The Perfect Murder by Kat Martin
THREE
Kenzie paced the hallway, willing her son to be okay. She glanced up to see a small, white-coated doctor striding toward her, a stethoscope and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on a short silver chain around his neck.
“Mrs. Haines?”
She hated to be called that. She would have gone back to her maiden name after her divorce if it hadn’t been for Griff.
“I’m McKenzie Haines.”
“Dr. Marshall. Your son suffered a concussion when he fell off his bicycle and struck his head on the pavement. He was unconscious for a few seconds, so we’re doing a CT scan to be sure there are no complications.”
Her stomach quivered. “Is he...is he going to be all right?”
“He’s scraped and bruised and he’s got a nasty headache. We’ll want to keep him a couple of hours for observation, but if the test results are clear, you can take him home. By tomorrow he should be feeling better.”
Kenzie’s legs went weak and she felt Reese’s hand at her waist to help keep her upright.
“I think you’d better sit down.” After guiding her the few feet to a row of hard plastic chairs, he settled her in the seat.
“I’ll let you know the test results as soon as they’re available,” the doctor said. Turning, he headed back the way he had come.
Kenzie looked up at Reese. She hadn’t realized how terrified she had been until now. “He’s going to be okay.”
Reese smiled. He didn’t do it often and it made him even more handsome. “Like I said, best not to worry until it becomes necessary. Something I learned on the job.”
Kenzie felt that smile all the way to her toes. Just four years older than she was, Reese posed a dangerous attraction she had carefully avoided since her first day as his executive assistant, a job that paid a handsome six-figure salary, money she needed to take care of her family.
As her worry receded, she heard a commotion and looked up to see a tall, lean, sandy-haired man marching toward the nurses’ station. Lee Haines, her ex-husband. A shiver of dread moved down her spine.
“I want to see my son!” Lee demanded, overbearing and condescending in a way Reese never was. When she’d first met him, she’d been attracted to his good looks, Harvard education, and upper-crust social status. Coming from working-class parents who constantly worried about bills and occasionally where the next meal was coming from, she had craved the kind of security Lee’s family represented.
Still, she wondered how she ever could have fallen for the man’s phony charm.
She rose as he approached.
“The police called,” he said. “What the hell is going on?”
“Griff’s going to be all right. They’re doing a CT scan to be sure, but it looks like he’ll be okay.”
“Where was Florence? I thought your grandmother was supposed to be taking care of him.”
“Gran had a doctor’s appointment. She was only supposed to be gone a little over an hour.” Kenzie and her grandmother, seventy-year-old Florence Spencer, were Griff’s primary caregivers. Kenzie’s job demanded long hours and an occasional business trip with Reese. Her grandmother took care of Griff during the workday and whenever Kenzie was gone. Gran loved him and he loved her.
“This is your fault,” Lee said. “You should be home taking care of him yourself. If Griffin lived with me, this never would have happened.”
Anger slipped through her. “He was riding his bike. He isn’t supposed to go into the street unless one of us is out there with him. He’s a kid. He doesn’t always follow the rules. He fell off his bike and hit his head. Things like that happen.”
“Why wasn’t he wearing his helmet? That’s the reason I bought it. It’s your job to make sure he’s safe.”
She didn’t bother to answer. Instead, feeling Reese’s presence beside her and accepting the inevitable, she turned to introduce him. “Reese, this is my ex-husband, Lee Haines. Lee, this is Reese Garrett, my employer. He was kind enough to drive me to the hospital.”
Lee looked Reese up and down, his gaze moving between the two of them as if he knew some dirty secret.
“Garrett. I’ve seen you and your brothers at charity events over the years.” Lee didn’t offer to shake hands and neither did Reese, who seemed to understand exactly the kind of man Lee was.
“Is that right?” Reese said coolly. “I don’t remember seeing you.”
Lee’s mouth thinned.
The doctor walked up just then. “You’re Griffin’s father?” he asked.
“That’s right.”
