by Marta Perry
“Well, anyway, that’s the short version of my childhood. But I got past it. People do. I just tend not to talk about it much.”
“You ended up smart, talented and successful in spite of it. Your father must be proud of you.”
That was certainly the last word he’d use to describe how he felt about her.
She shrugged. “I guess. We’re not close. I see him once a month for dinner, but it’s a pretty stilted affair.”
He wouldn’t understand a relationship in which a daughter got a migraine every time she was exposed to her father’s presence.
“End of story?” He raised his eyebrows, as if he knew there were things she wasn’t telling him.
“Pretty much.” She took a breath, feeling as if she’d unloaded a small share of her burden. “Thanks for listening.”
He wrapped both hands around hers, making her feel warmed and sheltered. “Anytime.” The words were soft, intimate.
Her heart lurched. Hadn’t she just been telling herself how dangerous it was to get this close to Seth? She glanced at the door. Someone could come bursting in at any moment to break this up, but all was quiet. She sought for something that would get them onto safer territory.
“I forgot to ask you last night. What happened with that private detective you thought was investigating you? Did you find out what that was about?”
He shook his head, apparently accepting the change of subject. “Dad still thinks it’s someone with a beef against the department.”
Seth sounded as if he’d brushed off the whole business. That was safer for her, certainly, but it showed how innocent he was when it came to dealing with someone like her father.
“So you never tried to talk to the man?”
“Sure I did.” His look seemed to ask what she took him for. “Brendan and I tracked him down at the motel where he’d been staying.”
It took an effort to speak naturally. “You talked to him, then.” Did he tell you anything that might lead to me?
“He’d already checked out by the time we got there.”
Relief swept over her. “So that was a dead end.”
“We had the name and address of his firm. Claire had found that out, so I called him.”
Maybe her relief had been premature. “What did he say?”
He shrugged. “He wouldn’t give me the time of day. Completely stonewalled me. So, short of going to Baltimore and beating the guy up, I guess we’ll never know.”
She felt her face freeze at his easy mention of the city. She’d forgotten that if he had the address, he’d know that. And know that she’d also been in Baltimore.
“Hey, don’t look like that. I wouldn’t really beat him up. I haven’t hit anyone since grade school, although Ryan sometimes gives me the urge.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.” Maybe it was better to bring the subject up herself than wait for him to do it. “I guess I didn’t realize the man was from Baltimore. That’s where I live, when I’m not traveling.”
“Yes. I know.” She felt his eyes on her face. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of this agency of his.”
“I’m afraid I’ve never had occasion to look into detective agencies. Nobody’s ever sued me for taking an unflattering photo. Or for failing to shovel my walk in winter.”
He nodded, seeming to accept her words at face value. “Well, I hope nobody’s planning to sue me. Seems like if I’d done something worth getting sued over, I’d know it.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. You’ll probably never hear about this man again.”
If her father kept his word, that should be true. The detective was out of the picture.
And she was supposed to take his place.
Her first effort to play at being a private detective was working out much more smoothly than she’d expected. She’d arrived at the new chrome-and-glass downtown building that housed the fire-department offices with very little expectation of success.
But when she’d told the information officer that she needed to do some fact-checking for her article, he’d readily given her all the access at his command. Apparently, having the chief’s approval for the magazine piece meant that all doors were open to her.
So she sat alone in the office he’d shown her to, a bland, beige square whose bulletin board held a poster for a fire-department picnic that had taken place in August, and a command that all department employees were to be up-to-date on the latest public-safety regulations.
The desktop computer was open to the department’s personnel files. She felt like a spy.
Still, if she didn’t get the information her father wanted, he was perfectly prepared to start another investigation. This time he’d hire someone who wouldn’t be so easily caught.
She glanced at the hallway beyond the open door. People walked back and forth across her line of vision, some of them men and women in uniform, others civilians.
Some instinct to hide what she was doing made her want to close the door. Bar it, for that matter, but that would only arouse suspicion where there’d been none. She had to act as if this were a perfectly honest, aboveboard operation, even though she felt like a sneak.
She started copying the relevant files to disk. That way she could get out of here quickly, before someone who knew the Flanagans spotted her and decided to mention it to one of them. She could take the files back to the hotel and go over them at leisure, deciding what to pass on to her father.
She frowned at the screen, a headache beginning to build behind her eyes. Some of the facts her father had asked for surprised her.
Why did he want detailed financial information on all the Flanagans, for instance? What difference did it make to anything that Joe Flanagan had borrowed money from his credit union thirty years ago to add on to his house?
Administering a trust wasn’t always an easy job, as she knew from handling the one their aunt had left to Lisa. If he was considering which person would do that best should something happen to Seth—
Her mind cringed away from the thought of a world without Seth in it. Each little piece she learned about him only made her admire him more. Respect him more. Love him more.
