21. FAMILY MATTERS

Glancing into the kitchen, where Carolyn Marsdon was seated at the table with her slender hands wrapped around a cup of tea, Charity stepped discreetly into the hall. She could see the snow falling outside the glass panel in the front door, and knew another hour or two would bring the Marsdon�s children from out of state. It was reassuring to hear her friend�s voice across the miles, knowing that she was only a short distance away. Her pause had awakened concern, and she heard it ripple through the line as Carissa demanded a second time, �Do you need me?�

�At the moment, it would probably be taxing for Carolyn to have another person hovering over her.� Peering around the corner, she regarded her husband�s stance at the window with concern. Richard had emerged from the hospital room with such a thunderous look on his face that for an instant, she had been intimidated by it. She slipped through the living room, beyond the shrewd eyes of the guards assigned to Mrs. Marsdon, and entered the master bedroom, where the widescreen television was turned on to the morning news.

�I wasn�t talking about hovering over Carolyn,� her friend stressed, and the reflection caught in the mirror revealed a hint of a smile. Charity lowered the phone slightly to observe footage of them leaving the hospital, brushing aside reporters in order to get the district attorney�s wife into the car, the security detail following. �I know that, sweetie,� she replied, watching a smaller image of her accompanying her husband down the hospital steps. She hadn�t realized until now how pale she appeared on camera. �I will be fine. The last thing I want to do is ruin your holidays. I have two security guards in my dining room, and a husband just about to lose it pacing like a caged tiger in the kitchen. Just pray for us, that�s the most you can do.�

Richard stopped to speak with the reporters, and the camera zoomed in on his face. The volume was down so low she couldn�t hear it, but she didn�t need to. She had been there. Coming through the line was a faint echo, an indication that the same footage was playing in Carissa�s home. There was an ironic sense of unity in that moment. �I don�t think I have ever seen Richard this upset,� Carissa confided after a long moment, her voice bearing traces of concern. She knew something of his dangerous nature, though he kept it well concealed, and it worried her what lengths he might go to in order to assure justice in a case this close to home.

There was a corresponding sigh. �You don�t know the half of it. I�ll keep you posted.�

When she had closed the phone, she heard faint footsteps and looked up to find her husband in the doorway. He regarded her at length as she set the cell aside, his gaze briefly shifting to the television as it flickered in the background. �At least it�s not one of your legal dramas,� he remarked, and she held out her hand. He closed the door and came to her.

�Is someone with Carolyn?� she asked.

�She wanted to be alone. One of the bodyguards is keeping an eye on her.�

Caressing his long fingers, she looked up at him through long lashes. �Richard,� she said, �promise me you aren�t going to do anything dangerous.�

His eye traveled down her neck and dropped to the floor for an instant before he met her gaze. �You know me, Charity,� he replied softly, all the rage having left his voice. There was nothing left but an emotionless shell, an indication of his repressive nature, to push aside personal feelings in favor of an ambitious outcome. �I cannot promise anything. John was� someone I can never be, but that I aspired to. I am not about to let him go unavenged.�

�I don�t want you involved in this,� his wife said, her voice deepening as it did whenever she was concerned.

He pulled away from her and went to the window, turning back to her an instant later, his voice regaining some of its former irritation. �When some heinous murderer spattered John�s blood the length of Cardinal Street, he involved all of us. If you are asking me to stay out of this, to have nothing to do with the case or its ultimate prosecution, you must be mad, because you know I would never agree to it.�

Slender form rising from the bed, Charity replied, �Richard, you are too close to the source. You told me once that to be a good prosecutor, you have to emotionally distance yourself from the case, in the event you might lose. You cannot think rationally when clouded with emotion.�

One dark brow arched, granting his impressive countenance a cynical tone. �I suppose we cannot all be like you,� he replied coldly. �Always composure in the midst of chaos. Given that I have been so supportive of the numerous disasters your family has waged over the years, I would have thought you might be more understanding.� He knew he had struck a nerve, because her green eyes narrowed, and her head tilted slightly beneath a mass of dark curls.

�Oh, you are not bringing my family into this!� Her voice lifted and had either one of them been thinking, they would have been grateful for the thick walls. As it was, the unhappy widow and her companions could only hear a distant murmur from the far end of the house. Richard pushed away from the wall and approached her, arms still crossed. He had six inches on her, but she had never been intimidated by him before and did not intend to start now.

�John Marsdon was my family.�

�I realize that, but I know you, Richard. You might lock your emotions away, but they tend to explode. I don�t want to be Carolyn one day, and have my husband bleed to death in my arms. You have to stand back on this one, and let the police do their job. All I want from you is the assurance that you won�t go off half-cocked and do something you might regret.�

�Since when have I ever gone off half-cocked?� Annoyance propelled him around her, and he approached the door.

Charity turned after him, throwing out her hands in a gesture of frustration as she said, �Let me name the ways.� It was meant to string and succeeded, for they both knew it was true. If Richard had one fault, it was his overly zealous nature. Most of the time it was an attribute, for it gave him an advantage in the courtroom, but there were instances in which he had overstepped his bounds. Not enough to alarm the general public, but to cause concern in private circles.

He looked at her stonily from the doorway, before he drew it open and vanished into the corridor beyond.