Missing the Stars: Chandler County

by Melissa Sinclair

  “I brought you here; I wouldn’t leave you behind.”

  “Well, it’s not that, it’s just…I thought maybe I said something that might have upset you, or at the very least, clued you in on where we could find JD.”

  “I don’t know where to find JD.”

  Her face fell slightly. Clearly, she’d been hopeful he had an idea where her brother might be, but he had no idea whatsoever. What he did know was that his disappearance and the fact that he had somehow managed to get a job on this farm were all too coincidental.

  “Oh, then that means I did say something to upset you and your brother?” Her eyes seemed sad, but with a tip of her head, she smiled wanly at him. “I can’t imagine what it might have been though. You told me I needed to work with you and I’m trying.”

  “Right. We did ask that of you.”

  He brushed past her into the living room where he approached the framed photograph of his parents on the mantle of the fireplace. Carefully, he picked it up and held it between his hands. His thumb stroked the picture of his mother. She was so beautiful; he had always thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. He had met many beautiful women in his life, but none held the same light his mother had.

  In fact, until that very day, he had never seen someone even come close, but Jessie was breathtaking in her own right, and she had a lot of that spunk he remembered his mother had. Which was probably why he felt so flummoxed around her. The same kind of spunk that had his father constantly shaking his head at his mother as he indulged her every whim. God, he missed them both. They were such good people. They had their faults—everyone did—but they loved each other and their two sons unconditionally. For a long time, he was furious they had died when so many bad people were allowed to live.

  “Are those your parents?” The voice behind him was tentative.

  “Yes.”

  “Where are they?” Cole sensed the hesitation in the question as if she didn’t feel comfortable asking but couldn’t stop herself from doing it anyway.

  “Dead.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, have they been gone long?”

  Placing the picture frame back on the mantle, he slowly turned to face her before answering. There was something off about her at that moment. Somehow, he was certain that she knew damn well the picture was his parents as well as how long they’d been gone, but he would play along. For now.

  “Fourteen years, one week and two days. To be exact.”

  Cole stood his ground as he watched the play of emotions cross her face. She was trying to hide her expression, but he knew the second she knew she’d been had—her face became pale enough the small spattering of freckles on her nose stood out in stark contrast to the rest of her skin. She looked like she had in the yard earlier as if she might tip over, only this time it wasn’t the lack of sugar that had her looking so shaky. It was the fact that his parents had apparently somehow been part of the same shooting her parents had been in, and he suspected she was surprised he’d figured it out so easily. Still, she held her ground and didn’t give an inch. Even though he could hear her swallow and sensed she was having a hard time holding his stare. Nevertheless, she held his gaze while taking a deep breath.

  “How did you figure it out?”

  7

  This could not be happening. There was no way she would have this kind of luck. The kind that would have her brother working for one of the sons of the Davenports? What kind of cruel twist of fate was this? When he’d told her he had found the job of his dreams, she’d been so happy until she found out the name of the farm owner. It was bad enough that Jessie lived with an insurmountable amount of guilt over the events of that spring day, but now that she had met Cole and Cooper Davenport, she didn’t know how she could get past it all.

  The scene that had unfolded in front of her on a sun-kissed sidewalk still haunted her dreams to this day, and she had built her adult life around that afternoon. It was clear to her that the Davenport sons had done the exact same thing.

  “If you’re referring to the fact that I figured out you damn well know who my parents are, then yes, I figured it out. How? Let’s just say you don’t have a whole lot of game when it comes to lying. At least not when you’re emotionally attached.”

  “Yes. It’s a bit of a weakness.” Actually, she was usually very good at hiding things. It was something she was hailed for at her job, but she was off her game since the moment she stepped foot in the house. Or maybe it was since the moment she’d realized she couldn’t find JD.

  “Then I gather it’s time you stop wasting our time and start being honest. Especially if you want to find JD before it’s too late, because I suspect he’s caught up in something, and I also believe you know what it is. The only thing I don’t know is why all the subterfuge? Why try to lead me off on a tangent?”

  “That isn’t what I was trying to do. Honestly, it wasn’t.”

  “Then indulge me and explain why.”

  She was thinking fast on her feet this time because he was right about there being a lot of subterfuge going on as he had put it. Jessie was a much better liar than he gave her credit for, but she needed him to think otherwise. At least for now, until she knew exactly what they were dealing with and if it really had anything to do with her parents or herself. It wasn’t like she was delusional. She was already pretty sure she knew the answer to who was behind JD’s disappearance, but she couldn’t risk telling Cole or Coop. Not yet. Not if it meant their lives would be in danger, too.

  “Before I go further, I need to make sure this room is safe to talk in.”

  “Give me a minute.” He left and returned with some equipment. “I should have done this sooner; let me sweep the room for bugs. I also have an audio jammer, to err on the side of caution.”

  Jessie waited patiently while he swept the house and got everything ready. Once he gave her the go-ahead, she began to speak, choosing her words carefully.

