He watched her pale, watched her fingers dig into the arms of the chair. Smelled the lie before she spoke it.
“They’re criminals, liars. They’re working with that heartless bitch.” She flung a hand out at Nina. “Turning my own flesh and blood against me, and for money.”
“I’d cut off my hand before I’d hurt or let anyone hurt my Caitlyn. I’ll take a lie detector test,” Nina said to Red. “I’ll do anything you want.”
“She talked to him on the phone—not Nina,” Cate insisted. “He asked if she’d used the nanny’s phone, and said good. He called her ‘lover.’ And his phone, when it rang, it was ‘The Mexican Hat Dance.’ I know because we learned it in dance class.”
Nina’s hand flew to her mouth, but didn’t quite smother the gasp.
“See, she’s guilty.”
“I did nothing.” Nina took out her phone as she rose, put in the code, handed it to Red. And leaning down, whispered, “I have something to say, but I don’t want to say it in front of Caitlyn.”
He nodded, shifted to smile at Lily. “Ma’am—and I want to say I’ve sure enjoyed your movies over the years—I wonder, since we all have this fine coffee, if you’d take Cate back, maybe get her a drink.”
“You want to say something you don’t want me to hear. It happened to me. I should hear.”
She had a stubborn line between her eyebrows when they came together. He had to respect that. “That may be so, honey, but I need you to give me just a couple minutes first. I’d really appreciate it.”
“Come on, sweets. Let’s get us a Coke.”
“I don’t allow my child to drink carbonated sugar!”
“Well, bless your heart.” With that eyebrow arch for Charlotte, Lily took Cate’s hand. “Guess who’s not in charge today?”
Red waited a minute, then nodded to Nina. “What do you want to say?”
“I don’t want to say it. I wish I didn’t have to, and I’m so sorry, Mr. Aidan. I’m so sorry, but Ms. Dupont . . .” Embarrassed color flooded Nina’s cheeks. “She’s been having sex with Mr. Sparks.”
“Liar!” Surging up, a flurry of white silk, Charlotte slapped at Aidan when he tried to stop her. She leaped at Nina. She managed to get a swipe of nails down Nina’s cheek before Michaela restrained her.
Even then, she struggled, kicked back.
“You’re going to end up in cuffs,” Red warned her in the same tone he might’ve used to comment it looked like rain. “Assault, and assaulting an officer. You better sit back down before you end up cooling your temper in jail.”
“My lawyers will sue you both out of your jobs. And bury you,” she told Nina.
Slow, calm, Red got to his feet. “Sit down. Or I’ll charge you here and now, have you taken in, booked. Nina, do you want medical attention?”
“It’s all right. I’m not lying.”
“Why don’t you tell me why you think Ms. Dupont’s having an affair with this Mr. Sparks?”
“I don’t think, I know, because I walked in on them. I’m so sorry, Mr. Aidan. She said she’d fire me and see I’d never get another job if I said anything.”
“Aidan, you can’t believe that.” Now Charlotte reached for his hand, her face filled with love and sorrow. “You can’t possibly believe I’d be unfaithful.”
He pulled his hand free. “Do you honestly think I’d give a goddamn at this point about you having sex with your personal trainer? Do you think I give any kind of damn about you now?”
“Oh, oh, Aidan!”
“You can turn off the fucking tears, Charlotte. That scene’s played out.”
“Nina, why would it matter right now about Ms. Dupont and Mr. Sparks?”
“His ringtone. I’ve heard the ringtone on his phone. It’s that one Cate said. The hat dance one.”
“As if Grant’s the only one in the world who—”
“Shut up,” Aidan snapped.
“He called her ‘lover,’ ” Nina added. “He called her that right in front of me. Cate and I were visiting her grandparents, and she really wanted this story she’d written for school, to show them. They don’t live far, so I said I’d run back and get it. She was so proud of it. I thought they—Ms. Dupont and Mr. Sparks—were in the gym, downstairs. I never thought about it, but just ran right upstairs. The bedroom doors—the master’s—were wide open. I heard them first. I heard them, then I saw. They were in bed together.”
