“We’re not big enough to handle this,” Todd said. “And I’m not taking any chance that the investigation won’t hold up in court when I finally nail this bastard.”
Cal couldn’t see any activity outside the house. “Are they talking to Rafe?”
“He’s not here. He’s supposedly at the Alpine Sky. His lawyer claims he’s been there for the past several days.” Todd’s dry tone said he didn’t believe it. “I hear the senior De Luca is hustling home from Europe, and he’s pretty pissed off about the whole mess.” Todd smiled with satisfaction.
“They’re going to claim anyone could have snuck onto their land to dump those bodies.”
Todd gave a derisive snort.
“Start looking for a money trail from De Luca to Emily’s family. Also the Anders and Kolinowski families. I’m pretty sure he hushed them up once before, and he’ll probably try to do it again.”
Todd gave a brief nod. “Thanks.”
They hit pavement and accelerated through the main gate. Cal put his arm around Maggie—possibly the only couple ever to cuddle in the back of Kyle Todd’s police cruiser. She settled against his side as Todd glanced at them in the mirror. “You two cozy enough back there? Need some music?”
“Got any smooth jazz?” he asked.
Todd chuckled. “Will the police radio do?”
It was dusk when he dropped them at the People’s Free Earth Commune. They tossed their backpacks in the bed of the pickup and trudged up to the house.
“We look awful,” Maggie said.
He glanced down at his clothes, then hers. Their shirts were clean, but the knees and seat of their pants were covered with dirt. He shrugged. “I guess I wouldn’t mind washing my hands.” And showering with Maggie when they got home. The thought put a little spring back in his lagging steps.
The door opened as they reached the porch. Kate and Feather tried to fill the doorway at the same time, with several heads visible behind them.
“Where is she? Did you find her?” Kate stood on tiptoe, looking past them.
Something cold gripped Cal’s gut, and he realized he’d been holding on to one last desperate hope. “Amber didn’t come back here?”
Kate met his worried look with one of her own and shook her head.
“We haven’t seen Amber since she left on her hike,” Feather told them.
Kate stepped out and grabbed Maggie by the arm, ushering her inside, and Cal after her. Everyone backed up to make room but didn’t go far. The whole commune seemed to be gathered near the front door.
“Six of us hiked the property,” Kate told them. “She’s not here.”
His fear came out as anger. “God damn it! That kid is so irresponsible! I do everything I can to keep her safe, and she goes running right back into danger. You’d think she’d appreciate the efforts everyone has gone to for her, but no, she just takes off. I can’t figure out what in the hell she’s thinking.”
Wordlessly, Maggie took his hand. He didn’t pull away, but it didn’t do much to turn down the heat of his anger.
“Cal, she’s grieving.”
Kate’s reasonable voice cut through the red haze in his mind. He frowned, concentrating on her quiet tone. “Amber’s been deeply wounded by her sister’s death, and she needs to feel she’s doing something to avenge it. She’s no different than you are, you know. She feels she should have somehow saved Julie, and she’s suffering terribly from guilt because she didn’t, the same as you.”
“I’m not . . . She’s . . .” He squeezed his eyes shut while he gathered his thoughts. “Amber has no reason to feel guilty. She couldn’t have stopped Julie from seeing Rafe.”
“Neither could you, but it hasn’t kept you from suffering guilt, or from trying to find her killer to make up for not saving her life.”
He stared at Maggie’s mother. “She never said anything to me. How do you know that?”
She held her arms out in a large shrug, bracelets jangling. “It’s obvious. Amber talks about Julie all the time. She misses her.”
Behind Kate, several heads nodded.
Apparently Amber didn’t think he was interested in listening, which made him feel like a shit all over again. Julie’s death was the one thing they had in common, and he’d never once talked with her about it, thinking that his search for evidence would speak for itself. He should have known a teenage girl would need to talk.
Kate gave him a soothing pat, her nurturing instincts firmly in place. “She’s not trying to be irresponsible, Cal—just the opposite. She needs to do something to help. Anything. Just like you.”
He let it sink in, knowing she was right. Amber had wanted to help him investigate, and he hadn’t let her do even the smallest thing, thinking it was more important to hide her away. If someone had tried to deter his efforts like that, he’d have done the same thing—he’d break away and go off on his own to find Julie’s killer. It was exactly what he’d done when he took a leave from work. Why hadn’t he seen that Amber needed the same thing? He was making a huge mess of this big-brother role.
He could chastise himself later; right now he needed to find Amber, make sure she didn’t step into a situation that might have just reached critical mass. Finding those bodies on De Luca land could send Rafe over the edge. What that might make him do was too alarming to think about.
“Do you have any idea how she could have left? It’s too far to walk, and there was no indication that she went through the mine. Is there a vehicle she could take?”
Several heads shook, and Marcy said, “There’s only one and it’s still here. I have the keys.”
“Then how could she have left when she’s alone here with no one to drive her anyplace?”
Feather spoke up hesitantly. “Amber did have a visitor this morning, but I know she didn’t leave with him.”
His skin prickled ominously. “A visitor? Who?”
