dead.
Proof, unfortunately, that she couldn’t take to the police.
Liz turned her gaze from the rings to her front window, to the constant stream of people passing. How could she? You see, Lieutenant Lopez, I found it when I was sneaking out of Pastor Tim’s bedroom closet.
Right. She was already hanging on with him by a thread. One wrong move and he would have her tossed into a cell.
Or into the loony bin.
Her head hurt. She brought a hand to her temple, to the spot where the pain was most intense, and massaged it. The envelope with its mementos and cryptic drawings. The ring. The old caretaker at the window spying on her. Pastor Tim’s transformation from caring clergyman to angry accuser. Her sister’s disappearance. Tara ’s murder. How did all the pieces fit together?
The phone rang and she reached for it. “Elizabeth Ames here.”
“Is this Dr. Ames, the therapist?”
Liz straightened. The voice on the other end of the line sounded deliberately muffled, and she frowned, straining to determine the caller’s age and gender. “This is Elizabeth Ames, the family counselor. I’m not a doctor, however.”
Total silence ensued. “Hello?” she said. “Can I help you?”
“I’m a friend of Tara Mancuso’s. I need to talk to you.”
For a moment, she couldn’t find her tongue. It was almost as if thoughts of the girl had conjured the caller. “Did you want to make an appointment? If so-”
“I’m not calling for an appointment.”
“How can I help you?”
“I have information about her death.”
She caught her breath. “I’m in my office now. Do you know where it-”
“No,” the caller said quickly. “Not there. I’m…I don’t want us to be seen together.”
A male, Liz realized.
She shifted her gaze to her front window and the gathering twilight. Something about this didn’t feel right. “You say you were a friend of Tara ’s?”
“Yes, I…” The caller fell silent a moment. “Never mind. Calling you was a mistake-”
“Wait! Where do you want to meet? I’ll be there.”
For a split second, Liz feared the caller had hung up. Then he spoke, so softly Liz had to strain to hear. “ Mallory Square at sunset.”
“But how will I know-”
“I’ll find you. And Ms. Ames? I suggest you be…really careful.”
The sunset celebration in Mallory Square was a nightly Key West event, and for many it served as a kickoff for the night’s revelry. Tourists and locals alike flocked to the square to watch the sun melt into the Gulf of Mexico. Placards all over town announced the exact time the fiery orb would make its descent. Today’s sunset, Liz learned, was expected at 5:42.
When Liz arrived, the official celebration, which began an hour before sunset, was already under way. The crowd was immense, a mass of half-clothed, sunburned bodies. Street performers entertained the crowd, and every so often a roar would go up as one of the performers aced a particularly tricky move.
Liz worked her way across the square, past a fire-eater, a stand-up comedian on stilts, several jugglers and all manner of mimes. The mood was part drunken bacchanal, part Sunday-worship service. Some had come to party, some to meditate and still others to simply witness it all.
She had come for answers.
Liz stopped at the edge of a group circled around a juggler. The man tossed a half-dozen blazing hoops into the air; the group murmured their appreciation as he caught each in rapid succession.