Somebody's Daughter

by Rebecca Winters

“Is that a jet, too?”

  “No. That’s Maggie’s Cessna 185. With specialized tail gear, it’s made for shorter trips and rough stops. She uses it on searches, like the one down in Cedar City, where everyone was looking for the kidnapped teen.”

  “Did they find her?”

  “Not yet.”

  He turned the handle on the door and opened it. The action lowered the steps so they could climb in behind the pilot’s seat. Kit loved the arrangement of two tables and club chairs divided by an aisle. A seat much like a bench ran across the back.

  Cord helped strap her in the chair behind the copilot’s seat. He took the one facing her across the table. Bad idea. She didn’t want him to know how hard it was to even look at him.

  “I-isn’t it difficult to see people on the ground when you do an air search?” she stammered.

  “Unless they wave something or are standing out in a field, the answer is yes. When Maggie helps, she usually has two spotters with her. Sometimes I go along to help. Using binoculars, we look for cars, or something that glints in the sun, reflecting off metal or a windshield. Then we contact a sheriff on the ground, who goes out to investigate.”

  Kit imagined there’d been many searches like that for Kathryn, but she refrained from saying anything. This felt surreal—they may have been searching for her all those years ago. She still couldn’t believe the attractive man seated across from her might be her brother.

  Her brother.

  Surely by this time she would have felt a familial connection to him if that were true. She would have detected characteristics in speech or behavior, or mannerisms. Anything that would link them.

  “We couldn’t be related,” he whispered, as if he’d been reading her thoughts.

  She averted her eyes. “I don’t think we are, either.” They didn’t have time to say anything more because Pat and Maggie had just climbed on board. Cord’s sister had changed into khaki pants and a shirt.

  “Want to play copilot?” she asked the agent.

  Pat grinned. “I was hoping.”

  “Then settle in and put on the headgear. It’s above the window.”

  Maggie turned around to face them. “We’re almost set to go. Fasten your seat belts.”

  While Kit did her bidding, she watched Maggie take her place in the pilot’s seat. A few minutes later she heard, “This is Citation four zero three Lima, Papa, ready for takeoff.”

  The plane taxied to the runway. The few times she had flown had been interesting, pleasurable experiences, but when Kit heard the scream of the jet engine, instead of excitement, she got a sinking feeling in her chest.

  They weren’t taking some fabulous trip. They were flying to California to visit a man in prison who, along with her mom, might have stolen Kit from the mansion nursery when she was only a month old. The thought sickened her.

  “Kit?” Cord asked in alarm. “If you feel ill, I’ll tell Maggie to turn around and go back.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not the plane.” She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. “It’s this whole ghastly situation. I’m still in shock over what my mother told me right before she slipped into that final coma. How could she have lived with a man like that?”

  “No one’s all evil,” Cord said in a grave tone. “Even men and women who do monstrous things have someone in their lives they turn to, no matter how sick or twisted the relationship.”

  “Sick enough for him to talk my mother into stealing someone else’s child?”

  “We don’t know that yet.”

  Kit wiped the tears from her eyes. “I know Mother did something terribly wrong. She was desperate for forgiveness. If you’d seen her eyes—talk about a guilt-ridden human being.

  “If she wasn’t part of a terrible scheme, why else would she beg me to come to Salt Lake and tell your parents I’m their daughter?”

  He cocked his head. “Don’t forget what Pat said. I’ve been thinking hard about it. You loved your mother, and she obviously did a good job of raising you, even if you were deprived in a lot of ways. For you to have turned out so well, she had to have loved you very much despite her many faults. I still find it impossible to believe she was a woman capable of kidnapping someone else’s child.”

  “Part of me wants to believe that, of course. But I have to know for sure.”