“A man. I don’t remember his name, but Amber knew him. She said he was a friend of yours.”
Only one person in Barringer’s Pass might qualify in Amber’s eyes. “How old?”
Feather shrugged. “Forty?”
Rick. It had to be. “What did he want?” he asked, trying hard not to snap it out. They weren’t responsible for Amber. He was.
“To say hi?” Feather gave a helpless shrug. “I didn’t hear anything, but Amber said he just dropped by to see how she was.” Cal must have looked as agitated as he felt, because she hastened to add, “I watched from the porch while she talked to him out by his car. Didn’t take no more than ten minutes, then he waved at me and drove off.”
And waited down the road until Amber could get away and meet him. A dismayed glance from Maggie told him she’d realized it, too. It hadn’t been so hard for Amber to sneak away from her guardians after all. These people simply didn’t have a devious bone in their bodies.
Cal’s thoughts spun in a dizzy whirlpool. Had he told Rick where Amber was staying? He didn’t think so. Rick could have followed the cops, though. Or followed Cal and Maggie. They both went to the commune last night, and all Cal had been watching for was the media vans. When none turned into the commune behind them, he thought they hadn’t been followed.
Damn it, what did Rick want with Amber? He’d done a fairly good job of sticking to Rafe like a burr, but Cal could tell he’d been frustrated with the lack of action. Nothing was happening, and the one time it probably did, when Emily disappeared, Rick had lost track of Rafe.
Maggie squeezed his hand as she turned worried eyes on him. “Cal, remember how Rick wanted to set something up with Rafe, using me as bait? That’s almost what he was waiting for when Emily and Amber were at The Aerie. If he decided to try again with Amber, I don’t think she’d object.”
Neither did he. Worse, they’d had hours to come up with a plan.
He scanned the group of concerned faces watching him. “We’ll find her, don’t worry. I know where to look.” He grabbed Maggie’s hand as he turned.
“Wai
t a minute.” She clenched his fingers tightly as she turned to Kate, ensuring he wouldn’t leave. “Mom, do you have a skirt I could borrow? I can’t go anywhere looking like this.” She glanced at him, seeing how well he’d taken it. She must have read his impatience. “Just give it to me, I’ll change in the truck.”
She trotted back to the truck with him, unbuttoning her long-sleeved shirt on the way. She was down to her white T-shirt by the time she closed the door and slipped out of her cargo pants. He wasn’t so worried that he didn’t sneak a look at her legs, all the way up to her skimpy underpants; he’d have to be dead before he passed on that opportunity.
She tossed the cargo pants and shirt into the backseat and shook out the skirt Kate had thrust at her. It was long and made of something lacy, the typical feminine style her mother favored. She arched her hips to slide it up, then looked at him. “Where to, the Alpine Sky?”
He forgot about Maggie’s legs and skimpy underwear as irritation with Amber and fear for her life slammed back to the forefront. “Right. That’s where Rafe always hangs out, and I’m betting he’s there now. If he isn’t, there will at least be someone from the show to ask. And if they don’t know,” he added grimly, “I’m calling Kyle Todd. I’m not waiting for Amber to turn up dead.
Maggie figured Cal had reached his limit. If he was ever going to ditch his analytical, rational approach and do something wildly impulsive, this would be the time. She wouldn’t blame him. But she might have to stop him from tearing into Rafe for laying his hands on Amber. This time she could be the rational one and keep him from winding up as tabloid headlines, or worse.
She watched his jaw clench and grind as he drove, knowing he was thinking things over, waiting to see what direction his anger would take.
If it were her, she’d be figuring out whether to go after Rafe first, or Rick. Definitely Rafe. Move in fast, slam him against the wall, and punch his lights out. Then grab Rick from the corner where he would be cowering and give him the same treatment. Very Clint Eastwood, and very satisfying.
Unfortunately, that’s what she had to keep him from doing, otherwise Cal would end up in jail and Amber would be the newest tabloid sensation.
If he said something, she could gauge how angry he was. She knew his mind must be working furiously, but he didn’t say anything. The tension was killing her. She finally went for the direct approach. “What are you thinking?”
He took his time answering. “I think your mom’s pretty smart.”
That was unexpected. She answered cautiously, “She is.”
“I wish Amber had met her sooner. Or had someone like Kate in her life to be a good influence.”
She sighed. “It doesn’t always work that way, Cal. I’m the shining example of how a teenage girl can go wrong despite being surrounded by good examples.”
“Are you saying nothing could have changed that?”
She thought about the resentment she’d felt toward her mother for choosing a lifestyle that left her kids open to ridicule. The resentment toward her grandmother for taking her away from her mother during the long school year. Hurting them had been part of her reason for sleeping around. Living up to what everyone else assumed was true was the other.
“Nothing would have changed it,” she admitted. “Because there are other influences out there. Things you can’t control. Being a good parent—or big brother—won’t necessarily stop Amber from doing something stupid in response to them. You can’t change her basic personality.”
“Meaning she’ll always be prone to stupid, reckless behavior. Great.”
She blinked at his look of weary resignation. Had he even realized what he’d said? “Is that how you think I am?” she asked quietly. “Still prone to stupid, reckless behavior?”
