She pointed at Hansen. “I’m living with him.”
It was true, mostly true. Didn’t matter because she knew Hansen would back her up. That’s what he did. Supported her.
Her father shook his head. “For heaven’s sake, Theresa.”
The name grated across her nerves. “It’s still Tessa.”
Her father clasped his hands together in front of him. “Dinner this evening then.”
Hansen shook his head as she answered. “No.”
“We’ll have a nice family visit—”
This was her nightmare. “No such thing with you.”
“—then I’ll fly back.”
Silence skidded through the room as he ended the comment. Any other man, and she might have bought the act. From this guy? No. “I don’t trust you to go.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
Hansen pushed off from the wall. “On two conditions. First, you don’t announce to anyone that she’s your daughter.”
Her father opened his mouth once and closed it. After a few seconds he nodded. “Fine. Not right now I won’t.”
Typical of him to fudge the answer. She didn’t even bother pointing it out.
“Second,” Hansen continued, “you tell us who tipped you off that Tessa was here.”
“Some woman named Ruth. She thought I’d be concerned about a scandal. I thought she meant the false stories about me, but now in light of the murder I’m not so sure.”
A million questions spun around in Tessa’s head. She couldn’t grab on to any of them long enough to ask. Ruthie?
“How did she contact you?” Hansen asked.
“You can ask me any questions you want.” Her father buttoned his suit jacket and tugged on the bottom to straighten out the material. “At dinner.”
She wondered if he did that out of habit. “You should change.”
Her father looked down at his jacket. “Why?”
“You don’t want to stand out during a murder investigation.” Hansen sounded amused as he laid it out.
She filled in the rest. “Then a new scandal is inevitable because no matter what, people around here will talk about a senator being on the island.”
THEY WAITED UNTIL her father checked in. Hansen planned to take her home and tell her how proud he was of her. That talk was brutal. Whatever feelings lingered inside the man, he held them back. Tessa could have been his employee with all the care and compassion he showed her. More than once Hansen wanted to throw him through a wall, but that would guarantee Hansen could never return to D.C. and his regular life.
The thought popped into his head for the fifth time today. He lived in the city Tessa avoided. She didn’t trust wealthy men and Hansen had money. She feared power. Some would say his family, because of the business, wielded a lot of it.
They were mismatched and didn’t make sense. And he didn’t give a shit. They’d find common ground. Her father wasn’t the only one with power in that town.
But Hansen’s attention needed to stay on the here and now. Another murder, one clearly tied to Judson, which meant it was tied to him. He feared Tessa’s proximity to him made her a target as well. He dreaded having that conversation and explaining why he wanted her to be even more careful and limit where she went. That last part was sure to invite some yelling.
They walked out of Sylvia’s office and made it partway to the main lodge doors when a couple stepped in front of them. It took a few seconds for his vision to clear and who they were to make sense in his head.
Then he got pissed off. “What are you doing here?”
Tessa elbowed him after he delivered that non-welcome.
Kerrie flashed a wide smile as she made the introductions. “You remember Allen.”
“Her brother.” The last meeting between them hadn’t gone well and Hansen was not ready for a repeat.
“Hansen?” Allen held out his hand. “I just wanted to say thank you for helping Kerrie with everything since . . . well, you know.”
Hansen stared at his hand. Debated whether to shake it. Throwing off the image of this guy in the courtroom, the things he’d said, struck him as impossible. It took Tessa shaking his hand first to get Hansen moving and doing the same.
“When did you get here?” Hansen asked because he had no idea what else to ask.
“I flew in with the senator. We were both waiting out the storm in Seattle. Sitting in a private terminal until we got the go-ahead.”
“I didn’t realize you were this close by.” Because he would have warned Tessa. Maybe given Ben a heads-up.
Kerrie frowned at Hansen. “I told you in Ben’s office.”
Seeing her with Allen brought it all back. He’d felt so helpless back then. Wallowing in his grief over Alexis and desperate not to let Kerrie get hurt.
Tessa’s comments about his rescuing nature had validity. This family had burned it out of him, but it once existed. That was the role he took on back then, but he’d underestimated his opponent. Judson rallied the troops, including the two in front of him.
“The senator was so busy with calls I doubt he even saw me at the back of the plane.” Allen smiled at Tessa as if he were confiding some great secret with her.
Kerrie moved in closer to her brother. “He’s here to help me settle everything.”
Allen nodded. “Then I’ll take her home.”
They talked in sync. Even looked alike. Both with light blond hair and bright blue eyes. They were the type to turn heads. Stunning and stylish. More than one D.C. businessman commented on how Judson liked to show off Kerrie, like she was his possession and not his wife.
None of that was his business now but Hansen would feel better when they left the island. “You might be delayed. Now we have a second killing.”
Allen’s smile fell. “Is this tied to Judson?”
“Cliff had—”
“We’re not sure.” Hansen hated cutting Tessa off, but he didn’t know what specifics Ben wanted out there. It could impact his ability to test witnesses later. “You might want to speak with Ben, but I suspect he’ll be at Cliff’s house for another hour or so.”
