Deadly Secret

by Tara Thomas

  Breathing heavily, Knox pulled out and gathered her to his chest. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” His voice was heavy with concern.

  She gave him a tearful smile that she wasn’t sure alleviated his concern. “No,” she said, lifting a hand up to his face and cupping the side of his cheek. “You’re so perfect. So good. I love you so much.”

  He gave a sigh of contentment and pulled her to lay down beside him. In his arms, after what they just shared, she felt as if everything was right in her world. So much so, she was almost afraid to breathe, for fear that motion would disrupt the perfection of the moment.

  She snuggled into his embrace. Took a deep breath and inhaled the maleness of him, while finding comfort and safety in his arms. “Can we stay here forever?” She knew it wasn’t possible, but when she was in his arms, she could pretend the outside world didn’t exist. More importantly, there wasn’t anyone wanting to kill her.

  * * *

  Knox stood by Bea’s side the next morning when she called Alyssa and put the phone on speaker. He and Bea had stayed up late into the night making copies of the papers from the box. He felt as if they were making progress, he only wished the process would move quicker.

  Alyssa was intrigued when she called her. “You have information that suggests the Benedicts’ plane crash wasn’t an accident?”

  “That’s correct. We also believe it’s somehow connected to the threats I’ve received. We made copies of everything if you’d like to come by and pick them up.”

  “Of course,” she replied. “I’ll be by later this evening.”

  Bea told her that she’d see her soon and then hung up. All Knox could think about was how to tell his brothers his suspicions.

  “What’s the frown for?” Bea asked, coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around him.

  He sighed and reached up to take her hands. “Trying to figure out the best way to tell Kip and Keaton that Mom and Dad might have been murdered.”

  “You tell them the truth. Straight up. Lay out the facts.”

  He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “They’re probably having breakfast now. Want to go down with me?”

  “Sure, let me slip some clothes on.”

  She tried to take a step back, but he wouldn’t release her hands. “I can’t tell you how good it felt to have you in my arms all night. To love you again.” He turned around so they were facing each other. “How did you sleep?”

  “Better than I have since before the attack.”

  His lips curled up into a smile. “I guess that means we should make love every night from now on.”

  “I guess it does,” she said with a smile of her own.

  He contemplated kissing her again, but this time on the lips. However, he knew if he did, there was no guarantee they’d make it downstairs before his brothers left for the day. So he let her go with a sigh and a softly spoken, “Soon.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they made it to the dining room, though the air between them hummed with anticipation. Knox was disappointed to only find Keaton and Tilly seated at the table.

  “Where’s Kip?” Knox asked, sitting down and pouring a cup of coffee he passed to Bea.

  “He left before seven this morning,” Keaton said. “I’m not sure why. I didn’t talk to him. I was still in our room when he left.”

  “What’s up?” Tilly asked.

  Lena walked into the dining room with a plate of pancakes for both Knox and Bea. “Work for this family for fifty years, you’d think they’d have the decency to tell me when they got married. I’m only giving you breakfast so I can make sure you have enough strength to make babies.”

  “Good morning, Lena. Thank you for breakfast,” he said, knowing she was only half kidding.

  “Lots of babies,” Lena repeated. “And soon. Good morning, Ms. Bea. You take good care of my boy.”

  “I will,” Bea said with a soft smile. “Thank you.”

  The tiny woman gave them both a plate and then stood back appraising the two couples at the table. “You two boys have found some mighty fine women. No doubt your mama and daddy would be very happy.”

  Keaton took Tilly’s hand. “I know they would be.”

  “Now we just have to find a woman for Mr. Kip.” Lena finished with a nod of her head. “Lord help us all, but that one’s enough to send me to an early grave. No telling what kind of woman would make that boy settle down. No telling at all.”

  “Speaking of settling down,” Keaton said with a sly grin. “I know Knox wasn’t making any babies last night. I woke up at one thirty and someone was running the copy machine.”