  “I believe you are Frankie’s daughter. I also think he told her as much when he first met her. But let’s assume for a minute another criminal he worked with had it in for him and told your mom you were stolen from the McFarland family. Kathryn’s kidnapping was the top news story in the whole country for the first few weeks after it happened. He could have heard about it and used the information to get back at Frankie. Rena would have been so frightened, she kept quiet in case the police thought she was the kidnapper.”

  Kit didn’t say anything at first because Cord’s thinking made a strange kind of sense.

  “How old was your mother when they met?”

  “Eighteen.”

  “She was young, Kit. Easily intimidated and frightened. With no family of her own for backup, she probably didn’t know where to turn, so she kept you and remained silent.”

  “That could explain her drinking problem. But it doesn’t exonerate her for not going to the police. Oh, Cord—I pray he is my father.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  BY TACIT AGREEMENT, the four of them ate lunch at a restaurant in Lompoc before Cord drove their rental car the five miles out of town to the penitentiary.

  The agents briefed her about what they hoped she’d be able to accomplish. They urged her to say whatever came to mind—just keep him talking and try to knock him off balance. The goal was to shake new information out of him.

  Kit shivered when she saw the cluster of buildings behind the walls and fencing. According to Pat, Frankie was housed in the maximum security prison for hardened criminals, where there was a high staff-to-inmate ratio.

  The agent had authorized clearance for the four of them, and they drove through the gates to the grim, gray facility. Once inside, Agent Jack Kelly met them and escorted them past several gates to an office.

  He studied Kit for a moment. “Agent Simpson and I will take you to a room where you’ll meet the prisoner. We’ll stay with you at all times. As soon as we’re seated, Frankie will be brought in by two guards, and they’ll seat him at the opposite end of the table from us. Do you have any questions we didn’t cover?”

  Her mouth had gone dry. “Only one. Does he know I’m coming?”

  “All he’s been told is that he has a visitor waiting. We’re hoping that when he finds out who you are, he’ll say something to help us with this case. Ask him whatever you want, Ms. Burke. Just be yourself.”

  Maggie hugged her. “I’m not in your shoes, but I can imagine how strange and frightening this must be for you. God bless.”

  “Thank you, Maggie.”

  Cord’s eyes met hers for an emotional moment. She knew what was in his heart. He wanted Frankie to be her father.

  Don’t you know I want that, too? More than anything in the world?

  But what if he wasn’t her father? What if Cord really was her brother? She couldn’t bear it.

  “Kit?” Pat called to her.

  “I’m coming.”

  She tore her gaze from his and followed Pat out the door. They walked down the hall past a gate to another room, empty except for a table and chairs. There were no windows.

  The agents sat on either side of her.

  Within a minute, she caught her first glimpse of Frankie Burke in his prison uniform. He was tall, maybe six feet or a bit shorter.

  Her mother had been right about one thing. He had brown hair like Kit’s, but his facial features and barrel chest reminded her of some of the Eastern European students she’d met on campus. Pat had said his grandmother was Czech. Kit could believe it.

  She studied him while he took his place at the end of the table. As hard as she tried, she saw no
other physical characteristics that could link them as father and daughter. Nothing.

  Agent Kelly spoke first. “Frankie?”

  “What?”

  He reminded Kit of a sullen teenager who was determined not to talk, yet she couldn’t forget he was a dangerous convict. She stared at the tattoos on his arms and the one on his cheek. Lines marked his face, making him appear closer to sixty than his late forties.

  It was strange. All these years she’d wanted to find her father, had saved up a lifetime of questions to ask him. But this man wasn’t her biological father. She’d swear to it.

  “Ms. Burke asked to be allowed to talk to you.”

  Frankie sat forward, squinting his brown eyes at Kit. “So my little girl’s all grown up.”

  He’s lying, Kit.

  A grin broke out on his face. “You’re a real babe, you know that? Go ahead and ask me anything you want. I’ve got nothing else to do.”

  “The night Mother died, she told me you weren’t my father. Until that moment, I’d always believed otherwise. But looking at you, I don’t have to see the results of your DNA test to know we’re not related.”

