Defender

Chapter 1

1

Kate Campbell sat in her Volkswagen Jetta, hoping that the darkness would help conceal the way she’d been lingering there, parked on the street, for the last twenty minutes. People came and went from the condo complex across the small residential road, pulling in and out of the entrance to the complex, or sometimes merely heading out for an early-evening stroll, taking advantage of the mild April temperatures while they still could. Within a month, Scottsdale would be blasting into the upper nineties, the day’s heat lingering long after the sun had set.

An innocuous-looking manila envelope lay on the passenger seat of Kate’s car. Now it was dark enough that she’d have to turn on the overhead light in the car or get out her iPhone to shine its beam on the papers the envelope contained, but she’d read over them enough times that the words had already imprinted themselves on her brain.

Petition for Dissolution of Non-Covenant Marriage Without Children.

How exactly she’d gotten here, Kate couldn’t even say. Although she would never admit such a thing to Jeff, her estranged husband — his ego was already bruised enough — she knew the first rumblings of discontent had started a long time ago. It had taken seeing the happiness of her brother Colin with his wife Jenny, though, for Kate to realize that she wanted something more. Deserved something more.

Because Jeff had insisted, she’d tried counseling, even though she knew the marriage was a lost cause. Those joint therapy sessions had only served to solidify the realization that she had nothing in common with him anymore…if she ever had.

Best to get this over with, even as her jumpy stomach and slightly shaky hands told her she still wasn’t completely prepared to face her estranged husband. She’d handled all the paperwork herself, not wanting to waste the money on a lawyer when she and Jeff really didn’t have any assets. They were renting the condo they lived in when she walked out. No debt except her student loans and the car payment for Jeff’s truck, which he’d agreed to take over. Kate’s car had been purchased by her parents when she was a junior in college, and she knew she’d keep driving it until the wheels fell off.

As it turned out, the rules for this sort of thing were pretty simple. Serve the papers to your spouse at home if no lawyers were involved, or take them to the attorney’s office if your estranged significant other had decided to lawyer up. She’d called ahead, made arrangements with Jeff so she wouldn’t have to waste a trip over here. Of course, he didn’t live all that far from her, since he’d moved to Scottsdale after they separated, claiming the relocation made his commute easier. That was an outright lie, but Kate hadn’t called him on it. She knew he was having a hard time with their split, and being closer to her while everything shook out was his way of coping. If he’d started stalking her at work or loitering around the apartment complex where she now lived, she would have complained…gotten a restraining order or something.

Or sicced Jenny’s family on him.

That thought did make Kate smile slightly, despite the anxiety humming along every nerve. Who would have ever thought she’d be related by marriage to a family of witches?

Good witches, from what she’d been able to tell, but still….

The truth was, Jeff was really too lazy to be a stalker. He’d gained even more weight since she’d moved out, probably because he was living on takeout and pizza rather than the somewhat more nutritious meals she’d tried to keep on the table during their marriage.

And now she knew she was just procrastinating, because the moment had come, and even though she wanted to be free more than anything else she could think of, handing over those divorce papers still felt like an admission of failure. She’d made a bad call, marrying Jeff while they were both still in college just because it felt like the best thing to do at the time. It wasn’t that he’d been abusive or anything, only…neglectful. Like she was a piece of the furniture, rather than his partner in life. She wanted more than that. She wanted…no, she needed someone to love her the way Colin loved Jenny, unreservedly, with his whole heart.

Her phone pinged, and she started, then pulled it out of her purse.

Colin. He wasn’t psychic, but sometimes he sure acted like it. Or rather, he knew her so well that he might as well be reading her mind.

Let me guess…you’re sitting in your car and stalling.

What gave it away? she typed back.

The complete radio silence. You said you’d text me after you’d done the deed.

I know. I’m just about to go up.

Courage, little sister.

I know.

A small pause, and then the text came back. You sure you don’t want to come up for the weekend? It might help to get away.

Colin had invited her to come to Jerome after she’d given Jeff the divorce papers. As enticing as the prospect had sounded — she’d come to love that crazy little mountain town — Kate had declined. It felt like running away. She needed to hand over the papers and go home, and try to pretend this was just another normal night.

A night of sitting alone. Her friends had tried to get her to go out and start dating again, telling her that if she and Jeff were formally separated, it wasn’t a big deal if she began seeing other people, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do that. Once she’d delivered the papers and really started the ball rolling…maybe. Even so, she didn’t know who the hell she was supposed to date. She hadn’t met anyone so far who’d piqued her interest. A few guys at work had sent out some signals, but she’d shut them down. Life was complicated enough without getting involved with a coworker. When she finally decided it was time to meet someone, she’d do it the old-fashioned way…online, or at a bar. Just because her marriage to Jeff had ended in failure didn’t mean that the right guy wasn’t out there somewhere. She just had to work up the nerve and get herself out there. Being legally separated seemed like a step in that direction.

