“Mmmhmmm,” I murmured, lost in my own thoughts.
“I don’t think I have enough pennies for everything going on in that head of yours,” he commented, catching me off guard.
“Sorry,” I answered automatically. “I wasn’t expecting to find him here.”
“It does seem strange.”
“Everything about this is strange,” I replied, frowning.
“We’ll solve it. We always do.”
His use of we cheered me up and I gave him a smile. “We do, don’t we?”
“Yep, but let’s make sure you don’t wind up in the hospital this go around.” His tone was joking but his expression was dead serious and I forced back my natural inclination to laugh. My tendency to need medical attention was a touchy subject.
“Deal,” I said instead. “It’s your turn after all.”
That did cause him to laugh, and Wade glanced over his shoulder curiously.
“We’re just debating who goes to the hospital solving this murder mystery,” I shouted to him and he rolled his eyes. “Really, he has no sense of humor.”
“It is a little morbid, Addie.”
When we got back to the cabin, I explained what had happened and they all seemed equally perplexed at Duke’s behavior.
“It’s just strange he shows up now,” Connor repeated as he paced. “That’s too much of a coincidence for me.”
“Who’s to say this is the first time he’s showed up?” Danny commented, relaxed in a muscle t-shirt and shorts. I couldn’t help but notice Carly checking him out as he lounged in one of the chairs. Danny had been surprisingly distant toward her since he’d arrived, and I wanted to know why. Something was going on in that head of his and knowing him it was wrong.
“Danny’s right,” I told them, coming back to the conversation. “It’s not the first time he’s come back here looking for answers, but he’s about as welcome here as an accused murderer would be.”
Jake nodded, remembering the tight lipped frowns we’d encountered at the gas station in town. “They’re not friendly to outsiders. Something your uncle wouldn’t have been as a kid, but time changed that.”
“We need to find out more. We’re missing two key players. Men who could have had a reason for killing Summer,” I insisted, remembering my own flash of intuition. “In fact, I think the man on the porch was her father.”
“What is with the families around here?” Connor burst out to our amusement, and Jake checked that Connor’s question didn’t have an adverse effect on me.
“Nothing like family to mess you up royally,” I noted, thinking of my own desire to right my father’s wrongs, and the bitterness Duke still harbored.
“I hate to interrupt the powwow, but we need to go to the grocery store,” Jules mentioned, a piece of paper in her hand. “Our supplies weren’t meant to feed this many and the way you guys eat we’ll be out of food by tomorrow.”
“Hey, we’re growing boys,” Connor said, flexing his bicep.
“Oh, you’re growing alright,” she said, patting his flat stomach.
“Not funny.”
“I don’t know about that,” Wade snorted, rubbing his own six pack abs. “Marriage makes you soft.”
“Oh, is that a challenge? Cause I’ll show you who’s soft!”
“Boys.” Jules didn’t bother to raise her voice, but still they stopped immediately. “We need food and if you’d rather wrestle over your workout routines, then that means you don’t need to eat.”
“Sorry.”
“Yeah, we like food.”
“I’m sure Addie has snacks stashed in her luggage,” Connor offered, singling me out. I did actually have snacks in my room, but I wasn’t sharing. Those were my emergency reserves.
“Or we could just go to the store,” Jake interceded. “It’ll be a good opportunity to feel out the locals. See if anyone’s willing to talk or remembers anything.”
“Oh, I’m sure they remember. It’s whether they talk or not.”
Jake glanced at me and I knew what he was going to say before he said it, but in this instance it worked in my favor.
“Addie, I think you should stay here. Just in case.”
“I agree, but you should take Wade,” I mentioned, gesturing to him as I spoke. “He would be the most help, I think.”
Wade groaned but got up from his seat. “Gee, thanks, Addie. You’re a doll.”
“Anytime, Wade.” I punched him on the shoulder, making sure I didn’t hit him full on. I’d made that mistake in the past and thought I’d broken my hand.
“I’ll go and help Jules get the groceries while y’all talk up the townsfolk,” Carly offered, standing gracefully.
“Alright, that leaves Connor, Danny and Addie here.” Jake eyed us and I gave him an innocent smile. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, no doubt wondering why I’d agreed so readily, but we all had our ways of finding information out. “Try to stay out of trouble, you three.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Connor mocked as Danny gave him a lazy salute. I pecked him on the cheek and said, “Have fun.”
A few minutes later they were gone and the three of us were sitting around. Connor was poking his stomach and sucking in to Danny’s amusement.
“Not as tight as you’d like, man?”
Connor frowned and I laughed.
“I can’t afford to get soft,” he muttered, wiping his shirt off. Danny shielded his eyes as he told him, “I don’t need you flashing me, dude.”
I noticed the scar tissue marring his back where he’d taken a bullet not long after I’d met him. He’d come close to dying then and wore the scar with pride, lamenting that it was on his back and therefore always covered up. ‘Because scars were chick magnets,’ to his mind.
“Maybe you should get a workout in,” I suggested as subtly as possible.
