They walked until their ride arrived, and then they relaxed and started to plan.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Wednesday, August 27
The Apartment
Chestnut Street, 10:00 a.m.
Leah packed the last of her things into a final box, then glanced around the living room.
Her few pieces of furniture, as well as the ones that had belonged to the real Isla Morris, were being donated to charity. With Isla’s mother dead—of an overdose, as Alyssa had suggested—there was no one to take possession of anything. As for the clothes and personal belongings, they had been boxed up for donation as well.
Leah sighed. She was glad to be finished with this part.
She glanced at the time. Owen would be here in a few minutes to pick her up. He’d rented a small moving van for hauling her boxes to the new place. His friend had come through with one of the studio apartments Owen had mentioned. Leah was excited about the move.
She couldn’t deny having some regrets about walking away from the last three years of her life, but what else could she do? The friends she’d made had been friends of Alyssa’s. They hadn’t really cared about Leah. And that was okay. She didn’t need those people. She’d recognized their self-centeredness from the beginning, but they were her roommate’s friends, so she’d ignored their shortcomings.
Lambert and the Chicago PD had caught Alyssa. She and Louise Douglas were in jail, both charged with murder. TheDouglas children were with their grandparents. Leah would never understand how a parent could do this to her children.
Alyssa was spilling her guts in hopes of a deal. Louise had said nothing since her outrageously expensive attorney had counseled her to keep her mouth shut.
Leah had given her statement to Lambert, and she, of course, would have no choice but to testify at the trials as a witness. But until then, she was not looking back.
The woman who had pretended to be Isla Morris’s mother had gotten scared and turned herself in. Alyssa had admitted that she and Louise had gotten intimately involved and devised the entire scheme. Now they would both be going to prison. No matter the deal Alyssa wrangled, she was not getting out of a murder charge.
Leah regretted that she had ever believed the woman. But she was a good person, and she’d always believed the best in people. She would have thought she’d learned her lesson with Chris, but apparently not.
She had contacted Bechel at the insurance company and signed over her portion of the insurance proceeds to Raymond’s children. Whatever kind of selfish person he had been, he would have wanted his children cared for, Leah felt certain.
The sound of the buzzer announced that Owen had arrived. She rushed to the door and was just about to press the necessary button to grant him entrance when she remembered that there was a possibility it wasn’t him. She pressed the intercom button instead. “Yes?”
“It’s me,” he said.
A smile broke across her lips. She pressed the button that would release the entrance-door lock and then waited just outside her door for him to arrive. When he hit the top of the stairs, her heart started to pound. Watching him walk toward her had the organ racing. She loved the way he walked. Lovedevery part of him. During their weeklong vacation, he had explored every inch of her and she had done the same to him. Her smile stretched even wider at the beautiful bouquet of flowers he carried.
“You’re here,” she said, sounding breathless.
“I am.” He stopped directly in front of her. “You ready?”
She nodded. “I am so ready.” She looked at the flowers. “Are those for me?”
He smiled. “They are. You said no one had ever sent you flowers. I intend to do that as often as possible.”
She kissed him, almost crushing the flowers in the process.
They spent the next few minutes carrying boxes to the rented van. When she locked the apartment door for the last time, she turned to Owen.
“I’m glad this is behind me.”
He smiled. “Me too.”
“But the best part—” she reached for him, slid her arms around his waist “—is what’s in front of me.”
He leaned down and kissed her.
She could not wait to see where their journey took them next.