And if the bars and the online dating apps and the introductions from friends didn’t work, then maybe she would take a page from Colin’s book and crash a wedding. That had worked out pretty well for him.

No, I’m good, she texted back. And I’m going up to Jeff’s now. I swear.

Okay. But text me when it’s over with & you’re home. I want to know you’re all right.

I will. Thanks, Colin. She put a little heart emoji at the end of the text, so he’d know how much she appreciated his support. Then she dropped the phone back into her purse, removed her keys from the ignition, and picked up the manila envelope with the life-changing papers inside.

As she got out of the car, she tried to tell her rapidly beating heart that it was being ridiculous. This should be simple enough. After all, she and Jeff had been in contact, had spoken on the phone, had even met in person for lunch one time so she could sign the paperwork to let his employer know that she now had health coverage through her new job as a planning assistant with the City of Scottsdale, and therefore she could be dropped from the policy Jeff had through his own work at the logistics company.

All right, she had met with Jeff since they’d separated. But this would be the first time she’d brought him divorce papers.

She clicked her remote to lock the car doors, then resolutely made her way across the quiet street and down the path that wound through the condo complex. From someone’s open window, she could hear a television blaring away. Some kind of game, she thought, wondering what it might be at this time of year. Basketball? Maybe. She had to admit she’d tuned most of that sort of thing out. Jeff loved sports, and she’d dutifully gone to Diamondbacks and Cardinals games with him in an effort to share his interests. But when he had that stuff on in the house, she’d always tried to ignore it. There was something fun about the excitement of watching a game in person, but she could never get into televised sports.

His condo was at the back of the complex. The evening air was mild and pleasant against her skin, and she breathed it in, glad that it hadn’t been too hot today. She hadn’t changed out of her work clothes, still wore the slim skirt, silk blouse, and ankle-strap sandals she’d put on that morning. The outfit wasn’t all that different from something she would have worn to court, although she told herself she wasn’t on trial here. This wasn’t that kind of divorce. So much easier when you didn’t have any property to split up, no child custody to squabble over. She’d told Jeff they’d talk about kids after she was done with her master’s degree, and now she could only be deeply grateful that they hadn’t dragged an innocent child into their mess of a relationship.

Up the stairs to his condo on the second floor. The people across from him had a little cactus garden in pots on their section of the landing, but Jeff’s side was completely bare, not even a doormat. Short-sighted, she thought, if he wanted to get his cleaning deposit back. He must be tracking in all sorts of dirt.

That wasn’t her problem, though. She’d have to stop worrying about Jeff’s choices, because in the very near future, they wouldn’t be connected at all. Just two people going their own way in life, two people who’d known each other once but now had nothing to tie them together.

Kate pressed the doorbell and waited. And waited. Half a minute went by, and she frowned. At least one light was on inside the condo; she could see its glow up against the mini-blinds.

Maybe the doorbell wasn’t working. Instead of pressing it again, she knocked, three smart raps.

Still nothing.

Mystified, she stood there, trying to figure out what was going on. Had he gone on an errand, even though he knew she had said she would be over at seven-thirty? Yes, she’d spent some time sitting in the car, but that was because she’d gotten here early, knowing she’d need some time to gather herself before she confronted him.

He couldn’t have forgotten. Jeff was a lot of things, some of them not particularly appealing, but he’d always been good about being on time, about being where he’d said he would be, when he said he would be. This wasn’t like him.

She knocked again, then called out, “Jeff? It’s Kate.”

Still silence. Nothing from the people next door, either; their unit was dark, all the blinds closed. Either they were working late or were out for the evening. So she couldn’t knock on their door and ask if they’d seen Jeff.

Almost without thinking, she placed her hand on the door latch. To her surprise, it moved, and the door opened a fraction of an inch.

Her frown deepened. Jeff was not the type to leave his front door unlocked; he had an expensive TV and stereo system, and a newish laptop. Not to mention all those boxes of baseball cards. She’d never asked how much they were all worth, not even when they were going over their meager assets together, because they were something he’d collected on his own and which she didn’t think she had any claim to.

An icy tingle moved down her back, and she shivered.

Don’t creep yourself out, she thought. For all you know, he’s just down at the laundry room or something, and didn’t bother to lock the door because he knew he’d be right back.

That sounded plausible, but….

Gingerly, she pushed the door open an inch more, and called inside, “Jeff? Are you in there?”

Silence.

Well, since she’d gone so far as to open the door a little, she figured she might as well go all the way. Yes, Jeff might be annoyed that she’d barged into his condo while he wasn’t there, but she could simply explain that she’d been worried and hadn’t meant to intrude. Frankly, there were about a thousand other places she would rather have been right then.

She opened the door wide enough so she could enter, and paused immediately inside. The light she’d seen must have been coming from over in the dining nook, because the living room itself was nearly dark. She couldn’t make out much of anything.

“Jeff?”

Her fingers found the light switch next to the door, flipped it on.

And then the manila envelope she held slipped from her fingers as she raised her hands to her face and screamed, and screamed.