Allen nodded. “I’ll get checked in.”
“Sylvia must be running out of rooms,” Kerrie said.
Tessa smiled. “She can use mine since I don’t need it.”
“Look, about Judson and the court order.” Allen looked at his feet. Ran a hand over his mouth. Generally looked out of place and ready to run, before looking up at Hansen again. “I had no idea what kind of pressure my sister was under. I was trying to . . .”
“Protect her. I get it.” Part of Hansen really did. He’d spent so long being angry. All that pent-up frustration from not being able to get anyone to listen to him about Judson. But he’d been in Allen’s position. As much as he hated to admit it, he understood how a person could block everything else out and become obsessed with the rescue.
“I figured you would, but I’m still sorry for the way I acted. You deserved better. Kerrie has been clear that you made the past few days bearable.” Allen turned to Tessa. “And you, of course.”
Tessa smiled back. “She’s been through a lot. We were happy to help.”
“We’ll let you go.” Allen shook her hand again. Held on a bit too long, but finally dropped her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Hansen watched the two of them head for the check-in desk, then talk with Sylvia. He looked back at Tessa, not sure what her impression would be. Many people got blinded by the siblings’ ability to work a crowd.
“Did we even tell him my name?” Tessa asked.
A shot of relief surged through him. Hansen didn’t know he needed her to say something like that until she did. “Last time I met him he punched me, so this was better.”
She looked ready to forge into battle. “What?”
Hansen slipped his fingers through hers. “He went from wanting information from me when Kerrie and Judson started dating to believing I was harassing his sister.”
> “Why didn’t you get a protective order against him?”
He lifted their hands and kissed hers. “Because I would have done the same thing if I were him and someone were bugging Alexis. Hell, I should have stopped her wedding.”
“You’ve had a shitty time of it.”
Funny how since meeting her the sharp edges had dulled. Things that once made him furious now bounced off him. He shrugged. “I have a pretty cool girlfriend now.”
“You do.” Then she sighed. “With an idiot father. What are we going to do about him?”
“Tolerate him, I suppose.”
“And Ruthie?”
Hansen’s anger level kicked right back up again. “That’s a different story.”
Chapter 24
Ruthie didn’t appreciate being called in to Ben’s office and made that clear by complaining for a solid ten minutes when she got there. She talked about board votes and hiring someone new. Threw in a bunch of threats. Ben waited until she ran out of gas, then guided her into the conference room. Hansen and Ben stood on one side of the table with Ruthie on the other.
He and Ben had talked about the contact with the senator before Ruthie arrived. Ben knew what Hansen knew. Neither had seen the evidence, but they couldn’t think of a reason for the senator to lie. And how would he have guessed at Ruth? That would require some luck. No, it made more sense Ruthie had been pulling strings behind the scenes all along.
They all took a seat. Ben had a notepad in front of him and a recorder between them on the table. “Something you’d like to say to start?”
Ruthie folded her arms in front of her. “We are all relieved the real police are coming.”
Ben didn’t even flinch.
“We talked to the senator.” Hansen figured he’d dive right in. He’d dropped Tessa off at the lodge with Sylvia after a few hours of relaxing at home together. The days of awful things happening, one after the other, needed to end.
Ruthie rolled her eyes. “Who knew you had such impressive connections?”
Her. She’d investigated Hansen and his background. Knew about the protective orders. It wasn’t much of a leap to think she’d checked out Tessa as well. The tattling to the senator didn’t make much sense. That would be a pretty deep dive for Ruthie, and how that fit in with anything else was a mystery. But that’s why they were here.
Ben tapped his pen against the desk, not having said anything since they sat down. Then he started. “Honestly, Ruthie. What’s wrong with you?”
Hansen hadn’t expected the burst of anger or the frustration threading Ben’s voice. From the way her eyes widened, he guessed Ruthie hadn’t either.
“Excuse me?” She sounded appalled at being dragged into the office and accused of anything. She clearly viewed her standing as above reproach.
“You’re going after Tessa,” Ben said.
“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes a second time.
Hansen guessed that would be her reaction to every question—denial and deflection. “Honest, decent, charming. People love her.”
“What’s your point?” Ruthie emphasized each word.
Despite the tension choking the room, Ben didn’t ruffle. He rode out the tension and kept his focus. “Why did you tell Senator Michaelson that Tessa was on Whitaker?”
From the narrowing of her eyes to her screwed-up lips, she looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“He implicated you.” Ben tapped his pen against the notepad, end over end.
The surprise looked genuine. Ruthie wasn’t exactly the type to hide her schemes. She tended to celebrate them. Show them off so everyone could appreciate her power.
“In what?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Letting him know that she’s here,” Ben said.
“That’s ridiculous.” Her gaze zipped between the men. “I had no idea Tessa being on Whitaker was a huge secret. And why would the senator care about Tessa?”
No way was Hansen offering up that information. It was bad enough he had to fill in Ben. Even then he’d gotten Tessa’s okay and kept the details to a minimum. “Try again.”
