Before Sunrise by Diana Palmer Page B

drew in a harsh breath. “My nephew.”
    She turned her attention out the window again, feeling numb all over. “You couldn’t have managed to put that in a letter? Even four lines would have done it.”
    â€œI was married.”
    â€œYou said you were widowed…”
    He stopped the car at the road, threw it out of gear and turned off the engine. He turned to her, ripping off the sunglasses. “A month after Joseph was born, she left him with me so she could take a walk. She needed to be alone, she told me. I was on the Internet on a case, andI didn’t realize how long she’d been out. Three hours later, I thought she’d been gone long enough. Joseph was hungry and I was still new to formula and bottles. I left him in his crib and went outside to find her.” His face tautened. “She’d gotten the extra rope from the barn and tied it to the rafter on the back porch. I found her hanging there. Dead.”
    She put a hand to her mouth.
    â€œI didn’t love her. She was Isaac’s girl. She loved him. She grieved for him. It would never have been a real marriage, if we’d been together ten years. She couldn’t live without him.”
    She almost told him she knew how that felt.
    â€œI know how she felt.”
    The words echoed in the car, but in his voice—not hers.
    She looked back at him with wide, anguished eyes in a white face.
    â€œThree years,” he said heavily. “I could only imagine how badly I’d hurt you. I would have tried, even then, to explain. But my mother had a second heart attack. She’d been taking care of Joseph, while I worked out of Oklahoma City, and my father couldn’t cope. I’d already had to give up my job as a federal prosecutor, because I was needed at home so badly. I’d phoned my old boss at the FBI. He’s high up these days. He gave me a joband pulled strings to get me assigned as close to Lawton as he could.”
    â€œLawton?”
    â€œIt’s in Comanche County, Oklahoma,” he explained. “I was within easy driving distance of home, so that I could commute to the field office to work. After my mother died, I tried again to find you. I thought if I could get assigned to the southeast, I might eventually catch you at Derrie’s apartment in Charleston. But you weren’t there. I gave up the idea and went home after my vacation.”
    â€œI came here,” she explained. “I couldn’t stay in Charleston. Too many bad memories.” She hesitated to ask the question, but it was killing her not to.
    â€œYou want to know why I didn’t ask Derrie for your address,” he guessed.
    She nodded.
    He drew in a long breath. “I did. She said that you told her never to give it to me. She said that you’d go to your grave hating me.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t giving up, even so. It’s taken a hell of a long time to find you…but I finally succeeded.”
    â€œHow did you end up here in the FBI?” she wanted to know.
    â€œBecause of the new Indian Country Crime Unit I’m in, I’ve had assignments all over the southeast—evendown into Seminole country.” He smiled slowly. “When my old boss knew about this homicide, and remembered that I’d told him you moved here, he got me assigned to the case. It’s a good job, and I’m happy doing it. But it’s been a long three years, Phoebe.”
    â€œYou knew I was here?” she asked.
    He nodded.
    â€œHow?” she exclaimed.

CHAPTER SIX
    â€œY OU WON’T BELIEVE ME if I tell you,” he said.
    â€œTry me.”
    â€œMy father told me. I don’t know how he knew,” he added. “But in addition to amazing psychic skills, he does have a number of friends in high places. Even in law enforcement. But he knew.” He stared at her hungrily.
    She stared back at him with uncertainty plain on her face. He was here. She’d