"She's delusional, Mom, you know that."
"She said something about Molly. You didn't hurt Molly, did you?" Geralyn asked.
"Of course not," David said.
"You don't believe him, do you?" she asked Geralyn.
"I always believe my son."
"Go back to your room, Mom. Put on the headphones I gave you."
Geralyn hesitated. "Why do you have a gun?"
"To protect you," David said.
"Oh, you're so sweet."
"Don't leave, Geralyn," she said quickly. "It's clear you don't know that David is going to kill me. You can't let that happen."
Geralyn gave her a bewildered look. "You always make up the most incredible stories, Cassidy. You're such a troublemaker."
"I didn't make up Molly. She was in the house, and David molested her. He also killed Tommy, and Donald helped him cover it up. Don't you see who the real villain is? It's David."
"Mom, go to your room," David ordered. "Quan, help her."
Quan moved over to Geralyn's side and escorted her into the bedroom, leaving her alone with David.
"I'm not going to tell you anything," she said defiantly, facing him once more.
"Then you're going to die, and no one is ever going to find you, not even Hunter."
Her heart broke at the mention of Hunter. She was going to disappear on him again. But this time it wouldn't be her fault. Would that matter? It would still hurt him. He'd blame himself for not sticking close enough to her, even though she'd pushed him away.
"Hey, David," Quan said from the doorway. "You need to calm Geralyn down. She's getting agitated. She wants you."
"Fine. Watch Cassidy," he said, moving into the bedroom. "I'll take care of Mom."
She looked at Quan. "Why are you doing this?"
"Sit down, Cassidy." He pushed her toward a hard chair by the table. "Instead of asking questions, you better focus on telling David what he wants. Or you won't get out of this."
"Even if I tell him, I won't get out of this." She gave him a speculative look. "What's in it for you? You didn't hurt Molly. You didn't kill Tommy. You didn't do anything wrong—until now, did you?"
Twenty-Three
Hunter called Max after he'd crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge, wanting to be far enough away so that he wouldn't be persuaded to turn around and come back.
Without giving away where he'd gotten the information, he told Max that he thought it was possible David had a connection to Healdsburg, and he was going to check it out. Max, of course, did not want him to go on his own, but he promised that he would call in if he found any leads. Max agreed to do the same.
Although there was some traffic heading out of San Francisco, he made it to Healdsburg in under an hour, managing to avoid getting a speeding ticket as he pressed the needle toward ninety for most of the trip. It was past five when he rolled into the small downtown area. He'd checked the internet for a pie shop and since there was only one, aptly named Pie A La Mode, he headed there.
The café was located on the corner of a block filled with small boutique and tourist stores, as well as a bank, a post office, and a fast-food Mexican restaurant.
When he entered the restaurant, the smell of sugar, cinnamon, and apples almost overwhelmed him. There was a long counter with eight stools and about ten booths in the small diner-like restaurant. A waitress at the cash register was about eighteen. He didn’t think she was going to be of any help, but the woman behind the counter appeared to be in her fifties. Maybe she would remember David's mother.
He was a little afraid that he might have used up his luck. Finding Molly had been a remarkable occurrence. And now he was attempting to do the same thing. But it had to work. He had to find a clue to David's whereabouts; Cassidy's life was on the line, and there was no option for failure.
Moving over to the counter, he waited for the waitress to come over. She set down a water glass and gave him a tired smile. "Do you need a menu or are you just here for pie?"
He took a look at the display case of pies in front of him. "I'll take a slice of the apple." He thought she might be more receptive to questions if he was a paying customer.
"You got it. You want that with ice cream?"
"Just the pie is fine."
She sliced him a hefty piece and set it before him. "There you go."
"I was hoping you might also be able to help me."
"With what?" she asked warily.
"I'm looking for someone who used to work here about twenty years ago."
"Well, I've been here since I opened this place thirty years ago. My name is Regina."
"That's great."
"Who are you looking for?"
"A woman who had a little boy named David. He was probably about six at the time."
A spark lit her eyes. "David—with blond hair and blue eyes, a mischievous smile. I remember him."
"You do? And his mother?"
"Yes. Laura was a sweet thing, a single mom. She got sick and died. It was very sad. But David was lucky. His father came back into the picture and took him home with him."
"His father?" he echoed, suddenly wondering if David had been favored by the Faulkners, because there was an actual blood relationship. "Do you remember his name?"
"I don't remember. I'm sorry. Why are you asking?"
"I'm looking for David."
"Is he in trouble?"
He thought about how he wanted to answer that question and decided on a lie. "He's a friend, and I think he's in danger. I was hoping that you might remember where he lived with his mother, or if you know anything else about the mom's family… That might help me find him."
"David and his mother lived in a trailer park about a mile from here, but it was flooded about five years ago and torn down."
Disappointment ran through him. "Oh." He was stymied as to what to ask next. He'd hoped this lead would take him somewhere.
She gave him a thoughtful look. "You seem a little sad."
"Worried is what I am. I know David is somewhere around here; I just don't know where to look. Where do you think David's mom met David's father?"