She massaged her temples, half wishing she could massage the memories away. How had she dropped her guard enough to tell Seth so much about her life? Oh, she’d tried to censor what she said, but the revealing thing was how much more she’d longed to say.
She didn’t do that. She’d learned through bitter experience that the daughter of a wealthy, prominent man was considered fair game. Her father had been casually cruel about her attempts at romance when he’d had to scotch the article a college boyfriend had tried to peddle to the tabloids.
She’d learned to keep up her defenses. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to have any where Seth was concerned. She clicked the command to copy his information, averting her eyes as if that would make her less culpable.
A footstep sounded behind her. The information officer, no doubt, come to see how she was doing.
“I’m almost finished.” She swung the chair around.
And saw Seth standing inside the door, looking at her with a mix of suspicion and anger in his eyes.
“What are you doing with my personnel records?”
Chapter Twelve
Julie’s heart seemed to slam against her ribs with every beat. It took her a moment just to start breathing again, and in that moment Seth had stepped inside and closed the door behind him, cutting off any possible retreat.
She’d seen that grim expression on his face before, when he’d fought the fire. When fire had been the enemy. Now she was the enemy.
“What are you doing with my personnel file?” he repeated, suspicion hardening his voice.
She tried to gather her scattered wits. “Research.” It had worked with the information officer, but she didn’t think it would work with Seth. “Why are you here? I thought you were off this afternoon.”
He took a step closer, so that he stood within
inches, frowning down at her. “Trying to bug them into assigning someone to take O’Malley’s place, not that it matters. What kind of research makes you snoop into my personnel file?”
“I’m not—” Somehow she didn’t think she could say convincingly that she wasn’t snooping. “I’m doing some fact-checking for my article, that’s all.”
His frown didn’t lighten. He wasn’t buying it.
“This is the kind of thing that private detective was trying to get. You’re working with him, aren’t you?”
“No.” She wasn’t, not really, but she was afraid skirting the truth wouldn’t help her now.
Seth planted one hand on the desk and leaned toward her. His golden brown eyes had gone hard, and all the easy friendliness was gone from his face.
“I’m finding it hard to believe that, Julie. You told me you didn’t know anything about that detective. That wasn’t true, was it?”
Her stomach gave a protesting lurch. It was all going to come out, and Seth would hate her. She clasped the chair arms, her hands rigid with strain.
“I didn’t know anything about him, not then. Not until afterward.”
“You know now.”
She couldn’t hide from this. She couldn’t run away.
“I know who hired him.” Her throat felt too parched for speech, but she forced the words out. “My father.” She couldn’t look at him. “Lisa’s father.”
He drew in a harsh breath. “Lisa—my wife, Lisa.” He said the words numbly, as if he’d heard but couldn’t comprehend.
She nodded, forcing herself to look at him. He looked as stunned as if she’d hit him with something. Maybe she had.
“Lisa was my half sister. We have the same father.”
He shook his head slowly. “You’re Lisa’s sister.”
“Seth, I—”
The office door opened, and the information officer poked his head in. “Hey, there, Seth.” He glanced at her. “Just checking to be sure you found everything you wanted.”
“Yes.” She forced herself to smile, forced her voice to hold steady. She’d gotten much more than she wanted, but it was probably just what she deserved.
“Anything else I can do for you?” He was relentlessly cheery.
“No, thanks.” She clicked out of the personnel program. “I’m all finished.”
He glanced from her to Seth, seemed to register that he wasn’t needed, and backed out with a wave.
“We can’t talk here.”
“No.” The shock was gone from his eyes now, replaced by anger and determination. “Not here, but we are going to talk.”
She tried to think. “I can meet you later.” Even an hour or so might give her time to marshal her thoughts and find a way to explain the unexplainable.
“Not later.” Seth’s voice was implacable. “Now.”
“All right.” She really didn’t have any bargaining space. “Where?”
“Your hotel.”
“No.” She didn’t have to think twice about not wanting to be closed in with him.
He shook his head, annoyed. “All right, then. The park, where we took Davy that day. We can have a private conversation there.”
She nodded. “My car is in the parking lot.”
“So is mine. I’ll follow you there.”
He obviously didn’t intend to let her out of his sight until he had the answers he wanted. Well, she couldn’t blame him for that.
She swept her things into her bag with icy fingers and got up. Seth held the door open for her, like a jailer ushering a prisoner from a cell to the court.
It took an effort to walk steadily past him, to feel him moving close behind her as she started down the hallway. Her mind scrambled this way and that, but she didn’t see any way out.
Seth wanted the truth, and this time nothing else would do. A shiver went down her spine. Telling him the truth would bring him into contact with her father, and she couldn’t begin to guess what trouble that might cause.
Seth stayed right on the bumper of Julie’s rental car through afternoon traffic. Horns blared when he cut someone off, but he ignored them. He wasn’t going to lose her now, not until he had some answers.
