Evil Secrets Trilogy Boxed Set

by Vickie McKeehan

  Baylee tried in vain to get his hands down. “Daddy, what happened to my mother? Tell me. Did she leave on her own? She left, didn’t she? Please tell me where she went.”

  William screamed, “Stop it. Get out of here. No one asked you to come here.” He looked accusingly over at Tanya. “She called you. I didn’t ask you to come here.”

  Baylee felt angry and confused. But she did as he asked and left the room, shaken.

  Outside in the hallway, Dylan stood holding Sarah. He’d been standing at the doorway listening to William’s tirade.

  “Did you hear that? Did you hear him talk to me like that?”

  “He’s sick, Baylee. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.” But Dylan thought it sounded like a man haunted by his own guilt.

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand why he’s so mean. Why does he have to be that way? He’s dying, Dylan, and I can’t do anything to stop it. There may not be time for me to get the answers I want. But I think he’s definitely acting responsible about something.”

  Dylan did his best to comfort her, to try and make her feel better about her father’s odd behavior. It wasn’t everyday your dying father made you feel small. But then again, Baylee seemed almost used to his caustic manner. In the back of his mind, Dylan thought William Scott acted like a very troubled man who needed to get a giant weight off his chest―the sooner the better.

  Around the corner from William Scott’s house, Cade sat in his Corvette relaying the information from his cell phone to Connor. “We hit pay dirt. She’s here with the guy. Looks like they’ve got a baby, too.”

  So it was true. Baylee was a mother. The man he’d spoken to on the phone hadn’t been lying about waking up the baby. “Boy or girl? How old?”

  “I don’t know a fucking thing about kids, much less a baby; the thing’s little, that’s all I know. The guy was carrying it around in one of those baby things, those carriers, so I couldn’t see it very well.”

  “Did you get his license plate number?”

  “I’m not stupid, Connor. Of course I did.” He rattled off the plate number on Dylan’s Mercedes G500 while Connor wrote it down.

  “I’ll get my buddy at the DMV to run the plate. What’s the guy look like?”

  Cade described Dylan to a tee.

  “Good job, Cade.”

  “What’s this about you moving into Kit’s old house?” Dylan asked, as he stood at the sink in the kitchen and poured spaghetti into a colander to drain while Baylee stood a few feet away at the stove stirring the homemade marinara sauce she’d thrown together.

  “I need to start thinking about the future, my future, and Sarah’s, start putting down roots. Kit’s house is that first step. I need to get my jewelry design business back on track, so I can bring in a stable income. I’ve decided to take advantage of this downtime to launch a website so I can sell my jewelry online.”

  “You have a jewelry business?”

  “See, it’s invisible. Since I left L.A. it doesn’t exist any place but in my head. Yes, I design jewelry. I do have a degree in art, and I decided about four years ago to turn my love of art into creating wearable jewelry.”

  “Sounds reasonable. Got any samples?”

  “A few. I’ve almost exhausted my inventory, though.” She went into a detailed account of how she’d had a successful booth at the local flea market, selling her jewelry there on the weekends up until the time she’d left. But over the past six months, she hadn’t designed one new piece.

  “But that’s going to change,” she promised emphatically, and realized for the first time in a long time, she actually meant it.

  After dinner, while Baylee got Sarah ready for bed, Dylan booted up his laptop, instantly digging up info about childhood immunizations. There were sites that touted the benefits, as well as sites that warned about the risks. And the risks were plentiful. There were sites that linked the vaccines to autism, seizures, abnormal breathing, high fevers; the list to Dylan seemed endless and scary.

  But there were also plenty of websites that linked autism to the chemicals and toxins in the environment. It was a tough call to make, and a serious one. In the end, as Dylan sat there bombarded by both sides of the issue, his thoughts went to Baylee and how incredible it was that she had done her research, without a support system, and come to the best decision for her daughter, alone.

