“Oh?”
“All you have to do is produce Kendra Morrow and let me talk to her.”
“Give it a rest, Daniel,” she said, grateful that she’d sent Kendra off for the day with Retta’s daughter. Leslie Sue had taken a liking to the girl, and Kendra enjoyed spending time helping her out baby-sitting several neighborhood children, especially since it meant avoiding Daniel’s impromptu visits to the bar.
“I can’t give it a rest,” he told her.
“Why not?” Molly asked plaintively. Lying to him was beginning to get to her. Honesty and trust were big issues to her, and Daniel knew it. She was violating her own sense of decency, and it didn’t matter that Daniel didn’t deserve any better from her.
“Because she’s thirteen years old, Molly. She has a family.”
“How much of a family could they be if she felt the need to run away from them?” She very nearly blurted what Kendra had told her, that her parents intended to send her away. Molly hadn’t been able to get the girl to say any more than that, but it was just the kind of thing that might make Daniel leap to Kendra’s defense. After all, who knew more about the anguish of kids being sent away by their parents?
He met her gaze evenly. “Kids make some stupid decisions in the heat of the moment. This one could wind up with her getting hurt.”
“That won’t happen,” Molly said, eyes blazing.
“Because she has you to protect her?” he asked quietly.
Too late, she saw the trap. So far she’d managed to avoid admitting that she’d ever seen Kendra, much less that she’d provided her with a safe haven. She’d kept their conversations about Kendra purely hypothetical, or at least she thought she had. All the lying was getting to be more and more complicated.
She tried to dance around any admission. “Because she’s obviously a smart kid.”
“How do you know that?” he pressed.
“She must be, if she’s eluded you and Joe Sutton for all this time.”
He gave her a wry look. “She’s had help doing that, though, hasn’t she?”
Molly refused to look away. “I certainly hope so. All children should have someone willing to offer a helping hand when they need it.”
“You’ll get no argument from me on that score. Usually that’s what I am, a helping hand. I could be that for Kendra, if you’d stop standing in the way.”
He said it as if there wasn’t a doubt about Kendra being there, so apparently Molly wasn’t half the liar she’d tried to be. Given the number of opportunities she’d had lately to practice, she was bound to be better before this mess was cleared up.
“I have a legal right and the experience to look out for her,” Daniel added. “You have nothing. In fact, quite the opposite. You’re interfering in a police matter.”
Molly felt her temper kick in at his reasonable tone and at the suggestion that he could be relied on to be anyone’s help in a crisis. “I know all about your kind of help,” she snapped. “Believe me, wherever she is and whoever she’s with, she’s better off on her own.”
Daniel actually winced at the cutting words. Molly hadn’t thought he could ever be wounded by anything she said, but it was apparent that he was. Not that she was going to take back her words or apologize for speaking the truth.
“I’m sorry you believe that,” he said quietly. “I won’t hurt her, Molly, and I never meant to hurt you. I was trying to protect you.”
“Is that what you call turning your back on your own baby and on the woman you claimed to love? Protection?” She could hear her voice climbing, so she turned aside before he could see the tears she was trying desperately to blink away.
She heard him move and thanked heaven that he had the sensitivity for once to go and leave her in peace. But before she could even finish the thought, she felt his hand on her shoulder, gentle, comforting.
“Molly, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
When she finally risked looking at him, there was so much torment, so much emotion, in his eyes that it nearly stole her breath.
“I really am sorry,” Daniel said, brushing awkwardly at the tear that slid down her cheek. He’d never been able to bear making her cry. “What I did was stupid and careless, but I honestly believed I was doing the right thing. I had no idea how it would turn out.”
She sniffed. “It could hardly have had a happy ending now, could it?”
“No, but I never thought you’d lose the baby. I never wanted that.” His hand cupped her chin. “Believe me. A part of me would have given anything for you to have my child, even if it meant watching him or her grow up from a distance. You would have been a wonderful mother.”
Because she so desperately wanted to believe him, because a part of her wanted to block out the past and live in the moment, Molly brushed away his hand. “I can’t talk about this anymore. Go away, Daniel. If you ever cared anything at all for me, stay away.”
“I can’t do that,” he said, a hint of regret in his voice.
“Because of Kendra,” she concluded, resigned.
He shook his head. “Not entirely. Because of you, too. I don’t want things between us to end like this.”
She almost smiled at that. “Like this? Daniel, they ended years ago. This? This is a piece of cake compared to the way they ended then.”
“Maybe they should never have ended at all.”
She stared at him as if he’d started spouting French or some other incomprehensible language. “You can’t mean that.”
He looked uncomfortable, as if he regretted saying it, but he wasn’t taking it back. She waited and waited, but he let the words hang in the air.
Maybe they should never have ended at all.
What was he thinking? Was he crazy? He was the one who’d ended it. He was the one who’d been so insistent that she and their baby would be better off without him. And now, when it was too late to matter, he was saying he’d gotten it all wrong?
