Familiar Escape. Caroline Burnes

to hurt her?”

      He’d given this a lot of thought also. “No. Anna made friends easily, though she didn’t let many people close. She did her job and went home to her family. Kate was in day care during the day, and Anna sometimes stopped by my place with the baby after she’d picked her up. She was always headed home to make dinner. Everything seemed routine, up until the evening before she was killed.”

      “What happened?”

      “She and Darwin had another fight. She showed up on my doorstep with Kate. Darwin hadn’t hit her, but he’d threatened her. It was the first time she even talked about leaving him.”

      “But she went back home.”

      He nodded.

      “The police have cleared Darwin.”

      “I know, but that doesn’t make it a fact. They’ve accused me and I didn’t do it.”

      “Do you have any other suspects?”

      He hesitated before he answered. In some ways, it would be easier for her to believe he’d done it and was going to be punished than to think that her sister’s murderer was still at large. “I wish I could tell you who did it. I can only tell you that it wasn’t me.”

      Molly rose. “A jury will determine your guilt or innocence, Mr. Lakeman.”

      “To be honest, Miss Harper, I’m not nearly as worried about my guilt as I am about that little baby girl. The police never found her body. They’re basing their conclusions on evidence that led them to the river. But I don’t find the evidence conclusive. Kate could be alive.”

      That stopped her. Her fists clenched and she leaned toward him.

      “If you know something, tell me now.”

      “I was camping that night. There was another couple there, John and Judy. I don’t remember their last names. But they were there. We played cards for a while, they drank a few beers and I had coffee. I got a headache and went to bed. When I woke up at five-thirty, they were gone.”

      “What does that have to do with Kate?”

      He could hear the frustration in her voice, and he knew if he didn’t make her understand, she would leave.

      “If you can find those campers who’ll verify my alibi, then you can clear me. I’ll help you hunt for Kate.” He leaned closer. “If you think there’s a prayer your niece is alive, let me help you find her.”

      She stepped back from the table. “I can’t split my time trying to clear your name. I have to focus on finding Kate.”

      “She is alive, isn’t she?” Thomas asked. He could read the truth on her face. Molly Harper wasn’t used to lying or even faking the truth. “How do you know she’s alive?”

      She shook her head. “You can’t, or won’t, help me.” Molly moved to the door of the room. “Deputy, I’m finished here.”

      She was almost out the door when he called out to her. “Go to the campsite. Carrillo Pass Park. There’s a lake. I was on the west side of the lake beside a stand of oaks. John and Judy were camped twenty yards to the right of my tent. Check it out.”

      Then she was gone, passing the deputy who would unhook him from the chair and lead him back to the cell where he’d remain until his trial began.

      MOLLY ENTERED the corridor and was startled by the black cat. He’d obviously been sitting beside the door, listening to the entire conversation. He followed behind her as she left the jail and went to the parking lot for her Jeep. She was trying hard not to cry. Against all odds, she’d pinned her hopes on the fact that Thomas Lakeman would tell her what had happened to Kate.

      She got in the Jeep and leaned against the steering wheel, gathering her ragged courage and any scrap of hope she could muster. She had to keep believing the baby was okay. She had to keep hunting. She couldn’t give up.

      She pulled the note from her pocket. “The baby is alive. Don’t stop hunting, but don’t go to the police.”

      “Meow!” The cat tapped the glove box.

      In the few hours she’d been with Familiar, she’d learned to respond to several of his commands. She opened the glove box and watched as he ruffled through some papers. What tumbled out were several maps. He found the one he wanted and presented it to her with a few teeth marks in it.

      “It’s the local map,” she said, opening it up. “What?”

      Familiar seemed to study the map before he put his black paw on Carrillo Pass Park.

      “Meow!” It was more of a command than a request.

      “You’ve got to be kidding.” She looked at him. “You want to follow up Thomas Lakeman’s cockamamie idea that I validate his alibi?”

      Familiar’s green eyes blinked twice.

      “It’s a waste of our time.”

      He put his paw on the map and extended his claws. When he removed his paw there were several holes surrounding the state park. He batted the keys dangling in the ignition.

      “I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said as she started the engine and aimed the car toward the highway that would take them to Carrillo Pass.

      It wasn’t as if she had any other leads to follow. She’d give the cat an hour to satisfy his curiosity, and then she’d do what she should have done in the first place—turn the note over to the authorities.

      Chapter Two

      The only good thing about being back in his cell was that they removed the handcuffs. Thomas sat on the thin bunk mattress and tried not to hear the sounds of the other incarcerated men or to think about the future. For just one second, he’d thought he might have connected with Molly Harper. That had given him hope—and hope was the only thing he couldn’t afford.

      Someone had framed him, and done a professional job of it. Someone who knew of his friendship with Anna Goodman. Someone who knew she had a key to his home and access to his gun.

      Since the terrible morning when the deputies had come to the park and arrested him, Thomas’s life had become a nightmare. He’d gleaned enough details about Anna’s murder to be able to imagine what had occurred. He could only hope that his imagination was worse than the reality.

      In his mind he saw Anna running across his lawn, using her key to unlock his door. She had Kate in her arms, and they were both crying. Anna kept looking back over her shoulder, terrified that someone had followed her. Her fingers fumbled the key as she tried to open the door.

      Thomas stopped his thoughts. He couldn’t bear to see Anna so afraid, and the one person she was most afraid of was her husband, Darwin. He paced the small cell. The worst curse in the world would be to love the person you feared the most. Anna’s relationship with Darwin had been pure hell. Yet she had acted as if she were powerless to change it.

      Unless on the night of her murder, she’d intended to take the baby and leave.

      He saw her again, putting Kate on his bed as she got the gun from the drawer. She turned and faced the doorway, determined to defend herself against whoever was after her. The bedroom door flew open and—

      Thomas grasped the bars and bit back the curse that wanted to escape. Someone had hurt Anna while he was sitting around a campfire drinking coffee and playing cards. And then that someone had framed him.

      Now he was helpless to hunt for Kate or even try to clear his own name. He’d been jailed with bail set so high he could never make it—not even if every friend he had chipped in. The only way he was going to get out of the cell he was in would be a transfer to the state prison in Huntsville. He flopped back on his bed in defeat.

      In a moment he sat up. Instead of moping around, he needed to call his lawyer and arrange for the sale of his home—that