  Knox met his brother’s grin with one of his own. Little punk didn’t know everything.

  Lena gave a grunt of disgust and turned to leave, but Knox held out his hand to stop her. “Wait, Lena. You should hear this, too. I wanted to tell everyone together, but I’m not sure when that would happen.”

  “Does this mean the boxes I brought over were helpful?” Tilly asked, the hope in her voice obvious.

  “Yes,” Knox said. “They might turn out to be extremely helpful.” He saw the hope flash in Tilly’s eyes, and hastily added, “Unfortunately, we haven’t found anything to exonerate your father.”

  “What did you find then?” Keaton asked.

  Knox reached under the table and took Bea’s hand, giving it a squeeze before answering. “We found information we believe suggests that Mom and Dad’s plane crash was not an accident.”

  Keaton’s fork dropped and clanked on his plate. Tilly’s hand flew to her mouth. Lena fell into the closest chair.

  “What was in those boxes?” Keaton asked no one in particular.

  “I don’t understand,” Tilly said. “Those boxes were Dad’s papers and he died long before Mr. and Mrs. Benedict.”

  Bea straightened up in her chair. “Someone, your mom if I had to guess, had gone through and added notes, moved things around so the important information would be easy to overlook. That sort of thing. Like she was afraid of someone.”

  “Last night, we made copies of everything and I called Alyssa this morning. She’s stopping by sometime today. I’d really like for everyone to be here, so we need to find Kip.”

  “I’m here,” Kipling said, walking into the room. “What did I miss?”

  * * *

  Late that afternoon, Jade looked at the huge house in front of her with unease. It had never been her intention to come to Benedict House, but she didn’t know where else to go. Bea hadn’t shown up at her law office the last few days and she wasn’t at her apartment. If she wasn’t here, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

  The day before, she’d seen a newspaper that said Knox Benedict had tried to kill her, but that didn’t make any sense at all. Especially since she knew it had to be The Gentleman who did it.

  The day before there had been security guards all over the place, but there weren’t any today. Probably because there weren’t any reporters hanging around. She hadn’t seen or heard the news in twelve hours. More than likely, the police no longer thought it was Knox who blew up that minister’s house.

  She felt winded just from walking to Benedict House. She was getting weak and that just meant she was in more danger than before.

  The problem was finding a place to sleep that wouldn’t be discovered by The Gentleman or his minions. As it was, she slept very lightly, waking up every few hours and moving to a different location for a few more hours of restless sleep.

  When she paired that with the meager amount of food she ate, she knew she wouldn’t survive much longer. Bea had to be at Benedict House. Jade wasn’t naïve enough to think the Benedicts would take her in for free and while she didn’t have a lot of material possessions, she had knowledge.

  Didn’t they say knowledge was power?

  Hell, forget power. She’d trade her knowledge for a hot meal and a place she could sleep for more than three hours.

  She didn’t want to ring the doorbell. She looked l
ike yesterday’s thrown-out garbage. No way would they let her in. But if she waited outside or, even better, could find Bea when she was alone in a room, maybe she could get in that way.

  Jade scurried to the side of the house she’d been in almost two months ago when she met the younger Benedict brother. There had been a rock she’d found to step on that let her glimpse the kitchen.

  Ah yes, there it was.

  She stepped onto it and rose to her toes.

  “You there! Freeze! Police!”

  Damn it. Damn it. Damn it all to hell. She recognized the female police officer who was always hanging around.

  Jade lifted her hands and turned around. The female officer had her gun aimed at her. She tried to tell herself it was nothing, standing in a strange yard with gun pointed at her. It didn’t work. It was scary as hell. Though not, some part of her reasoned, as bad as it would be if Tom held her at gunpoint. Odds were, the officer wouldn’t shoot her.

  “Who are you and what are you doing spying on the Benedicts?” the officer asked.

  Jade didn’t think she could convincingly pass herself off as a reporter, so she settled on the truth. “I’m looking for Bea. I’m one of her clients.”

