by Eclipse Bay
He moved past her with a breezy arrogance that made her want to stick out a foot and trip him. She avoided the temptation. If Winston was capable of good manners and restraint in the face of extreme provocation, she could do no less.
She went thoughtfully back into the house and closed the door. Perry was already in the kitchen, introducing himself to Rafe.
“I don’t think we’ve met.” He thrust out his hand. “I’m Perry Decatur. I’m with the institute. Sorry to interrupt breakfast. Hannah and I are old friends.”
“Rafe Madison.” Rafe kept his fingers wrapped around his coffee mug and managed to overlook Perry’s outstretched hand. “I know all about your old friendship with Hannah. I was the one who walked her home that night eight years ago when she decided to end her date with you a little early. But I’m sure you heard all about that.”
Perry blinked a couple of times and dropped his hand. But if he found the moment awkward, he gave no hint. “What a coincidence, the three of us getting together over coffee after all this time.”
“Yeah, life’s funny that way, isn’t it?” The gleam in Rafe’s eyes was diamond-hard. “So, what do you do at the think tank?”
“Vice President of Finance and Administration.”
Perry removed a small gold case from his pocket and produced a card. When Rafe did not reach for it, he put it down on the table next to the empty syrup jug. He took one of the chairs, twitched it around, and sat down back to front. Very confident. Very much at home in this house. Hannah ground her teeth.
“I’m the guy who deals with the donors and contributors who fund the research projects,” Perry said.
“In other words, you hustle cash for the institute,” Rafe said.
Hannah raised her eyes toward the ceiling, but there was no help from that quarter.
If Perry was insulted by Rafe’s description of his job, he managed to conceal it behind a small chuckle. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I really don’t have time to go into it now.”
Hannah dropped down into her chair. “Why don’t you tell me exactly why you’re here, Perry?”
“Well, I’d like to invite you to attend the reception for Trevor Thornley at the institute tomorrow night,” Perry said.
“Thanks,” Hannah said, “but I’m not big on political receptions.”
“This is an important event,” Perry said seriously. “Thornley’s going to formally announce his intention to enter the U.S. Senate race.”
“So?”
Perry pursed his lips. “Well, the thing is, when I heard that you were back in town, I more or less assured the director of the institute that I could convince you to come to the reception. It would look very good to have a Harte there, if you know what I mean. Your family has always carried a lot of weight here in Eclipse Bay.”
Rafe gave a rude grunt and reached for the coffeepot.
Hannah eyed Perry with renewed caution. “You promised your boss that you would produce me tomorrow night, didn’t you? And he’s going to be annoyed if I don’t put in an appearance.”
Perry sighed. “I would take it as a great personal favor, Hannah. Tomorrow night is very, very important to me, careerwise.”
“Who else is on the guest list?”
Perry appeared briefly surprised by the question. But he switched gears swiftly. “The usual local honchos, of course. Plus all the folks who backed Thornley’s previous campaigns. We’ve also got some heavy-duty movers and shakers from Portland coming in. The big catch of the evening is Tom Lydd.”
“Tom Lydd of Lydd-Zone Software?” Hannah asked.
“One and the same.” Perry tried and failed to look modest. “I’ve been courting him for months, trying to get him to endow a research fund at the institute. I don’t mind telling you that the fact that he agreed to attend tomorrow night is a very, very good sign. I’ll have his name on an endowment agreement by the end of the week if all goes well.”
“Big coup for you, I imagine,” Hannah said politely.
“Doesn’t get any bigger than Tom Lydd.” Anticipation glittered in Perry’s eyes. “I think it’s safe to say that if I land an endowment from him, my position at the institute will be rock solid. I’ll be in line to take over as director when Manchester retires next year.”
“Wow,” Hannah said. She paid no attention to Rafe, who was watching her with a bemused expression.
