Lillo finished eating. Excused herself to help in the kitchen, and tossed her plate in the trash as she headed for the gift shop.
She passed Ned on his way out. “Oh. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Just got here and went in to drop off some wine for Mac.” He lowered his voice. “Not for public consumption.”
“Hope you hid it well.”
“In the normal place. Mac said you cut your finger.”
“Well, you know me in the kitchen.”
“Want me to take a look at it?”
She held up her finger, noticed a smear of barbecue sauce, and put it down again. “Thanks, but I can put a Band-Aid on a finger.”
I know you can, I didn’t mean to—”
She turned away. “Good heavens, Ian is here.”
“Yep. And he’s talking to your friend the CEO.”
“Diana. She went horseback riding over there today.”
“Well, don’t let Mac see them; she’s been trying to get him a girlfriend since I can remember.”
“I know.”
Doc laughed. “Yeah, the only difference is you didn’t chase after him, like everybody else.”
“Two hopeless cases, Ian and me.”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“Ned, don’t.”
“Listen. I just want to say that the other night after dinner, I didn’t stop to think that you had guests when I asked you to help out at the clinic. One-track mind. Are you all having a good time?”
“Pretty much. How is it going without Clancy?”
“It’s going. He won’t be back until the end of the week, so I’ll just make do.”
She looked at him; in the twilight, he definitely looked tired, like he wasn’t getting enough sleep. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just go and stock cabinets, empty trash cans, and stuff like that? He’d asked for her help and she’d panicked. He was working to help the community and she was being selfish. Surely she could help out a little without getting sucked back into the whole sordid world she’d left.
“Listen, Ned—”
“Oh, there you are.” Barbara hurried toward them. “I’ve been looking everywhere, Ned Hartley. I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show.”
“Well, I’m here and you found me. What can I do for you?”
Lillo started to leave but Ned shifted slightly, blocking her way.
Barbara slapped playfully at his arm. “It’s what I can do for you. I found someone to watch the shop tomorrow, so I can help you out at the clinic.”
“Oh, that’s great, Barb,” but he was looking at Lillo.
“Well, I’ll leave you guys to schedule the day.” This time Lillo slipped past Barbara and made her way into the crowd.
The families with young children began making preparations to leave. Others settled in for the evening. The men were ensconced in lawn chairs and on benches drinking beer and exchanging stories. The women would eventually migrate into the kitchen, but for now, they were sitting at the picnic tables picking at the last pieces of cake and exchanging the latest recipes and gossip.
The sound of another vehicle didn’t cause much interest until a black SUV screeched to a halt at the edge of the group. Three men jumped out. They were wearing black suits and dark glasses, though the sun was well below the point where they needed them.
“What the hell?” Howie King stood to face them.
“Damn. It’s the Secret Service. What you been up to, Mac?” Several men laughed, but as the three newcomers descended on the crowd, they stood, too.
Sonny and his sons moved to block their way. “Sorry, fellas, this is a private party,” Sonny said, and crossed his arms.
“We’re looking for a missing person.”
Sonny rocked back on his heels. “I think we’re all accounted for.” He looked back over one shoulder, then the other. “Anybody here missing?”
“Not me.”
“Not me either.”
“I think we all know where we are.”
“Nope, didn’t lose a soul.”
“Shit,” Diana said, coming up beside Lillo. “I got a bad feeling.”
“Me too.”
“Are you FBI?” someone said.
One of the men reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a photo. “We’re a private security firm. Has anyone seen this woman?”
Jess appeared at Diana’s side. Allie was right behind her.
Slowly one person after another turned to zero in on Jess.
“Miss Parker, your father sent us to bring you home.”
Jess lifted her chin. Lillo held her breath. Diana and Allie practically vibrated with suppressed energy.
“They look just like the Blues Brothers,” Diana said in her snarkiest voice.
The crowd tittered, some laughed outright.
“She done something illegal?” It was Howie King.
“We have evidence that she’s been kidnapped and her father hired us to find her and bring her home.”
“Hell, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Sonny shook his head. “Does she look kidnapped to you?”
Now everyone turned to look at the four women.
“Not our call, we’re to transport her back to Boston.”
“Well, we need to see the ransom money first,” Howie said.
“God bless Howie and Sonny and sons,” Lillo said.
“This has gotten totally out of hand. I’m sorry.” Jess took a step forward.
“Jess, don’t—” Lillo began.
