Cradle Of Secrets

by Lisa Mondello

  “How long?”

  “Um, hold on.” She paused, as if she were checking the computer. He heard the clicking of keys. “Looks like they were stolen almost thirty years ago, but one of them just popped up on the black market a while back. Do you think that’s something?”

  “I don’t have a clue. But if it has to do with Aztec Corporation, check it out.”

  “I can comb Cash’s apartment tonight to see if I can find that info he had on Aztec Corporation if you want. Maybe he has something there that I can use to look into this a little deeper.”

  Dylan thought about it. He could easily have missed something when he searched the apartment before he left. “Take Dad with you.”

  She sighed heavily. “I’m not twelve, Dylan. I can go to my own brother’s apartment and water the plants—which, by the way, are dying.”

  He laughed. “You forgot to water them.”

  “I watered them too much, I think. You know I don’t exactly have a green thumb.”

  “Have Mom nurse the plants back to health. If that doesn’t work, we’ll get Cash a spider plant. He’ll never know the difference.”

  “Yeah, he will. He notices everything. And he’ll blame me.”

  Dylan liked talking about their brother as if he was still part of the here and now. It was too upsetting to think of the alternative.

  His appetite suddenly gone, he pushed the plate with the sandwich away. “E-mail me when you have something, okay?”

  Sonny promised to do that, then hung up. Dylan put the cell phone on the table and scrubbed his hand over his face as he looked out into the darkness. Most of the campers had doused their campfires and turned in.

  He should be doing something. He didn’t want to lie in bed, waiting for the hours to pass until he could go back to the Davco mansion and talk to Serena.

  Yeah, right, that’s the reason, he said to himself as he got up from the table and pushed the camper door open. The warm night air bathed his face. The days were getting hotter. Summer was here.

  He hoped he hadn’t sent Sonny on a wild-goose chase. Aztec Corporation might just be another company trying to make a buck by copying and selling pottery originally made by ancient civilizations.

  Looking up at the moon, he closed his eyes and said a prayer to the Lord.

  “I know I’ve been asking a lot lately, Lord. And You’ve given me the direction I need. I just want to say thanks for leading me here.”

  And for leading me to Tammie. He didn’t say that part out loud, but Dylan knew He understood.

  “Let me take the tray to her,” Tammie said, holding out her hands.

  Susan stood at the foot of the stairs, a dinner tray filled with food in her hands. Serena’s dinner was being served at nine-thirty, because she’d slept so late.

  “It’s my job. I’d appreciate your letting me do it.”

  Tammie put her hands down. “Fine. Then I’ll go with you. I’d like to see how Serena is doing.”

  “That won’t be necessary. Aurore is already up there.”

  Despite the attempted brush-off, Tammie followed Susan up the stairs and into Serena’s room. She didn’t know what to expect after last night’s nightmare. Serena had been distraught the night before, but Tammie was caught off guard when she found that she was worse.

  Serena lay lifeless in her bed. Aurore stood next to her, lifting her so that she was sitting almost upright, propping her up with pillows. Her eyes were glazed over, and she appeared almost catatonic, with her head slightly turned to the side.

  Aurore turned as Tammie came beside the bed. “You might want to get some dinner yourself, since you didn’t eat when you got home,” Aurore said to Tammie. “Susan is a good cook. She’ll fix you something.”

  “Thank you, but I had dinner earlier, in town.”

  Aurore sighed. “As you can see, Serena is not up to talking. You’ll be wasting your time if you try.”

  “Isn’t that for me to decide?”

  “Why don’t you find something else to do?”

  “You’re trying to get rid of me again,” Tammie said pointedly.

  Aurore gave her a half smile. “Would it work if I were?”

  “No.”

  “Then it’ll only be a waste of my time if I try.”

  Susan put the dinner tray on the space at the foot of the bed, and Aurore cleared a spot there and sat down. “That will be all, Susan. Thank you.”

