by Judi Lind
He took another slug of his wine. “So what’s going on? The entire division is buzzing about some secret deal between you and that fed. Care to tell your old partner about it?”
She lowered her gaze and picked a pale thread off her dark skirt. She didn’t want to lie to Bob, but his tendency to run his mouth—especially after he’d had a few—left her no alternative.
Keeping her face averted, she murmured, “My business with Noah Bannister is personal. Some old unfinished stuff you’d rather not hear about.”
Wordlessly, Bob stood up and walked away. A moment later he reappeared carrying a newly filled wineglass. He took a sip. “Yeah, I heard you and the fed were old high school sweethearts or something. Didn’t quite understand why you guys held your love reunion in the chief’s office, though.”
Keely bit her lip; she wasn’t fooling Bob. Still, she’d given her word not to discuss the investigation. “You know the chief’s an old family friend, Bob. Noah’s known him forever, as well. He came for the funeral and stopped at the chief’s office to pay his respects. No big secret.”
He drained his glass and stood up. “I guess not. Erma said you guys stayed in his office over two hours. That’s a lot of respect, even for old friends.”
“Did I hear someone take my name in vain?” Erma Rodriguez’s cheery voice chirped.
“Hi, Erma!” Keely gushed, thankful for the diverting presence of the older woman.
Bob leaned over and pecked Keely on the cheek. “Catch you later, partner.”
“See you, Bob.”
Erma jerked a thumb toward his departing figure. “What’s up with him? He’s acting even more morose than usual.”
Again Keely felt compelled to stretch the truth to its outer bounds. “He’s still feeling blue over his latest marital mishap, I think.”
Erma nodded sagely. “The man has plenty to be upset about. I heard she’s popping for big-time alimony payments.”
“Alimony? They were only married a little over a year,” Keely protested.
“Maybe so. But the way I heard it, she’s claiming she gave up her career to be a full-time wifey, and now Bob should take care of her for life. I guess they don’t call it alimony anymore—the politically correct term is spousal support. Of course, in order to get any money, your spouse has to actually hold down a job. Unlike the snake I was married to.”
Feeling uneasy about engaging in a touchy subject, Keely shrugged. “I guess the judge will sort it all out.”
“Hmmph! More likely the lawyers will be the ones taking all the money home.”
The conversation was making Keely increasingly uncomfortable. Everyone knew that when Erma’s own long-term marriage ended in divorce, she was left with little more than the roof over her head and five kids to raise. In the intervening years, she’d never ceased grousing about the lawyers and the system stripping her of her rightful due.
Keely glanced around, looking for a plausible excuse to escape. She understood that most people didn’t know what to say at a funeral so they either said exactly the wrong thing, or completely ignored the subject; obviously Erma was opting for the latter.
“Keely!”
She looked up to see her father beckoning from the kitchen doorway. “Excuse me a minute, will you, Erma?”
“Sure, honey. You go on and help your father.”
Keely smiled and made her escape.
She found Mike Travers in the kitchen talking quietly with Noah. Her heart thumped double-time in automatic reaction to his striking presence.
“What’s up, Pop?” she asked quietly as she slipped an arm around her father’s painfully thin waist.
“I just heard that you two are going to be taking a vacation this week.”
She whirled and glared at Noah. “You had no right to tell my father about this assignment!”
Mike stepped between them. “He didn’t tell me. Lyle Kapinski told me off the record. I guess if he hadn’t confided in me, I’d just have been left to wonder when you disappeared for a week or so.”
Ignoring Noah, Keely reached for her father. Forcing cheer into her voice, she couldn’t hide the tremble in her hand as she patted her father’s thin arm. He was upset enough over Rosie’s death and his own illness; she couldn’t heap more worry on him. “I was going to tell you, but I didn’t have a chance.”
He shrugged off her hand. “What about in the kitchen today? Seems to me we were alone long enough for you to mention this.”
“I’m sorry, Pop. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“Well, I’m upset now. And what’d you mean about an assignment? Lyle gave me the impression that you two were going on a romantic cruise to try and iron out, you know, the past. I want to know what that has to do with an assignment?”
“I, uh, that is, we are going on a cruise. It’s part of an investigation Noah’s been involved with for quite some time and he asked me—”
“Don’t they have female agents in the Treasury Department, Noah?” Mike cut in.
Noah straightened up and stepped forward to join them. “Yes, sir, but Keely was more suited to…she had specialized knowledge about the case.”
Mike turned away from Noah and stared hard at his daughter. “This is about Rosie, isn’t it?”
She laid her head on his shoulder. “Now, Pop, don’t get yourself all worked up. We’re not at all sure that Rosie was involved in this case of Noah’s.” Raising her head, she glared over her father’s shoulder, daring Noah to dispute her words.
But Mike wasn’t buying her story. “You’re a lousy liar, Keely. I don’t know how you expect to go undercover when you can’t even tell a convincing fib to make an old man feel better. Now if it’s just that you don’t want to tell me about it—”
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she interrupted. “But the whole case would be compromised if word leaked. Not that I think you’d tell anyone, but I promised Chief Kapinski that—”
Mike pushed her back and held her at arm’s length. His eyes bright with anger, he said, “And you thought that included me? Your father? Hells bells, I guess I must be quite a blabbermouth if my own daughter doesn’t trust me!”