  She’d had no one to lean on, no one to discuss the matter with in a partnership sort of way.

  That fact moved something inside Dylan. The woman was incredible. There was no other word to describe her. He thought of what a difficult job she had as a single mom and didn’t envy the responsibility, the weight of it all. He came from a pretty ordinary middle-class family from the Bay area. But it had been a two-parent proposition. He’d never once over the years realized how lucky he had been to have both of his parents around—until now.

  As he sat there contemplating his own youth, he decided to check his e-mail. As soon as he accessed his account, one e-mail with the subject line Baylee, immediately got his attention. Double-clicking it, he read:

  Boyd knows where you live. He wants Baylee dead. Be careful.

  The e-mail had Dylan grabbing his cell phone and dialing Jake. As soon as Jake picked up, he told him about the e-mail and then said, “If this guy’s legit, I have to take Baylee and Sarah and hit the road, get the hell out of here. I’ve changed my mind about her staying put. I think she needs to get out of L.A. for good.”

  Jake realized he couldn’t stop the train of thought. But he muddied the picture when he told Dylan the equally bizarre account of what had happened that morning at the Book & Bean and the fact that their mystery man had e-mailed him as well. Much like Dylan, he felt like he needed to get Kit away from L.A. for good, but would she go?

  “I think the guy’s for real. He even left one of those gold cowboys at the store so we’d know he’s the same guy who shot Collin and took care of Auslo and Taft before saving Kit. The guy’s a regular Superman.”

  But Dylan wasn’t yet ready to get on the guy’s fan list. “So this hit man plants a bomb and he goes in and saves the day―again? Aren’t you nervous? Kit knows what he looks like. How does this guy know when to show up? How does he know all this? Who does that? What’s in it for him?”

  “Of course I’m nervous. But Kit thinks he’s looking out for her, and now it sounds like he’s looking out for Baylee. She thinks it’s because he doesn’t like the Boyds or has some kind of grudge against them, probably because of the Parkers. He obviously knows about Collin’s obsession, knows Collin doesn’t want us to testify against him, and he’s decided we’re the good guys. Now, he’s warning you about Connor. But what I don’t get is why Connor wants Baylee dead? That’s the other thing I don’t understand.”

  “What’s the statute on rape? Obviously, he thinks she could still burn him for some reason and he’s worried.”

  “Either that or he’s just a sick bastard right along with his brother.”

  “I vote for sick bastard. What should I do, Jake? I need to get her out of town. But where? Where will she be safe?”

  “Will she want to leave her father? You forget he hasn’t got that long to live.”

  Shit, thought Dylan, one more complication. “See, that’s the thing; I’m not sure about anything.”

  “Hey, if you can convince Baylee to leave town, will you take Kit with you?”

  “So you’re saying I might not get her to budge at all,” he muttered almost to himself as he tried to formulate a battle plan.

  “Hey, I’m right there with you. I couldn’t even get Kit to leave the store while I played bomb squad this morning.”

  “I’ve got to let Baylee know. This isn’t exactly turning out the way I’d planned.”

  “You had a plan?”

  “Look, I thought Connor would see us together and just leave us alone, leave her alone, go on with his life. End of stalker story. I didn’t count on him wanting her dead. This was about not let
ting him know about Sarah, not Baylee’s demise. I didn’t count on him following us to her father’s house. No, that isn’t true. He didn’t follow us. He must have been staking the place out this afternoon and I delivered her on a platter. Damn. That means I walked right into his net. He saw the baby. I got careless, Jake.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. If he saw anything, he saw a couple with a baby. That’s it. I’m wondering how I can get Kit out of town, someplace safe. You want to bring them and stay at Crandall House?”

  “Too much ground to cover. And they probably already know you’ve bought the place; they’re just waiting for the moving truck to pull up. After all, you’re already basically living there. I hate to break it to you, but Collin probably already knows.”

