The Littlest Witness

“John?” Meredith’s insistent voice brought him back to the present. She gave him a strange look. “You ready?”

“Just waiting for you.” He strode toward the door of her office. “Let’s get this over with. Like you said, you’ve got a husband and a baby to get home to.”

“And you?” Her gaze was more than a little curious.

He shrugged. “I’ve got a case to solve. That’s what I’m good at, remember?”

“I remember you were good at a few other things, too,” she said softly, her tone almost tender. “It just wasn’t enough.”

AFTER BREAKFAST Thea left Nikki coloring at the dining table while she went down the hall to Mrs. Lewellyn’s apartment. The building, with its stained carpeting and peeling paint, was old and badly in need of refurbishing, but that was why Thea could afford the rent.

The newer lakefront high-rises on Lake Shore Drive were way out of her price range, as were the redbrick town houses cropping up near the parks. Thea had chosen the university neighborhood because of its relatively low crime rate, and because the diversity made it easier to blend in. She’d thought of everything when she and Nikki had moved in here—except the possibility of a woman being murdered in their building.

Standing in the dimly lit corridor, Thea kept an eye on her own apartment door while she waited for the elderly woman to answer hers.

When Mrs. Lewellyn finally opened the door, her eyes widened with pleasure. “Why, Thea, I didn’t expect to see you this early. You got home rather late last night, didn’t you, dear?” She had the barest trace of an English accent, which suited perfectly her prim-and-proper demeanor. In spite of her stooped shoulders, she was several inches taller than Thea.

“It was just after midnight,” Thea said. “I want to thank you again for coming over on such short notice to stay with Nikki.”

Mrs. Lewellyn brushed aside her gratitude. She was dressed for church, Thea noticed, in a dark blue suit and matching pumps. Her gray hair, as always, was pulled into a bun at the back of her head. “It was my pleasure. You know I adore Nikki. She’s never any trouble at all.” She glanced past Thea into the hallway. “Where is she?”

“She’s in the apartment, coloring.” Thea cast another glance at her door. “I have to get back to her, but I wanted to talk to you in private for a moment.”

Mrs. Lewellyn’s brows rose. “About Nikki?”

Thea nodded. “I need to ask you something, Mrs. Lewellyn. Did you and Nikki leave the apartment last night?”

“Leave the apartment? No, dear. Why do you ask?” A worried light dawned in her eyes, and she put a hand to her heart. “You heard about that poor woman who jumped off the roof last night. That’s what has you so upset this morning, isn’t it?”

Thea shivered. “How did you hear about it?”

“It was on the news earlier. And I saw Mr. Dalrimple in the laundry room. Evidently the police have enlisted his help. He’s strutting around like a rooster in a hen coop.”

So that was where Detective Gallagher had gotten his tenant list and how he’d known Thea had a daughter. That was also why he’d been at her door first thing this morning.

Thea told herself it was foolish to blame the building manager for her current predicament, but truth be told, she’d been uneasy about Morris Dalrimple ever since she’d moved into the building. His gaze was just a little too admiring, his tone a little too interested, and once, when she and Nikki returned from grocery shopping, Thea was almost positive she’d caught him coming out of her apartment.

He’d told her he had been knocking on her door, claiming a clause in her lease needed her initials, but Thea wasn’t convinced. He’d looked guilty as she signed the paper, his face all flushed and his beady little eyes not quite able to meet hers. Thea knew he had a master key to all the apartments. What was to prevent him from coming and going as he pleased while tenants like her were at work or at school?

Shuddering, she said, “Nikki’s doll was found on the roof last night.”

“On the roof!” Mrs. Lewellyn looked genuinely shocked and more than a little concerned. “How on earth did it get up there?”

“I don’t know.” Thea paused. “I was thinking that if you and Nikki had left the apartment last night, maybe to come over here for a few minutes, she might have dropped the doll in the hallway. Someone else could have picked it up and taken it to the roof.” She knew she was grasping at straws, but there had to be a logical explanation. And Nikki being on the roof in the dead of night simply wasn’t logical.

“I think I may know what happened,” Mrs. Lewellyn said slowly. She wrapped a strand of pearls around her finger as she gazed pensively down the hallway. “I’ll bet you that girl took her up there.”

“Bliss?”

Scorn flashed in Mrs. Lewellyn’s eyes, and just a hint of triumph. She didn’t like Nikki’s regular baby-sitter and had not been shy in voicing her opinion. The girl’s too flighty, she’d said more than once, And not at all reliable. You should see the kind of people who hang out in her apartment. You don’t want her influence on Nikki, Thea dear. I’m more than happy to watch the child while you work.

But as much as she appreciated Mrs. Lewellyn’s help, Thea knew how trying a four-year-old could be, especially one with Nikki’s problems. And Bliss was wonderful with her, so patient and loving.

“You think Bliss took the doll up to the roof?” Thea asked doubtfully.