“Pop, it’s not like that.”
Unbending in his anger, he stalked to the doorway. “Have it your way. If you ever decide that I might have the right to know what happened to my youngest child, you know where to find me.”
He disappeared into the milling crowd in the dining room.
“Thanks a lot, Noah,” she muttered as she stared at her father’s retreating back.
“Hey, I’m not the one who leaked word of our assignment—your esteemed boss did. With your help, of course.”
She grabbed a glass out of the kitchen cabinet and filled it with tap water. Taking a long swallow, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “That was a slip of the tongue—not a deliberate leak.”
Noah shrugged. “Whatever you say. But if we’re going to have any chance at all of pulling this off, I’d suggest you watch what you say—even to your own family.”
He followed Mike’s path into the dining room, leaving Keely alone in the kitchen.
Suddenly she’d had enough. She didn’t want to go back into the front of the house and endure more stares and whispers. She didn’t want to face Noah’s scathing glances and her father’s hurt expression. Mike had a hot temper but he always cooled off quickly. Within an hour he’d be back to his old cantankerous self.
She would take longer to heal. Right now Keely didn’t want to hear any more departmental gossip, or be the source of more endless speculation. She wanted to be completely alone to sort out her confused feelings.
Grabbing her handbag out of the kitchen desk drawer, she slipped out the back door. Her own car was parked down the street and she hurried along the sidewalk before some well-meaning soul saw her and decided she needed company.
When she was only a few yards from her little red compact, she was startled and dismayed to see Dale Cabot leaning ag
ainst the fender.
“Dale! What are you doing out here alone? Everyone’s inside.”
“That’s why I’m outside. Crowds make me crazy.”
She smiled; at least he wasn’t going to be difficult. “Me too. I had to get some air.”
He nodded to the keys in her hand. “Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d take a drive. Roll down the windows and let the fresh air clean out the cobwebs.”
“Want some company?” He cocked his head and gazed at her, adoration shining in his eyes.
Shaking her head slowly, she took a hesitant step toward the driver’s-side door. “Thanks for the offer, but I’d really like to be alone. I’m sure you understand.”
He unfolded his long legs and stood with his hands pressed against his hipbones. “Yeah, I understand. I was good enough for company before Noah Bannister came back to town, but now you’d rather spend time alone in a barnyard than a few minutes with me.”
Keely’s temper snapped. She’d simply been through too much to allow him to indulge in any more self-pity at her expense. “Oh, Dale, knock it off! We had a few dates, that’s all. I thought we were friends. Please don’t make me change my mind.”
“I’m only trying to stop you from making a fool of yourself. Everybody knows Noah Bannister dumped you once. Mark my words, Keely, he’ll do it again.”
She yanked open her car door and slid behind the wheel. Tears of fury hovered beneath her lids.
Cab followed right behind and bent down, shouting through the window. “You can run away, but you know I’m right, Keely.”
She rolled down the window. “Cab, please don’t say another word. What happened between Noah and me doesn’t concern you in the slightest. You keep saying that you care about me. Well, if you did, you wouldn’t pick a fight on the day my sister is buried!”
Color washed from his face, and he became instantly contrite. “Jeez, Keely, I’m sorry. What a jerk.” He reached through the open window and grabbed her hand. “Don’t leave angry at me. Please. I…I just feel kind of, I don’t know, left out today. Please say you’ll forgive me.”
She felt the anger start to drain as she stared at him. His eyes were wide, and he was nervously gnawing his lower lip. Everyone was on edge, including herself. Maybe she was just taking all of her frustration out on poor Cab.
After all, she should have some empathy for his feelings. Noah dumped her once, totally devastating her. And, in a way, she’d dumped Cab. The least she could do was be a little sensitive to his feelings.
Pulling her hand from his grasp, she patted his forearm. “It’s okay, Cab. Really. I’m sorry I blew up at you. Friends?”
He stepped back from the car. “Yeah, friends. Go for your drive.”
She turned on the engine and waved as she pulled out.
Driving slowly past her father’s house, she felt that same sense of being left out that Cab had mentioned. Was it only loneliness? A sudden awareness of that empty place inside her that should be filled by a special man? The man she’d once thought was Noah Bannister.
When she paused at the stop sign on the corner, Keely glanced in the rearview mirror. Dale Cabot was still standing in the street, watching her departure.
She’d been so wrong once about Noah. Was she making another mistake by dismissing Cab so easily?
The memory of Noah’s slate gaze slowly raking over her was the only answer she needed. If she could still respond so quickly, so thoroughly, to Noah, she wasn’t ready for a relationship with anyone else.
Chapter Four
Deciding that a long numbing drive was exactly what she needed, Keely took Interstate 8 toward Arizona. She scarcely realized her direction until she saw the exit for Sunrise Highway and knew this had been her destination all along.
She pulled over and stared at the mountainside, now covered with dry summer brush. In the winter the peak was often dusted with snow and it had been a favorite spot of the Travers girls and the Bannister boys.