  That didn’t make Jake feel any better. It did, however, cement his decision. But Dylan was too wound up.

  “No, I need some place that’s fortified, somewhat secure.” At that moment, Dylan’s e-mailed dinged signaling he had mail. “Wait a minute, looks like he sent a follow up.” He double-clicked the message and read:

  If you need a safe house for Baylee and the baby, take her to 12261 Contreras Court, Palos Verdes. Key’s under the mat.

  Dylan repeated the e-mail to Jake. “Okay, this is getting weird. Is he listening? It sounds like he has my house bugged. A safe house, is he kidding? This is a joke, right? This guy expects me to take Baylee to some house in the middle of the night on his say-so alone. He must be crazy as a crack addict. I’m not letting Baylee anywhere near this place on his word alone. I don’t trust this guy.”

  “I’ll call Jordan again, tell him we need help.”

  “Call me back.” Dylan hung up the phone but continued to pace back and forth in front of the computer until he looked up to see Baylee standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, hugging herself, watching, listening.”

  “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Connor knows where we are.”

  “Uh, then you heard everything.”

  “Pretty much. Connor must have been parked in the neighborhood waiting for us. Let’s see the e-mail.” Baylee walked over to the laptop, read the follow-up e-mail about the safe house and then the first one he’d sent in warning. “Who is this guy?”

  “Gotta be Kit’s hero. Somehow he’s keeping track of the Boyds and it’s like he’s listening to us.”

  “That’s freaky. Why does Connor want me dead, Dylan? I haven’t made trouble for him. I did like he wanted. I didn’t go to the police, didn’t tell anyone and yet, he wants me dead.”

  “He’s a sick bastard that’s all there is to it. Pack a bag. We aren’t staying here tonight. Just in case this guy knows what he’s talking about, I’m not sitting here waiting for the bastard to make his move in the middle of the night.”

  “So Sarah and I are on the run again.”

  “All three of us are.”

  Baylee looked at him then. Drawing in a deep breath, she stepped over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You don’t have to do this, Dylan. He could just as easy kill you to get to me. I don’t want you hurt.”

  “That’s why we’re running like rabbits in the middle of the night, getting off his radar for a while. But I’m in this Baylee, one way or another. I promise you I won’t let him near you or Sarah. I’m just not sure where we should go.”

  “That’s perhaps the sweetest promise anyone’s ever made to me. As to where to go, an idea came to me while you were on the phone. My father has a place on Catalina Island, actually it’s Avalon. We could stay there for a while. I need to call Tanya, let her know where she can reach me.”

  “Not if there’s a chance anyone at BBG&G would know about the house. Is there?”

  “I don’t think so. When I was younger we’d spend the whole month of July there. A few times Kit and Quinn came along. As far as I know, the Boyds never knew we stayed there. I even considered going there when I left L.A. The only reason I didn’t was because the island’s fairly remote. They only have a twelve-bed hospital. For a first-time mother-to-be, for a first-time delivery, that was a little too small for my peace of mind. Even though the island has a healthy tourist trade, there’s less than four thousand people living there year-round, and I didn’t want complete solitude. Plus, I needed to be able to go where I could find a decent job. Blair assured me I would be able to get a good doctor, get a good enough job in Denver, so that’s where I ended up. But Catalina is almost an afterthought, strictly a tourist destination most of the time.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll go.” He picked up the phone to let Jake know their destination. “I need the Sea Warrior. If you can talk Kit into closing up the Book & Bean for a couple of days, you’re both welcome to join us.”

  “Look, I need a favor, Dylan. And I haven’t even talked to Kit about it. I need you to babysit Kit for a few days.”

  “Then meet me at the boat. We’ll talk there. Two can play this cat-and-mouse game.”

  “Gotcha. Shouldn’t we synchronize our watches or something?”

  “Was that a joke, Boston? You pick a helluva time to get a sense of humor. You’re a regular riot, you know that?”