  When she was gone, Tammie pulled a chair closer to the bed, opposite where Aurore was sitting.

  “Did you raise her?” she asked.

  Aurore gave her attention to feeding Serena. “Serena?

  No, her father did.”

  “A mother’s love is important, too. She had no step mother?”

  “Eleanor was her mother. I made sure she knew what kind of woman her mother was. Her father never remarried.”

  An ache settled in the pit of Tammie’s stomach. She knew nothing about any of them. Would she have the opportunity to know what kind of person Eleanor Davco had been, and how she had come to live in someone else’s home? She hoped so.

  “You’ll have to tell me about that sometime. If you don’t mind.”

  Aurore’s face remained expressionless, but she paused for just a fraction of a second before she continued to spoon-feed Serena.

  Food dribbled out of Serena’s mouth, and Aurore quickly scooped it away from her face and wiped her with a soft white cloth, as if she were a baby again. The scene was almost too much for Tammie to bear.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “She hasn’t gotten over the loss of her father.”

  “He’s in a nursing home. He’s not dead.”

  “He is to Serena. He doesn’t remember her at all. It was a devastating blow to be left alone like that.”

  But she’s not alone, Tammie wanted to say. More and more, she was becoming convinced that she was Serena’s sister. How could they be so alike and not be sisters? It just didn’t make sense.

  “She wasn’t always like this?”

  Aurore tried to spoon some food into Serena’s mouth, coaxing her. “Off and on. She’s suffered from mental illness throughout her life. First the trauma of losing her mother in the fire, and then losing her father.”

  From where Tammie was sitting, she had a clear view of Aurore’s scar. “Did you get that way in the fire here at the mansion?”

  Aurore turned to her, startled. Then her face changed. Tammie had expected anger, but she saw none. What she saw instead was more a look of surprise.

  “You sure are a curious one,” Aurore finally said.

  Tammie closed her eyes, guilt eating at her. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

  She was surprised when Aurore chuckled.

  “No, you’re not. You’re curious. I can see the questions behind your eyes, and I know that you’re having a hard time keeping yourself quiet. You want to know everything.”

  Tammie asked, “Is that so wrong, given the circumstances?”

  Aurore seemed to weigh her words. “You want to know about this ugly scar? I’ve been with the Davco family since before Serena was born. I was here the night Eleanor Davco died. I tried to help her, but failed. And I’ll tell you one more thing—you shouldn’t be asking so many questions.”

  “Why not?”

  Aurore dropped the spoon in the half-empty dish. “People get hurt when they ask too many questions.”

  “I’m not trying to cause—”

  “Trouble? Well, you are. More than you know. If you don’t want trouble to find you, then you need to leave it alone. If you can’t do that, I suggest you pack your bags and go back home to Oregon.”

  Tammie lifted her chin, glanced at Serena, heard a soft moan escape her lips, as if she were trying to communicate with them.

  Tears stung Tammie’s eyes, but she wouldn’t let them show. She wouldn’t let Aurore know how much her words had hurt. If her parents hadn’t left Eastmeadow, she would have grown up in this town, just l
ike Serena. As hard as it still was for her to imagine, she probably would have grown up right here in this house.

  Dylan had told her to keep her faith. But it was becoming harder and harder to cling to the belief that her parents hadn’t known she was not their biological child.

  They must have known. If they really had lived in Eastmeadow, they would have seen Tammie’s resemblance to Eleanor Davco. Maybe not at first, when she was a baby, but certainly when she grew up.

  “No one is going to force me away from here,” Tammie said quietly, “no matter what questions I ask.”

  Rising from her chair, she gave a gentle squeeze to Serena’s hand, but got no response. Oh, Serena, please wake up and talk to me. How could she possibly get answers to all the questions burning in her mind without the aid of her sister?

  It was selfish of her to think only of herself, when Serena so clearly was the person in need. But until she could talk to Serena and find out what she knew about Tammie, how she’d known Tammie was coming, and what all this had to do with her parents, she just couldn’t move on.