She gazed into his dark-blue eyes and looked for the man she’d once loved, but she couldn’t find him. Didn’t want to find him. Not at this late date. It would make what had happened such a waste, even more tragic than it had been.
“Leave, please,” she all but begged. “Just for tonight, go.”
He lifted his hand, almost reached for her, then dropped it back to his side. “Good night, Molly.”
“Goodbye, Daniel.”
His lips curved slightly as he noted the hopeful distinction she’d made. “Not goodbye,” he said.
After he’d gone, she sank onto a stool at the bar and rested her head on her arms. How was she supposed to get through day after day of having him around, deliberately goading her, trying to get under her skin, reminding her of what had once been between them?
There was only one sure way to get rid of him. She would have to turn over Kendra. But that was not an option. Molly had made a promise and she intended to keep it, even if she lost her own sanity in the process.
She lifted her head as Kendra quietly slipped onto the stool next to her. Her dark eyes studied Molly intently.
Molly sighed. “I thought you were with Leslie Sue.”
“I was, but it’s late. I came back. Seems to me like I got here just in the nick of time.”
“Why would you say that?”
“The guy was getting to you.”
Molly frowned at her, refusing to admit what was obvious not only to her, but apparently even to a thirteen-year-old. “Daniel can’t get to me,” she insisted.
“Yeah, right,” Kendra said, then fell silent.
The silence stretched out for what seemed like an eternity before Kendra said, “Tell me about this Daniel Devaney.”
Molly knew what she was really asking, but she said only, “He’s a child advocate for the state. That’s all you need to know.”
“He’s not hanging around here just because of me,” Kendra said with confidence. “He’s got the hots for you. And it goes both ways, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Not that I’m any expert,” Kendra said, ignoring her denial, “but it sure looked that way to me. You get all flushed when he’s around. And I saw that picture you were holding in your room the other night. It was him, wasn’t it? He’s the guy who hurt you, the one you never talked things out with.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Sure it does,” Kendra insisted. “If you two had a thing once, it’s no wonder he gets you all worked up.”
“He gets me worked up because he makes me furious,” Molly retorted. “He think he knows everything. Have you forgotten that he’s looking for you? He wants to send you home.”
Kendra paled, and Molly immediately felt guilty for reminding the girl of the threat that Daniel posed, when Kendra was thinking only of his effect on Molly.
“Sweetie, do you want to talk to him?” she asked Kendra. “Maybe you could explain why you ran away. Tell him that your parents intend to send you away. Daniel would help. He wouldn’t make you go back, especially if your parents were about to abandon you. Believe me, he has some history that would make him very sympathetic to you.”
Kendra’s expression set stubbornly. “He doesn’t look as if he’d be all that sympathetic. Besides, you just said he’s here to send me home. I’m not going, not ever.”
“He’d only insist on it if it’s the right thing to do.” She met Kendra’s gaze. “Do you trust me?”
Kendra nodded.
“Okay, then. Here’s the honest truth,” she began, reassured by Alice’s expressed belief that this was the truth in her view, too. “Daniel Devaney and I have our issues, but when it comes to helping kids with their problems, he’s one of the best. No one’s better at defending a kid if the parents are being neglectful or mean. He knows what that’s like.”
Kendra regarded her with shock. “His parents sent him away?”
“No, that’s not exactly what happened, and it’s something he should tell you about, not me. But he will understand—I can promise you that.” She didn’t like giving Daniel credit for anything, but she’d seen him spend too many sleepless nights worrying about his cases not to believe that. That’s why his persistence now, as annoying as she found it, was both predictable and reassuring.
Kendra nodded slowly. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”
“You could tell me the rest of the story, and I could talk to him, if that would be easier.”
Kendra shook her head. “You’ve been great. You’ve let me stay here and you haven’t asked any questions. Not too many, anyway.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I know you think I’m too young to be off on my own, but it’s better this way, believe me.” She swiped impatiently at the tears that spilled down her cheeks. “If I’m too much trouble, I can go. It’s just that this is the first place I’ve felt really safe since I left home. You and Retta and Leslie Sue, you’ve been like family.”
“Oh, sweetie, you could never be too much trouble. I just want to do what’s right. Your parents have to be sick with worry. And you’re missing school.”
“I’ve got books in my backpack. I don’t need some teacher to tell me what’s in ’em. Besides, if Mr. Devaney really knows I’m here, even though you haven’t admitted it, don’t you think my parents have been told I’m okay?” she asked.
“I doubt it,” Molly replied. “Otherwise your folks would be demanding to see you.”
Unless, of course, he and Joe Sutton knew more than they’d been letting on. Maybe that’s why they hadn’t made a major issue of Kendra’s continued—if unacknowledged—presence. They could easily have served Molly with a subpoena for harboring a missing minor or used some other legal tactic if they wanted to play hardball. There had to be some reason why they hadn’t. Whatever their reason was, Molly needed to know.
Much as she hated the idea of getting drawn into this any more deeply with Daniel, maybe it was time she made an alliance with one of the men to protect this fragile young girl.
Kendra was watching her intently. “What are you thinking?”