  “I will admit to knowing who your parents are and the fact that they were part of what happened that afternoon. When JD started working here, I checked out the farm. Rest assured that it was completely innocent on his end.”

  “He had no idea who we are?”

  “I didn’t say that. I said it was innocent on his end. He told me he was here to find out more about you and your brother. I guess he wanted to make sure you were both doing okay. There’s a lot of guilt on both our ends for what happened that day. JD fell in love with this area, with the horses and soon became good friends with Coop. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for your brother.”

  “Why didn’t he just tell him who he was? And why is it that when I did the background check on him, nothing came up on you or him?”

  She’d known he would do a background check on JD. She’d kept tabs on the brothers, but now wasn’t the time to get into why she had done so. Fortunately, she didn’t really have to lie to answer his question.

  “I think I told you when my parents died, they were undercover and that they were in the middle of a very important and dangerous case?”

  “Yes, you mentioned that.”

  “Because of the case and the fact that they didn’t want to jeopardize the case or the lives of the two minor children of two slain special agents, a compromise was made.”

  “Compromise?”

  “Our grandmother was adamantly against witness protection and is pretty powerful. Not to mention, wealthy. As such, they gave our parents fake identities and reported those identities to the media. A lot of wheels were greased, and our parents were killed in a tragic, but non-work-related matter.”

  “They faked their identities and then faked their deaths? That seems a bit outrageous.”

  “It does, and it was. But my grandmother insisted that we not be tied to the undercover operation, and once they settled on the story they were going with, they had to come up with a plausible reason our parents were no longer around—since their real identities couldn’t be linked to the undercove
r identities.”

  “Seems like a lot of work when they could have stuck you in witness protection.”

  “Like I said, rich and powerful grandmother. Who I love to the end of the world and back.”

  “She’s a Supreme Court justice.”

  “Yes. She also comes from old money, which you would know from your research. My great-grandfather was a very powerful man. She has around-the-clock security, so we were well protected, but it was still a concern and necessity in her mind to do what she did.”

  “If it helps, I think she was right. Do you know what kingpin they were trying to take down? His name was kept out of the papers. They just said that a major player in the drug world was the one who killed my parents, your parents.”

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.” A half-truth—she knew who, but she wouldn’t tell him. As such, she answered without hesitation and felt terrible when she noted how his expression had turned to stone. It couldn’t be helped though. “You have to understand. If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you because I would be protecting you. I know that you would go to the ends of the world to punish those responsible, but even as good as you are at your job, you would fail.”

  “I think you underestimate me.”

  “Not at all.”

  “Then you overestimate the murderer you would protect.”

  “I wouldn’t be protecting that monster. I would be protecting you, Coop, my brother, and my grandmother. I hope you can understand that. My whole life, since the day they brought him home as a crying newborn, JD has been my priority. I’m four years older than him. I have always tried to shield him from the bad in the world.”

  Cole rested his head against the wall and then pushed off, walking to the overstuffed armchair by the front window. The perfect reading chair, she had thought when she initially walked into the room. Placed in front of the bay window for optimal lighting. Of course, he looked ridiculous in it, she thought to herself. The chair was clearly a woman’s chair. Probably his mother’s, she realized with a stab of sadness to her stomach. His legs seemed too long and his shoulders too broad as they stretched across the back of the chair and spilled off the sides. He rubbed his hands down his face, leaned his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes.

  “This whole mess is exhausting. No, I’m just exhausted.” He sighed and then lifted his head. “And I sound whiny.”

  “No. You sound like someone who needs a vacation.” Like she did. Maybe after this was all said and done.

  “I’m on vacation.” He laughed wryly.

  “Not sure you know what the definition of vacation is.”

  “Oh, I do. But family comes first. How long have you been a paralegal?”

  Shoot, she was as much in need of a vacation as him because it took her a whole fifteen seconds to remember she was supposedly a paralegal in Cook County. She did some quick thinking; it had been a while since she’d had to spin the lie.

  “Six years. I had planned to become a lawyer. I finished the schooling but never got around to taking the bar.

  “My grandmother had hoped I’d become a lawyer and maybe someday I will. For now, she has to be content with a paralegal for a granddaughter.” Once again, a half-truth. Her grandmother had hoped she would become a judge someday. She had also hoped Jessie’s mother would become a judge, but life had different plans for both of them, and JD had no interest in being a civil servant.

  “You’re both worth a sizeable amount of money, but he can’t access his fully for four more years. Which means that you would have to pay the ransom if that’s the reason for his disappearance.”

  “And I would without batting an eye.”

  “But, like I said, I don’t think that’s the reason for his having gone missing. I didn’t want Coop to know that I did a background check on JD. I did it without telling him, but your brother is as clean as they come.”

  “I bet Coop knows you checked out JD.”

  “I’m sure he does, but he doesn’t know that I used less than ethical means to find out bank balances, etc. I needed to be confident that JD wasn’t here to do something illegal.”