  She left the room and shut the door. This house didn’t feel like a home. It was a fortress. She was free to leave, but how could she leave with Serena here, without knowing how her life had come to be what it had?

  Her mind wandered to Dylan. He’d said he had some things to take care of tonight, but she wished he was still here with her. Aside from Serena, he seemed to be the only ally she had in a town that held too many secrets.

  He’d taken her arm earlier, held it in a way that made her feel protected. It was almost as if she could still feel his touch. Her adrenaline raced at the thought of what could have happened at the auction grounds today, had she not been able to get out of the way of the falling armoire. She’d never been so scared in her life. And she’d never been so glad to see anyone as she had been when Dylan suddenly appeared by her side.

  She touched her knee and winced at its tenderness. It would feel a little achy for a few days. She’d had a chance to clean out the scrape and seen the nasty bruise that had already turned purple and swollen.

  Dylan was convinced the armoire had been a warning. She couldn’t say she was completely convinced herself, but she would make sure the door to her bedroom was locked.

  NINE

  The moon was sitting behind thick clouds, making it impossible to see anything without strong headlights or a flashlight. Dylan’s eyes were good, though. He’d been on many ops where the moonlight, although pretty, was his team’s downfall, making it harder to search for what they were looking for.

  Or to remain unseen by those he didn’t want to know he was there.

  Tammie had said there had been someone lurking in the garden last night. It had frightened her, and Dylan couldn’t say he liked the idea of it, either. After today’s near miss at the auction grounds, he wasn’t going to leave it to chance that it wouldn’t happen again.

  When he’d seen her splayed out in the dirt, he couldn’t breathe until he saw her moving. Then he’d held her in his arms, felt her heart beating as strongly as his own and known she was all right.

  Although there was no proof, he saw the accident as a message of some kind. Whether it was from someone at Aztec Corporation or if they were merely the messengers, he didn’t know. What he did know was that someone wasn’t happy they were asking questions.

  And he didn’t want Tammie to get caught in the crossfire. She had her own reasons for being here. He didn’t know what had made the pastor and his wife take her from Eastmeadow and move clear across the country without anyone knowing about it. Or why they’d kept the fact that she had a whole family in Eastmeadow a secret from her all these years.

  But Dylan was sure that it was all connected with the reason Cash had disappeared. He was waiting for Sonny to e-mail him with the information he’d asked her about earlier. If his suspicions were right, he’d have his first lead about Cash’s disappearance since he’d gotten to Eastmeadow.

  He’d parked the car down the road a ways, so as not to rouse the suspicions of anyone in the house. Tall maples lined the street and stretched over the road, keeping the moonlight from revealing his presence.

  Eastmeadow was so unlike the streets he worked as a cop. Unlike here, he knew what kind of trouble lurked in the shadows in a big city. He’d have to draw on his years in the Marines tonight. He was used to dealing with all kinds of situations, changing course on the fly, and moving unnoticed until he was ready to reveal himself. If there was someone out here tonight, he’d find him.

  Keeping his breathing steady, Dylan moved slowly around an overgrown arborvitae to the back of the house. It was nearly midnight, and the windows on the second floor of the mansion were dark.

  He sat at the edge of the woods, watching the moon move across the sky for another hour or so. The wild animals were on the prowl for food. A large wood owl hooted and screeched high in a tall pine tree behind him, letting Dylan know he didn’t like the intrusion in his world. Dylan stayed anyway, and eventually the owl flew away.

  It was nearly two-thirty when he heard someone digging in the side yard. Dylan moved toward the sound. Someone was crouched down on the ground as he approached. If it was a man, he was slight of build, but Dylan wouldn’t underestimate his strength by his size. He crept up behind him.

  “Stand up and turn around slowly. I want your hands where I can see them.”

  The only weapon Dylan had was a tree branch he’d cleaned off while he was looking around earlier. But he could use it to defend himself, if need be.

  The man rose slowly from the ground.