Mac sidled up to them; she had somehow managed to get her shotgun from the house.
“Don’t even think it,” Lillo said under her breath.
“Ain’t loaded, but they don’t know that.”
Jess smiled at Mac. “Thanks, Mac. I’ve got this.” She squeezed Mac’s arm and went to meet the posse.
“Don’t let her cave, not now,” Lillo prayed.
“I think he’s being totally ridiculous,” Allie said. “We have to do something.”
Diana growled like an angry dog. “Damn George Parker. That asshat thinks he’s super-don, and he’s not even connected—that I know of.”
Jess walked stolidly forward. The crowd parted for her, but she stopped several yards from the security men. “You’ve wasted your time. I’m not missing. I haven’t broken any law. I wasn’t kidnapped. I’m thirty-two years old. I’m not going back.”
Lillo gave a mental fist pump.
Diana and Allie hugged each other.
“Your parents are very worried about you, Miss Parker. They know you were brought here under the influence of these sad women, and they’re willing to forget everything if you’ll just come back with us.”
“Sad women?” Diana exclaimed. “Give me that shotgun, Mac.”
“No,” Jess said, her voice sounding surprisingly calm. “These are my friends, and I came with them of my own free will. Neither you nor my father can make it into anything else. And these fine people surrounding us are my witnesses. I’ll take you all to court if necessary.”
“Holy shit,” Diana said. “I never thought I’d ever. You hang in there, girl.”
“Be reasonable, Miss Parker. You can’t leave things like this. We must really insist you accompany us.”
The three security men stepped forward.
“What? Are they going to carry her out bodily? We’ll see about that.” Diana headed to Jess’s side, but before she got there, Doc and the whole biker brigade stepped in front of Jess, forming a wall and blocking their way.
“You heard the lady,” Doc said. “Either show us a warrant or leave town. Now.”
“You don’t understand. We have orders to—”
Another biker stepped forward. “If you take her against her will, you will be the ones facing kidnapping charges.”
“Which one is that?” Diana said.
“Nando,” Jess said. “He’s a CPA and mechanic. And right now my hero.”
The three priva
te security goons looked at each other and back at the crowd that had filled in behind the bikers. They consulted with each other for a brief moment.
“I think we’d better call for instructions.” The main security guy whipped out his cell phone.
“Good luck with that one,” Lillo said. “He’s standing in a dead zone.”
The other two had pulled out their cells as well and were trying to find a signal.
The crowd had subtly shifted, covering the one good reception area in the lot.
The three goons milled around holding their cells in the air, to no avail.
“I think I saw a movie like this once,” Allie said.
“I think I saw that one, too,” Diana said. “Now, if they would just go away.”
At a motion from the one who seemed to be in charge, they pocketed their phones and got back in the SUV.
They screeched away, throwing out sprays of sand that always washed onto the parking lot.
The crowd congratulated Jess, the bikers, themselves, and went back to partying.
Jess stood where they’d left her. Lillo, Diana, and Allie surrounded her.
“I can’t believe that everyone stuck up for me like that.”
“It’s Lighthouse Beach. It’s what we do,” Lillo said, and realized it was true.
“And you did it yourself,” Allie said. “Jess, you were fierce.”
Jess looked bewildered, then smiled. “I think a girlie drink would be in order. Before my knees give out.”
They all turned back to the tables, but Diana was looking through the crowd.
“What?” Lillo asked.
“Do you see Ian?”
Lillo looked, shook her head. “He’s bound to be somewhere.” But maybe not. This was just the kind of situation to set him off. But that wasn’t Lillo’s story to tell. “Come on; let’s get a drink and some more food. I’m suddenly famished.”
It was late when Ned parked his bike back at Ian’s. The house was dark except for the porch light they’d left on when they left for the barbecue. It didn’t matter, he knew where to find him.
He walked past the house and around back to the horse barn. Went inside. It was dark here, too, but Ned turned on one bank of lights and walked down the center aisle to Loki’s stall.
They were there, both of them, standing together, horse and rider, so close as to be almost one.
Neither acknowledged Ned as he stepped into the stall; they might both have been sleeping on their feet, but it was something deeper than that.
“Some barbecue,” Ned said softly.
Ian straightened away from Loki, who shook his head at the bother.
Ned waited for Ian to move toward the stall door, and when finally he did, Ned fell into step with him. They closed up the barn and headed for the house as if nothing had happened. And Ned figured that for Ian, nothing had, and that was a good thing.