  “Like steal a horse?”

  “Exactly. For what it’s worth, I never thought he took Race the Stars.”

  “Well, that’s something at least.”

  They lapsed into silence, looking at each other as if they had reached some common ground. Oh, how she wanted to lean on him, ask him for help to untangle this whole sordid mess. But she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to let him in—not yet. If push came to shove, she would confide in him, but right now there was too much at stake. He would be her last-ditch effort to remedy all this. Another few minutes passed in silence; the only noise was the grandfather clock ticking. She didn’t think anyone had a grandfather clock these days. Well, that is, other than her grandmother. Grandmother had many antiques and loved all of the family heirlooms.

  “James.” His voice was quizzical.

  “James what?”

  “Is your middle name really James? As in, Jessie James Carpenter?”

  “Technically, my legal name is Jessica James Carpenter, but yes. My parents had an ironic sense of humor.”

  He raised an eyebrow in a gesture that said, not possible. Oh, but it was possible.

  “And JD really stands for John Dillinger Carpenter?”

  “Jonathan Dillinger Carpenter. Like I said, our parents were being ironic by naming us after infamous bank robbers. Since they started in the robbery division of the FBI.”

  “Un-freaking-believable. Do you know how many times I had my boys check your names to make sure they weren’t aliases?”

  She lifted a shoulder and smiled wanly.

  “My grandmother is a brilliant, stubborn, and strong woman. She will never let anyone pull one over on her. Even though she has a serious job, she also has a sense of humor. She found it hysterical what our parents named us.”

  “I have a lot of respect for her decisions on the bench and suspect I would enjoy her company immensely.”

  “Well, maybe I can arrange that after we find JD.”

  “I would like that.”

  Grandmother would like him. Of that, Jessie was certain. Cole had a no-nonsense personality, which is exactly what her grandmother loved. Agnes LaBlonde had told her on more than one occasion that William LaBlonde had stolen her heart when he walked up to her and point blank said to her: We could waste time sidestepping each other or we could do ourselves a favor and go out on a date. Her grandmother had told her that until that very moment she had always been sensible and dependable. But one look at Wild Bill LaBlonde, you can see where her mother got the humor from, and she was lost. Man, she missed him. She missed her as well and hoped she was safe. At least she knew that she had managed to run with her security detail in time. The biggest worry her grandmother had was convincing everyone she was on vacation.

  Jessie vividly remembered her second to the last conversation with her grandmother. Where the woman she adored told her that she should go visit JD at the farm, check out that Cooper Davenport—he was a real looker. Grandma was right, he certainly was, but she hadn’t met Cole. She wondered what her grandmother would think of Cole, because at present, Jessie only had eyes for him. For some reason, he had transfixed her. She now knew what her grandmother had meant when she described her first encounter with Grandpa LaBlonde: we were drawn to each other like magnets. She laughed quietly, wondering what her grandma would think if she told her she was a little hot for the brown-haired man in front of her.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I was just thinking how Grandma would love you and would be behaving like a busybody right about now. Trying to set us up. She’s desperate for great-grandchildren.”

  Cole’s face jerked a little as if he was taken aback by something she’d said.

  “What?”

  “I just can’t quite picture The Honorable LaBlonde playing matchmaker.”

  For some reason, J
essie found that admission hysterical and she found herself doubled over laughing until her sides hurt.

  “Oh man, you have no idea. I told you, she’s a spunky lady.”

  The laughter eased a bit, but she still found herself giggling, and it felt good. Finally, she relaxed into the couch, tucking her legs up under her, then feeling guilty about putting her feet on someone else’s couch, she put them back on the ground. Even if she was still feeling a bit awkward by the setup and a whole lot scared, she was more relaxed than she had been in a long time. For some reason, she felt like the credit should be given to the man who continued to watch her with an expression like he couldn’t quite figure her out. Good. It was important she maintain some level of distance for now. What she really needed was for JD to freaking get in touch with her.

  8

  Deception. She was good at it. Cole had picked up on a couple small tics when she was evading questions or trying to skirt details. He suspected she was in over her head, but he didn’t know why, and he hoped she confided in him soon. While he had come here to help find a horse, he knew he couldn’t leave without finding JD. The woman in front of him was proud and too stubborn to ask for help out of the mess she was in and to ask him seemed an exceptionally big challenge for her to surpass.

  “I hope, sooner rather than later, you will actually trust to confide in me all that you know.” Her expression was momentarily shocked, but she covered quickly. For now, this would be enough. It would have to be. “There isn’t much we can do until Coop gets over his temper tantrum and comes back. Since he is the last one who actually talked to JD, and I need him to help me retrace the last things he did before he went missing. I was going to go for a ride and thought you might want to join me?”

  “A ride? Do you mean on a horse?”

  “No, I meant on a cow. Yes, on a horse.” Her cheeks turned pink, and an embarrassed smile crossed her face.