Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 03 - Secrets at Sea
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“Dad.” I grabbed his arm. I needed to know about my mom.
He took my hand and linked his fingers in mine. “Let’s go visit your mother.”
“What?”
“I had her buried under her favorite tree.”
“A dogwood?”
He smiled. “Yes.”
We walked down another path and came to a small headstone. There was no name on it. It was engraved: To the most beautiful woman in the world. In front were two bouquets of daisies, one yellow and the other white.
My eyes filled with tears and they spilled down my cheeks. I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands. Every since I thought my parents were alive, I had held on to that thought. Now, I knew Mom was dead, gone forever. I sobbed until I didn’t have a breath or a tear left.
My dad put his hand on my head and hugged it to his leg. “I know, Bobby. I miss her too, every moment of every day.”
Finally, when I couldn’t cry anymore, I turned to him. “Jordon knows you’re alive, doesn’t she?”
He nodded.
I shook my head. “Then why not tell me? Were you afraid I couldn’t keep your secret?”
“No, I needed Jordon to help me last year. I needed a lawyer outside the environmental group and she was the only one I could trust.”
“That’s just like her to keep it to herself.”
“No, she wanted to tell you, but I wouldn’t let her. How’d you know that she knew? She promised me she’d never say anything to you.”
I pointed to the flowers. “The daisies. They weren’t Mom’s favorite, they were mine.”
He shook his head. “Leave it to Jordan to leave you a message on your mother’s grave.”
“So now what?” I asked.
“I go back and do the work your mother and I started. And you, you should be getting ready to get your classroom set up for the fall.” I started to protest, but he continued, “And you cannot tell your new friend I’m alive.”
“Why not? He wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“Is he an honest cop?”
“Of course he is.”
“He’d feel obligated to contact his friends in the FBI and tell them I’m definitely still alive. If you’d fallen in love with a normal cop, this would be easier.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“How’d you figure out to come back here, anyway?”
“Justin traced the email you sent me on the ship.”
“He’s amazing. Maybe I’ll get him to help me.”
“No!” I shouted.
“Okay, I won’t,” Dad said, as he put his arm around my waist.
“How’d you know I was coming here?”
“I keep an eye on you, Bobby. I like what you did for finding that little girl, Jessie, and taking down the clowns took guts and then an entire corrupt town.”
“Are you the one who sent me those emails with the wrong dates?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I only sent the last one. I didn’t count on you going on the cruise and all those people dying because of the picture your mom took. I don’t know anything about the first two emails. I just have a huge network of friends in the ecological groups, so I have someone check on you once in a while.”
I thought about the man I’d met at the memorial wall where the school district had placed a plaque for Danielle, the kindergarten teacher who’d been killed. Had he been a friend of my Dad’s?
Dad interrupted my thoughts. “You’re so much like your mother, it’s scary.”
“I am?”
“Oh yes. She had the courage of a lion and an inquisitive mind. She always asked the right questions to get to the heart of a matter. She’d have made a much better lawyer than I ever was. But sometimes she’d walk into dangerous situations. You need to be careful, Bobby.”
He walked me back to my car. I wrapped my arms around him and held on.
“You’re going to have to let me go.”
I shook my head.
He kissed me on top of my head. “I’ll keep in touch.”
“How?” I turned and leaned on the car.
“I’ll send you an email. As long as Justin doesn’t take a job with the FBI, I’ll be able to hide my location.”
I didn’t want to tell him Justin already was helping the FBI and would probably take a job with them in five years. Maybe by then my dad could come out of hiding and be with me and Jordan. And I could introduce him to Tom.
He held the door open for me and I slid into the driver’s seat. Then he turned to walk away.
“Dad,” I said.
He glanced back and frowned.
I would never call him William again.
He winked and said, “I love you, Bobby.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
I watched him go until he disappeared behind some trees. Then I used Tom’s phone to call the airline. There was a flight leaving Dallas at three. I had just enough time to turn in the rental car, gather up my stuff at the hotel, check out, and take a shuttle to the airport.
I called Tom while I was waiting for the flight to leave.
“That’s great, honey. Did you visit your house?”
“Yes.”
“Did it help?”
“Yes, I feel better.”
“Great, I can’t wait to see you.”
“I should be there by five forty-five your time.”
“I’ll have the car packed and we can start home from the airport.”