Actually, she didn’t seem to be trying to make a break for it. She drove cautiously, almost too cautiously, stopping for every yellow light.
All he wanted was to get there.
The silver rental car stopped at yet another light, and he slammed the steering wheel in frustration. The anger that pounded through him was foreign to him, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
He didn’t react that way. Ask anyone. He listened; he watched; he offered advice if asked for it. He tried to help. That’s who he was.
Not this time. This time it was personal. This time it involved his son. His heart lurched at the thought of Davy. He’d do anything, take on anyone, to protect his son.
Julie was Davy’s aunt. He tried to get his mind around that fact. Did that mean she had rights where Davy was concerned? He didn’t know, and he didn’t think he wanted to find out.
Her turn signal blinked, and she made the right onto Park Street. He followed her. In a moment they’d be there. He’d get answers. Why was she here? What about the private detective she claimed her father hired?
Why had she lied about who she was to all of them?
That was the bottom line. If Julie didn’t have anything to hide, why would she lie?
She pulled into a parking space, and he drew in right behind her. There’d be no sympathy or softness for Julie until she told him the truth.
She met him on the sidewalk, keeping a careful distance between them, and her eyes evaded his.
“Over there.” He gestured toward a bench under a maple tree. It was far enough from the play area that no one was likely to come near them.
Julie nodded and started across the grass. He strode along beside her. He’d hold his tongue until they were seated. He wanted to be able to see Julie’s face when she tried to talk her way out of this.
She sank to the bench as if with relief, and he sat down next to her, angling his body so that he faced her. So that he could study her.
Julie’s face was still pale against the soft blue shirt she wore under her suede jacket, but not as blanched as it had been in the office. He’d thought she was going to pass out for a moment there. She still bore lines of strain around her eyes that made her look older.
“Okay,” he said abruptly. He wasn’t going to start feeling sorry for her after what she’d done. “Let’s start at the beginning. Why did you come here?”
“I came because I’d found out my sister was dead.” She met his eyes then, something stiffening in her. “I know you have plenty of reason to be angry with me, but you share some of the blame. You didn’t even let me know that my sister had died.”
She’d gone on the offensive, and he hadn’t expected that. He had to slow down, take a breath, figure out how to deal with this.
“I didn’t let you know because I didn’t know who you were. I knew Lisa had a sister. I knew she was estranged from her family. That was it.”
“Lisa didn’t even tell you her family’s name?”
He heard the doubt in her voice. “She didn’t tell, and I didn’t ask.” Maybe he should have, but he’d never wanted to push on what was obviously a painful spot.
“You could have found us, if you’d wanted to.”
His anger spurted up again. “I could have, but I knew that wasn’t what Lisa wanted. She’d made her feelings quite clear. She never wanted to see any of you again.”
Julie winced as if he’d hit her, and he felt a flicker of shame. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so blunt, but she’d asked for it.
“You didn’t think that we should have been told of her death.” She said the words evenly, but he could hear pain beneath them.
He took a breath, shaking his head. “Okay, maybe I was letting my grief run things at first. My parents thought I should try to notify Lisa’s family, but
all I wanted to do was follow her wishes.”
Her mouth trembled, and she pressed her lips together. “I don’t know about my father, but I would have come.”
To Lisa’s funeral. The words were implied, but they brought back a flood of memories of that terrible day. Grief. Guilt. The emotions roiled through him again.
“That’s what I decided,” he said shortly. “Later, I figured if her family ever wanted anything to do with Lisa, they’d have shown up at some point. They never did. Until now.”
“Yes.” She looked down at her hands, the fingers twisting together in her lap.
“How did you find out?”
She glanced up, as if relieved at the question. “Our aunt had left some money in trust for Lisa, and I was the administrator. The fund was accumulating, and I wanted to find out what she wanted done with it.”
“She never spoke of it to me. She probably didn’t want it.”
“Maybe not, but it was my duty to take care of it for her. My search led me to the fact that my sister was dead. And that she’d left a child.”
“You hadn’t tried to reach her in years. Why should you suddenly care?”
She squeezed her eyes closed for an instant. “At the very least, because Davy is her son. He’s entitled to her share of the estate.”
His guard went up at the mention of Davy. “I don’t want any money from you.”
“It’s not mine, it’s Lisa’s. According to the terms of the trust, it reverts to Davy.”
“I still don’t want it. My son has everything he needs.”
“He’s my sister’s son, too.” Tears sparkled suddenly in her green eyes. “Can’t you understand that I wanted to see him?”
Presumably even the coldhearted family Lisa had described might want to see her son or shed a tear at her grave.
“Okay, I can accept that. But that doesn’t explain why you lied about who you are.”
“I just—” She stopped, seeming to gather her thoughts. “Look, I know you can’t understand. Lisa didn’t want anything to do with us for good reason. I thought if I told you who I was, you might refuse to talk with me. You might not let me see Davy.”