“That’s not a bad idea.” Connor jumped on the idea immediately to my joy, and headed to the front of the house where they’d already set up a pull up bar so they could determine who could do the most. Wade had won, to their dismay.
“You wanted to talk to me?” Danny asked dryly, not for one second fooled by my mechanics.
“Since you mentioned it, yes.” I smiled and he looked wary.
“Why are you avoiding Carly?”
“Who says I’m avoiding her?” He asked automatically and winced as he realized what he’d done.
“Ha, I knew it. So why?” It was slightly frustrating that I didn’t know the answers to questions I asked myself, on the rare occasion I had found answers that way but it usually involved someone answering me and not my gift.
“Look, maybe it’s time to let it go. She’s not interested and my life is,” he struggled to find a term to describe the current status of his life so I chimed in helpfully.
“A cluster fuck?”
“Yes, for lack of a better answer. She doesn’t need a guy like me.”
“Bullshit.”
Danny frowned at my answer, and pulled out his lighter. The quick snap and rasp was soothing even to me as he flipped open the lighter and ran his finger over the flint.
“You don’t get to decide what she needs or doesn’t need. Don’t make that mistake, Danny. She is interested and your sudden lack of interest might be working in your favor.” I smiled at his look of consternation.
“Woman….I will never understand them,” he finally muttered.
“Me either,” I agreed, clasping my hands. “But that doesn’t mean you throw in the towel. You’ve got lots of possibilities.”
“Such as?” Danny drawled, daring me, but also showing me. I blinked as the knowledge consolidated in my brain, the full potential of what we could do startling me.
“Addie,” his worried tone sliced through my musings as he scrambled across the room toward me. “I don’t need to be on Jake’s bad side for some stupid question.”
“It wasn’t a stupid question,” I informed him with a grin. I grabbed his shoulders and attempted to shake him, bu
t his solid bulk didn’t budge. “In fact, you are brilliant.”
“I am?”
“You are.” I grinned gleefully at his suddenly wary face. “You are going to join me and Wade in a new business venture.”
“I don’t know.”
“I do and you will and it’ll be perfect.” Possibilities whirled through my head, effectively distracting me from my original purpose. “We’ll be like private detectives. Paranormal detectives!”
“I’m not…” he started and I cut him off.
“You’re the next best thing. You’re not a cop and you don’t want to be, but you understand the criminal mind. You can blend in. It’s exactly what we need.”
“Thanks?”
I nodded happily, contemplating everything we could accomplish. Getting Wade on board would be the hardest thing, but I had a feeling he’d come around.
“You’ll never convince Jake,” Danny interrupted, bringing me back to earth.
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, but back to your problem.”
“I don’t have a problem. You have a problem with my decision.”
“Yes, because it’s wrong.”
“Addie.” I heard the warning in his voice and promptly ignored it.
“Danny, you can’t give up.” He sighed, and locked his hands behind his head as I worked on convincing him. “She cares about you. Wade proved that. And I know she does. Women’s intuition,” I added sagely.
“Huh, you can actually claim that?”
“Yes, and lucky for you I won’t hold that comment against you. Look, all I’m saying is that if you have feelings for Carly, don’t walk away. You’ll regret it. No matter how inadequate you feel right now,” I commented to his immediate irritation.
“I’m not inadequate! In any way,” he retorted hotly.
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You did.”
“No, I didn’t, besides your inadequacy isn’t the point.” A low growl meet my words but I rolled over it. “It’s what you do about it. And you’re worthy of her love. She deserves a guy like you.”
He snorted sharply and said, “I thought she was your best friend?”
“It’s a bit of a tossup between her and Connor, but they have unique traits,” I answered seriously, his question prompting me to actually consider it. “And I’m serious. I can’t imagine a better guy for her than you. So don’t give up.” I nodded, happy I’d made my point, and he looked like he was considering my words and I figured that was the best I was going to get.
“Now,” I started to his dismay.
“I don’t even want to know.”
“Too bad. Duke.”
“Your uncle.”
“The one and only.” I thought about it for a second and the fact that I’d only just learned of his existence a couple weeks before. “I think. Who knows, there might be others.”
Danny chuckled at my answer, but I was serious.
“Anyway, I need to know more about him. His disappearing act worries me, not that I feel like admitting that fact to Carly.”
“Understandable.”
“But I don’t know if a question and answer session will work either.”
“Because he’s familiar with your gift.”
“Yes, and no. I suspect my gift is different than my dad’s was. Maybe more advanced. He could probably dodge questions and I’d need to be asked the right ones to learn about him. I want more concrete methods.”
“So you come to the criminal,” Danny surmised, a small smile on his lips to my relief.
“Yeah,” I admitted a little sheepishly.
“So, you want to go around the law to find out more about him.” I nodded and he leaned forward. “If you know where he’s staying then I’d start there.”
“Breaking and entering.”
He nodded and studied me. “That would go against everything Jake stands for, you know.”
“Yep,” I agreed. I needed to know though. My gut told me Duke was a guy miscast as the villain in what should have been a love story, but I also wasn’t willing to risk anyone’s life on my gut feelings. Not anymore.