  “Is that all you came for?”

  Ignoring his question, she asked, “Did you marry my mother?”

  He cocked his head. “With Rena, girl, I didn’t need to.”

  Kit flinched at his cruelty, but figured she’d just heard the truth about their relationship.

  “I had a DNA test done on her. I’m not her daughter, either. Before she died, she said I should go to Salt Lake and find my real parents, otherwise God wouldn’t forgive her. What I want to hear from you is whether or not she helped with my abduction.”

  His grin faded. “Mr. FBI man sitting there has all the answers. Why don’t you ask him?”

  “Because he already knows I’m Kathryn McFarland. But your refusal to implicate Mother tells me she didn’t have anything to do with the kidnapping. Her only crime was to be terrified of you and the hold you had over her.”

  Kit didn’t know if she believed Cord’s theory, but she wanted to believe it.

  With her adrenaline surging, she got up to leave. “Too bad you didn’t come clean with me while you had the chance. You blew it, Frankie. That means you’ll be spending the rest of your life in prison without parole for stealing me from my real parents.”

  A Cheshire cat grin broke out on his broad face. “You’ll never be able to pin the McFarland kidnapping on me.”

  She gave him a cold smile in return. “We already have. Mother’s doctor was in the room when she told me about the crime you committed. He’ll testify to her confession in court. A deathbed confession is always honored.”

  His hands formed fists. “You’re bluffing.”

  “I don’t have to resort to those tactics,” she retorted. “The authorities found one of Mother’s neighbors from the boardinghouse where she was living twenty-six years ago. With that arcade picture I have of you wearing that mustache, the woman positively identified you as the man with the baby who came around to see Mother.”

  His face went a purplish-red. “You’re a damn liar!” he shouted as she started for the door.

  Her heart began fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. She turned around to look at him. “What part is the lie? After meeting you, one thing is perfectly clear to me. Though Rena was no saint, she had the greatest misfortune in life running into a pathetic human being like you.

  “You must love it in prison to want to die here. If your poor grandmother’s still alive, I’ll tell her where she can find you.”

  “I don’t have a grandmother.”

  “That’s funny. The police report indicated you were living with her the first time you were arrested in New York. According to your gang buddy, your real name is Franz Buric. How many Burics could there be living in the Bronx?”

  He tried to get out of his seat, but the guards restrained him. She opened the door, where another guard was standing. The two agents followed her into the hall.

  Agent Kelly caught up to her inside the room where Cord and Maggie were waiting. “You’re not a trial lawyer, are you?”

  “No.”

  “You sounded like one in there,” Agent Simpson concurred.

  Cord joined them. “What happened?”

  Jack Kelly’s brows lifted. “She made Frankie so nervous, he lost his cool. For some reason the mention of his grandmother sparked a kind of fear in him.”

  Pat nodded. “Did you notice how angry he got when she brought up the photograph? Obviously he didn’t know Rena had kept one. He didn’t expect this visit to tie him up in knots. Give him a night to sleep on it, and I think he’s going to crack.”

  Kit was elated to think she might have done any good in there, but Cord didn’t seem to be listening. He was staring at her, waiting for an answer only she could give.

  “He couldn’t be my father, Cord.”

  “We’ll see what the DNA results have to say.” A bluish-white color ringed his lips.

  I already know what they’ll say.

  Both agents couldn’t help but feel the tension between her and Cord, but they were discreet enough not to say anything.

  “If or when Frankie does decide to talk, we need to have all our facts gathered to take to the D.A.” Pat eyed Maggie and Cord. “I think it’s time to get your parents’ DNA tests checked against Kit’s. I have hers, so it’s just a question of informing your parents so the hospital can get started.”

  Cord looked as exhausted as Kit felt. “Let’s go out to the car,” he said.

  Pat nodded. “Give me five minutes with Jack to talk business, and I’ll join you.”