Perry chuckled. “I think we can agree that ‘wow’ is the operative word. I’ve got plans for the institute. Big plans. When I take over I’m going to turn it into one of the most influential social policy think tanks in the country. We’ll be able to make or break political candidates. Anyone in the Northwest with an eye on political office will come to us for consulting advice.”
“All right,” Hannah said. “I’ll do it.”
Perry patted her hand with the same air of condescending approval that he had exuded when he patted Winston’s head. Hannah had the same reaction Winston had had. It was all she could do not to bare her teeth.
She could tell from the glint in Rafe’s eyes that he had caught her reaction. Perry, however, did not appear to notice. Goal accomplished, he was already halfway out of his chair.
“I’ll be very busy tomorrow evening,” he said en route to the front door. “I won’t be able to swing by here to pick you up. Why don’t you meet me at the institute? Say, eight o’clock? Dressy but not formal attire. I’m sure you know the drill.”
“Sure, Perry.” She followed him back outside onto the porch.
He paused on the second-to-last step and glanced over her shoulder, evidently assuring himself that he could not be overheard by Rafe. Then he lowered his voice to a confidential tone.
“What’s with you and Madison?”
“You must have heard by now that Aunt Isabel left her house to both of us. Rafe and I are discussing how to handle Dreamscape.”
A concerned frown furrowed Perry’s brow. “Everyone in town heard about that will. Isabel must have been going senile there at the end. Why didn’t you let the lawyers work it out?”
“Rafe didn’t want to involve lawyers.”
“Is that right?” Perry slanted a thoughtful glance at the door. “Probably thinks he can get a better deal on his own. You’re lucky that I’m the one who happened to drop by this morning. Anyone else might have taken one look at that domestic little scene in the kitchen and jumped to the wrong conclusions.”
“What conclusions?”
“You know what I’m talking about. You, Madison, the breakfast dishes. Hell, it isn’t even nine o’clock yet. Looks like the two of you just spent the night together. If that kind of talk got around—”
She folded her arms, leaned one shoulder against the post, and looked at him. “Are you going to spread the rumor that I’m having an affair with Rafe Madison?”
“Of course not. Hell, I’m probably the one person in town who doesn’t believe that you let him seduce you on the beach the night Kaitlin Sadler died.”
“I appreciate your faith in my virtue. But what makes you so sure I didn’t let Rafe seduce me that night?”
Perry chuckled indulgently. “As I recall, you were a bit naïve, not to say, downright inhibited about sex in those days.”
“In other words, because I wasn’t interested in getting into the backseat with you that night, it’s highly unlikely that I fooled around with Rafe Madison later? Is that your logic?”
Perry gave her a knowing look. “As I said, I realize that there’s nothing going on between the two of you, but a word to the wise. Eclipse Bay is still one very small town. You’d better be a little more careful about appearances in the future. Someone else might get the wrong idea.”
“Thanks for the advice, Perry.”
“One other thing you should know.” He glanced toward the door behind her again and then leaned forward and dropped his voice still lower. “There’s some serious question about Rafe Madison’s source of income.”
“What exactly are you implying, Perry
?”
“I’m not one to make accusations, but there’s talk that he may be involved in some less-than-legitimate investments, if you catch my drift.”
“You mean he may be a gangster?”
Perry’s lips thinned. “I’m just saying he might be skating a little close to the edge of the legal ice. Who knows what he’s been up to during the past eight years?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“None of my business.” Perry went hastily down the last step. “Well, got to be on my way. Lots to do before tomorrow night. See you at the reception.”
“Don’t worry,” she said softly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
She stayed where she was, lounging against the post, until the Volvo disappeared at the end of the drive. When she finally turned around, she saw Rafe and Winston gazing at her through the screen door.
“You’ll be happy to hear that Perry doesn’t believe for one moment that anything went on here last night,” she said.
“Hell of a relief,” Rafe said. “Someone who wasn’t quite so high-minded as Decatur might have drawn all the wrong conclusions.”
“Yes.”
“He’s still a jerk,” Rafe said.
“Yes.”