“Why, I’m certain that must be what happened. She was very secretive when I got to your apartment last evening. She huddled with Nikki, whispering to her and laughing, and I even heard her say something about a picnic that afternoon. But when I scolded her for taking the child outside, she just fluttered those fake eyelashes at me and said something like, ‘Why, Mrs. Lew, I have no idea what you’re talking about. We haven’t left the building all day, have we, Nikki?’ She can be very disrespectful, that girl.”

“So if the two of them had a picnic on the roof yesterday afternoon, Nikki could have left her doll up there then.” That would explain a lot, and Thea immediately warmed to the idea.

“I’m sure of it,” Mrs. Lewellyn said firmly. “Because Nikki couldn’t find her doll at bedtime last night. You know how she refuses to go to sleep unless Piper is tucked in safe and sound beside her, but when I put Nikki to bed, I couldn’t find the blasted doll anywhere. Nikki was very upset. I finally had to make her some warm milk, just so she’d calm down enough to drift off.”

As upset as Thea was over Bliss’s disobeying her orders, she was also intensely relieved. If Nikki hadn’t been on the roof last night, then she couldn’t have seen what happened to Gail Waters. She wasn’t a witness, as Detective Gallagher had claimed, which meant she wasn’t in any danger.

Unless, of course, the Mancusos found them. And Thea had no intention of letting that happen. “I’ll call and ask Bliss about it when she gets home.”

“She’s gone off to visit her parents,” Mrs. Lewellyn reminded her. “Or so she said. But that boyfriend of hers is still hanging around. I saw him on the stairs this morning. He gives me the willies, I don’t mind telling you. All that long hair. That awful scruffy beard. He looks as if he hasn’t bathed in weeks.” She paused, shuddering delicately. “You know, if I were you, I’d really set my foot down, Thea. Bliss had no right taking Nikki up there. That roof is a dangerous place. Why, the child could have fallen off just like that poor woman—”

“I know,” Thea cut in, not wanting Mrs. Lewellyn to finish her words. The visual in her mind was already too graphic. “I intend to speak to Bliss the moment she gets home.”

“If you need any help with Nikki, all you have to do is ask, dear.”

“Thank you.”

Mrs. Lewellyn seemed reluctant to let her go, and Thea knew the old woman was probably lonely. She had no family that Thea knew of, nor any friends who came calling. Except for her church work, Mrs. Lewellyn seemed as isolated as Thea and Nikki. For a moment Thea wondered if the older woman had something in her past that she was hiding from, too.

Not likely, Thea decided as she turned down the hall to her apartment. Mrs. Lewellyn was probably just an old woman who had outlived most of her friends and family.

Something that might have been self-pity tugged at Thea’s heart, and she had a vision of herself at that age, alone, bitter and still running. And what about Nikki? What kind of life had Thea sentenced her daughter to?

In a way Nikki was in her own prison. The trauma of that night, seeing her father dead on the floor, seeing the gun in her mother’s hand, had sent the child running to her own dark place. A silent place.

Dr. Nevin, the child psychologist Nikki was seeing, had warned Thea that her daughter’s treatment might take a long time. It could be months, even years, before Nikki trusted enough, felt safe enough, to speak. Until then, all Thea could do was be patient.

But sometimes it was so hard, seeing her daughter struggle. Thea wanted to fight Nikki’s battles for her. She wanted to crawl into that cold quiet place and slay every last one of her daughter’s dragons. After all, she was the one who had caused Nikki’s trauma, and if she could take back that night, if she could change the course of events that had led to Rick’s death, she would.

But her ex-husband would have killed her that night if she hadn’t pulled the trigger on her father’s gun. He might even have hurt Nikki. And that Thea could never allow.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Mrs. Lewellyn had closed her door, but an uneasiness stole over her that she couldn’t seem to shake. Maybe it was the thought of Rick and what she’d done, but it almost seemed as if someone was watching her. Judging her.

You’re losing it, Thea scolded herself as she approached her apartment door. Sensing an invisible watcher was nothing new. Thea had long since become accustomed to glancing over her shoulder.

“You’re safe,” she muttered under her breath. No one was watching her. And now that she had an explanation for how Nikki’s doll had gotten on the roof, she and her daughter were in the clear with the police.

Once she told Detective Gallagher what had happened, there would be no reason for their further involvement in the case. There would be no point in his coming around anymore. He would be out of their lives for good. And her and Nikki’s secret would remain safe.

But as she inserted the key into the lock, a chill crawled up her backbone, and she couldn’t help looking over her shoulder once more. The hallway behind her was empty, and Mrs. Lewellyn’s door was still closed. No one was about.

But Thea couldn’t shake the chill. She stepped quickly into her apartment and closed the door, but not all the way. She listened through a tiny crack, and almost instantly, she heard the telltale click as a door somewhere in the hall was closed.