She let out a breath. “I guess I made some sound—I was so shocked. When she heard me, she got up, and came right out. Naked. She told me if I said anything, I was done, and she’d tell the police I tried to steal her jewelry. I didn’t want to lose my job, I didn’t want to leave Caitlyn. I didn’t want to go to jail. I didn’t say anything.”
“Not a word,” Aidan said quietly when Charlotte started to deny. “Not a single word. Is there more, Nina?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Aidan. I’m sorry. After that she didn’t bother to hide it so much, not from me. And he called her ‘lover.’ Like, ‘Lover, she’ll keep her mouth shut. Come on back to bed.’ Or when she had me bring a bottle of wine down to the gym, he called her that. He always called her that.”
“Let me ask you, Nina, do you always keep your phone with you?”
Clasping her hands together, Nina nodded at Red. “Yes, sir. Almost always. Except when I need to charge it, but I try to do that at night.”
“And yesterday, after you realized Caitlyn was missing?”
“I had it with me when I looked for her. Later, after Ms. Dupont blamed me for it, Miss Lily and Miss Rosemary said I should move downstairs for the night, to the room off the kitchen so Ms. Dupont didn’t get more upset. I did, and I left my phone in there, on the charger when we were all waiting for the kidnapper to call back.”
“Ms. Dupont waited with everyone, too?”
“No, sir, she was upstairs. Lying down. I think she took a sleeping pill, and was sleeping when he called back.”
“Okay, Nina. Ma’am,” he said to Rosemary, “is there any way to get to that bedroom, the one down here, from upstairs without going by where you all were waiting?”
“Several ways.”
“What we’re going to do is take your phone in, Nina. With your permission, since it’s a cell phone, we can use the computer to bring up the actual calls.”
He saw the slightest flicker in Michaela’s eyes at the bluff, but Red always figured when you bluffed—or lied outright—you should do it with casual confidence.
“First thing is, if the call Cate’s told us about came in when you were in the room with witnesses, we’d know right off it wasn’t you who made it. Next, even if they didn’t use names, we’d run the voices on the phone through voice recognition. Since this is a kidnapping, we’d get the FBI to help with that. Their equipment’s amazing.”
Playing along, playing well, Michaela nodded. “It’ll be a simple matter to match the voices, since we have the two men already.”
“Yep. Mic, why don’t you go upstairs with Ms. Dupont so she can get dressed.”
“You’re not taking me to jail. I’m a victim. I’m a victim. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
“I think I get the gist, but if you want to make a statement, that’s just fine. I’m going to record that. But I’m going to read you your rights first.” He took a recorder out of his pocket, turned it on, set it on the table. “That’s how we do it.”
Calculation, that’s what Red saw as he recited the Miranda. “You understand all that, Ms. Dupont?”
“Yes, of course I do. I’m appealing to you for help. I made a terrible mistake, but I was being blackmailed.”
“Is that so?”
“I did have a fling with Grant. Another terrible mistake. I was weak, Aidan, I was lonely and foolish. Please forgive me.”
His face, his eyes, his voice held no emotion. Not even disgust. “I don’t care.”
“Are you claiming Grant Sparks blackmailed you over the affair?”
“It wa
s a paparazzo. He got pictures of us. It was awful, just . . .” Lowering her head, she covered her mouth with her hand. “He demanded millions, or he’d publish them. I wanted to protect my marriage, my family, my little girl. All of us. I didn’t know how to get the money.”
“Staging a kidnapping was the solution?” Red demanded.
“Grant had the idea. If we faked a kidnapping . . . I lost my mind. I wasn’t thinking straight. The stress. I knew Grant would never hurt her. We’d pay, and she’d be back home quickly. It was insane, I see that now. I was insane. I was desperate.”
Aidan walked away from her now. Had to walk away.
“What was the blackmailer’s name?”
