No Safe Secret

by Fern Michaels

  Tanner wouldn’t worry about her yet. She’d done her duty, and with Kristen starting college in the fall, he really had no use for her. Other than someone to host dinner parties and occasionally have sex with, she was of no value. And she sure as hell had no use for him.

  She’d never been madly in love with him. Even in the very beginning, when their relationship went from employer/ employee to dating, he hadn’t caused any bells and whistles to go off. She remembered the first time she had slept with him. It had brought everything she’d tried to forget back, and in time, she’d learned enough to pretend she enjoyed it when he touched her. Now, the thought of his hands on her made her cringe with disgust. She’d sold herself to him all those years ago, and now she realized she’d been screwed, royally. Except for Kristen. It was worth it, for her daughter. But Kristen was older now, and Molly was taking a huge chance, going back to Blossom City. But she really had no other choice.

  She had to return before Tanner learned of her past. If it cast a shadow on his prized reputation, he would not let it slide. No, he would most likely beat her to death. So she’d take her chances in Blossom City.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Mustang’s interior smelled of new leather and pine, an air freshener courtesy of the storage company where she’d managed to store the old beater for more than twenty years. She’d had the interior redone, along with a new engine and a bright cherry-red paint job, years ago, all unbeknownst to Tanner. For now it was untraceable, and she hoped it stayed that way. While it didn’t have all the luxuries of her Mercedes, she found she actually liked driving the Mustang more. She’d had the air conditioner replaced but chose to roll the windows down and let the evening breeze blow through the car, snuffing out the fake pine smell.

  As she drove out of the city, it seemed appropriate that she was leaving in the same vehicle in which she’d arrived, though it was in much better condition. And she had a working radio and CD player this time around. She remembered the old radio, the AM/FM selections, and how she could only pick up WBLO, the local AM station in Blossom City, and even that had been sketchy at best.

  Once she was on the interstate, she relaxed a bit. She checked her watch and realized that Kristen would be arriving in Paris soon. She’d wanted to get farther away from Goldenhills before she stopped for the night, but she couldn’t. When Kristen called, she wanted to be settled in for the night, so they could talk. She’d spent the last hour coming up with a story and hoped that Kristen would believe her.

  She hated lying, but it really wasn’t a total lie when she thought about it. Molly had decided to tell Kristen that she was leaving for a few days because she needed time to think about her relationship with her father, and she’d refer to the fight she and Tanner had the night before Kristen left. As much as she hated to admit it, Molly was glad that Kristen wasn’t all that close to Tanner. She’d never been a daddy’s girl. From the very beginning, Kristen had been Molly’s daughter, and in her mind, Tanner was nothing more than a sperm donor, though she’d never voiced this to anyone, including Kristen.

  Seeing a huge sign for a hotel, Molly took the proper exit and made a few sharp turns before she found the hotel she’d chosen: All Traveler’s Inn. She’d never heard of it, and most likely it was privately owned, which to her meant no security, no cameras in the parking lot. She hoped. She parked away from the entrance and planned to try to hide her vehicle. A classic restored red Mustang would draw attention. For a second, she questioned her decision to take the car, but what the hell, it was what it was, and there was no turning back now. She was no longer that immature young girl who’d dared to escape her past; but really, was she any different now? It had taken a lot of courage to do what she had done when she was seventeen. No, she hadn’t been immature; she’d been smart. And afraid. And now she was stupid. Stupid to believe she could hide her past from Tanner, Kristen, and the twins, though she honestly didn’t care about the boys. They’d been so cruel to her, it was hard to remember a time when she’d loved them as much as she loved Kristen.

  She took the manila envelope and stuffed it inside her purse. She removed her baseball cap and let her hair down. She saw her reflection in the hotel’s glass door and decided she looked ridiculous. Inside, she saw a young man, probably in his early twenties, behind the counter. He appeared clean-cut, which was unusual these days, when strange body piercing and tattoos were the norm. He didn’t bother looking away from whatever held his attention as she approached the counter. She waited a few seconds, then cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she said.

  He jerked up and grinned. “Oh, sorry. I was about to defeat the King of Orion. What’s up?” He said this as though she knew exactly what he referred to, though she knew it had to be a game he was playing on his cell phone. She couldn’t help but smile. Kristen was addicted to Candy Crush, so she understood. Sort of.

  “I need a room for the night,” she stated in her best mom voice, hoping he didn’t hear the fear and uncertainty in it.

  “Sure thing.”

  He clicked a few keys on a keyboard, then asked to see her driver’s license. She reached inside her purse for the small square of plastic, took it out, and placed it on top of the counter.

  The boy repositioned the license so he could read the information. He never took his eyes away from the license as he typed her information into the computer.

  She’d known this day would come and tonight she was thankful that she’d prepared herself. Years ago when she moved in with Sarah, she had applied for and received a Massachusetts driver’s license as well as new license plates for the old Mustang. Throughout the years, whenever she received renewal notices, she’d trudged downtown to the Department of Motor Vehicles and paid the fees so everything was up to date.