  “Whatever you have in your hand, drop it!” Dylan said, his voice commanding.

  Something fell to the ground. “It’s just a spade,” the man said. “I don’t have a weapon. Just garden tools. Don’t hurt me.”

  Dylan kept his distance from the man. He picked up the item the man had dropped to the ground. It was indeed a small garden spade. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I work here.”

  “Nice try. Want to give me another? This time, something believable.”

  “It’s true. Ask Aurore. I’ve worked here since before Mr. Davco was taken to the nursing home. Going on ten years now.”

  Dylan took a step closer. “If you work here, what are you doing out in the yard in the middle of the night?”

  “I always work at night. I can’t take the sun, and the mosquitoes aren’t as bad this time of night.”

  “Just what do you do?”

  “I’m the Davcos’ gardener.”

  “Gardener, huh? Doesn’t look like you’re doing such a hot job, by the looks of it during the day.”

  The man shrugged. “I do my best. They have a limited budget, you know?”

  “Right.”

  “Are you a cop or something?”

  Dylan eyed him. The something part was right. He was a cop, although he wasn’t here in any official capacity. “I don’t think you’re in a position to be asking me questions, when you were the one caught out here.”

  “I’m telling you the truth. I have nothing to hide. Just ask the staff here.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Sam. Sam Watson. I live over in the next town.” Sam had his hands in the air and was starting to shake. “Ask Aurore. She’ll tell you. I’ve been working here for years.”

  “Okay, Sam Watson. Why don’t we do just that?”

  Aurore stood in the foyer, staring at Dylan and Sam in the doorway. “Was it necessary to wake up the whole house for this?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Dylan saw Tammie coming down the stairs, wrapped in a blue terry bathrobe.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. Then her eyes widened when she saw Sam Watson.

  “He claims he’s your gardener.”

  “He doesn’t claim anything,” Aurore said with an impatient sigh. “He is the gardener. This is why you felt the need to wake us all up?”

  “What is he doing out in the ya
rd at this time of the night?” Dylan asked.

  “He prefers to work that way. Mr. Davco approved of it, and I didn’t see any reason to change things once Mr. Davco was no longer here. The way I see it, you’re the intruder. Not Sam.”

  “You’re the man I saw in the garden last night,” Tammie said, coming into the foyer and addressing the gardener.

  “I didn’t know anyone saw me. I thought everyone was asleep. I don’t usually wake anyone when I’m working.”

  “You’re sure this is the man you saw?” Dylan asked.

  Tammie nodded.

  “Sam has been a loyal employee for years. I sometimes make him breakfast before he goes home.”

  Dylan pushed aside the weirdness of this arrangement. “Has he ever taken anything from you?”

  Aurore’s eyes flared with fire. “You mean steal? Never!”

  “Check his pocket,” Dylan said.

  “No, I will not.”

  “Sam, are you going to come clean about the noise your pocket was making as we walked to the front door? Now, I’m not real good at the sounds a garden spade makes when it’s shoved in a pocket, but I did see you stuff some thing in there, and it made an awful racket rubbing up against something else. How about it?”

  “What are you talking about?” Looking at Sam, Aurore asked, “Sam, what is going on?”

  The remorse on the gardener’s face said it all. He pulled out the contents of his pocket and held them in his hands for everyone to see. Wide-eyed, Aurore picked through the tangle of chains and rings and found a diamond pendant and necklace encrusted with dirt from being buried in the ground. A ring was tangled in the chain of the necklace and wouldn’t pull free. Aurore spread the jewelry out in the palm of her hand and examined it.

  “Why, these were Eleanor’s. They were lost in the fire,” Aurore said, moving the pieces in her hand and brushing away dirt.

  “Are you sure?” Tammie asked.

  “Of course I’m sure.”

  “You want to explain how you came by these?” Dylan said.

  The hurt on Aurore’s face was unmistakable. “Sam, I don’t understand. How did you get these? How could you have these?”