“How many do you want?”
“About seven or so, and I want a house with a white picket fence and a big backyard for them to play in.”
Erik smiled. “Cassie and I wanted more children.”
“Why didn’t you have more?”
Erik sighed and rubbed his palms up and down his thighs. “God knows it wasn’t for a lack of trying. She just never got pregnant again. I guess her body said one was enough.” He chuckled. “When Precious was born, she took one look at her and said, ‘Oh, Erik, she’s precious.’ That’s how Precious got her name.”#p#分页标题#e#
“It suits her. How did she get her nickname?”
He chuckled. “Cassie, again. When she was pregnant with Precious, she used to say she was baking a little muffin in the oven.”
“Well, she is a precious little muffin. I hope all my little girls are just like her. But that won’t happen for a long time. At least, five years. Remember, I signed a contract.”
Erik nodded. “Yeah, that contract.” Best thing he ever did. It gave him ample time to find his wife’s killer and the truth behind their last argument. Which brought him to the reason he wanted to talk to Michelle. “I’ve reopened Cassie’s case,” he said.
Michelle held her breath. “Oh. Any particular reason?”
“I need closure. There were fingerprints in that car. I need to match them to their owner.”
Michelle looked away then moved restlessly on the chair. “Didn’t the police already try matching them with the ones in their data base?” She hoped her anxiety wasn’t evident in her voice.
“Yes, but there was no match, obviously. New prints are added daily. Hopefully, the drunk was picked up for something else since we closed the case. But just in case the police still can’t find a match from their pool, I’ll be providing them new ones as often as possible.”
Doubts and fears clouded Michelle’s mind. She crossed her fingers. God, please don’t let those prints match my father’s. She couldn’t bear the thought of her father causing such pain to two people she’d started to care so much about. Not to mention how Erik would feel about her. All the wonderful things he’d just said wouldn’t mean squat if her biggest fears came to life.
Her gaze followed Erik as he moved over to the window and gazed out with his back to her. She knew this must be hard for him. The investigation would take him back to that night and the months of pain that followed it. She also knew that it couldn’t have been her father who’d committed that ghastly crime. Cassie LaCrosse was killed months after her father disappeared. He wasn’t in Manchester, maybe not even in New Hampshire at the time. She’d already lost her job and moved to South Carolina with Ryan when it happened. That’s why she hadn’t known about the tragedy until Erik told her. It was a cold case by the time she moved back home. Michelle wondered if she would have taken that interview if she’d known that a drunk driver who hadn’t been caught yet had killed her potential employer’s wife. “How are you going to provide finger prints?” she asked Erik.
He turned and leaned a shoulder against the pane. “I’ll walk the streets of Manchester, myself. I’ll talk to people and take the name of every crack head and drunk out there. I’ll offer them coffee, sodas, food, whatever they want, and when I walk away, I will have the containers with their prints on them. Those I will turn over to the police.”
“Is that why you’ll be coming home late tonight?”
“Yes. I’m meeting with the city detective to recount the details of the case.”
Michelle glanced around the barely furnished office. It was nothing compared to the elaborately decorated study in his home. There was a huge desk with a laptop on it, a couple chairs, a bookcase, and several diplomas and certifications from Harvard Medical School tacked to the wall. The man was a doctor, not a detective nor a street thug, and he shouldn’t be running about in the city alone at nights. She’d grown up in the place and she never went out at night if she didn’t have to.
Michelle rose and strolled over to him. “The back alleys of Manchester are not places you should walk at night, Erik. You can be putting yourself in real danger.”#p#分页标题#e#
“I’ll be careful. I promise.”
“Maybe I should come with you. I know the streets. I know the people.”
“I’ve hired a P.I to work with me.” He touched a finger to her cheek. “I won’t think about putting you in danger. You stay home and take care of Precious. She needs you.”