“I need to know.”
“I hear ya, but I can’t help you.”
My face must have reflected my confusion and I’d admit, disappointment. I had no idea how to go about breaking into someone’s home.
“I have a criminal past. Even for you, Addie, I draw the line at breaking and entering. I really don’t think Carly would date me if I was behind bars.”
“This is true,” I admitted, frowning at the sudden roadblock in my plans. I didn’t know when I’d have another opportunity to slip away without Jake wondering where I’d gone. It didn’t help that now Wade had some strange emotional attachment to me. And I wasn’t crazy enough to go by myself.
“Ha, somebody call me soft now! You could bounce a fucking quarter off these bad boys,” Connor crowed, patting his stomach as he wandered back in.
I smiled as I glanced over at him, and heard Danny choke back a laugh.
“Hey, Connor, you want to take a walk?”
Chapter Nine
“Nice time for a walk. Hundred degrees and ninety percent humidity,” Connor mused as he held a branch out of the way for me.
“Yeah, really gets the sweat flowing,” I answered, swiping my hand over my face to blot the sweat.
“Uh huh,” Connor murmured, not even trying to hide his suspicions.
“Connor, can you ask me a question?”
“Um, I don’t know,” he answered hesitantly. “It’s not something that’ll upset Jake…or Wade, is it?”
The answer to that question was swift and would have Connor turning us around immediately. “Of course not,” I lied, smiling up at him. He was still suspicious but too good natured to call me on it.
“Okay, what do you want me to ask?”
“Where is Duke Michaels right now?” I’d given careful consideration to what we were about to do, or as much as a person could in thirty minutes. If Duke was there then we’d abort, but if he wasn’t….
“Addie….” Connor wasn’t amused and with the frequency people had been saying my name lately in that tone, you’d think I’d be a little more cautious. “I think that might upset Jake.”
“But I assure it won’t,” I lied with zero impunity. “So ask.”
He didn’t want to, I could see that. He also glanced back toward our cabin, but I was determined.
“Con, you know you can trust me, right? We’ve been through a lot. I just want to learn more about my uncle. Is that so much to ask?”
“And we need to hike to do it?”
“Yes.” I grinned at him, hoping he would go along, because I didn’t have a plan B. Or was it plan C at this point?
“Where is Duke Michaels right now?”
I let out a little sigh of relief as I realized he was in town shopping. I chuckled at the thought of Carly accidentally running into him. I had no doubt she’d read him the riot act.
“Thank you, Connor,” I said in my best cajoling tone.
“Yeah, why do I have a feeling I’m going to regret this?” He grumbled under his breath and I winced. There was almost zero chance of him not regretting it.
It took a few minutes, but we made it to the cabin and I had the momentary worry that he wasn’t actually staying at this cabin.
“Connor, ask me where Duke Michaels is staying.”
He sighed, but asked without the round of questions this time. “Where is Duke Michaels staying?”
“Oh my gosh, he’s staying right here. How crazy is that?”
“What a coincidence,” Connor griped, not fooled for a second. “What are you planning, Addie?”
“I just wanted to take a look around.” I gave him an innocent smile which had no impact on his suspicious stare.
“Why do I have the feeling he’s not home?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I answered airily, sidestepping him as he reach
ed out to grab me. “I just want to get a feel for him.”
“By snooping around his cabin?”
“I’m not snooping,” I replied carefully as I peeked in a window. A frilly curtain blocked most of my view and I refrained from groaning in frustration. “I’m showing interest in a new family member.”
“Oh, so that’s what we’re calling this now? You do realize I’m an officer of the law, right? This would not reflect well on me.”
“Then I guess we better not get caught,” I replied with a smile as I twisted the doorknob I held. The breath I was holding released as it turned easily, the door swinging wide.
“ADDIE!”
I waved as I slipped inside and Connor ranted on the porch.
“This is breaking and entering, Addie. It’s against the law. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I thought I heard someone cry out for help,” I called over my shoulder, my eyes adjusting to the suddenly dim light.
“Anybody ever tell you you’re devious?” His voice was much closer and I saw he’d joined me inside, apparently giving up on yelling at me from the door.
“Once or twice,” I mentioned, looking around for anything that might belong to Duke. So far the place was pretty sterile, everything looking like it belonged to the cabin owner and not Duke. “You came inside.”
“Yes, if we’re going with someone cried for help it makes more sense for the cop to come in,” he told me irritably.
“You’re a good friend, Con.”
“The best,” he agreed quickly before casting me a curious glance. “You were planning on bringing Danny, weren’t you?”
Any denial on my part would be met with disbelief so I went ahead and admitted it.
“Yeah, but he refused.”
“Smart, he can’t afford a B&E charge.”
“That’s what he said.”
“So you decided I was the next best thing?”
“I figured you’d go along.”
“I’m not sure how to feel about that.”
“You should feel good. Let’s go with that.”
“I regret asking the question.”
Hidden Secrets (The Hidden Series Book 3) Page 11