Face Value (Next Generation 7)

by Cheryl Douglas

  “Lauren McCall Brooks,” she corrected.

  Tucker rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He nipped her neck, chuckling when she trembled. “I’ve been talking to a jeweler. If you have anything against a three-carat pear-shaped solitaire in a platinum setting, you’d best tell me now.”

  “Are you crazy?” Lauren asked, pulling back to gauge his sincerity. “You can’t get me a three-carat diamond! I’d need an armed guard to walk around those construction sites late at night with that on my finger.”

  “Like I’d let you walk around a site late at night by yourself after what happened with that asshole.”

  “I still can’t believe how many women came forward once Uncle Derek dug into his past.” Rob had raped three women and attempted to assault two others. Lauren broke out in a sweat just thinking about her narrow escape that night. If Tucker hadn’t walked in when he did, she would have been Rob’s next victim.

  “I’m just glad he won’t see the outside of a jail cell for a long time.” Tucker kissed her neck.

  Lauren slapped his bicep. “Would you behave yourself? This is your son’s birthday party!”

  “Please, like they’re paying any attention to us with all those professional hockey players here.”

  “That’s true.” Lauren grinned when Aiden winked at her. “It was so nice of them to come, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah, not to mention Justin. I thought the kids were gonna pass out when he walked in.”

  Lauren laughed. “We have got pretty great friends, haven’t we?”

  Tucker looked out over the people crowding every corner of his house. “I never thought this could be my life.”

  “You deserve this, Tucker.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “It means a lot to me that your parents have been so great to my kids.”

  “They love them.” Lauren looked up at him and smiled. “And they love you.”

  Tucker chuckled. “Yeah, who would have thought your father and I would learn to get along?”

  “I’m not surprised.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “He can see how much you love me, that you would do anything for me. This is the kind of relationship he always hoped I would find.”

  “I’m just glad you found it with me.”

  “It wouldn’t have been possible with anyone else.” She stood on her toes to kiss him. “You’re the only man who can make me feel this way.”

  He grinned that same smile that still made her heart skip a beat every time she saw it.

  “Don’t ever forget that.”

  Derek came up behind them, slapping Tucker on the back. “You got a minute, buddy?”

  “You guys go ahead,” Lauren said, stepping out of Tucker’s arms. “I want to check on the food.”

  ***

  Tucker had grown to like and respect Lauren’s uncle since he’d worked so hard to uncover Rob’s past, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get a little uneasy when Derek cornered him. Tucker had been on the wrong side of the law too many times not to feel a bit of apprehension when the police chief said he wanted to have a private conversation.

  After closing the door to his study, Tucker faced Derek. “What’s this all about?”

  Derek gestured to two leather armchairs. “Why don’t we have a seat?”

  The last thing Tucker wanted was to sit calmly, but he didn’t want to give Derek the impression he had anything to be nervous about, so he complied. “Does this have something to do with Rob’s case?”

  “No, this is about you.” Derek smiled. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that my niece found you. I’ve never seen her like this.”

  Tucker released a shaky breath. “This is about Lauren?” He could talk about her all day long.

  “Not exactly.” Derek sat back, regarding Tucker carefully. “You know how much she loves you, right?”

  “Where are you going with this, Derek?”

  Derek sighed. “She told me some things about your past. I hope you won’t feel she betrayed your confidence. She just told me because she thought I could help you put this to rest.”

  “She told you about my sister’s death?” Tucker didn’t feel betrayed, but he was stunned. When Lauren said she would do anything for him, she’d obviously meant it.

  “Yeah.” He braced a cowboy boot on his knee. “She told me about the things your stepfather did to your sister and that you suspected he was responsible for her death.”

  Tucker resisted the urge to jump up and pace. He didn’t want to sit there and discuss his messed up childhood. It was bad enough talking to Lauren about it.

  “Why didn’t you tell Lauren your stepfather was a cop?”

  “I didn’t think it made a difference.”

  “It made all the difference,” Derek said quietly. “That’s why you didn’t tell anyone what was happening, am I right? You thought no one would believe a troubled kid over a career cop?”

  “Still, I should have tried.” Tucker didn’t think he could let go of his guilt surrounding his sister’s death. If he had spoken out, maybe he could have pleaded with someone to listen and gotten her out of that house before it was too late.

  “You must have feared for your own life after your sister disappeared,” Derek said.

  He looked Derek in the eye. He’d never admitted it to anyone, but he was tired of hiding from the truth. “Honestly? There was days when I prayed he would kill me. I didn’t want to live anymore, knowing what happened to my sister. I’d see her face in my nightmares, screaming, crying, begging for me to help her, and I’d just stand there, my feet rooted to the ground. I couldn’t move.”

  Derek leaned forward, his hands laced. “I’ve been doing this job a long time, Tucker. I’ve heard it all. There’s nothing you can’t tell me.”

  Tucker felt he could confide in Derek because of his vocation. He dealt with depraved people like Tucker’s stepfather every day. Derek understood what drove people to commit unspeakable crimes. “I imagined where he might have taken her. I pictured the dank forest, the bed of wet leaves. I knew it would be far away from civilization where no one could hear her scream.”

