“How delightfully reassuring of you to mention the possibility,” she retorted, glad that her mother hadn’t followed them into the kitchen. Jason’s remark would have set off panic.
He carefully placed some exotic-looking ingredient on the table and reached for Callie’s shoulders, dragging her to stand within inches of him. “I...am...not...trying...to...be...reassuring,” he explained very slowly and patiently. “I am trying to keep you alive.”
Callie shuddered despite her best attempt to maintain an air of bravado. “Oh, please,” she said, pulling away. “Stop exaggerating. Nobody is going to get killed.”
“When did you become an expert on the psychotic mind?”
“About the same time I became an actress,” she retorted. “Within Our Reach had a character who was one very sick puppy for months last year. I watched all the episodes.”
“Well, as much faith as I have that the writers did their homework, I’d prefer it if you thought of yourself as an amateur and played it safe.”
“Why? Has the network made too big an investment in my continued well-being?”
He seemed to be gritting his teeth at that. “If you don’t know better than that,” he said eventually, “then you’re not nearly as bright as I credited you with being.”
She stared into his blazing eyes and saw the turbulent emotions he was fighting to keep in check. “Oh,” she said softly.
He grinned. “Yes, ‘oh’ sums it up very nicely.” He turned his attention back to dinner. “By the way, what has your mother looking so chipper tonight?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Don’t tell me she’s keeping secrets, too.”
“Afraid so.”
“Well, with any luck at all, at least hers won’t be potentially lethal.”
For the first time in her life, when it came to her mother, Callie realized that she was totally at a loss. The rigid, predictable woman she’d known back in Iowa seemed to have metamorphosed into someone else entirely.
“Who knows?” she said a little wistfully. “I’m beginning to think I never really knew her at all.”
* * *
Dana called while they were eating dinner. Judging from Callie’s expression when she answered the phone, Jason decided it might be best if the two women never met. One look at the gorgeous P.I. and all of Callie’s insecurities would come bubbling to the surface no matter what he did to reassure her. That ex-husband of hers had left her self-confidence in a shambles. If a million new fans couldn’t combat that, how was he supposed to do it alone?
When he took the phone from her, he deliberately kept her hand clasped in his. “Hey, Dana, what’s up?”
“Nothing, that’s what,” she said, sounding disgusted. “Your ex-Mrs. Walker has vanished into thin air.”
“She isn’t teaching at the University of Wisconsin?”
“Not for the past ten years,” she told him. “The chairman of the history department has been around for a couple of decades, though. He remembers her. He says she just quit at the end of the school term one year and left town. He has no idea why she quit or where she went. He doesn’t believe she ever asked for references.”
“It’s a dead end, then,” he said.
“Maybe not. He gave me the names of a couple of her friends from back then. I’m trying to track them down to see if they stayed in touch with her. Unfortunately, one’s on sabbatical at Oxford and the other’s in the hospital recovering from surgery. I’ve got a phone number for the one in England, but with the time difference it’s too late to call. The other woman should be feeling well enough to see me tomorrow, according to her son.”
“I don’t suppose the son remembers anything about Terry’s ex.”
“He says he vaguely remembers her coming by the house, but he was a teenager then and pretty self-absorbed. He doesn’t recall anything about a kid.”
Jason sighed. “I’ll hear from you tomorrow, then.”
“Unless I catch a break tonight tracking down her brother.”
“Her brother? Terry didn’t say anything about a brother.”
“I figured you would have mentioned it if he had. I found out about him when I spoke to people in the family’s old neighborhood outside of Chicago. I stopped there on the way to Madison. Her parents are both dead, but the neighbors say she has a brother in L.A. None of them had heard anything about Hannah in years.”
“Any luck in locating this brother?”
“I’ve checked directory assistance and there are half a dozen listings that could be right,” Dana told him. “I may be able to start reaching some of them about now. People should be getting home after the rush-hour, freeway demolition derby out there.”
“If you have any luck, call me. I don’t care what time it is. If I’m not at this number, try me at home or on my cell. Thanks, Dana. You’re an angel.”
She chuckled. “I’m married to a minister. What else could I be?”
“I remember a time—”
She cut him off. “Don’t remind me. Those days are long gone. I’ll talk to you soon.”
He slowly replaced the receiver in its cradle. The silence in the room was almost palpable.
“Jason,” Callie prodded eventually. “Any news?”
“Nothing solid,” he admitted. “But we do have some leads.” He glanced at Callie. “Terry didn’t mention anything about having a brother-in-law, did he?”
She shook her head. “Not the other night. Why?”
“You’ll see.” He picked the phone back up and glanced at Callie. “Is his number on speed dial?”
“Yes. It’s six.”
He punched it in and waited. It was Neil who answered. Jason explained what Dana had discovered about Terry’s ex-in-laws.
“Is he there? I want to ask him about this brother-in-law who’s supposedly in L.A.”
“I’ll get him,” Neil said.
Jason heard Neil explaining the latest news to Terry. When Terry picked up, he said at once, “I haven’t even thought about Bryan in years. He was just a kid when Hannah and I were married.”
“I don’t suppose he ever expressed an interest in show business.”
“Why would you ask that?”
“Just a hunch. It is one of the main reasons people go to Los Angeles.”
“Sorry,” Terry said. “I don’t remember. After the