“I’ll need to stop and get Shelby before we head up to your place.”
“I figured that. I’ll call Justin and tell him to expect us late.”
“Just have him move Shelby over to my house this evening.”
“Good idea, I’ll tell him.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
I leaned my head against the seat and sighed.
I called Jordan. She didn’t answer, but I left a message, “Hi, this is Liza. Thanks for putting the yellow daisies on Mom’s grave. I’m on my way home. I’ll call you when I get back. I love you, Jordan. Talk to you soon.”
They called my flight, so I stood up and the hotel bill fell from my pocket. I picked it up and was stuffing it back into my pocket when I noticed another slip with it. A message slip. I must have gotten it while I was out. There wasn’t a name on it, just a phone number and a series of four numbers.
After I settled into my window seat, I dialed it and heard a recording. “You have reached the library research division. If you have already started a file, please punch in your four-digit number. Then request the materials you need and we will send them to you.”
I pushed in the four numbers and heard: “April 15th, 2010. A rodeo star’s entire family was brutally murdered today. The police have no suspects.”
Then another recording came on. “Updates to this event will be entered into the library as they occur.”
Silence.
In the past I got emails with wrong dates and when I researched the dates, I found cold cases that I had a connection to. So I investigated them and solved the mysteries. But how do you research something that hasn’t even happened yet?
As the plane took off, I leaned my head against the window and thought about everything that happened to me in the last week and since I got that first email.
I’d certainly been in danger several times, almost killed twice. But I’d also met Tom - a man that I loved with my entire heart and soul.
My dad was alive but an eco-terrorist. He couldn’t be a visible part of my life because if people knew he was alive the contract on his life would be re-established and put me and Jordan in danger. Dad wanted me to keep all that information from Tom. Should I? And if I did, could a lasting relationship be built on that big of a lie?
And now, I’ve gotten a recording of a murder that won’t even happen for nine months. How do you stop something before it happens?
The pilot announced our final descent into the Long Beach airport. When we landed I waited for everyone to
get off the plane before I stood and retrieved my carry-on luggage.
As I walked into the terminal, Tom stood with a huge bouquet of red balloons with several Mylar balloons professing “Welcome Home” and “I love you”.
He wrapped his arms around me, pulled me close, and kissed me gently on the lips. The he stepped back and handed me the balloons. “Thanks for coming back to me, Liza.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. What was he talking about?
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again.”
“What?”
“Well, not until school started anyway. I thought your dad would take you with him.”
“My dad?”
“How is he?”
I never even hesitated. “He looks very good. A little older, but still my dad.”
Tom nodded. “And your mom?”
“She’s buried in a little cemetery near the old house.”
“I’m sorry, Liza.” Tom wrapped his arms around me again and squeezed me gently.
“How’d you know about my dad?” I asked.
“I made Justin tell me why you were going to your old house in Texas. He said that he traced the email with your parents’ picture to Cartena, Texas. I put two and two together and figured that the last email came from your dad.”
“You’re a very wise man, Sheriff Tom Owens.” I touched his face.
He chuckled.
“So now what?” I asked. “Do you call your FBI friends and tell them that my dad is still alive?”
Tom frowned. “They already know that he’s alive, Liza.”
“What if I invite him to Christmas dinner?”
“Then I’ll have to arrest him.”
“Maybe not, then.”
“Good idea,” he winked at me.
Then he linked his arm around my waist and we walked through the terminal. The entire way, I gave away the balloons to children who were waiting for flights or for someone to return home to them. They giggled in delight, which echoed the way I felt.
As we got into Tom’s truck, I asked, “Do you know anything about rodeos?”
“Sure, they are all over the valley. I went to a few when I was young, but haven’t been for years.”
I guess I’ll have to buy some new cowboy boots and get back in the saddle!
Epilogue
Last book, I shared the recipe for Apple Pots. I fell in love with Chocolate Melting Cake on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Below is the recipe. Enjoy and share it with someone you love!
Chocolate Melting Cake
8 ounces of semisweet chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
7 eggs, divided use
6 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 cup of flour
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter and cool for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix four eggs with sugar. Whisk. Then add flour and whisk. Add the remaining three eggs and add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture. Pour this entire mixture into individual ramekins. Bake until just done, about 15-20 minutes (interior will be melting). Serve with vanilla ice cream.