  “You’re probably right,” Derek said. “He was a professional. He knew how and where to hide her body so no one would find it.”

  Once the floodgates opened, Tucker couldn’t suppress the gory images. “I imagined what he did to her, how he tortured her…” His hands curled into fists. “I’ve jumped in my truck so many times, Derek. I even got so far as their house once. I wanted to beat him to death. I wanted to make him beg for mercy, the way he made my sister beg for her life.”

  “Why didn’t you follow through?” Derek asked.

  “I thought about my kids. It was bad enough I’d been apart from them for eighteen months. I couldn’t do that to them again.”

  “Why didn’t you tell the truth about what happened to your ex-wife?”

  Derek rolled his eyes. “Lauren really did tell you everything, didn’t she?”

  “She wanted me to understand why she loves you so much.” Derek smiled. “I was concerned at first. Lauren wanted me to know you were the best man she’d ever met and she knew for a fact that you’d die before you ever let anyone hurt her.”

  “She’s right about that.”

  “I know. You proved that the night she was attacked.”

  Tucker got angry and frustrated all over again. “I should get back out there,” he said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “Amanda’s probably back with the cake.”

  “We’re not finished here.” Derek gave Tucker a look that brooked no argument. “I went to see your stepfather.”

  “You did?” Now he had Tucker’s attention.

  “Yeah. I found him in a hospital bed.”

  That was a surprise to Tucker, but he felt no remorse. “Really?”

  “There’s no statute of limitations on murder.” Derek clenched his hand into a tight fist, the only outward sign that anything he’d heard appalled him. “I wanted to re-open the case. If he
was responsible, I was determined to make him pay.”

  It meant everything to Tucker that Derek had taken his word at face value. “What happened?”

  “He’s dying. Brain tumor. Only a few weeks to live.”

  He’d looked weak and sickly at the funeral, but Tucker assumed the years of abusing his body were catching up with him. “Huh, so I guess that means he never has to answer for what he did.”

  “Not necessarily,” Derek said. “I think I can get him to talk. We spent a long time talking about our time on the beat. He told me he has a lot of regrets. I think if I go back again, I can get him to tell me what happened to your sister.”

  Tucker sucked in a breath. He wanted to know, but he was also terrified.

  “Think about it, Tucker. You could have a funeral, lay her remains to rest. At least you would know he had to answer for what he did, and I really believe guys like him get what they deserve when they meet their maker.”

  “You think so, huh?” Tucker wasn’t so sure.

  “I couldn’t do the job I do unless I believed that. So, what do you say? It’s up to you. Do I go back to see him?”

  A knock on the door prevented Tucker from responding.

  Lauren poked her head in the door. “Amanda’s back with the cake. Are y’all coming out?”

  Tucker extended his hand, and Lauren crossed the room to take it. He brought her hand to his lips, needing her support to make a seemingly impossible decision.

  She perched on the arm of Tucker’s chair, her eyes flicking from Derek to Tucker and back again. “What’s going on?”

  “My stepfather is dying,” Tucker said quietly. “He only has a few weeks to live.”

  A look of panic flitted across Lauren’s face, and Tucker knew she was questioning her decision to tell her uncle his story without asking permission first. He was secretly glad she hadn’t asked. He may have told her to let it go because he didn’t have the courage to face the truth. Uncovering the truth was a real possibility, and he couldn’t let it go without at least attempting to find his sister’s remains.

  “Oh, um…” Lauren squeezed Tucker’s hand. “Does that mean you’ll never know-”

  “Derek thinks he can get the old man to confess.”

  “I think he’d be glad to ease his guilty conscience,” Derek said.

  Tucker scowled. “That bastard doesn’t have a conscience.”

  “You may be right.” Derek stood. “But I’d like to at least try, with your permission, Tucker.”

  Tucker released Lauren’s hand and got to his feet. He shook Derek’s hand. “Whatever it takes. If there’s anything I can do…”

  “I’ll let you know how it goes.” Derek cupped Tucker’s shoulder. “Just know I’ll do whatever I can. This isn’t just another case to me. This is personal. You’re family now, Tucker.”

  Tucker watched him leave, wrestling with the emotion clamoring to the surface. He’d never had much support in his life, and for Derek to step up to try to help him right a wrong that had haunted him his whole life meant more than the chief would ever know.

  Lauren slipped into his arms, resting her cheek against his beating heart without saying a word.

  He tightened his arms around her, knowing he could face whatever happened as long as she was by his side. “Thank you.”

  “You’re not mad at me for talking to Derek about your past?”

  “No.” He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “You obviously knew better than I did. If you hadn’t spoken to Derek when you did, it would have been too late. He would have been dead, and we would have missed out on the opportunity to find out the truth.”

  “Derek’s the best. If anyone can find out what happened to your sister, he can.”

  Tucker held her a long time. No words could describe what it meant to him that she understood how much he needed closure. He couldn’t move forward and build a life with her until he laid his past to rest, and the only way he could do that was to find a beautiful, tranquil spot to lay his sister’s remains to rest.

