He wasn’t aware that he was frowning—but she was. “She’s bringing a date.”
Obviously a sore point, Frankie thought. “Is that unusual?”
“Just a little less usual than seeing Halley’s Comet streak across the sky,” he told her, then cutting through his own sarcasm, he said, “My mother doesn’t date. She hasn’t gone out with anyone since my father died and that was a long, long time ago.”
“Then you don’t like this guy?” Frankie guessed, trying to get a handle on the situation.
Luke felt that he had to give the man his due. “No, he’s likeable enough. I’ve met him a few times.”
In that case, Frankie didn’t understand why he felt he needed any moral support. “Okay, then what’s the problem?”
“She’s my mother,” Luke emphasized, as if that explained everything.
“Well, unless your name happens to be Oedipus, there shouldn’t be a problem. You should be happy for her,” she told him. And then Frankie suddenly stopped talking. She realized what Luke was up to. “I know what you’re doing, you know.”
He slanted a glance in her direction. “I’m driving to the party and confiding in you about my mother. Not exactly a big mystery,” he pointed out.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Frankie told him. “You’re trying to distract me by talking about your supposed difficulty in coming to terms with your mother going out with someone. This way, you figure I’ll get all caught up in your supposed situation and forget all about resisting going to this gathering.”
“Distract you?” he repeated innocently. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. That hadn’t even occurred to me.”
She laughed dryly. “Give it up, O’Bannon. Nobody is ever going to give you an award for an outstanding performance. They might, however, be tempted to throw rotten tomatoes.”
“For your information, I already got my award,” he informed her.
The man was fast on his feet. This was going to be good, Frankie thought.
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” he replied, then told her what his award was. “You smiled.”
Frankie instantly put on a serious face—although it wasn’t as easy as she’d thought.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did,” he contradicted. “Just for a minute there, I saw the corners of your mouth curve ever so slightly. That’s a smile in my book.”
She sighed. “Okay, I asked you this before, but you really didn’t answer me. Why does my smiling, my coming to this party, why does it matter so much to you?”
To Luke, it all made sense. “Because we work together, because you’re part of the team and because I don’t like seeing you unhappy.”
Frankie shook her head, although she was aware that he couldn’t see her since Luke was looking straight ahead at the road.
“That still doesn’t really answer my question.”
“Well, that’ll have to do,” Luke told her. “At least, for now. Because we’re here,” he announced, waving a hand toward the house beside the driveway he had just entered.
Chapter 15
“Are you sure it’s okay for you to park in the driveway like this?” Frankie asked a little uncertainly.
Granted, this was his uncle’s house, and O’Bannon should be aware whether or not it was okay to park in the man’s driveway, but it just didn’t seem right, in light of what she was looking at. There were cars and vans parked all up and down both sides of the block as far as the eye could see.
“Just how did you happen to score this plum spot?” she asked. “And aren’t you blocking whoever’s car is in the garage?”
Luke grinned. At least she didn’t have a sense of entitlement. “I mentioned to Uncle Andrew about, let’s call it your reluctance to mingle, so he told me to park my car in the driveway. That way you’ll have less distance to walk to the house and think about your getaway.”
Frankie stared at him as she got out of the vehicle. “You told your uncle that I didn’t want to come?”
He knew how to stay on her right side—by having her believe that she hadn’t been presented in a bad light. “What I told him was that you wanted to work on the case today. He was the chief of police for a number of years, and he found that to be an admirable mind-set. He also agreed with me that it’s important for you to unwind once in a while,” Luke added. “That’s when he told me to park my car in his driveway.”
She supposed she should be flattered that her presence mattered to her host—if Luke wasn’t making all this up. In any event, she felt guilty about the machinations that were involved. “This space should be for Valri. She’s the one who’s pregnant.”
Had Valri had a vote in this, he knew his cousin would have sided with his uncle. “She sits at her computer all day. I’m sure she appreciates the chance to stretch her legs a little. And don’t worry, that’s her husband’s car right over there,” he told her, pointing out the car parked just past the mailbox. “She didn’t have very far to walk.”
“And the rest of all those cars?” Frankie had to ask, indicating the vehicles that were parked in every available space.
Luke confirmed what she was already thinking. “Yes, they also belong to other members of the family.”
Frankie let out a long, low whistle. “Boy, the neighbors must love it when your uncle throws a party,” she commented as she followed Luke up the winding path to the front door of the house.
“He does have his neighbors over on other days to appease them, so I’d say that they don’t have much to complain about,” Luke told her.
“The man thinks of everything,” Frankie said with admiration.
“Pretty much,” he agreed. Luke knocked on the door before turning the knob and opening it.
“Shouldn’t we wait for someone to actually let us in?” Frankie asked. Invitation or not, she wasn’t comfortable about just waltzing in like this.
“Someone just did,” Luke told her with a grin. “Me.”