“I don’t have to. I know I’m telling you both the truth, though we all know I don’t owe you any explanation for anything I do.”
“You contacted him.” Hansen guessed by email because a letter would take too long, and a call could raise too many questions.
“That never happened.” She didn’t waver, and the questioning edge never left her tone.
“Ruthie, come on. You led the senator directly to Tessa.” Ben set the pen down. “What was the end goal? Did you recognize her from the paper and want to make money or cause trouble? Explain it to me.”
“Was she in the newspaper?” Ruthie took a deep breath before talking again. “Look, your information is wrong. I didn’t know about Tessa’s background. Honestly, I didn’t think she was interesting enough to investigate. I guess the joke is on me.”
The subtle delivery of that last line. The rest amounted to pure bullshit, but that one . . . Hansen wondered if she meant to spill it. “Who did you investigate?”
Her face went blank and her mouth flattened. It was as if a shield clunked down. Her entire affect changed.
The woman should never play poker. Hansen started to question the senator’s intel but now he had a new concern—who else was in Ruthie’s crosshairs? Ben, likely, but this felt bigger, as if Ruthie had accidentally let a point slip.
She glared at Ben. “I’m leaving, and if you try to stop me, I’ll call an emergency board meeting and have you fired.”
She just didn’t know when to pull back or stop. She had one speed and didn’t seem to care if it slammed her into a wall or not.
“Sounds like an abuse of power to me.” Hansen could think of other words for it but went with that.
“You will stop talking unless you want another protective order brought against you.”
Now she was threatening him. That seemed to be her go-to move. “That’s not how it works, but go ahead and leave.”
She didn’t say another word. Just left and slammed the door behind her.
“That went well.” But Hansen had to admit the meeting ended about how he thought it would. Except for the peek into Ruthie’s investigative habits. That bit of news was problematic.
“I don’t know, Hansen.” Ben shook his head. “She looked stunned when we said she contacted the senator.”
Hansen couldn’t disagree. “But she’s hiding something.”
Ben smiled. “True.”
“What are you thinking right now?”
“This might be a good time to follow her. If I’m going to get fired, I might as well go out big, right?”
“That’s the spirit.”
“You in?”
A quick glance at the wall and Hansen knew he was in trouble. He’d lost track of the afternoon and now they’d entered the countdown to dinner. “Shit.”
“What?”
“I’m supposed to meet Tessa at the lodge in a half hour.”
Ben stood up and took his blank notepad with him. “Can it wait?”
“She’s going to kill me.” But then, she’d hate it if Ruthie knew something big and Hansen didn’t follow up. It was a battle between dealing with her father and satisfying her nosiness. “We have fifteen minutes.”
TEN AFTER SEVEN. Not that Tessa kept looking at the wall clock or anything. She sat at a table in the corner of the dining-room close, tucked behind the door. A few other residents were there, some who lived there, but not all. Most people chose to stay in now that the news of Cliff’s murder had seeped out.
She’d granted Hansen a brief reprieve, but he’d better not push it. There was only so much small talk and water she could drink before she dumped something over the senator’s head. And that would be a headline.
Her father unfolded his napkin and placed it on his lap. “Where’s your young man?”
He had ten minutes to show up. When he te
xted earlier about Ruthie lying, it had taken all of her control not to insist he take her along for the questioning. Ben said no. He even threatened to text her his stupid rules and protocol speech.
“I don’t think of him as young.” She smiled when she thought about Hansen and those dark glasses. “He’s very hot though.”
“That’s enough.”
“If you say so.”
Her father frowned at her. “Theresa, really.”
She wasn’t even sure what she had done to disappoint him this time. Breathed wrong? Wore the wrong shirt? He did shake his head when he saw her show up in dark jeans. He must not know that qualified as fancy clothes on Whitaker.
“Call me Tessa or I’m getting up.” She planned to draw many lines with him and that was the first and the brightest.
He sighed as he opened the menu and studied the pages. “You really are difficult.”
She wore that as a badge of honor. “You have no idea.”
After a few seconds he closed the menu again and rested his elbows on the edge of the table. He did a quick glance around the room, but Sylvia had put them at a table away from the other diners. She’d also turned up the music that played in the reception hall. It was usually faint, almost imperceptible. Tessa could make out the words now.
“I’ve never asked anything of you.”
The comment stunned Tessa for a second. She bit back a string of profanity. “You have to be kidding. My silence. My loyalty. My patience.”
He leaned in and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Me being your father is the truth. We can hold a press conference and set boundaries. Say the rest is private. My wife will support us.”
It was as if she were talking to herself. He didn’t hear a thing she said. Didn’t care that she didn’t want to be put in this position or that she refused to lie about her mother or their past.
“How do you get people to do that? You say one thing and do another, preach about family values and holding off on sex until marriage, and you don’t follow any of those rules.” She assumed that because there had been one other woman that there were more. Whatever the rules in his marriage were didn’t concern her, but the public lying did. He laid out a set of rules for how people should behave but they didn’t apply to him. Only him.
Her Other Secret Page 23