Rosie, in particular, had loved the snow.
Driving home, Keely wasn’t aware how long she had sat, saying her private goodbyes to her sister, but dusk was already creeping over the horizon when she pulled into the driveway.
Thank God, the worst day of my life is over. She sighed. The worst of her pain was subsiding, as well, but Keely felt isolated. And horribly empty.
Opening the trunk, she hauled out the purchases she’d made that morning for the cruise with Noah. Noah. Just sharing the same room with him at her father’s house had been disconcerting enough, though dozens of other people were there as insulation. She’d still felt his presence wrap around her like flannel sheets in winter. Soft, warm and easy to get used to.
But his sensual charm wouldn’t work its magic on her this time. Now she was older and sadly wiser. This time she’d handle Noah Bannister and her own emotions.
Her arms burdened with packages, Keely balanced her purse against the front doorframe while she rummaged for her key. Home. Never had her tiny cracker-box house looked more inviting. Dumping her packages on the bench near the front door, she let her purse slip from her fingers onto the floor and stepped out of her pumps.
So much had happened in the past few days, Keely felt as if she’d been strapped into a roller coaster and forced to ride over and over. Her mind and her emotions were still reeling.
Bone weary, she padded barefoot toward the kitchen, sorting through the mail and flipping on lights. Snagging a couple of bills and discarding the rest, her eye automatically went to her cat’s empty food dish. “Malcolm?”
For a moment she was worried when the overpam-pered and overfed feline didn’t waddle in for his evening kibble. Then Keely recalled asking her neighbor to scoop him up and keep him until she returned from Mexico.
Oh, if only she were going to Mexico for a long-deserved vacation. Instead of a sham honeymoon with Noah.
Even as the thought formed, it was quickly negated by the sudden thrill that pulsed in her heart. She put her hand to her chest to still the telltale thumping. She was hungry, that’s all. A little light-headed because she had skipped lunch.
Pouring herself a glass of ice tea, she opened the refrigerator to scan the meager contents. What was she going to fix for dinner? Something fast and fortifying. Other than a bagel slathered with cream cheese for breakfast, she hadn’t eaten another morsel all day.
Pulling out a few still-edible mushrooms and a stalk of only slightly wilted broccoli, she started throwing together a basic pasta primavera.
While waiting for the water to boil for her noodles, Keely went into the den to check her answering machine. The flashing display showed two messages. She punched the replay button.
“Hi, Keely. This is Dad. I, uh, just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your taking over for Todd and me. I wish I had your strength, honey. I’m sorry that I…I got in your face today about the…you know, the business.”
A sudden lump formed in her throat as she heard her father’s genuine sorrow for causing her more pain. In her adult life, her father had never raised his voice to her; it was only stress that had made him overreact today. She knew this phone call was his way of apologizing and she felt a warm surge of love for her taciturn parent.
She heard the faint embarrassment in his tone as the message continued. “Listen, honey, Noah and Todd are coming over for supper tonight. Why don’t you come, too? About six.” A long pause, as if her father were waiting for her answer, then, “Okay, I guess that’s it. Call me, honey.”
Keely ignored the invitation while she waited for the second message.
“Keely? Bob Craybill here. Hey, I didn’t get much chance to talk to you after the funeral. I guess I’d had a little too much to drink at your dad’s house.”
She smiled. This, too, was Bob’s way of apologizing for being so invasive and abrupt. After a pause, his voice continued, “So, uh, what’s going on? I got your memo and…hey, rumors are flying all over the place.”
&n
bsp; Her smile widened as she imagined Bob’s chagrin at being so close to the source of the latest gossip, yet not knowing any juicy details.
“Anyway, why don’t you give me a ring tonight? I’d really like to talk to you.”
I bet you would, she mused, not bothering to jot down his home number.
She was about to walk away when the phone rang, its shrill signal startling and intrusive in the quiet. For a moment she hesitated. The day had been too draining already; she wasn’t ready to deal with more awkward condolences.
Still, her years of training as a peace officer wouldn’t allow her to ignore the continued ringing. With a sigh of resignation, she lifted the receiver. “Hello?”
A heavy silence greeted her.
Raising her voice slightly, she tried again, “Hello? Is anyone there?”
Finally a male voice whispered in her ear, “Keely Travers? Did you have a rough day, Keely?”
“Who is this?” She cocked her head, trying without success to identify the voice. It had a muffled quality, as if the speaker were faraway.
His words, however, were startlingly clear. “I have a message for you, Keely Travers. It was too bad your sister couldn’t follow the program. She paid with her life. Don’t make the same mistake. This is the only warning you’ll get.”
She waited, breathlessly, for more, but a soft click was followed by the dial tone. Her caller had hung up.
She held on to the receiver and mentally replayed the brief conversation. Again. And again. Then, without thinking, she slammed the receiver into the cradle as if she could somehow smash away the ugly, whispered voice forever.
But she couldn’t erase the vile words from her mind. An ugly, icy fear started in the pit of her stomach and trickled through her veins. Who was this man? Had he issued a warning or a threat? Or both?