  Kit was relieved Maggie asked a lot of questions on the way to the parking area. Cord’s silence would have debilitated her if they’d been alone. She was sure they were all thinking the same thing—that her resemblance to their grandmother Cordell might not be a coincidence, after all.

  Once at the airport, Maggie asked Kit if she’d like to sit in the copilot’s seat. No offer could have been more welcome. She didn’t dare sit across from Cord during the flight back to Utah for fear of breaking down in tears.

  Being up in front with Maggie put a safe distance between them. It was what they both needed right now. Cord could talk with Pat while Kit stared blindly ahead, trying to contemplate what life was going to be like if her DNA proclaimed her a McFarland.

  By the time they touched down in Salt Lake, she knew what she had to do.

  After removing her headgear, she undid her shoulder belt and turned to Maggie. “Would you mind dropping me off at the motel on your way back to the complex?”

  Cord would have heard her request, but couldn’t take exception to it with Pat around.

  Maggie’s eyes were full of understanding. “I’d be happy to.”

  “Thank you.”

  Kit followed her out of the plane and across the tarmac. To her relief Cord didn’t try to persuade her to ride with him. She avoided looking at him as they drove away from the hangar.

  “Pat was right,” Maggie said after a while. “Even if it turns out Frankie Burke is your father, my parents need to know what’s going on. Frankie’s the key to our finding out any information about the kidnapping.”

  “I agree he holds all the cards, Maggie. I’m also convinced he’s not my father.”

  “You’re sure?” Her voice was soft.

  “Yes. We’re nothing alike.”

  Maggie’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Whatever the outcome, you shouldn’t be alone tonight. I’m inviting you to stay with me at the penthouse until further notice.”

  “I couldn’t do that.”

  “I won’t let you do anything else,” she asserted. “Whether you’re our sister or not, we have a connection that has bonded us for life. Cord will never be the same again. You know that.”

  Kit felt a prickling behind her eyelids. “I don’t know what to do, Maggie.” Her voice shook.

  “We’re all going to ta
ke this one step at a time. First we’ll get you checked out of your motel. Then we’ll go to my place and eat. Tomorrow morning Pat will be calling to give us the results of Frankie’s DNA test. Depending on the outcome, we’ll go from there. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

  She sounded just like Cord.

  “I’d love to stay with you,” Kit said. “To be honest, I’m too upset to be alone with my thoughts right now.”

  “I feel the same way.”

  Within a half hour Kit was ensconced in Maggie’s guest bedroom at the spacious penthouse, a contemporary condo of understated luxury.

  Her hostess had given her a quick tour. From the windows she could look in any direction and see a different view of the beautiful Salt Lake Valley surrounded by mountains. Twilight added a magical element to the unique setting, stirring her soul.

  This was Cord’s world.

  If it turned out this was the world Kit had been born into, she wanted to be a part of it. But she couldn’t stay here if he was her brother. Some arrangement would have to be made for her to be with the family when he wasn’t around.

  Venice Beach was the only home she’d ever known. Her friends, her support system, was there. In August she would start the fall semester at USC and begin her student teaching.

  Working with children would be wonderful. A year from now she’d graduate and could apply for a teaching position at any elementary school in California. Before she’d come to Salt Lake, she’d always thought the Monterey Peninsula would be a beautiful place to work and live.

  “Kit?”

  At the sound of Cord’s voice, her heart started to hammer in her chest. She whirled around. He’d come out on the patio by way of the living room.

  “I didn’t realize you were here. Is Pat with you?”

  “No.” His bleak expression wounded her all over again.

  He must have gone to the cottage first, because he looked freshly shaved, and had changed into a cream sport shirt and chinos.

  His eyes traveled over her until she felt weak from his intimate perusal. She wished she’d changed out of the wrinkled skirt and blouse she’d been wearing all day.

  “Maggie sent me to find you. She’s made sandwiches. Come in the study and we’ll eat.”