  “Okay, ma’am, you’re in room . . .” He wrote the number on a small envelope containing the key card and slid the envelope across the counter so she could see her room number. Clerks were reluctant to say the room number out loud. She was thankful. You never knew who was listening, just waiting to pounce on you. “We have a free continental breakfast from six until ten if you’re interested. Checkout time is noon, so have a good night.” He pushed the key card toward her. She was a bit stunned at the use of her maiden name. It had been so long since she thought of herself as Maddy Carmichael. She thought of her trip all those years ago, and her stay at the Wilkins Motel in Georgia. She’d been terrified then.

  It’d been fairly easy to change her name once she realized she had to have proper documentation if she were truly going to change it. It had taken several trips to the library and hours of research. Though it was risky, she’d applied to the court to legally change her name. The process required publishing your intention to do so in a local newspaper. If there were no objections within a thirty-day period, then the name change became legal. She still used the same date of birth and social security number.

  When she first escaped, her real name had been published in the Fort Myers News Press as a missing person for the required thirty days, yet not a single soul had noticed. Her mother never read the paper, and Marcus, well, she wasn’t even sure if he could read. So she’d felt fairly confident when she’d changed her name that there would be no objections from her family. Even though she’d been Molly McCann for most of her life, she had never forgotten her birth name.

  Madeline “Maddy” Carmichael was going home.

  She took the key and returned to her car. Normally, she preferred hotels with inside entrances to the rooms, but tonight she wished for a room where she could come and go unnoticed, just in case. But it wasn’t to be, so she’d make the best of it. She looked at her watch as she pushed the elevator button for the second floor.

  The doors made a soft, swishing noise as they opened. She stepped off the elevator and quickly found Room 216.

  The room was typical, and the stink of stale cigarette smoke clung to the heavy fabric of the chairs. A sweet floral scent did little to mask the underlying odor. S
he pulled the comforter off the bed, placing it on the chair. Who knew what kind of germs it contained? She pulled the top sheet up, fanned it a bit, then looked to make sure the fitted sheet beneath it was clean. Seeing nothing suspicious, she sat down on the bed, where she dumped the contents of her purse on the starched white sheet, checking to make sure she had her phone where she could locate it the minute her daughter called. If she did not answer, Kristen would call her father, wondering where her mother was. No, she couldn’t let that happen. While the thought of lying to Kristen sickened her, she had to do what she could to protect her now.

  She leaned against the headboard, her thoughts returning to the phone call that had sent her running. Who could it be? And why now? Why not five years ago? Ten? Whoever knew this had to know of Tanner’s wealth, his status. Or was it possible that this mystery man didn’t care about money? Maybe he just wanted to frighten her; if so, mission accomplished. If it was anyone from her past, she knew that blackmail would be the motivating factor. Why hadn’t he asked her for money? Or did he simply want to drive her insane with worry?

  The timing was actually perfect. With Kristen leaving first for France and then shortly after for college, Molly’s life was bound to change anyway. She would have a lot of free time on her hands. She seriously had doubts that Holden or Graham had anything to do with this. They spent too much time focusing on getting high. And what about Holden’s raping Emily? It was impossible to think he would do something so vile, but she hadn’t thought Ricky Rourke or the rest of Marcus’s gang would resort to this sick behavior either, and she knew from firsthand experience that no one could be exempt from an accusation so vile. “Trust no one” was a motto she’d lived by most of her life.

  Her cell phone blasted with the loud cymbal tone that Kristen suggested she use, telling her this way she would know it was her.

  “Hey,” Molly said.

  “Mom, this place is so freaking unbelievable, I can’t believe I’m here.”

  Molly’s heart filled with relief. She was safe. For now. “You’ll get to use your French on the real deal now. How was the flight?”

  “Long, but Charlotte and I watched movies, and read, so it wasn’t that bad.”

  She’d never been to Europe, but maybe someday. She’d thought of Ireland in all its green glory. Maybe she would visit when she’d cleaned up the mess that was her life, but most likely she would be locked up, and travel would be the furthest thing from her mind.

  “Good. Kristen, I hate to bring this up now, but it’s important.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m taking a few days away from your father. That argument he and I had last night—”

  “—finally made you realize what an ass he is? And an abuser?” Kristen said. “Mom, you should leave him. It won’t hurt my feelings one little bit.”

  Kristen was making this too easy for her. “Your father has problems; we both know that. I just wanted to let you know. I don’t want you to call him or the boys until I’ve had a chance to think things through. Are you okay with that?”

  “Yeah, right, like I’d waste my minutes on them anyway. I’m not calling them, Mom, no way, so do whatever you need to do.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I understand. I didn’t bring my laptop, so we won’t be able to Skype, but you can FaceTime me if you want to.”

  “If I can, I will. There’ll be a few areas where cell coverage is crappy, but you know that, so if you don’t hear from me, don’t freak out. I promised to stay in touch, and I will. You have enough to worry about.”

  How did I get so lucky to have such a mature and intelligent daughter?