A speculative look gleamed in his eyes. “Are you serious about going to that political reception?”
“Very serious. Luckily I packed a black dress and a pair of heels. There’s just one more thing I need.”
“Yeah?” Rafe looked at her. “What’s that?”
“A date.”
“I got the impression that Decatur thinks he’s going to be your date for the evening.”
“He couldn’t even be bothered to pick me up. I don’t count that as a date.”
“Got someone else in mind?”
She gave him her brightest smile. “I figure you owe me.”
chapter 9
“What caused the feud?” Octavia asked after a while.
Mitchell paused in the process of removing dead blooms from the rosebushes. “A woman. What else?”
Octavia folded her arms on top of the fence and rested her chin on her hands. She watched him nip off another faded flower. “What was her name?”
“Her name was Claudia Banner.”
“Was she very beautiful?”
Mitchell opened his mouth to say yes, but then he hesitated, thinking back through the years to his first impression of Claudia. “She was fascinating,” he said finally. “I couldn’t take my eyes off her. But I never really thought of her as beautiful. I just knew that I wanted her so badly that nothing else mattered. Unfortunately, my partner, Sullivan, wanted her too. For a while.”
“What do you mean, for a while?”
Mitchell snorted softly. “Sullivan Harte was always too logical and too coolheaded to let himself be led around by his balls for long. He figured out what Claudia was up to long before I did. I refused to believe him. We fought. End of story.”
“How did it happen?”
Mitchell tossed a dead bloom into a sack. “Sullivan and I set up Harte-Madison right after we got out of the army. We had us some mighty big dreams in those days. The plan was simple. We’d pick up a few cheap parking lots in downtown Portland and Seattle and then sit on ’em for as long as it took.”
“As long as it took for what?”
“For the boom times to come, naturally. We both knew that sooner or later the Northwest cities were going to be important. What with the Pacific Rim trade taking off, property values were bound to skyrocket. We figured that when the time was right, we’d sell the parking lots to developers and make our fortunes. In the meantime, we’d have income off some very low-maintenance properties in the heart of the cities.”
“How did Claudia Banner get involved?”
“Things started happening faster than we expected. We hired Claudia to help us negotiate the first sale. She’d had experience in that kind of thing, you see. Sullivan and I were novices.”
“She did the deal for you?”
“Yep.” Mitchell moved on to the next rosebush. “And it was a hell of a deal. Sullivan and I were suddenly rolling in dough. Both richer than we’d ever been in our lives. Couldn’t wait to sell the next parking lot. Claudia found us a buyer right off the bat. More money fell down out of the sky. We were golden. Couldn’t miss.”
“What went wrong?”
“Somewhere in the middle of the sale of the third lot, a big one in downtown Seattle, Claudia pointed out that Harte-Madison could structure the deal in such a way that we’d be able to keep a stake in the future profits of the office tower that was slated to be built on the site.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Yep.” Mitchell dropped another dead rose into his sack. “Uh-oh pretty much sums it up. Sullivan and I had financial stars in our eyes. We trusted Claudia. She took us for a ride and then vanished with the company profits on all three parking lots. Harte-Madison got left with a stack of leveraged debt, and the firm was suddenly out of business.”
“And you and Sullivan were at each other’s throats,” Octavia mused.
Mitchell looked at her across the fence, squinting faintly against the weak sun. “I was sure he had somehow seduced Claudia into doing what she did. He figured I was working with her. Sullivan and I cornered each other outside Fulton’s Supermarket one day, and the rest, as they say around these parts, is history.”
“Did you love her very much, then?”
Mitchell shrugged. “She was my passion. Naturally, I made a fool of myself over her. Making fools out of themselves over females is something Madison men do.”
“Is she still your passion?”
Mitchell examined the dead rose he had just pulled off a bush. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. When you find yourself within spitting distance of ninety, you start viewing things from a slightly different perspective. If Claudia Banner walked back into my life today, I’d ask for my money back.”