Before she could say anything about that not being what she meant, a tall, robust-looking man who appeared far too young and vital to be sporting silver-gray hair the way he was, came over to them wearing a warm, welcoming smile.
“So,” he said, addressing his words to Frankie, “you decided to come after all.” There was pleasure in his voice.
Frankie glanced toward the man who had brought her before saying, “It was decided for me.”
Andrew Cavanaugh nodded his head as he turned to Luke. “Honesty. I like that.”
“For some of us, it’s an acquired taste,” Luke told his uncle. He became a little more formal as he made the official introduction. “Francesca DeMarco, this is my uncle, Chief Andrew Cavanaugh.”
Andrew took her hand, enveloping it in both of his. “Do your friends call you Frankie?” he guessed intuitively.
She thought of Kristin, who had been her best friend. Kris had always called her Frankie.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Then welcome to my home, Frankie,” Andrew said to her warmly. “Make yourself at home. Luke can show you where everything is.”
Ordinarily, Frankie would have been tempted to say that she already knew where the door was, but remarkably, she found that her ever-present need to flee was dissipating.
She smiled up at the towering patriarch and said, “Thank you.” About to slip into the next room, Frankie suddenly stopped. She asked the host, “What is that wonderful smell?”
“Dinner,” Andrew replied with a mysterious twinkle in his eye. “If you need something to tide you over until it’s served, there are appetizers on several of the tables located just beyond the patio. Again, Luke can show you where they are.” A timer went off, commanding his attention, and Andrew looked toward the kitchen. “If you’ll ex
cuse me, I have something to baste.”
With that, he left them.
“He really does cook for all these people,” she marveled. Being part of the police department, she’d heard about the former chief’s cooking efforts, but she had more or less discounted the stories until now.
“What did you think, that it was just some urban legend?” Luke asked.
Putting a hand to the small of her back, he directed her through the house and the sprawling family room to the large sliding doors that led onto the patio.
“I thought it was just you Cavanaughs exaggerating,” Frankie confessed honestly.
“Cavanaughs never exaggerate,” he told her with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. And then he winked as he amended, “Well, maybe just a little—sometimes.”
Having guided her to the patio, Luke gestured toward the teak bar standing over to one side of the yard.
“Want something to drink? You can have a soft drink, beer or something with a little more muscle,” he told her, indicating a shelf that held several different alcohol bottles. “I know for a fact that that if you prefer flavored sparkling water, he’s also got bottles of that. The appetizers are right over there,” he concluded, pointing the tables out to her.
She was nothing if not overwhelmed. “Wow, your uncle certainly knows how to put out a spread.”
Luke laughed. It was obvious that her comment pleased him. Like the rest of his generation, he had a great deal of affection for the former chief of police. “That he certainly does.”
She turned toward Luke, still somewhat incredulous. “And you said he does this a lot?”
“Whenever he can get two or more family members together,” Luke told her. “The man really thrives on this.”
“But how can he afford to do all this?” she asked. In her estimation, all this food had to set the man back by a great deal.
“Oh, we all chip in,” Luke said as if it was the most natural thing. When he saw her opening her purse and begin digging for her wallet, Luke put his hand on hers to stop her. “By all I didn’t mean you,” he told her.
She couldn’t resist looking at him in shock.
“I thought you said that I was family.”
“Yes, but not paying family,” he informed her. “Don’t make me crazy, DeMarco. Just eat, drink and be merry.” He fixed her with a look. “That’s an order.”
The last part made her balk. She raised her chin like someone braced for a fight. “You’re not the boss of me,” Frankie informed him.
Luke fixed her with a look. “I’m the lead, remember?”
“On the case,” Frankie emphasized. “But we’re not on the case now, are we? We’re off duty. Isn’t that the whole point of this? To be off duty and unwind?”
He gave her a penetrating look that went right down to the bone. “You were on the debating team in college, weren’t you?”
Her response was to simply smile up at him.
“Hey, you got her to come. And she’s smiling. You’re more persuasive than I gave you credit for, O’Bannon.”
The comment came from White Hawk who came up from behind to join them. He was holding a tall glass of beer in one hand and the hand of a very pretty dark-haired woman in the other.
“DeMarco,” White Hawk said, turning to face Frankie. “This is my wife, Linda. Linda, this is DeMarco. She’s been working with us on that serial killer case we caught.”
The dark-eyed woman smiled at her. “Rick forgets that people have first names. Most of the time he just calls me Wife.”
Frankie looked at the tall man. “Rick?”
“That’s his first name,” Linda told her. “I gather he didn’t tell you himself.”
“He did. I’m just used to thinking of him as ‘White Hawk,’” Frankie confessed. Belatedly, she realized that she still hadn’t told the woman her own first name. “I’m Frankie—Francesca,” she amended.