  “Haven’t you heard of a phone?” The officer was still on guard, but at least she’d lowered her weapon.

  Jade stopped herself from rolling her eyes. “Do I look like I have a phone?”

  “You look like you’re trying to pull off a breaking and entering.”

  “I’m not. I just want to talk to Bea.”

  The officer relaxed a touch, probably sensing how weak Jade was. “Then you’re in luck, because she’s expecting me.” She mentioned with her hands. “Come on.”

  If the officer thought she was calling Jade’s bluff, she was in for a surprise. Even so, the woman kept her hand around her upper arm. Like she was going to run when she knew she’d have a gun pointed at her within seconds. Three months ago, she’d have bet money she could have given this cop the slip. Not now, though. Not with being as weak as she was.

  Jade had been in historic homes before. Heck, her room The Gentleman’s place was nice enough. But part of her couldn’t help but be amazed at the structure that was Benedict House.

  She didn’t know she was being obvious until the policewoman whispered, “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”

  Jade stiffened. “If you like uppity snooty homes.”

  The other woman laughed. “It’s more than the house that always strikes me. It’s the history. Do you know the original house was built here before the Revolutionary War? I mean, I know that’s nothing compared to places in Europe, but it’s old for America.”

  “Are you into history?”

  “A little. How can you live in Charleston and not be?” She flushed as if she’d revealed something she hadn’t planned on and rang the doorbell at a set of massive wooden doors they’d made it to.

  Jade thought it must be nice to be able to think about something other than where your next meal was coming from and if you’d be able to find a safe place to sleep that night. She almost told the police officer what she’d been thinking, but before she could, the door was opened by a petite woman she recognized as being involved in the standoff she’d witnessed.

  “Good evening, Officer Alyssa,” the tiny woman, who must be the housekeeper, said. “Come on in. They’re inside the library waiting for you.” She looked Jade up and down, and Jade braced herself for a sharp comment or look of disgust, but neither came. Instead she smiled pleasantly. “Will your guest be joining you? Or would she like to wait for you in the kitchen with me? I have some leftover pot roast.”

  At the mention of pot roast, Jade’s stomach growled loudly. Alyssa looked torn, recognizing perhaps, how hungry Jade was.

  Finally, she said, “She can come by the kitchen in a few minutes. She has to speak with Bea first.”

  The housekeeper nodded and led them down a light and airy hallway. At the end was another set of double doors. She pushed them open and motioned for Jade and Alyssa to walk through.

  Alyssa went first and Jade tagged along, expecting to see only Bea, but looked up to find five sets of eyes on her.

  Damn. She was screwed.

  CHAPTER 6

  Bea stood up at the sight of Jade walking in with Alyssa. The young woman looked worse than she had last time she saw her. Not only that, but she looked downright scared at the moment. Her eyes were big as she took in the vast room and the people in it. Though she had been thin the last time she saw her, she seemed to have lost more weight. Or maybe it was the look of utter exhaustion she had.

  “Jade,” Bea finally said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  Actually, now that she thought about it, she couldn’t think of a reason why Jade would be with a police officer. Bea glanced over to Alyssa and raised her eyebrow.

  “She said she was your client,” Alyssa said.

  “She is,” Bea confirmed. “But that doesn’t explain why she’s here.”

  “I pulled up and noticed a movement on the side of the house. I walked over to investigate and I saw her, standing and trying to look into a window. She said she was your client so I brought her in here to confirm that.”

  “Her name is not Jade,” Keaton said. “It’s Kaja. This is the woman who showed me the secret passage.” He reached down to take Tilly’s hand. “She helped save you.”

  “It is?” Alyssa said.

  She might have said something else, but Bea wasn’t paying any attention. Her focus was on Tilly and her expression of pure shock and anger.