“Then you’ll be happy to hear nothing unexpected showed up in the tests. As I told your wife—”
“Ex-wife,” Lee corrected.
“As I told Ms. Haines earlier, we’d like to keep the boy a couple more hours, then he can go home. The nurse will provide a dos and don’ts list, but he should be feeling better by tomorrow. I’d advise keeping him out of school at least for a couple of days.”
“Of course,” Kenzie said.
“The nurse will let you know when you can see him.” Turning, the doctor hurried off to take care of another patient.
Lee stared down at her. With her five-foot-four-inch stature compared to his six-three, about the same as Reese, Lee used his height to intimidate her. Not that it worked anymore.
“This is just one more example of your incompetence,” he said. “Griff’s accident will be duly noted in the custody suit I’m filing against you.”
Her chest constricted. “Custody suit? What are you talking about?”
Lee smirked. “You heard me. I’m tired of all this shuffling back and forth. Griff should be living with his father. I plan to make that happen. You can contact your attorney, but it won’t do you any good. You don’t have the money to fight me, and we both know it.”
He turned to Reese. “If you haven’t already found out, she isn’t even good in bed.” Turning, he walked away.
Reese’s jaw looked iron hard, and she had never seen that particular shade of ice blue in his eyes.
“You all right?” he asked.
Kenzie managed to hold back tears. For the first time, she wished Reese hadn’t come with her, hadn’t met Lee and witnessed her humiliation.
“He didn’t even wait to see his son.” She released a shaky breath. “I’m sorry that happened. Lee has never forgiven me for divorcing him.”
Reese’s gaze flicked toward Lee’s retreating figure. “Clearly a good decision.”
Under different circumstances, she would have smiled. “No doubt about that.” She took a shaky breath. “I appreciate the ride, but I need to stay, and I know how much work you have to do at the office. You should get back. I’ll call my grandmother, have her pick me up. It won’t be a problem.”
Reese’s eyes shifted toward the exit as Lee walked out the door, and the glacial blue returned. “I take it you didn’t see the custody battle coming.”
She shook her head. “The divorce was my idea and it was brutal.” Worse for her, since she’d given up alimony and taken a very low amount of child support in order to get it done. She wanted as little to do with her ex as possible.
“Lee never wanted custody of Griff,” she said. “In his own way, he loves his son, but he’s never wanted the inconvenience of having a child around. Not until now. Arthur Haines, Lee’s father, always wanted him to go into politics and I heard Lee’s considering it. Raising a son would appeal to a certain segment of voters.”
“Fighting the suit could get expensive. If you need some help...”
Appalled, she stared up at him. “Thank you for offering, but this isn’t your problem, Reese. I can handle it on my own.”
A flush rose beneath the olive skin over his cheekbones. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
She relaxed, felt the faintest hint of a smile. “I didn’t mean to take offense.” She glanced anxiously toward the nurses’ station, eager to see her son. Her cell phone vibrated and she pulled it out and read the name.
“It’s my grandmother. She’s probably frantic.” She pressed the phone to her ear. “Everything’s okay, Gran. I’m at the hospital with Griff. He’s going to be okay, so you don’t need to worry.” Gran explained that Tammy had misplaced her phone during all the commotion and they wouldn’t let her go in the ambulance.
“Tell her Griff’s okay. I’ll call you back as soon as I can and explain what’s going on.”
She ended the call and turned to Reese. “Thank you for bringing me. If it’s all right, I’ll take Griff home and stay with him for the rest of the day. I’ll see you at the office in the morning.”
“You’ve been working a lot of overtime. Why don’t you take tomorrow off to be with your boy?”
Warm gratitude slipped through her. “That would be wonderful.”
The red-haired nurse came up just then, cast a quick glance at Reese, but spoke to Kenzie. “I’ll take you to see your son now.”
Kenzie smiled at Reese. “Thank you again.” He just nodded. As she turned to follow the nurse, she could feel his eyes on her until she disappeared into Griff’s curtained cubicle.
