“I’m sorry if Luke was too harsh.”
She swallowed. “No. It’s fine. He’s looking out for you, and I can’t be hurt by that. I’m glad you have someone in your life now.”
He smiled gently. “I have lots of someones like that, but I find it hard to be grateful for them when it seems like they’re always interrupting us. If I believed in such things, I’d wonder if the universe was conspiring to keep us from talking.”
Paige drew in a shaky breath. “Actually, I think the universe is trying to keep us together despite all the interruptions. I need you to understand something. I want to tell you everything. Believe me, I’m tired of keeping it all in. I’m tired of lookingfor danger everywhere I turn. But I’m terrified of something happening to you or my friends if I do.”
“I do understand, but I promise I can handle it.”
She closed her eyes. “God help me, but I believe you.”
He dipped his head, so their eyes were on the same level. “Does that mean you’ll talk to me?”
She drew in a deep breath, released it, and opened her eyes. “Yes. I’ll tell you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Paige rubbed warmth back into her arms. Whenever she thought about the time of her life when she could live as Paige Childers, she felt a chill that lingered no matter what she did. Ben had taken a seat, but she couldn’t be still. Moving kept the sadness from settling in her bones.
“You told me what happened to you after I moved away when we were six. I know that has nothing to do with what you want to know, but if it’s okay, I’m going to start there. Build up to what’s happening now,” she began.
“That’s fine. I’d like to know that too.”
She smiled at him, seeing a glimpse of the gentle boy she once knew. “A few months after we moved to Mississippi, my parents and I were in a car accident. They...died, and I was in the hospital for a couple of days. When I was discharged, I was placed with a foster family, the Walkers. They didn’t have children of their own, but they had a couple of other fosters living there when I came. Over the years, they had as many as five fosters at one time. They were nice enough. They made sure we had everything we needed. They were kind. They pushed us to do well in school. But we weren’t a family. It felt more like we were tenants renting a room from them.”
Her pacing slowed, and she glanced over to see Ben listening intently. “Their rule was that when we turned eighteen and aged out of the system, we were on our own. What we did after that was none of their concern. On my seventeenth birthday, they reminded me of this, and I lived that next year worrying about what I would do when I wasn’t living with them anymore.
“My teachers noticed something was wrong, and they asked the guidance counselor to talk to me. I opened up to her. She said my grades were good enough to get a scholarship to college, and she offered to help me with the applications and any housing assistance. She encouraged me to start an extracurricular activity to make more of an impression on my college applications. I joined the student newspaper staff. I sucked at writing articles, though, so they had me take pictures. The sponsor had a camera that he let me use. I wasn’t very good, but I read up on photography and taught myself some tricks. I fell in love with it, and my sponsor said he was very impressed with how far I’d come.”
She smiled because this part of her past was pleasant. “I got accepted to college, and between scholarships and loans, I was able to live on campus. I studied photography even more and became better at it. I had an instructor give me a nice camera to use. He said it was old, and he didn’t need it anymore. That was a lie. He felt sorry for me and knew I couldn’t afford to get a camera on my own. I probably should have refused, but I don’t regret taking it. Having that camera changed my life.
“My instructor helped me sell some photos to the local newspaper, and I was able to make some extra money. When I graduated, I went to work for a portrait photographer. When heretired, he sold me his equipment, and I ran my own business. I wasn’t rich, but I operated in the black. My reputation grew. I had a few regular customers. I had been so afraid of what would happen to me after I turned eighteen, but my life came together better than I hoped.”
“You’re a photographer,” Ben finally said. “That’s great, Paige.”
“Iwasa photographer. I had to stop. It would make me too easy to find if I kept it up.”
Ben’s face was a mask of confusion. “Are you in witness protection?”
She uttered a dry chuckle. “Not exactly, but I can see where you would make that assumption. Just bear with me, and I’ll explain. I had a client who asked me to take portraits of him and his family at their home. Then he wanted pictures of his house and property. He never explained what he wanted them for, and I didn’t ask. There was no reason for me to know that. The job went perfectly. I finished with the portraits, and he loaned me a horse to ride around his property and snap any photos that caught my attention. My foster family had taken us horseback riding a couple of times, so I wasn’t unfamiliar with how to ride, and my client gave me a gentle horse. I had the best time. It was late in the spring. The weather was sunny and very warm. Everything was blooming. It was ideal.”
Her heart pounded against her chest, and she wrung her hands together to relieve their clamminess. “When I finished, I returned the horse and went to say goodbye. As I was walking to the front door of the main house, I saw my client, Mr. Warner, through these glass patio doors he had in his home office. Soinstead of walking to the front of the house, I decided to save some time and cut through the patio. I mean, I was just letting him know that I was leaving. I was going to be quick and then be on my way, so I didn’t see any harm in it.”
She wasn’t aware that she started using her hands to illustrate her story, and her arms swung wide as she continued. “I got to the patio door and heard gunshots. Three of them. Mr. Warner fell. I mean, he just hit the floor like a tree being cut down in the woods. He, uh, he was shot in the chest. Twice.” Her finger pointed to her chest in the same spot her client had been shot before touching her temple. “Then once in the head. His head had rolled to the side when he fell. His eyes were still open and staring right at me. They were blank. Lifeless. They haunt me.”
“Oh, Paige—”
She held up a hand to stop him. “Please. Let me get this out. I remember dropping my camera and my phone because my hands shook so bad. I started screaming, and then I ran. I jumped in my car and drove as fast as I could. Eventually, I made my way to the police station and filed a report. I wasn’t able to tell them much. I didn’t remember seeing the shooter, and I didn’t know Mr. Warner well enough to know who would kill him. I couldn’t even tell the police what he needed the photos for.”
“Did they offer you police protection?”
She shook her head. “They didn’t see a need. The shooter never came after me when I ran. I couldn’t give them a lead on who it was. I got the impression that, as far as witnesses go, I was pretty useless. I wish the killer had believed that.”
“Did he come after you?”
“Yeah. I was attacked the next day outside my studio. He got me from behind and told me to keep my mouth shut, or I’d regret it. He told me in great detail what he would do to me if I said anything to anyone about what I saw. He wouldn’t kill me. He would rape and torture me until I wished I were dead. Just to prove he meant business, he broke my wrist.”
“Oh, Paige, I’m—”