Linda nodded “I like Frankie.” White Hawk’s wife put her hand out toward her. “It’s nice to meet you, Frankie.”
“Likewise,” Frankie told her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luke watching her with a self-satisfied look on his face that all but shouted Knew you’d like coming here.
White Hawk and his wife exchanged a few more words with them, then White Hawk saw someone he wanted to introduce to Linda and they excused themselves.
Frankie turned back to the buffet tables. She still hadn’t sampled anything from the various dishes spread out across three tables and she could feel her stomach tightening in anticipation.
“What looks good to you?” she asked Luke.
The word you shot through his mind with the speed of a bullet. That took him completely by surprise because it had surfaced so readily, like a first response to a word in a word-association game.
“O’Bannon?” She turned to look at him when he didn’t answer her question.
“Those are light,” Luke told her, pointing out the small stuffed mushrooms covered with melted cheddar cheese that were arranged in rows. “You don’t want to eat too much because you’ll want to leave room for the main course. That is always worth waiting for,” Luke assured her.
There were more and more people arriving now. Some, Frankie noted, stayed in the house, others came out into the yard, either for the appetizers, the beverages or the conversation.
In many cases, all three.
Before she knew it, the air became filled with fragments of different conversations and she found herself joining in.
It was hard not to.
The conversations were just that, conversations, not heated debates, not diehard opinions pitted against one another. Just people, talking, in a genial, welcoming atmosphere.
This was Malone’s on a large scale, Frankie realized. And she was part of this, part of the family of cops who were all sworn to uphold the law while protecting the lives of the citizens within their city.
She had to admit she felt a sense of pride.
Listening, participating, and getting caught up in the vast camaraderie that abounded in and out of the former chief of police’s house, Frankie felt good for the first time since she had stood over her cousin’s body.
Really good.
And happy.
When the realization struck her, riding on a lightning bolt, she slanted a glance at the man beside her. Luke. The man who had coaxed, cajoled and all but hog-tied her to get her here.
The moment their eyes met, she could swear that she almost heard what he was thinking: I told you so.
But to his credit, he didn’t say it out loud.
For that, she was grateful.
* * *
Halfway through the evening, she made her way to the woman who was the reason Aurora’s former police chief was throwing this particular party.
Despite the fact that everyone here knew that Valri was pregnant, as she approached Luke’s cousin, Frankie could only marvel at how really thin she looked.
“Congratulations,” she said the moment that Valri looked in her direction. “Are you excited about the baby?”
Valri nodded, her eyes sparkling. Frankie could swear that the other woman was actually glowing.
“Excited, terrified, thrilled, the whole gamut of emotions—mostly all at the same time,” Valri admitted.
Frankie dug into her oversize shoulder bag and finally found what she was fishing for.
“Here, I thought you might find this useful,” she said, handing Valri what was obviously a gift-wrapped paperback book.
“Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything, Frankie. Just having you here is more than gift enough,” she said. “I know how hard it was to get you to come,” Valri added, lowering her voice.
People always said things like that, that their presence was enough
of a gift, but Frankie thought that the other woman actually sounded as if she meant it. She was touched.
As Valri tore off the wrapping paper, exposing a book that covered everything that a new mother could expect to experience during the baby’s first twelve months, Frankie quickly explained, “I know there are lots of young parents in your family to turn to for advice, but sometimes it’s just good to see it in writing.” Then, in case she had overstepped her place, she added, “There’s a gift receipt inside the book in case you want to exchange it for something else.”
Frankie didn’t get a chance to finish because Valri had thrown her arms around her and was now hugging her—hard.
“Why would I want to exchange it? It’s a very thoughtful, not to mention very useful gift. I love it,” Valri declared. Finally releasing her, Valri said, “Thank you!”
“Don’t mention it,” Frankie replied, color entering her cheeks. “Really, don’t mention it.” Displays of gratitude embarrassed her. She never knew what to say in response.
Valri stepped back. Their eyes met and Valri mouthed, “Thank you,” again before turning away because she seemed to sense that Frankie actually preferred it that way.
“That was nice of you,” Luke said, coming up behind her.
Frankie’s heart slammed right against her chest and she whirled around. She’d thought that Luke was over by one of the buffet tables.
“Were you there the whole time?” It was almost an accusation. She hadn’t wanted him to witness her giving Valri her present.
“The whole time,” he confirmed.
“I didn’t see you or hear you come up behind me.” Why didn’t the man make some kind of noise? Other men made noise.
Luke merely smiled. He was getting a lot more of a kick out of her reaction than he thought he would.
“That’s what makes me such a good detective,” he told her, tongue-in-cheek. “I blend in.”
Frankie watched him dully. Blend in? Maybe here, she allowed, because there were so many good-looking men in the Cavanaugh family, but in general, in her opinion, there was absolutely nothing about Detective Luke Cavanaugh O’Bannon that allowed him to “blend in” with the average crowd.
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