by Judy Duarte
Marla had left her stamp on all her children, bequeathing her black hair and cat eyes to each of them, along with a megawatt smile and a metabolism that enabled them to eat anything and stay thin, a fact their friends often lamented.
“Have you met your neighbor?” Tyler asked.
Sara was drawn out of her introspection. “Yes, yesterday. Cade’s daughter, Stacy, is friendly and inquisitive. As soon as she saw me weeding the front yard, she came over and demanded to know if I was the new gardener and what had happened to Mr. Lee.”
“Cade?” Tyler questioned, at once picking up on the use of the first name.
“He and Stacy had me over for dinner last night. They made a surprise cake. And sang happy birthday to me.”
Tyler muttered an expletive. “I forgot about your birthday.”
“That’s okay. Some friends in Denver took me out for a gala celebration.”
“You’ve lost weight. Is this going to be too hard on you? Nick and I can handle the investigation.”
“No, no. I want to do it. I want to find out the truth about our father and his partner.”
When Tyler’s eyes flicked to her with more than a little irony in their depths, she recalled her father wasn’t his father. She still found it hard to believe that the man they sought to bring to justice was father to the twins.
“Dear God, what a mess, if this is all true,” she murmured.
“Didn’t you believe Mother’s story?” he asked in his blunt fashion. His gaze bored into her as if he dared her to deny it. Tyler was always direct.
“Yes, but we can’t prove anything without finding the uncle I don’t recall ever seeing until just before her death. How did he know she was sick? He had to have been keeping track of her somehow. Could they have corresponded all these years and Mother never told us?”
“Who knows? Mother could be as silent as a sphinx when she chose. Derek Ross is one hell of an elusive relative,” Tyler admitted. “All I could find out was that after the funeral his flight from Denver ended in San Francisco. He isn’t listed on the Internet or in any telephone book, hasn’t been called to jury duty, gotten any traffic tickets or been delinquent on his taxes that I can find.”
“I was thinking of those last days in the hospital earlier tonight, just before you arrived, in fact,” Sara said in a pensive tone. “We all reacted differently.”
“Yeah,” Tyler agreed in disgust. “Kathleen, the mystery writer, ran away to New York after the funeral. You would think solving a twenty-five-year-old mystery would be right up her alley.”
“And Conrad wouldn’t budge from Colorado. They both want justice, but they act as if they’re in denial about the whole situation.” She stirred the latte, then took a sip of the hot brew, feeling its warmth flow all the way to her tummy.
“It’s pretty hard to realize the man you thought was your father wasn’t in actuality. And that the man who is really your sire killed the one you thought was. Man, try explaining all that to a jury,” he finished grimly.
“Are you going to confront Walter Parks about your paternity?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Soon. I want to see the bastard’s reaction when he realizes his sins have come back to haunt him.”
“Tyler, be careful. He’s killed once—”
“That we know of,” Tyler interrupted.
“It’s probably easier the second time,” she warned. Anger and grief brought tears to her eyes. “Sometimes I’m so filled with hate,” she said. “Other times, I think it might be better to go away and forget everything. It was so far in the past and there are so many innocent people who may be hurt by bringing it into the open.”
Tyler studied her for a long minute. “Like your neighbor?” He gestured toward the town house in the other side of the duplex.
“Like his little girl.”
“Why should they get off scot-free?” he demanded. “Our family didn’t. Justice will be done.” He slapped the ball of his fist down on his knee.
Tension filled the beautiful town house which had been arranged in feng shui fashion for the maximum tranquillity of the human soul.
“Justice can be harsh,” she murmured. “There’s an ancient Chinese saying that sounds as if it’s a blessing, but it’s really a curse.”
“What’s that?” he asked when she paused.
“‘May you live in interesting times.’ To the sages, interesting times were those filled with chaos and troubles. Their greatest wish was for serenity. I think, little brother, that we’re in for some interesting times.”
He finished the drink and stood as the clock on the mantel chimed ten times. “Good. We’ll see who’s standing when the Parks house of cards comes tumbling down.”
After she saw him out, watching as his taillights disappeared around a corner, Sara stood at the door for another minute. Down the street, the fog encircled the streetlight in a dim haze. The faint glow gave the promise of warmth and succor to the lone man who walked toward it with quick strides. He paused at the corner and looked over his shoulder, then hurried on.
She wondered what demons he feared might come after him out of the swirling dampness of the night.
On Friday, Sara reacquainted herself with the city. Not that she remembered much from twenty-five years ago, but she tried. She visited the zoo and took the scenic drive in a loop around the city and surrounding urban streets.
One of the two windmills near the old Cliff House spa resort had been restored. The fresh and saltwater pools had long fallen into ruins, but the house remained, having been rebuilt a couple of times due to fire. She ate lunch at the restaurant and knew she’d eaten there in her childhood, although she couldn’t dredge up a specific occasion. Perhaps someone’s birthday.
Past the windmill, facing the ocean, the houses were being gentrified. New construction was going on in the area. None of that was familiar to her.
