by Karen Rose
‘Ironic, ain’t it?’ Daphne said again. ‘Cole’s in emergency foster care. I’m going to go meet him today. If he is Travis’s son, it raises a lot of questions about custody.’
JD was still shaking his head when he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Abruptly he came to his feet, a grin breaking through his frown. ‘Gotta go.’
‘It’s time?’ Joseph said, smiling.
‘God, I hope so.’ JD left in a flurry of waves and good wishes.
‘On that positive note, I think we’re done. Good job, everyone. Next week we get back to ongoing caseload for a blissfully normal week.’
‘Normal?’ Daphne asked, her mouth curving. ‘What’s a normal week?’
‘When I finally have one, I’ll let you know.’
Friday, December 6, 11.35 P.M.
Daphne was curled up on her living room sofa staring at the enormous, still starless Christmas tree when Joseph finally returned from the office. He let himself in the front door with the key she’d given him, locked the door and re-engaged the alarm. He was headed straight up the stairs when he noticed her.
‘I thought you’d be asleep,’ he whispered, crossing the room to where she sat. He leaned in to kiss her, keeping his hands in his pockets. ‘My hands are freezing cold or I’d be touching you right now,’ he murmured against her lips.
‘Sit. I’ll get you some coffee to warm your hands.’
When she came back with two steaming mugs, he was sitting on the edge of the sofa, elbows on his knees, bowed at the waist. ‘You look exhausted,’ she said softly.
He looked up, a smile on his lips, but his eyes were stark. ‘Long day.’
‘I didn’t get home till a few hours ago myself. Now that I’m not a target anymore, I was allowed to go back to work. Took me hours just to get through my mail and review my new cases.’ She curled up next to him, handing him one of the mugs. ‘Did you see JD’s text?’
He smiled. ‘I did.’
Lucy had delivered her healthy baby boy a little past six. ‘He’s beautiful.’
‘I know. He sent me pictures too. We can go by and see them tomorrow.’
‘I’d like that. They’re naming him Jeremiah, after the man who was Lucy’s surrogate father. I think they’re going to call him Jerry.’
‘JD’ll be a good dad,’ Joseph said, and she studied his profile. Something was off tonight, but she didn’t know what.
‘Did you ever think about kids?’ she asked.
He looked at her sideways. ‘Of course. But if I never have one of my own, I wouldn’t feel too terribly sad. Lots of nieces and nephews.’
She stared up at the Christmas tree until the lights blurred and she had to blink. ‘Whenever anyone in the office has a baby, I think about having one too. I don’t know if it would be possible. After the chemo, I mean.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘We have time to figure that out. I always thought I’d be happy adopting a kid, too. We have time, Daphne.’ He glanced sideways again. ‘Don’t we?’
‘Sure. It’s just . . .’ She sighed. ‘I met Cole today.’ She’d gone to visit the foster home into which he’d been placed while Joseph was still in his debriefing meeting.
‘How did he seem?’
‘Overwhelmed. Shy. Embarrassed about his family. Grieving for his brothers.’
‘Will he and I have any trouble going forward?’
‘Because you shot Doug? I don’t think so. He seemed to know Doug was doomed. He confessed that he’d wished he was adopted. And he cried. About his mom, about Doug, about getting expelled from school. I held him like I would have done Ford. He’s just a boy, Joseph. He wants a family. A mom. I told him we’d take it a day at a time.’
‘You’re going to bring him here.’
It wasn’t really a question. ‘If we get along, yes. I just wanted you to know.’
‘I kind of thought you would,’ Joseph said. ‘Both Clay and JD seemed to like the kid. I just want you to be safe and . . . he did bring a gun to school.’
‘Some boys were threatening to assault him, Joseph,’ she said quietly. ‘Sexually. He cried about that too. The boys at school knew about his brother’s jail time. Kids can be cruel.’
‘So he was defending himself?’
‘Yes. I believed him.’
‘You planning to do a paternity test?’
‘For Cole’s sake, yes. I think he needs to know definitively. But I can see Travis in him. Cole’s got his eyes.’
‘Will Travis want him?’
