What She Forgot (What She 2)

“Because she’s mentally unstable,” I said. “And she apparently has found my weakness.”

Lynn pointed at the computer screen and addressed Clark with her next question. “This is Marley?”

“Wait,” I said, looking from one face to another in the room. Lynn’s gaze, though still sharp, had softened. Clark looked wary. And Mason looked resigned. “You knew about Megan and Marley?”

Lynn heaved out a sigh. “I told you that he had a story to tell. And that it wasn’t my place to tell it.” She addressed her comments to me, but she reached over and squeezed Clark’s forearm. She’d kept his secret, even from me. “Not even to you.”

“I told them when I was working on their case,” Clark supplied.

“He’s the only person who ever understood what we were up against,” Mason said, finally speaking.

“Because he’s lived it,” Lynn added.

I still couldn’t believe that she didn’t tell me, but I decided to let it drop.

“What did you do to piss her off?” Lynn suddenly asked, her eyes opening wide like someone had just surprised her.

“I di

dn’t do anything,” I said, offended at her implication.

“You always do something,” Lynn said. She snorted.

“She didn’t,” Clark said clearly. “If anyone is to blame, it’s Mason.” He stared hard at Mason. “I told you I didn’t need a secretary.”

“Shit.” Mason scrubbed a hand down his face. “So what do we do now?”

“You do absolutely nothing. I’ll handle it.” I closed the computer after I watched Megan tuck my sleeping nephew back into his crib. Then she let herself out of the nursery, stopped in the open doorway of Lynn’s room, and stared into it as Lynn slept, and then she left as quietly as she’d arrived.

“I didn’t even know she was here until I saw that the alarm system was turned off. I rolled back the footage, just because I thought I’d set it. I was sure I had. And I did. She turned it off like it was nothing. It was like she was…” She glared at me. “Well, it was like she was you. She had our secret code and everything.”

“She’s really good at getting information,” Clark said. “What she doesn’t have already, she can get.”

“So what do we do?” Lynn insisted.

“I told you.” I jumped to my feet. “You don’t have to do anyth—”

But Clark cut me off. “I’d suggest that you take a vacation.”

“What?” the three of us cried all at once. We all spun to face him.

“Take the baby and go on vacation. I’ll find Megan and I’ll get her back to the hospital, which is where she belongs.”

“We can’t just leave!” Lynn threw her hands into the air.

“You don’t have another choice.” Clark stared at them, and I immediately knew he was right.

“You’re my weak spot,” I said quietly, as I worked it all out in my head. “You and that baby are the only people I care about in this whole wide world.” I looked at Mason. “No offense, Mason,” I rushed to amend.

“None taken,” he said drolly.

“She’s right,” Clark said. “Megan looks for weak spots. Then she exploits them. This was a warning, but it’s going to escalate. She won’t stop until she gets what she wants.”

“And what is that?” Lynn asked.

“For Shelly to step out of my life.”

“So step out, Shelly!” Lynn huffed. She dusted her hands together like this was a done deal. “If that’s all it’ll take, then do that.”