“He said his name was Denby. Frank Denby. After the first time, Grant met with him. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t bear it. Please believe me, after Caitlyn . . . I was terrified. I started thinking of everything that could go wrong, and—”
“Did you know where they’d taken her?”
“Of course! She’s my daughter. I knew where she was, but—”
“And being afraid, worried something would go wrong, you didn’t call it off?”
“I couldn’t!” Imploring, she clutched a hand under her throat, reached out toward Red with the other. “I didn’t know what to do! I made that call because I needed to be sure Caitlyn was all right.”
“They drugged her.”
Charlotte looked over at Aidan. “It was just a little sedative, just so she wouldn’t be afraid. She’d just sleep through it until—”
“They terrified her, put bruises on her face, threatened her with a gun.”
“They weren’t supposed to—”
“You did this for money, for sex. She climbed out a second-story window, wandered lost in the dark, in the cold, for God knows how long. You used your own child, risked your own child over a goddamn affair.”
“She was supposed to sleep! It’s her own fault she didn’t drink the milk!”
“How did you know the drug was in the milk?” Michaela asked, still taking meticulous notes. “Did you tell them to use milk?”
“I—I don’t know! You’re confusing me. She wasn’t hurt. She was supposed to sleep. When we had the money, they’d have me drop it off.”
“That was part of it? You make the drop?”
“Yes, and then they’d take Caitlyn to the turn onto the peninsula, leave her right there.”
“And you, you could play the shattered, loving mother through it all.” Hugh got to his feet. “You’ll never see that child again if I have any say. You’ll never see a penny of Sullivan money. You’ll never step foot in this house again.”
“You don’t have any say!” Charlotte hurled at him. “You can’t keep me from my own daughter.”
“That’ll be up to the courts. Charlotte Dupont, you’re under arrest for child endangerment, accessory to kidnapping a minor, accessory to child abuse, accessory to extortion.”
“Did you hear me? I was victimized, blackmailed.”
“Well, I’ve got some doubts about that. But we’ll talk more. Right now, Deputy Wilson’s going to escort you upstairs, unless you want us to take you in like you are.”
“I want my lawyer.”
“That would be my lawyer,” Aidan corrected. “You’ll have to find your own.”
“Oh, I will.” Now the loathing poured free. “And I’m not the only one who knows how to talk to the press. I’m going to ruin every one of you.”
“What you’re going to do right now is come with me.”
She jerked away when Michaela walked over, took her arm. “Don’t you touch me.”
“Do that again, we’ll be adding resisting arrest. It’s already a long list.”
Charlotte rose, tossed back her hair. “Fuck every one of you fucking Sullivans.”
Rosemary closed her eyes when Michaela escorted Charlotte upstairs. “A pathetic exit line for a pathetic human being. Aidan, I’m so very sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I loved her. I looked the other way so many times because I loved her. Because she gave me Cate. Her own child, she did this to her own child. I need some air. I just want to step outside, is that all right?”
Red gave him a nod. “Sure.”
“What happens now?” Hugh asked as Aidan went out the front door.
“Now we find Grant Sparks and Frank Denby.”
“You said you had them . . .” With a shake of his head, Hugh let out a short laugh. “You lied. Well done.”
“It’s going to take some time to sort all this out. I’ll probably need to talk to all of you again, and to Cate. What I’ll say, right now, is it’s not all that likely Ms. Dupont’s going to make bail anytime soon. What I expect, after she settles some, and if she hires a decent lawyer, is her to work for a deal. That she’ll probably get.”
“I should’ve told Mr. Hugh about Mr. Sparks.”
“Don’t you blame yourself for that, for any of it.” Maureen got up, walked over to hug Nina. “Come on with me. I’m going to get those scratches cleaned and treated. Rabid cat scratches are nasty.”
“Will they let me stay with Catey?” Nina asked as Maureen led her out.
“I know my nephew. You’ve got a job for life.”
It didn’t take long for Michaela to bring a stone-faced Charlotte back down.