  Keaton noticed it at the same time. “Tilly? What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  When Tilly finally spoke, her voice was edged with steel. “That’s because I don’t know her as Bea’s client or as the mystery woman who showed you the secret passage. Were you the person who pulled the fire alarm at the homeless shelter?”

  Jade didn’t hesitate before answering, “Yes.”

  “Did you know that as a result, a woman was kidnapped and has never been seen since?” Tilly asked, her normally warm voice now icy cold.

  Jade’s reply was softer this time, but she still answered, “Yes.” She looked up and no one could miss the brief flash of fire in her eyes. “Yes, that is all I have to say. I’m not here to explain myself to you. I came to talk to my lawyer.”

  Kipling stood and walked to stand by Jade and Alyssa. “I’m Kipling Benedict and since you’re on my property and in my house, you’re going to answer a few questions.”

  Jade stood poised like a rabbit, ready to run away at the slightest provocation. Kipling obviously sensed it, too.

  “I suggest you drop the idea of running away. This will go much better if you answer my questions.”

  His stare and tone had been known to frighten grown men, but Jade didn’t seem to mind the questions. She gave a nod in agreement.

  “What’s your name?” Kipling started with.

  She licked her lips. “Kaja Jade.”

  “Kaja Jade what?”

  “Kaja Jade Mann,” she replied, but she had hesitated before saying it.

  “I don’t believe you,” he said.

  Jade simply shrugged as if to say not my problem.

  “What were you doing at the side of my house?”

  “I told you, I’m a client of Bea’s. I came to see her.”

  “Why do you need an attorney?” Kipling asked. “And why her?”

  “That’s enough.” Bea stood up and shot Jade a glance. “You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to right now.”

  “The hell she doesn’t. She was snooping outside my house and has been in contact with members of my family.”

  “She’s my client and our relationship is privileged,” Bea said.

  “How long has she been your client?”

  Bea refused to confirm one way to the other. Kipling was a smart man, he knew how attorney-client privilege went. She wasn’t about to say anything about Jade, how lo
ng she’d been her lawyer, or her case. Especially with a Charleston police officer not ten feet away. She crossed her arms and gave him her best icy glare. It always worked in court.

  Bea cocked an eyebrow. “Circumstantial.”

  “Let’s not forget,” Kipling added, “she admitted that she was the person who pulled the fire alarm at the shelter that Keaton and Tilly were visiting. An alarm that might have been used to cover up the kidnapping of a woman who has never been found.”

  Knox jumped up. “Watch it, Kip. What are you inferring about my wife?”

  Knox and Kipling stood nearly toe to toe. So far, no one was taking a swing.

  Kipling took a deep breath. “I’m only saying, I understand the privileged relationship she has with this girl, and no, maybe she can’t tell me everything, but that doesn’t mean I have to willingly allow her to stay in my house.”

  Bea started to say something, but Jade cut her off. “No, he’s right. I shouldn’t be here, it’s not safe for you guys around me. I’ll leave. Right now. It’s just … can I.…” She closed her eyes and said in a rush, “Can I stop by the kitchen and eat? I won’t stay, but please … I’m so hungry.”

  Her sentence ended in a sob and there were tears running down her cheeks.

  Good Lord, how long had it been since she last ate? Bea looked at Alyssa, but the officer appeared as shocked as everyone else.

  Bea rushed to Jade’s side. “Come on, let’s go into the kitchen. We’ll find you something to eat.” She put her arm around Jade and turned to walk out of the room. Before she left, she shot Knox a look. Take care of your brother.

  * * *

  Knox watched as his wife half walked, half carried the thin young woman from the library. He didn’t miss the look she shot him as she left. Jade was her client and she’d made her choice to protect her. He wasn’t sure that was the smartest thing to do, especially considering everything Kipling had brought up. But while what his brother mentioned made sense, there wasn’t anything concrete in what he said.

  Or as Bea would say, “Circumstantial evidence and hearsay.” Besides, that woman didn’t look strong enough to hurt a flea.