“No, I . . .” He faltered, then stopped, pressing his mouth into a thin line. “A couple things you did weren’t very smart, Maggie.”
She suddenly felt as tense as he looked. “Maybe.”
His lip twitched up. “Maybe?”
“I shouldn’t have talked to the press that first day.”
“That’s all?”
Irritation sharpened her voice. “You want me to say that punching Rafe in the nose was a bad idea? Well, I won’t. It might have been impulsive, but he deserved it. I’d do it again.”
He gave her a long look before returning his eyes to the road. “It was reckless. You could have gotten yourself or someone else killed when that bodyguard pulled a gun.”
She couldn’t have known the idiot had a gun—which she didn’t say, because that was his whole point. But there was something disturbing behind the worry in his eyes. “You have a big problem with that, don’t you? Reckless behavior—you mentioned it before.”
He was quiet for several seconds. “Yeah, I do.”
“Because of that other police officer. Diane.”
His hands tightened on the wheel. “She made a stupid choice and paid with her life. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”
It was so obvious she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before. “You were in a relationship with her, weren’t you?” But it was more than that, and she didn’t want to admit to the flare of jealousy she felt when the realization hit her. “You loved her.”
She wished he’d look at her, soften the blow with his understanding gaze, but he just stared into the twilight ahead. “She was my wife.”
Chapter
Fifteen
It shouldn’t have meant anything to her. Big deal, he had a past; everyone did. But it stabbed like a knife. He’d loved someone enough to commit the rest of his life to her. It was enough to make her jealous of a dead woman.
But that was what stunned Maggie the most. She was jealous because she loved him.
Her head buzzed with confusion. When had that happened? She wasn’t sure, but she knew it was true. And it didn’t feel good. It hurt. Cal was the wrong man to fall in love with, and he’d just explained why—he didn’t like reckless, impulsive behavior. If that included falling in love, he was right about her. She couldn’t have been more reckless when she fell for a methodical, controlled man.
She became aware of the hum of the tires on asphalt. Silence hung between them, heavy and awkward. Just to break it, she repeated, “Your wife,” careful to keep her tone mildly curious.
He glanced at her. “Technically.”
“Um . . . I think marriage is like pregnancy—either you are or you aren’t.”
“We were separated. We were going to file for divorce.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” It made sense, in a depressing way. He couldn’t live with Diane’s reckless choices.
“It had been obvious for some time that it wasn’t working out between us.”
“Cal, you don’t owe me an explanation.”
“I want you to know.”
He kept checking for her reaction, and she was determined not to show one. It wouldn’t have been good. How was she supposed to react to the news that he couldn’t stand being married to someone like her?
“Diane and I met at the police academy, but she hired on with the city, and I went with the state cops. She loved the excitement of working the streets. It took me awhile to realize why—she was an adrenaline junkie. If a case involved high risk, she was there. Drug deals, hostage situations . . . hell, she probably married me because it was some kind of rush. The academy and her department both disapproved of two new cops getting married, and she loved to buck the system.”
“But you loved her.”
“I loved the person I thought she was. Maybe I was just trying to rebuild a family. Don’t laugh, but I had this image from TV of what families were supposed to be.”
She wouldn’t laugh; it was too sad to think about how much he must have missed, living with foster families and not having one of his own. Her family might have been different from most, but they were always there for her. She couldn’t imagine life without them.
“My real family didn’t come cl
ose to that ideal, and I thought maybe if I started fresh I could get it right. You know, the house in the suburbs, coaching Little League, camping trips on weekends . . .” He gave her a sheepish smile. “Corny, huh?”
She thought it was achingly sweet but was suddenly choked up, so she just shook her head.
“It turned out Diane liked that I didn’t have an established family life. Her job was her life. She lived for risk, for the thrill of overcoming danger. The last straw was when she pushed hard to get an undercover role in a big drug investigation. I was worried that she’d crossed a line, that she needed counseling. I even went behind her back and talked to her superiors about it. They didn’t agree.”
“They gave her the assignment anyway?”
He nodded. “And when she found out I’d tried to have her pulled, she left me. We called it a trial separation, but we both knew our marriage was over. She was killed three months later in a drug raid. Technically, I was still her husband.”
“That’s awful,” she said softly.
“It was two years ago.”
“But you’re still touchy about people putting themselves in risky situations. I can understand why.”
“Touchy?” He gave a cynical laugh. “I guess I am. But I know Amber isn’t like Diane. She makes me crazy, but she’s only sixteen and she’s been through something really rough. I get that. The bigger question is, how am I going to handle this family thing with her?”
She thought he’d been doing fine so far, despite all the frustration. “What’s so hard about being her brother?”
“Everything. What do I know about being part of a normal family? My marriage was dysfunctional. My childhood was dysfunctional. Amber’s hasn’t been any better, seeing that we have a mother who doesn’t know the meaning of parenting. Basically, I’m Amber’s whole family.” His desperate gaze found hers. “Maggie, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. If that kid has nothing more than me to rely on, she’s in big trouble.”
Silver Sparks Page 24