“We want to add attempted bribery of a police officer, Sheriff. She offered me ten thousand to let her go.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Figured it was coming. I had my phone on record. She’s cuffed as she didn’t like hearing no.”
“Let’s load her up. I’ll be in touch,” he told the others. “If any of you have any questions, you know how to reach me.”
When the door closed behind them, Hugh brushed his mother’s shoulder. “I’m going to go back so Lily knows to bring Cate in.”
“Yes, do that. Aidan’s going to need Cate, Cate’s going to need Aidan. And they’re both going to need all of us.”
He bent down to kiss the top of her head. “Sullivans stick together. That includes you, Harry.”
“She was never one of us.”
A quiet man with quiet ways, he unfolded himself from the chair to go sit by his mother-in-law. She patted his hand.
“You never liked her much, did you, Harry?”
“I never liked her at all, but Aidan loved her. You can’t choose family, Rosemary my own. I just got lucky with the bulk of mine. There now.”
He put an arm around her when Rosemary turned her face to his shoulder and finally wept.
Aidan walked off the sick, walked off at least the top notes of his rage. For Cate’s sake, he reminded himself as he kept walking, kept breathing in the cool, salty air, for her sake he had to find his calm, find his steady.
But beneath it, that rage lived, a feral animal that craved blood. He feared it would live and crave forever.
And under that, even under the snarling and pacing of that beast, lay the shattered pieces of his heart.
He’d loved Charlotte with all of that heart.
How could he have not seen? How could he have not known the grasping, selfish, immoral woman beneath the facade? Even, he had to admit, when that facade had thinned and he’d gotten glimpses, he’d dismissed them.
He’d loved her, trusted her. He’d made a child with her, and she’d risked that child, used that child, betrayed that child.
He would never forgive her for it. He’d never forgive himself.
But when he went back inside, he’d coated on layers of that calm and steady. Coated them thick so they couldn’t crack—not even when he went in through the back and saw Cate burrowed against his father.
His eyes met Hugh’s over Cate’s head.
“I think Cate and I need to talk.”
“Sure you do.” Hugh drew Cate back, smiled at her. “Everything’s going to be all right. All right can take a little time, but we’ll get there.”
He gave her a last squeeze, then left them alone.
> “How about we sit and talk in the library? Just you and me?”
When he held out a hand, she took it with such unquestioning trust, his heart broke just a little more.
Because he wanted privacy for both of them, he took her the long way around, through the formal dining room, past the conservatory, around what they called the music room, and into the library.
Its windows faced the hills, the gardens, gave glimpses of a little orchard. They, with the pale winter sun drifting in, offered a quieter view than the roll of sea. Under a coffered ceiling of mocha and cream, shelves of books, of bound scripts, lined the walls. The chestnut floor gleamed under an Aubusson carpet of elegantly faded greens and roses. He knew his grandmother sometimes sat at the antique library table shipped from Dublin to write actual letters and notes.
He pulled the double pocket doors shut, guided Cate to the big leather sofa. Before he sat, he lit the fire.
Then he sat beside her, took her face in his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“Daddy—”
“I have to say this, then I’ll listen to whatever you need to say. I’m so sorry, Catey, my Cate. I didn’t keep you safe, I didn’t protect you. You’re everything to me, and I promise you I won’t ever fail you again.”
“You didn’t. She—”
“But I did. Never again. Nothing and no one is as important to me as you. Nothing and no one ever will be.” He kissed her forehead, and found saying the words to her helped settle him.
“I knew it was her when I was in that room. She told me where to hide. She took me there and showed me, so I knew. But only inside because . . .”
“She’s your mother.”
“Why doesn’t she love me?”
“I don’t know. But I do, Cate.”
“Does . . . does she have to live with us?”
“No, and she won’t. Ever.” It carved at him again, the shaky breath of relief his little girl let out.
“Do we have to live where we did? I don’t want to go back there anymore, and live where she did. I don’t—”
“Then we won’t. I think, for now, we could live with Grandpa and G-Lil. Until we find a place for just you and me.”
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