  “I won’t worry, but promise me you’ll be careful,” Molly said, missing her daughter already, and she hadn’t even been gone twenty-four hours.

  “All the rides are supervised, Mom. The barge is, too, remember?”

  “Of course I do, I wouldn’t have let you go otherwise. I’m still your mom, and it’s a mom thing,” Molly explained, smiling at her own words.

  “I know, and I promise to watch out for sexy French dudes, and women who smoke.” Kristen had told her smoking was all the rage in France.

  “I don’t think I need to worry about you smoking. I know how much you detest the smell. Now, when will you call again?”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “That’s perfect. Don’t worry about the time difference, just call when you can,” she added.

  “Be careful, Mom,” Kristen said, her tone serious.

  “I’m always careful,” Molly assured her. If Kristen only knew, and she would in time. But now was not the time to tell her. “I love you, sweetie.”

  “Ditto, Mom. Talk to you tomorrow,” Kristen said, then clicked off.

  Neither one was big on long phone conversations, so Molly didn’t expect to hear a day-by-day account of her bike and barge tour, but she needed to hear her voice just to make sure she was okay. She couldn’t even think about what she would do if anything happened to Kristen.

  She looked at the charge on her phone and checked the time. It wasn’t too late to hit a CVS or Rite Aid. She needed a charger, and she’d pick up a few snacks for the road. She was surprised that Tanner hadn’t called, but maybe after last night, he’d decided to give her some space. She doubted he was home because he would’ve noticed her car in the garage and tried to call her, or maybe he was doing that now. Maybe he was checking that stupid GPS tracker app that she hated so much. She looked at her phone again to make sure she’d deleted the app. It was gone. Let him figure that one out. He would go into a rage when he was unable to find her, then he would plan on what he would do to her when she returned. She knew him fairly well after almost twenty years of marriage, or so she liked to think, but still there were so many things from his past that he refused to talk about. The fire that killed his parents, Elaine’s accident.

  She had wanted to know about his mother and father after Kristen’s birth, but she soon learned that it was worse than pointless to ask. She often thought about Elaine during the first few years of their marriage, but again, after seeing how upset he became when she asked, she’d just stopped asking.

  An idea began to form, and she decided to act on it before she dismissed it. She crammed the manila envelope back in her purse, along with her cell phone. She put the baseball cap back on and quietly slipped out of her room and downstairs past the desk clerk without being noticed.

  Inside her car, she used her phone to Google the closest office-supply store. There was an Office Depot 1.3 miles from the hotel. She used the Google map to bring up directions. Five minutes later, she was parking the flashy red Mustang as close to the entrance as possible. She was really second-guessing her decision to use the Mustang. Right now, she needed to focus on one thing at a time. Inside the store, she took a shopping cart and cruised up and down two aisles before she located a phone charger for the hotel and one for the car. She also bought a throwaway phone, just in case. She grabbed a notebook and a pack of pens. At the front of the store, she saw several brands of laptop computers and quickly skimmed the stats and chose one that she was familiar with. She located a cheap case and grabbed three packages of flash drives. She didn’t even know if she needed them, but she didn’t want to make another purchase tonight. She pushed her cart to the front register and waited while the cashier asked the customer in front of her if she had an Office Depot savings card. Apparently she did, but she couldn’t locate it. Molly wanted to scream and tell her to hurry, but she knew that would just draw unwanted attention to herself, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

  “Here it is,” the woman said, holding up the card so the cashier could scan the bar code.

  Molly watched as the woman made a chore out of counting out the required amount of change. She swore that if she could have, she would have pushed her out of the way. She was being impatient, and that wasn’t like her. She took a deep breath and tried to slow her racing heart. Did she really believe Tanner would find her seventy mi
les out of Goldenhills in an Office Depot? The way her heart hammered, she actually considered it. What if he’d had her followed when she left the house today? No, he couldn’t have. She’d called a taxi and had actually checked to make sure she wasn’t being followed.

  “Ma’am?” the cashier said.

  Finally, she thought, as she placed her purchases on the counter. She left the laptop in the large box in the cart and positioned the box so the cashier could scan the bar code. “For thirty dollars you can purchase an extra year warranty.”

  “It’s okay, I don’t need it,” Molly said.

  “It’s only thirty dollars, ma’am. You really should consider buying it, just in case,” she said.

  In case what, Molly wanted to shout but didn’t. “I just want the computer. I don’t need the warranty.”

  “It’s your loss,” the cashier said. She was probably around her own age, but Molly wasn’t good at judging people’s ages. She herself looked much older than her thirty-eight years.

  “Then it will be my loss, okay?” she said in a smart-ass tone. What the hell? Did they get some sort of commission for selling the extended warranty?

  “Yep,” the clerk said as she scanned the rest of her items, tossing them carelessly into a plastic bag.

  Molly was really ticked at this woman. How dare she make a frigging issue out of something that was none of her business? Again, in different circumstances, she would’ve asked to see the manager, but she didn’t now as she couldn’t draw any unwanted attention to herself.

  “That will be seven hundred sixty-three dollars and fifty-five cents.”