"Oh, well, I know the answer to that. They met on the Fourth of July at the Riverview Lodge. She said she thought he was handsome and sophisticated. Later, she found out he was married. She didn't tell him she was pregnant, not until she got sick. To his credit, he came and got his boy. And for the first couple of years, he used to bring David back for a summer vacation. They'd stop in for pie and say hello, but then they stopped coming around. Goodness, I haven't thought of them in years."
"Is the lodge still around?" he asked, thinking the place might mean something to David.
"It went out of business two years ago, but it's still there. It's all boarded up."
"Can you tell me how to get there?"
"Sure, but I don't think you'll find David there."
He had no idea if he would, but a boarded-up old lodge seemed like the perfect place to keep Geralyn and Cassidy.
"Are you going to eat your pie?" she asked.
He took two quick bites, then pulled out his wallet and put a twenty on the table. "Thanks."
"I'll get you some change."
"Keep it."
"If you find David, tell him to come by and say hello. I'll make sure he gets a piece of my lemon meringue pie."
"I'll do that," he said, knowing that if he found David, the man was going to end up in no condition to say hello or have pie.
* * *
"Quan," Cassidy said, feeling a desperate need to take these moments while David was calming Geralyn to get into Quan's head, to force him to see that he was making a terrible mistake going along with David. "You didn't answer me before. You didn't tell me why you're doing this."
"I owe David."
"Why?"
"He was my protector. He saved my life."
"How? When?"
"When I was fourteen. A group of kids were beating the crap out of me until David stepped in.
After that, they left me alone. David told me as long as I was loyal to him, I'd be safe. So, I did what he said."
"That's why you backed up his lie about Molly. Did you know he molested her?"
"I don't think he did that. It had to have been Donald."
"Weren't you listening a minute ago? He admitted it, Quan."
"He didn't say that. He said Molly is going to say he did it. And we have to stop her. And we have to stop you."
"You don't have to do anything. You can let me go and walk away from this. David is the one who killed Tommy. David is the one who abused Molly. David is the one who wants to kill me."
"Killing Tommy was an accident. David didn't mean to do it. They were fighting. They shoved each other. Tommy hit his head."
She didn't know if that was the truth or just what David had told Quan. "How did you guys get Geralyn out of the hospital?"
"David hacked into the cameras. I put a little something in the guard's coffee, and then I took Geralyn out of there."
"Why? Why do all that for her?"
"Because she was the closest person I had to a mom, and David and I didn't want her to get charged for Tommy's death. She took care of us. We owe her."
She was beginning to see a common thread in Quan's reasoning. "You owe Geralyn. You owe David. What about what you owe Molly? Tommy? Me? None of us hurt you. We were your family, too."
"You hated all of us."
"Only because you all lied about Molly, and because I was scared of Donald. But you and me—we didn't have any problems."
"This is your fault, Cassidy. You didn't want to protect Geralyn. You wanted to talk to the cops. You wanted to find Molly and bring her back to life. All you have to do is tell David where she is. If you prove your loyalty to him, he'll protect you."
"Oh, Quan, that won't happen. As soon as he finds Molly, he'll kill me. And he'll kill her, and he'll probably kill you, because he can't leave anyone alive who knows the truth. But you and I can leave right now. You haven't done anything that you can't come back from. And if you don't want to come, just let me walk through the door."
For a second, she thought she was getting through to Quan, but then he jumped to his feet.
Turning her head, she saw David in the doorway, grinning with confidence. "You really thought that was going to work, Cassidy? Quan would never turn on me. Neither will Jada or Rhea. I have leverage on all of them."
As he spoke of the other kids, she wondered about Jeremiah. "What about Jeremiah? Did he try to run me off the road?"
"Yes, and he was unsuccessful. I made sure he knew of my disappointment."
"Were you responsible for his overdose? You know, he's not dead. He'll recover. He'll tell the truth."
"No, he won't. He tried to die so he wouldn't have to betray me. And if he does recover, he'll keep his mouth shut."
"I don’t understand the power you have over everyone."
"I was responsible for how they were treated, Cassidy. I made sure that those who were loyal got special privileges."
"How did you make sure of that? And why didn't Geralyn and Donald see what was going on?"
"My mother sees nothing. She's a sweet, dumb woman, who believed her husband when he told her he'd found a little boy who needed a home. She didn't question how much I looked like Donald. She didn't ask what happened to my parents. She didn't wonder why he found me at the Russian River. She just said they loved me so much, they were going to adopt me. I didn't know the truth until I was fifteen, that my benefactor was not just a kind man who once knew my mother; he was my biological father."
"What?" she asked in amazement. "Is that true?"
"Yes, it's true. Donald and my mother Laura had an affair. And when she got sick and couldn't take care of me anymore, she told him he had to take me, or she would tell his wife everything."
"How do you know that?"
"I found the letter she wrote him, begging him to do the right thing."
"So, your mother died, and he came and got you?"
"And passed me off to Geralyn as just another kid who needed help." Anger burned in his eyes.
She was beginning to realize where some of David's crazy behavior was coming from. "When you found out, you must have felt betrayed that he hadn't ever acknowledged that you were his real son."