“That maybe it’s time I got a little friendlier with the other camp.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Kendra said worriedly. “What are you going to do?”
“You know the expression ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?”’
“Yeah, so?”
Molly gave Kendra a jaunty, reassuring smile and declared, “I’m going to make Daniel Devaney and Joe Sutton my new best friends.”
Chapter Five
Molly intended to start her new plan by going to see Joe Sutton. After all, Joe was about as close to a neutral party in this mess as she was going to find. But when she called his office at police headquarters, she was told he was out for the day on an investigation.
“If it’s an emergency, I can track him down,” the officer who’d answered his phone told her.
“No, thanks. I’ll call back later if I need him,” she said.
She hung up slowly and debated whether to wait for Joe or go to see Daniel instead. Because she didn’t like the nagging little voice in her head shouting that she was a coward, she decided to go to Daniel’s office. She wouldn’t call, though. She’d leave it up to fate whether or not she actually saw him.
And in case fate was feeling particularly whimsical, maybe she ought to put on something fancier than what she wore to work every day. It always threw Daniel off-kilter when she dressed up, and she definitely wanted him off-kilter.
Her wardrobe didn’t run to anything too dressy, but she did have a couple of power suits she could choose from when she had to meet with the town muckety-mucks for various permits. Used to seeing her in jeans and T-shirts, the officials were pretty much rendered speechless by the power suits. And the suits gave her a confidence she needed when she was away from her own turf.
She had the choices tossed across her bed when Kendra wandered in, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“What’re you doing?” she asked Molly, flopping down on the bed and only accidentally avoiding the suits.
“Picking out something to wear to see Daniel Devaney,” Molly said, studying the suits with a critical eye. One was teal blue and fairly sedate. One was drop-dead red and had a neckline that plunged daringly. She usually wore it with a prim white blouse to negate the sexy effect.
Kendra, awake now, bounced off the bed and peered past her. “Red suit. No blouse,” she said without hesitation. “It’ll take him a week to get his tongue untangled.”
Molly stared at her. “I’m not entirely sure that’s the effect I ought to be going for. I want to project friendliness and reliability, not seduction.”
Kendra grinned. “Seduction’s always better.” She said it with the assurance of someone much older.
“How on earth do you know that?” Molly asked.
“I’m female and I’m smart.”
“So am I, but I didn’t know that at thirteen.”
“Maybe you weren’t as smart as I am,” the girl said, her expression suddenly turning oddly glum.
Something in her tone alerted Molly that the conversation had suddenly turned serious, though for the life of her she couldn’t detect why being smart would be a problem.
“How smart are we talking?” Molly probed carefully.
Kendra shrugged.
“Kendra?”
“They say my IQ is off the charts, whatever that means. I don’t see the big deal.”
“It’s something to be proud of,” Molly told her, though it was evident Kendra didn’t see it that way.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place for Molly. Not only did Kendra’s parents intend to send her away, but her friends at school were more than likely intimidated by her intelligence—assuming she actually had any friends other than kids who wanted to borrow her homework and have her help them cram for an upcoming exam.
“Does that have anything to do with why you ran away?” Molly asked.
; “Never mind,” Kendra said, her expression pleading with Molly to let the subject drop. “We’re talking about you and that suit. Just wear the red one, okay? And I’ll fix your hair. That straight style is way too sixties.”
Willing to let the girl’s reaction pass for now, Molly asked, “What do you know about the sixties?”
“Duh! We studied it in history. Hippies. Free love. Vietnam demonstrations. Woodstock.”
For some reason Molly had a lot of trouble thinking of the decade before she was born as being history quite as ancient as Kendra seemed to be implying. Still, it seemed as if that was yet another discussion it would be pointless to pursue.
For the next hour Molly put herself in Kendra’s hands. The girl seemed to be getting a huge kick out of playing beauty shop with a real-life woman to fix up. When she was finished with Molly’s hair, she stood back and studied her with a critical gaze, then grinned.
“Oh, yeah, Daniel Devaney isn’t going to know what hit him,” she concluded, then turned the mirror so Molly could finally get a glimpse of herself.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, stunned. She actually looked as if she’d stepped out of the pages of Vogue or some other high fashion magazine.
The suit, which was dramatic enough with a blouse underneath, was a knock-out with a hint of cleavage showing. The skirt was just short enough to make her legs look very long and slender. Kendra had adamantly tossed aside her flats and picked out her one pair of strappy summer heels.
“Too bad there’s not time for a pedicure,” Kendra said, eyeing her critically. “You could use some red polish on your toes.”
“I think we’ve gone far enough,” Molly said dryly, still overwhelmed by the swept-up hairdo with blond tendrils curling against her cheeks. She’d insisted that Kendra use a light hand with the makeup, but it was still more than she usually wore and her pale-gray eyes stood out dramatically. Her lips looked soft, pouty and kissable.
“Now, remember, the lipstick is the kind that won’t come off, so you can kiss him all you want,” Kendra told her.
Molly scowled. “I am not going over to his office to make out with him. I’m going to poke around for information.”
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