In Plain Sight

Isabel stared into the depths of her coffee mug. “I’m afraid to tell you,” she said at last. “I don’t want anybody to know who I am.”

“I already do know. There was a picture and an article about you in the paper last night.”

She tensed. “What did it say?”

“It said you were Isabel Delgado, an heiress from San Antonio, and that your car went into the Claro on Friday night, but your body hasn’t been recovered yet.”

Isabel felt sick with fear. “My picture was there, too?”

“I recognized you right away.”

“Oh, no!” She gripped the mug tightly. “I was hoping they wouldn’t do that.”

“I guess it’s pretty big news when a rich girl goes missing. So what are you hiding from, Isabel?”

She glanced nervously around the silent kitchen. “Please don’t call me that!”

“There’s nobody around,” he said. “My nearest neighbor is about a mile downriver.”

“Is this farm anywhere close to where the McKinneys live?”

“That’s him. My neighbor, I mean.”

Isabel felt a return of that strange, dreamlike confusion and panic. “You mean J.T. McKinney is your neighbor?”

“Why? Do you know him?”

“Oh, God,” She dropped her head into her hands. “There’s nowhere to hide.”

“If it’s any comfort,” he said after a moment, “I can tell you that right now you don’t look anything like the woman in the picture.”

“I don’t?” She raised her head to look at him.

He grinned, showing even white teeth. “Haven’t you seen yourself in a mirror lately?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t sure if…”

“Well, my haircut and all those cuts and bruises have done a real job on you. You look like a totally different person.” He watched her thoughtfully. “So what should I call you?”

She pondered. “Call me Bella,” she said at last. “That’s what my…my sister used to call me,” she added wistfully, “when I was a little girl.”

“Okay, Bella. From now on, that’s your name and we’ll never use the other one. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said feeling relieved. “My name isn’t Isabel anymore. It’s Bella.”

“Now, Bella, why don’t you tell me what you’re so afraid of? And then we’ll try to figure out what we can do about it.”

CHAPTER FIVE

DAN STUDIED THE WOMAN across the table. Bella Delgado had none of the arrogance he normally associated with heiresses to great wealth. Quite the opposite. She seemed awkward and unsure of herself, and her gratitude was obviously sincere.

For that matter, so was her fear.

“It’s my ex-husband,” she said at last, looking down at the table. Her eyelashes were dark brown tipped with gold, so long and dense that they cast a shadow on her pale cheeks. “His name is Eric Matthias, and he lives in Austin.”

“What about him?” Dan asked when she paused.

“He’s been stalking me.” She looked up, meeting his eyes directly. “He turns up at a lot of places I go, restaurants and such, even though he works in Austin and I’ve been living in San Antonio for the past couple of years. At least twice in the last month I’ve seen him sitting in a car outside on the street, watching my father’s house.”

“Anything else?”

“He phones me a lot, even after I’ve changed my unlisted number. No matter where I go, and I mean anywhere in the world, Eric calls me within a day or two just to show how easily he can track me.”

Dan watched her thoughtfully. “What do you think he wants?”

“I don’t know for sure, but he scares me.”

“Did he hurt you when you were married to him?” Dan asked.

“Not physically, though he was emotionally abusive all the time. And he terrified me because he was so intense. Mostly he…” Her voice broke.

“What?”

“Eric was crazy with jealousy. I never gave him the slightest cause, but that made no difference. He’d invent things to be mad about, then sulk about them for weeks. After I finally left and went back home to my father’s house, Eric cried and said nobody else would ever have me. I’m sure he means it.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Isabel shivered and hugged her arms. “When I told him I was leaving him, Eric…tried to kill my dog.”

Dan stared at her.

“Afterward he claimed it was a misunderstanding,” she said miserably. “Rufus was a Pekingese, the sweetest little thing. I’d had him ever since I was a girl. He was almost fifteen years old, and stiff with arthritis. I always took such care of him,” she said wistfully. “I adored him. Eric was really jealous of Rufus, about all the time I spent with him.”

“So what happened?”

“We were arguing, and Eric held Rufus over the edge of balcony, ten floors above the street. He kept threatening to drop him, demanding that I grovel and beg. I leaned way out onto the ledge to get my dog back and almost fell myself. Eric just laughed at me.”

“And your dog?”

“Poor Rufus was never the same. He died a few weeks later.”

“Didn’t you report that to the police?”

“Eric’s a detective lieutenant with the Austin police force,” she said wearily. “A fifteen-year veteran and he’s very popular with the other cops. At the time he was distraught over our split, and they all felt sorry for him. He claimed I invented the business with Rufus to make him look bad. It was my word against his.”

“But you’re genuinely frightened of him?”

“I’m terrified.” She met Dan’s eyes steadily. “I saw his face when he…he was holding that poor little dog out above the traffic. Dan, it was so awful. I still have nightmares about it.”