  On Jake’s end, Kit had been listening to the entire conversation. She also had sensed all evening there was something he didn’t want to tell her, talk about. And she still wasn’t happy knowing he’d kept the e-mail their mystery man had sent to him about Claire to himself. She decided the best approach should be the direct one. As soon as he hung up the phone, she pounced. “Okay, what’s up?”

  With her arms folded across her chest, Kit looked at him like she wanted information. He assumed it was about the conversation he’d just had with Dylan.

  So he told her about the e-mail sent to Dylan and that Dylan and Baylee planned on leaving town tonight.

  She cocked her head to one side and waited for him to look at her. When he seemed to ignore her, she pushed the issue. “And?”

  He finally looked at her, shrugged, and said, “I want you to go with them, close the store, and just go for a few days.”

  “And where will you be while I’m safe and sound hiding out with Baylee.”

  “Meeting with St. John to go over everything he has in his files about Claire’s murder. Reese convinced him to meet with us. The meeting’s tomorrow. I was planning to drop you off at Dylan’s anyway. But now that we suspect Connor knows how to find Baylee, that isn’t an option.”

  “Jake, when will you stop keeping things from me? You have to share. I knew something was bothering you all day. Why can’t I go with you? I want to be there if for no other reason than to show my support.”

  When backed into a corner with her, he did the only sensible thing he could. He pled ignorance. “I’m new at this couple stuff, okay? I’m used to keeping things inside, not sharing what’s going on. And this, this is so personal for me, something I’d very much like to close once and for all. Plus, I don’t want you there reminding St. John that you were his primary suspect in Alana’s murder. It’s too risky to think about you walking into that police station where St. John might give you a hard time about Alana’s murder. Even though Reese will be there, I don’t want to chance St. John taking out his itchy trigger finger and doing something stupid.”

  “Like arresting me? But it’s okay for you to go in there? What if…?”

  He put his fingers to her lips. “He won’t arrest me, Kit. Trust me.”

  “You know something, don’t you?”

  “He has DNA. He’s always had it. Claire fought the guy. I just know she did. It isn’t mine. I wasn’t even there until after midnight that night. But I saw the room where she died, where she fought.”

  “Okay, I’ll go with Baylee and Dylan. But call me the minute you walk out of there.”

  CHAPTER 17 Book 2

  Ninety minutes later, they met up with Dylan and Baylee at the San Madrid harbor in front of the Sea Warrior, the French-built, fifty-foot sloop that would take them to Catalina.

/>   Dylan and Jake immediately started loading the boat with supplies they’d brought for the trip. Kit and Baylee unloaded the gear from the car and set it on the dock, waiting for the guys to lug it onto the boat, including most of Sarah’s baby items. Jake took one look at the haul of stuff and said, “Jesus, there’s a lot to this baby thing.”

  “You have no idea. If you’re planning on getting Kit pregnant anytime soon, we need to have a serious discussion about doctor’s visits and immunizations. You just won’t believe what they do to the kid after it gets here.”

  In spite of the lateness of the hour, Baylee and Kit couldn’t help but keep an eye out for anyone that might be watching them from a distance. Even though the harbor was relatively deserted and the place quiet, they were both aware that the day could have turned out much worse.

  Baylee took Kit’s hand. “On the drive up, Dylan told me about the bomb. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

  “You and Sarah might have been there too. If that man, that stranger hadn’t intervened, Jake and I might be collateral damage. Ka-Plewie! Blown to pieces!” Trying to lighten the stress of that idea, with a twinkle in her eye, Kit deadpanned, “Jake’s dumping me.”

  Baylee gave her a hard stare, not buying it for a minute, before Kit added, “Dumping me on you guys, that is. He wants his freedom for a couple of days.” When Baylee still didn’t react to the lame attempt at humor, Kit said, “You’re a tough sell tonight, Baylee.” She then told her about Jake’s plans to go see St. John.