"He turned white as a sheet. I thought it was just because he was surprised to see me. He went running into the house for his mother."

More than twenty-two years later, it was still as vivid to him now as it had been then. The yelling, the tears, his own bewilderment that gave way to shock and then shame at what his mother had gone through because of him.

"I remember she was my mother's best friend. Mrs. Mahoney took one look at me and sank down on the stoop as if all her bones had suddenly turned to water. Then she started laughing and crying at the same time, hugging me and saying it was a miracle." He remembered being smothered against the ample bosom and feeling loved for the first time in two years. "I had no idea what she was talking about. I thought everyone had lost their mind."

He sobered as he stopped at the light. "And then I thought I'd lost mine when she took me back to my old house and I saw my mother. I hardly recognized her. She looked ten years older, twenty pounds lighter and so drained, like someone had siphoned the spirit right out of her."

His mother had screamed when she saw him and then fainted. Megan had come running out of the house in response, and she stopped dead when she saw him.

Is it you? she'd asked in a hushed voice. When he'd nodded, she'd thrown her arms around him and held on tightly. I always knew you'd come home. I always knew it.

That was the memory he treasured more than any other. That Megan had never given up hope, even after his mother had.

He had fallen silent. "What happened to your father?" Veronica asked.

Chad's face hardened. He didn't consider the man his father any longer, just someone who had ruthlessly used him as a means to get revenge. "He was sent to jail for kidnapping. As far as I'm concerned, he stopped being my father the day he took me away." He felt suddenly awkward. "I don't usually talk this much."

"I'm glad you did," she said. "I needed to hear something with a happy ending."

He wouldn't have called it happy, or even an ending, really. As far as he knew, his father was still in prison. Periodically he received a letter from him. He'd recognize the handwriting and scrawl "return to sender" across the top, returning each one unopened.

No, for him there was no ending. Instead, it was an ongoing odyssey he was doomed to continue. His mother had never fully recovered, even after he'd come back. Not knowing whether Chad was dead or alive and fearing the worst had made each day of those two years a living h.e.l.l for her. She still remained only a shadow of her former self.

n.o.body should have to go through that, he thought, glancing at Veronica again.

"Anyone you want me to call to stay with you tonight?"

There were a great many people she could call, people who would gladly come and hold her hand if she told them what was going on. She was in the business of fund- raising for a score of charities and knew almost as many people as most politicians did.

But she didn't want anyone hovering over her with words of pity and sympathy.

That would only make her crumble. She couldn't afford that.

Veronica shook her head. "I don't want to tell anyone."

Reaching the circular driveway, Chad turned off the engine and looked at her. He wasn't one for sympathy himself, but he judged that she was different. Women needed to be supported, to be bolstered.

"I could get my sister to stay with you if you'd rather not let your friends know about Casey." He knew he only had to ask and Megan would come.

With her husband Garrett's blessings. They were rare people.

This time Veronica looked determined as she turned down the offer. "That won't be necessary. I'll be all right."

Getting out, Chad came around to her side of the car. She had already opened the pa.s.senger door, but he took her hand and helped her to her feet.

The night was warm. Her fingers were icy. Chad caught himself thinking again how frail she looked. That same strange, protective feeling he'd felt before came over him. Without thinking his actions through, he raised her chin with his finger until their eyes met.

He could read every single thought, every single fear. For the s.p.a.ce of a heartbeat, he found himself wanting to kiss her, to somehow rea.s.sure her that she was going to have that happy ending she so badly wanted.

He felt an almost disturbing tenderness. He'd never felt this way about a woman before and it bothered him more than a little. He shouldn't be having these kinds of feelings about a client. And yet...

"You know," he told her softly, "you don't have to be brave all the time."

"Yes, I do." The contradiction was quiet, but firm.

His duties did not go beyond her door, beyond their arrangement, yet he hesitated, unable to distance himself from what he knew she was going through, hating to leave her like this. "You're sure you don't want me to call my sister to come stay with you?"

She appreciated the offer and the concern that had prompted it. It made her feel less alone. But she needed this time by herself. To cry, to vent and then to put the pieces together so that she could somehow function. Because Casey needed her to.

"I'm sure."

He thought she was being foolish, but he couldn't force her to have someone stay the night with her. Taking out his wallet, he removed one of his cards.

"Here." He pressed it into her hand. "This is my beeper number, my cell-phone number and my private line at home. If you change your mind or need anything..."

She folded her fingers over the card. "There's only one thing I need. My son."

He nodded. "I'll be here first thing in the morning, unless there's a lead-and then I'll call you. Otherwise, you're going to need to go to your bank to get the ransom money."

Veronica nodded numbly. "Thank you."

He left before he was tempted to stay.

The expression on her face haunted him as he drove down the hillside. Chad flipped open his phone and called his brother. "I've just left a client, Rusty. You still want to see me?"

"Yeah."

"All right, I'm on my way."

It wasn't like Rusty to be this mysterious. As he drove to his brother's apartment, Chad tried to dwell on that and not on the anguish he'd seen in Veronica's eyes. There was no reason for him to be this affected by her.

But he was.

Rusty opened the door to the second-floor apartment the moment Chad rang the

bell, as if he'd been standing there, waiting. The smile that Chad would have sworn was eternally stamped on his younger brother's face looked strained. Nervous.

Something wasn't right.

"Okay, I'm here." Chad looked around the small apartment. Nothing seemed out of order. He turned toward his brother as the latter closed the door behind him. "Got any beer?"

Rusty took a deep breath before pointing toward the kitchenette. "In the fridge."

"Looks about as bare as mine," Chad commented, glancing at the interior of the refrigerator. He helped himself to one of the four cans on an almost barren shelf and then popped the top. Straddling one of the two chairs at the table, he looked at Rusty as he took a long pull from the can. "You on a case?" He knew the answer before it was given, but it was a way to start.

Rusty joined him at the table, sitting on the edge of his chair. "Yeah, but I've got a little free time. Is there anything you need?"

He allowed himself a smile. Rusty always made him think of an oversize puppy, eager to help. To do whatever was needed.

"I took on a case this afternoon. We have reason to believe that the kid might be being held in the Newport Beach area." He didn't go into particulars. With Rusty he didn't have to. Megan would have pumped him for every last detail. "Can you circulate a photograph around tomorrow morning? I've already got Ben on it."

Rusty looked relieved to be able to do something for him. His smile strengthened, just a shade. "No problem." Rising, he got up to get a beer for himself.