  He knew just the spot. A meadow bordered the neighboring property. The wildflowers in the spring time looked like an artist’s canvas, and the natural beauty always took his breath away. Sarah deserved to have in death what she’d never experienced in life: peace, beauty, and an abundance of love. He could visit her there, talk to her, apologize for his mistakes, beg her forgiveness, share his life with her, and most importantly, tell her how much he missed his big sister and that he would never stop missing or loving her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As soon as Tucker walked into the hospital room, he felt the walls closing in on him. The oppressive stench of death hung in the air. Tucker just wanted to escape, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He had business to attend to, and he would face his demons… for his sister’s sake.

  Sam struggled to open his eyes, but they drifted closed.

  Tucker prayed he wasn’t too late. Sam didn’t look capable of uttering a word. Tucker stood at the end of the bed, torn between hatred and frustration. He’d given so many years to hating the man, but he knew it hadn’t been without a price. The rage inside of him had been eating him alive, and if Lauren hadn’t come into his life, it may have eventually killed him.

  “Derek said you wanted to see me.” Those were the first words he’d uttered to the man since he ran away from home at eighteen. Even at his mother’s funeral, they’d kept a safe distance from one another because Tucker feared what he might do to him if he got too close.

  “I did.” He raised his frail arm a fraction of an inch off the bed, pointing toward a chair. “Sit.”

  Tucker clenched his teeth. The last thing he wanted was to take orders from Sam, but he’d come there on a mission and he wasn’t leaving until he’d seen it through. “Talk,” Tucker said after claiming the appointed seat.

  “Sorry.”

  That’s all he could say? One word was supposed to erase the years of fear and torment, the anger he’d planted in Tucker, the sister he’d taken from him, the mother he’d manipulated and brainwashed…

  “I did it.”

  Tucker closed his eyes and bowed his head. He had his confirmation. His worst fears were realized, but the truth also set him free in a way he’d never expected. The man responsible for taking Sarah’s life was finally ready to take responsibility. “Where is she?”

  Sam turned his head, his eyes darting toward the bedside table. “In that drawer.” He struggled to take a breath. “There’s a map.”

  Tucker reached into the drawer and extracted the map. He surveyed the highlighted spot and squinted to read the scrawled notes. He knew exactly where she was. Heaving a huge sigh of relief, he felt compelled to ask, “Why?” He bit his trembling lip. “How could you do those things to an innocent little girl?”

  “Power.”

  If Sam wasn’t lying in his death bed, Tucker would have been tempted to put him there. “Power? You needed power over a little girl?”

  “That’s how my old man did it.”

  Tucker swallowed the bile burning the back of his throat. “Your father abused you?” When he said nothing, Tucker asked, “Sexually? Physically?” When Sam closed his eyes, Tucker had his answer. Nothing would ever excuse what he had done to Sarah, but at least Tucker understood why he was so damaged.

  He stood up. “I have to go.” Both men knew there were no words left to say.

  ***

  There was a huge knot in Lauren’s stomach as she waited for Tucker to come home. She had set the whole thing in motion. What if she’d made a mistake? What if the old man refused to give Tucker answers and he came home enraged and blamed her for ruining his life?

  Would she lose him all over again?

  She heard his truck pull up and clenched her hands at her sides, praying for the ending they’d all been hoping for.

  Tucker barely looked at her when he walked in. She followed him to the kitchen, and the knot in her stomach twisted even tighter when she saw him reach into th
e fridge and grab one of the beers left over from the party. Tucker didn’t drink. He’d always told her he lost control when he drank alcohol. What did that mean?

  He popped the top off the bottle, brought it to his lips, and took a deep swallow before sinking down in a chair at the massive cherry table in the center of the room. He crooked his finger at her finally, whispering, “Come here.”

  Lauren went to him without hesitation, setting her bottom on his legs and leaning into him. She allowed him to remain silent until she couldn’t stand it any longer. “Why are you drinking?”

  “Because I can.”

  She swallowed, trying to read between the lines, feeling frustrated when she couldn’t decipher his meaning. “What does that mean?”

  “The reason I didn’t drink was because I couldn’t control the rage. It was too big to contain, and the alcohol just stole my restraint. I was never an alcoholic, Lauren.” He buried his face in her hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo with a satisfied sigh. “I was a rage-aholic.”

  Lauren knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but she still felt uneasy. She would until he told her exactly what happened in that hospital room. “Still, do you think it’s a good idea for you to drink right now?”

  He looked up at her, a smirk teasing his mouth. “I really had a hankering for a beer tonight. After the day I’ve had, I think I’ve earned it.” He pressed a kiss to the column of her throat. “I didn’t realize it before, but I was still letting that old man control me. My anger toward him ate away at me, impacting every area of my life. I realized something tonight: He doesn’t have any power over me anymore. Having a beer or two won’t make me lose my temper.”

  “It won’t?”

  “No way.” He licked her bottom lip, coaxing her mouth open before kissing her deeply. “Nothing and no one can take me away from you, baby. I’d die before I did anything to land my sorry ass back in jail.”

  Just when Lauren thought she had a handle on how much she loved Tucker, he said or did something to make her fall just a little deeper. “I love you,” she whispered, raining kisses all over his face.