“And that’s all?”
“Yep.” He smiled slightly at the dead rose. “That’s all. I’ve got other passions these days. That’s another thing I’ve learned over the years. If he gives himself a chance, even a Madison can develop a little common sense when it comes to his passions.”
Octavia was quiet for a while, watching him work. Eventually she stirred. “You know, if you leave some of the dead blooms on the bush you’ll get rose hips. They make a very healthy tonic.”
“I can’t stand rose hip tea,” Mitchell said. He snapped off another dead bloom and stuffed it into his sack. “I’ve got some good ten-year-old whiskey I use when I need a tonic.”
chapter 10
At eight-thirty the following evening, Rafe stood with Jed Steadman at the edge of the crowd and watched Hannah dance with Perry Decatur. Decatur, he was pleased to note, did not appear to be enjoying himself.
The whole scene bordered on amusing. Rafe could almost feel sorry for Thornley and his retinue. The reception was ostensibly in the politician’s honor, but most of the guests were too busy sneaking covert glances at Hannah and Rafe to pay much attention to Thornley. That was due to the fact that most of those present were locals, including the mayor and his wife, all of the members of the town council, and the owners of several Eclipse Bay businesses.
Rafe recognized a lot of faces. He knew that the majority of these people had been around long enough to be familiar with the legend of the famous Harte-Madison feud, and virtually all of them had been living in Eclipse Bay eight years ago when Hannah had provided him with his alibi for the night of Kaitlin Sadler’s death. In addition, the entire town was no doubt aware of the terms of Isabel Harte’s will.
When Rafe and Hannah had walked into the reception together shortly after eight, they had caused any number of heads to swivel and jaws to drop. A ripple of murmurs had spread through the crowd. An amazing number of people had found an excuse to cross the room to greet them and make conversation.
Definitely not a banner night for Thornley, Rafe
thought. How could his staff have known that their man’s forthcoming announcement of his intention to run for the U.S. Senate seat would take second place to the latest development in the Harte-Madison feud?
Jed munched a cracker slathered in cream cheese and smoked salmon. “Thornley might be the next senator from the great state of Oregon, but he’s having a hard time getting anyone’s attention tonight.”
“Only so far as the locals are concerned. The out-of-town crowd hasn’t got a clue about the reason for the buzz.”
“True, but almost everyone here is from Eclipse Bay.” Jed eyed Perry and Hannah with an assessing gaze. “Decatur certainly doesn’t look thrilled. Probably didn’t expect you to show up with Hannah.”
Rafe watched Perry and Hannah come to a halt on the dance floor. “I’m not real concerned with Decatur’s feelings.”
“From what I hear, he’s got a lot at stake tonight too. Word is he’s trying to position himself to take over the institute next year.”
“Not my problem.” Rafe picked up a feathered toothpick that had an olive, a bit of cheese, and a mushroom impaled on it. He put the tiny skewer in his mouth and removed the edible portions with his teeth.
Jed shot him a curious look. “So what’s up with you and Hannah, anyway?”
“We’re conducting negotiations.”
Jed looked amused. “Yeah, I heard about that. Your Porsche was spotted at the Harte place night before last. Word is you’re doing your negotiating in bed.”
Very deliberately, Rafe turned to look at him. He said nothing.
Jed grimaced and put up a hand, palm out. “Sorry. Can’t help the curiosity. I’m a reporter, remember?”
“Yeah,” Rafe said, “I remember.”
“I get the message. No more questions of a personal nature about you and Hannah Harte. But speaking as an old friend, I’ll just say that you’d better hope that her family doesn’t get wind of the talk that’s going around town.”
“I’m not worried about the rest of the Hartes. This is between Hannah and me.”
“Sure. Whatever you say.” Jed reached for another canapé and another topic of conversation. “Some big bucks in this crowd tonight. Just saw Tom Lydd and his new bride arrive. I understand the head of the institute is hoping Lydd will endow a research fund.”