Daphne laughed bitterly. ‘No. Neither will Nadine. The boy represents too much scandal. But even if she does want him, I don’t want that boy living with Nadine. He’s got enough problems already.’ Then she frowned, perplexed. ‘I said something about it to Ford and he said to leave Nadine to him. That’s all I could get out of him. Do you know anything about this?’
‘Yeah. Ford’s been blackmailing his grandmother for years.’
‘What? Why do you say that?’
‘Maggie told me. Ford confirmed it. That’s how you got the divorce settlement and all your medical expenses paid for.’
Daphne stared at him. ‘Ford was blackmailing Nadine? With what?’
‘I asked Ford yesterday. I needed to make sure it wasn’t connected to the forging of that death certificate. It wasn’t. Seems that Ford had stumbled on Travis in a . . . compromised position one night. He had his phone, got some grainy photos. Nothing illegal about it. No one involved was underaged.’
‘Joseph, what did my son see?’
‘Ah . . . well . . . Travis had a dominatrix. He was licking her boot, stuff like that. The photos were pretty tame, actually, compared to the stuff kids see online these days. But if they had become public, Travis’s career as a judge would have been over. Ford thought it was why Travis never ended up running for Congress. Nadine has stayed out of your hair over the years because of Ford.’
‘So that’s why he thinks she’ll back away from Cole. Good Lord.’
‘Kid had guts. And he loves you. He knew you’d stayed in that house for twelve years for him. He wanted you to have a life and be free of the Elkharts.’
Her eyes stung. ‘I’m very lucky to have him. I hope we can give Cole a better life. He seems starved for . . . normality.’
‘That’s kind of a relative term,’ he said.
‘More normal than he had with Doug or would have had with Hal if Hal had wanted him, which he didn’t. And I know how that feels, Joseph, to have your dad not want you.’
Joseph flinched, then lifted his eyes to the tree, his brow furrowed in a frown. ‘There’s something you need to know, Daphne. I don’t even know how to tell you.’
Dread had her heart fluttering unevenly. ‘Then just tell me.’
He blew out a breath, took her hand. ‘Lieutenant Ciccotelli’s wife has been at Beckett’s all day mapping the graves we thought we’d find on the property. This is her area of expertise. She’s one of the best in the country.’
‘Joseph, just tell me.’
‘So far they’ve found ten graves. Nine are filled with females. One an adult male.’
‘What?’
‘They, um, decided to uncover him first, because it was so unexpected. Caucasian male, late twenties. His skull was cracked open. He had his wallet, so they had ID. It was your father, Daphne.’
She shrank back to the corner of the sofa, staring at Joseph’s face. ‘My father?’
‘Yes. I don’t know what happened to him. What I believe is that he suspected Beckett after you drew that picture of a mother and father with a girl, when the therapist asked you to draw your attacker. I think he knew what you were trying to say.’
‘But at that point no one would have believed him,’ she whispered. ‘They were all so sure he did it. I tried to tell them that he didn’t. Oh my God, Joseph. How do I tell Mama? All these years she believed he left her. All these years . . .’ Her throat closed. ‘All these years I thought I drove him away. I thought he hated me.’
‘He wa
s trying to avenge his little girl. And clear his name, I’d guess. I’m sorry, Daphne. Beckett’s taken so much from you and your family.’
‘I’m . . . well, stunned right now. I imagine it’ll hit me later. But I kind of feel better knowing. It means my father was a hero. Not a man who abandoned his family.’
‘That’s the way I hoped you’d see it.’
‘Wow. Any other major bombshells?’
‘Nope. I think that’s it.’ He let out a long breath. ‘I feel so much better now. I was dreading telling you that. I hate to bring you bad news.’
‘Hopefully we’re done with bad news for a while. But if it comes, we’ll deal.’ She pulled his head down for a kiss that started out sweet but quickly became demanding and when she pulled away they were both breathing hard. ‘We’ve had a long day,’ she whispered. ‘Let’s go upstairs and end it right.’
He smiled and her heart fluttered in her chest. ‘I like the way you think.’
She rose and tugged him to his feet. ‘But I’ve been thinking all day. I’m ready to stop thinking.’
‘I think I might know a few ways to make that happen.’
She slid her arm around his waist and walked with him to the stairs. ‘I kind of thought you might.’