"I was furious. But I quickly realized I had the golden ticket. He would do anything I wanted to keep me quiet. And I used that leverage to protect the other kids—as long as they were loyal to me, too."
"And when you abused Molly and killed Tommy, your father had to protect you. Donald helped you bury Tommy behind that wall, didn't he?"
"There you go. You put it all together. It doesn't matter. You're not going to be able to tell anyone."
"You mean you're not going to let me go if I tell you where Molly is?"
He stared back at her. "I think you know the answer to that."
"I do." She looked at Quan. "Don't you see? You've tied yourself to a murderer. He's not going to stop, and at some point, you're going to be expendable, too."
"You don't need to kill her," Quan said. "And how come you never told me Donald was your biological father?"
She was happy to hear Quan ask a question. It seemed like he might be coming out of his stupor.
A crash made them all turn their heads. Geralyn had come back into the room, and the broken mug at her feet matched the broken look in her eyes. "What did you just say, Quan?"
"Nothing," Quan murmured quickly, looking away from Geralyn.
"He asked David why he never told him that Donald was his biological father," she said to Geralyn.
"Shut up," David said, pointing the gun at her head. "She's lying again, Mom. Don't listen to her."
Geralyn's eyes seemed more alert now. "Donald—you…he laughed when people said you looked like him." She put a shaky hand to her mouth. "Oh, God, it's true. You are his son."
"Welcome to the party, Mom," David said cynically.
"Who—who was your mother?"
"She was a waitress at the Russian River."
"And you knew the whole time?"
"No, I found out when I was fifteen. You know why Dad never wanted you or anyone to go in the garage? It's because he had love letters in there."
Geralyn paled. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because then I would have lost my leverage with Dad. But it's going to be fine. I'm going to take care of you. You were good to me, and I'll be good to you. We'll go to another state. No one will ever find us. I have good cyber skills. I can make sure of that. Tommy's case will go unsolved, along with the others. Or maybe, someone else will take the fall."
"You killed Tommy?" Geralyn asked in surprise. "I thought it might have been Donald. He—he spent a lot of time in the garage alone—or maybe not alone, but he never wanted me to go in there. When the police said they found a body…well, what else could I think?"
Cassidy realized that Geralyn hadn't known anything about Tommy until the fire had revealed his body. Or maybe she'd suspected but had just been unwilling to ask any questions. Clearly, she'd been a little afraid of Donald.
"David killed Tommy," she repeated, wanting to make sure that information sunk into Geralyn's head. "He also abused Molly, the girl you said didn't exist."
Geralyn looked at her in confusion. "Not David. David wouldn't do that. He's a good boy."
"He did do it. Look at him; he's not denying it."
"Don't believe her. She's a liar. She always was," David said.
"This needs to stop," Quan said, inching toward the door. "This is messed up. I can't be a part of all this. I won't tell anyone but leave me out of it."
"No way," David said. "No one walks away from me."
As Quan reached for the doorknob, David shot him.
Geralyn screamed. Cassidy didn't know if she screamed, too, but there was ringing in her ears as shock ran through her.
Quan fell to the floor, blood coming out of his chest. David had shot him in the heart.
"I'll find Molly on my own," David said, turning to her.
She jumped to her feet.
"There's nowhere to run," he said with a laugh. "But give it a shot if you want."
"Stop," Geralyn said, moving in front of Cassidy in a shocking gesture of protection. "Don't kill her, David."
"You hate her. Why do you care?"
"I care about you," Geralyn said. "I don't want you to do this."
"Go to your room, Mom. You don't need to see this."
"This isn't how I raised you," Geralyn pleaded.
As David was distracted by Geralyn, Cassidy saw a movement by the door, the figure of a man, and she knew instantly it was Hunter.
Relief soared through her, followed by fear. Hunter wouldn't have a gun. If he came into the room, he'd get hurt.
She had to disable David before that happened. She moved around Geralyn, hoping to block David's view of the door.
"Stay where you are," David said, waving his gun. "Mom, go to your room."
"I can't let you do this, David. Please."
Geralyn's pleading voice drew David's attention, and Cassidy bolted forward, barreling her head into his chest, knocking him backward.
The gun went off as it flew out of his hands.
Then he turned on her with vicious anger, punching her in the face, throwing her onto her back and socking her in the gut.
As she tried to roll away from him, Hunter rushed into the room, pulling David off her, throwing him against the wall.
She scrambled to her feet, looking wildly around, wondering if Geralyn would come after her, but then she saw the woman sprawled on the floor, her eyes wide open in shock, blood coming out of her shoulder. When the gun had gone off, the bullet must have hit her.
Geralyn wasn't going to be a problem, but David was. She wanted to help Hunter but with her hands still tied behind her back, she didn't know what she could do.
In the end, she realized that David was no match for Hunter, who was clearly ready to kill David if need be. She'd never seen Hunter so violent, so filled with rage, so determined to protect her. He hit David again and again, fury driving his powerful punches.
When David finally crashed to the floor, blood coming out of his face and mouth, she said, "Stop, Hunter, he's done." While she wouldn't have mourned for one second over David's death, she didn't want Hunter to have to live with having killed a man.
Secrets We Keep Page 24