However, another neighborhood, down the Great Pacific Coast Highway toward Half Moon Bay, brought back sharp, poignant memories. There, in an expensive enclave of homes on five-acre estates carved from sage brush and artichoke farms, she located her former home with the help of an address she’d found in her mother’s possessions.
Standing at the locked gate of the imposing but run-down mansion, images flooded her mind. She’d been riding a tricycle on the sidewalk. Her father was yelling for her to stop as she gained speed on the downward slope. She’d shot through the open wrought-iron gates and gone off the curb in a tangle of arms, legs and tricycle wheels and had a terrific crash on the pavement.
Her parents had taken her to the emergency room for a broken collarbone. She’d tried not to cry, but it had been the worst pain she’d ever experienced.
Running her fingers over the long-repaired bone, she reviewed her life since that time. Her mother’s fears. Her weeping. Moving from one cheap apartment to another. Settling at last in Denver. Her own childish delight in the snow, which she’d never seen, and the birth of the twins. Another delight for her, but more pain for her mother.
The mansion was unoccupied and in disrepair. The old man who had bought it by paying the back taxes had lived here alone after his wife died. He’d passed away a few years ago, and his children were in a battle over the property, according to Tyler. So the place sat empty and forlorn, looking like an aging beauty waiting for her fickle bridegroom to return and make things right again.
“May I help you?” a voice asked, startling her.
A policeman had stopped at the curb and called to her from the open window of his cruiser. A stab of fear hit her. She reminded herself she wasn’t doing anything wrong.
Sara shook her head. “I used to live here. A long time ago,” she added when he looked skeptical. “Since I was in the city, I decided to see if I could remember the place.”
“This house has been empty a long time. I try to keep an eye on it. An unoccupied house is an invitation for drug dealers to move in.”
“That
would be terrible.”
“You had better move on,” he told her, but in a kind manner. “Your staring has made the lady down the street nervous. She reported someone was ‘casing’ the estate. That’s why I came by.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Sara told the officer.
She walked back to her car, parked at the curb near where she’d fallen so many years ago. She felt close to tears as the nostalgic mood lingered.
Heading for the town house in her old but dependable vehicle, she had to laugh. Obviously she and her family had fallen on leaner times since their days in the mansion. The policeman would probably tell his fellow cops about the encounter and spend the afternoon painting scenarios of what had happened to them. Someone at the station might even recall the disappearance of Jeremy Carlton and the mystery surrounding his death, presumably by drowning, but the body was never found.
Sara had questions of her own. What had happened to her father’s business? His money? How had her mother managed with four children and no job?
The latter was answered when she and Tyler had discovered funds in a brokerage account after their mother’s death. She’d lived very frugally off the interest, using extra money only during emergencies.
Sara thought her mom would have been better off if she’d had to work, to get out and interact with people so that she wouldn’t spend hours alone in the tiny rental house where they’d finally settled in a suburb of Denver.
At the town house, she pulled into the short driveway and turned off the engine. Stacy was sitting on the marble stoop, chin in her hands, elbows propped on her knees. She smiled broadly when Sara came up the walk.
“I ringed…rang your doorbell but you weren’t home,” she said, moving over so Sara could sit.
Sara enjoyed the coolness of the stone through her slacks as she joined the child. By midafternoon the temperature had climbed into the upper seventies and the shade of the alcove was nice after her day of exploration.
“I’ve been on the scenic tour of the city,” she told Stacy. “I saw Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge and had lunch at Cliff House. My table was by the window so I could see the ocean.”
“Did you see any ships?”
“Yes. A huge one. It looked like an oceangoing barge.”
She was rocked by a sudden image of herself at four. She was standing by a window and looking out at the sea, wondering where her daddy could be and why he’d gone off on a boat and when he was going to come back.
With grave certainty, she knew she’d been looking out the window of her bedroom in the mansion—
“Do you have a headache?” Stacy asked.
Sara dropped her hand—she’d been unconsciously rubbing her temple—into her lap. “No, just thinking.” She smiled to show she was all right.
“My mommy used to have headaches. She’d tell Daddy to leave her alone, she had a headache—whenever he was mad at her.”
Sara was startled by the grown-up words coming from the child’s mouth. Surely Stacy had been too young to remember what sounded like frequent quarrels between her parents.
But maybe not. Vague recollections were coming back to her from her youth now that she had returned.
A premonition that she and Tyler should leave the past behind and get on with their lives pierced her heart like a hot spear. Surely there had been enough unhappiness back then to last all of them a lifetime.
Looking at young Stacy, Sara wondered if bringing the ancient case up, assuming they found their missing uncle and solved the murder, was worth it in light of the pain it might cause innocents like this child.
“Daddy!” Stacy yelled, jumping up and running to the end of the sidewalk.
Cade Parks pulled into the garage on his side of the house, then joined his daughter, coming through the gate and scooping her into his arms. “What are you doing sitting out front? You know you’re not supposed to do that.”
“Tai said I could wait for you. You’re late,” Stacy said, turning the reprimand on him.
Sara couldn’t help but grin. She wouldn’t say the daughter was smarter than her dad, but she certainly had learned the rudiments of outfoxing the main male in her life. Sara pitied the men in Stacy’s social circle when the little scamp grew up.
“Huh,” her dad said, then added, “Sorry I’m late. Grandpa called at the last minute. You know how hard it is to get off the line when he wants information.”
Grandpa. That would be Walter Parks. Well, Stacy did have another grandfather, but according to Tyler, the families didn’t mingle much, except for delivering the girl for an occasional visit.
Stacy giggled, then held her face up. To Sara’s amusement, the big city lawyer solemnly rubbed noses with his daughter, then settled on the steps with her in his lap.
“Nice out today,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Did you go sightseeing?”
“Actually, I did.”
Tai came out the front door. “I’m off to the library. See you Monday, pie face,” she said to Stacy, leaning down to plant a kiss on the child’s forehead.
“The office will be closed Monday since the fourth is on Sunday this year,” Cade reminded the sitter, “so you don’t have to pick her up until Tuesday.”
“Ah, that’ll give me more time to study.” Looking pleased, the medical student rushed off with a backpack of books swinging from her shoulders, her long straight hair bouncing against it with each hurried stride.
“I don’t know what I would do without her,” Cade murmured as Stacy followed Tai, then swung on the gate after waving to her sitter. “She’s totally dependable.”
“When I was little, I tried to eat a whole pie by myself,” Stacy called to Sara from the gate. “Tai took my picture. It’s so funny.”
Sara observed the warmth in Cade’s smile as he nodded in agreement with Stacy’s story. She could remember her father coming home and sweeping her and baby sister Kathleen into his arms for a big kiss, then bending their mother over his arm for a dramatic Hollywood embrace. They’d all laughed at how funny he was.
“What?” Cade asked, bending his head so he could look into her eyes.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You looked so sad there for a minute.”
Sara realized she needed to be more careful about concealing her feelings. “Not at all. I was just thinking about how good you are with Stacy and how I wish other fathers were as involved with their families.”
He was silent for several seconds. “I want to be different from my father. It has always been obvious to us kids that his business came first.”
“I remember your twin sister, Emily. Are there others in your family?”
Tyler had already told her about the Parks family, but Sara thought it better to feign ignorance.
“Two. Jessica is an artist. Her paintings are becoming known and beginning to sell. And there’s another boy, Rowan. He’s the wild one in the family. He drives the old man crazy with some of his stunts.”
“Such as?” Sara asked, unable to suppress her interest.
“Tearing around on a motorcycle. Having his picture plastered all over the newspaper in a compromising position with a politician’s wife. Just the everyday rebellions of a middle child who got little attention.”
“You’re the ‘good’ son,” she concluded. “The oldest, who is expected to step into the father’s shoes when the family patriarch decides it’s time.”
Cade hesitated, then chuckled. “Except I went into law instead of the diamond business.”
“Why?”
“I like the purity of it, the fairness—”
“Not always,” she interrupted, thinking of her quest. “There have been innocents on death row.”
“Well, I’m speaking of the idealism of the law, not the reality of its execution by mankind.”
She found herself laughing with him, his deeper tones like the mellow notes of a bassoon underplaying her higher fluting ones.
“Stace and I are grilling hamburgers tonight. Want to join us?”
She hesitated. “I imposed on you night before last.”
“It’s no imposition. We like the company. Besides, knowing you will make Stace feel more confident when she starts school at Lakeside.”
Sara couldn’t help it. She started to laugh.
“What?” he demanded. He nudged her shoulder with his.
His smile was brilliant against his somewhat swarthy complexion, inherited from some pirate ancestor, Sara decided as her breath quickened at his playful touch. His eyes were hazel, a fascinating mix of brown and green with golden flecks near the pupil.
“If Stacy gets any more confident, she’ll be running the class and I’ll be sitting in the corner for talking while she’s explaining the lesson plan.” Sara gave him a sardonic glance from under her lashes. “I think it’s her daddy who’s worried about school.”
A sigh escaped him. “Day care is one thing. Real school is something else, even if it is kindergarten,” he admitted. “It’s like she’ll be taking on a whole new life, one that doesn’t involve me. I’ve cared for her since she was born. Now someone else will influence her, maybe have a greater impact on her life. Next thing I know, she’ll be dragging some boy home and announcing marriage plans.”
He swiped a hand over his brow in an exaggerated fashion, causing her to laugh again. The gate clanged merrily as Stacy swung on it and hummed a song.
“Well, you do have a few years to get used to the idea of marriage and all that,” Sara said ruefully, unsympathetic to the woeful picture he painted.
“Thank God. Come on, let’s get those hamburgers on. Stacy requested them especially for you. She said they were your favorite food.”
“Next to chocolate cake. Is there any of that left?”
“You bet.” He stood and offered her a hand.
Sara let him help her up, then when he called the child to them, they all went to the back deck to eat. Later they watched the sun set far out on the horizon.