So they walked toward the house. Silent.
“She probably thinks I’m a coward.”
Ian’s voice was such a surprise that Ned started. “No one who knows you would think that.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
They reached the porch steps.
“Wait, who are you talking about?”
“Nobody.”
Doc studied his friend’s profile in the moonlight. Nothing looked different, but something had changed. “Oh my God. It’s the CEO, isn’t it?”
Ian shook his head and climbed the steps.
“It is,” Doc said, amazed and a little uneasy. “Well, well, well …” But he was thinking, Holy shit, not the CEO.
Chapter 13
It had been really late by the time everyone left the barbecue. Lillo and company had stayed even later, cleaning up, toasting Jess for standing up to her father’s goons, and reliving every moment of the confrontation, and Lillo was bleary-eyed when someone shook her awake the next morning.
“Whaaa?”
Jess’s face loomed over her.
Lillo bolted upright. “What?”
“I just thought of something.”
“Something that requires coffee?”
Jess nodded.
Lillo threw off the comforter and struggled up from the couch. “Okay, hit me with it,” she said as she padded to the kitchen.
“I need to do some banking. Do you know where I can get to a private computer with Internet access?”
Lillo scrubbed her face. “I have money, if that’s what you need. You can pay me back.”
“No. I just realized that my father has access to at least two of my bank accounts. I wouldn’t put it past him to clean me out.”
“He wouldn’t dare.” Lillo got down the coffee canister and opened it.
Jess gave her a look.
“Okay, I guess he would.”
“I need to change my passwords and move some assets around so he can’t get to them. I’d use my phone but I threw it out. And since he now knows for certain I didn’t go home and I don’t intend to, I really need to hurry.”
“Okay, let me think.”
Jess took the coffee from her and measured it into a filter, filled the coffeemaker with water, and turned it on while Lillo thought.
“What time is it?”
“After ten. We overslept.”
“Then let’s see, Barb probably has one, but she’d be at work by now.”
“You don’t have a computer?”
Lillo glanced toward the unused bedroom. “Somewhere in there. But the battery’s bound to be dead, and who knows where the power cord is. I know. Sada.”
“What?”
“Who. My friend Sada runs the community center. They have a computer there. I know a lot of people use it because it has Internet access. I’m sure she’ll let us use it. I’ll call her.” Lillo went to find her cell phone.
When she came back she ran into Allie and Diana shuffling into the kitchen, still in their nightwear, such as it was.
“Why are we all up and clanging around in the kitchen?” Diana asked on a yawn.
“Semi-emergency,” Jess said.
“What’s wrong?” Allie asked, her voice suddenly awake and strident.
“Everything is fine, but it occurred to me that my finances aren’t. I’m afraid some of my assets may be compromised.”
Diana screwed up her face. “Is this a joke? What assets are you talking about?”
“Don’t be dense. My bank accounts, mutual funds, those kinds of assets.”
“Oh shit. He doesn’t have your passwords.”
“He does to a couple; it was supposed to be so that there was always a second signer in case of an emergency. Of course, I know that it was really so his heavy hand could control me as well as my ability to be independent. If he sent goons to drag me back, he wouldn’t think twice about ruining me financially. He’s probably got hackers on it as we speak.”
“Surely he wouldn’t do that,” Allie said. “He’s your father.”
“He would,” Diana and Jess said simultaneously.
“Is he really that bad? I mean, I’ve met him and seen him in action, but nobody—”
“Allie, there are some nasty characters in this world and my father is one of them.”
Allie gave her a quick hug. “I’m sorry.”
Jess hugged her back. “I’ve lived with it for a long time. I’ve finally—with a little help from my friends—started fighting back.”
“Then grab two travel mugs out of the cabinet and let’s hit the road,” Lillo said. “Sada’s warming her up for us.”
“Warming her up?” Diana asked. “What kind of computer are we talking about?”
“Dial-up, but it won’t boot Jess off midtransaction.”
“Oh, just shoot me now,” Diana said, and reached in the cupboard for coffee mugs. “Do you need me to go with you?”
“No, but thanks,” Jess said. “You get your riding fix and all will be right with the world.”
“We can but hope,” Diana said.
�
�Then I’ll go see if Mac needs any more help cleaning up from last night,” Allie said. “I thought maybe she’d let me tag along on the next lighthouse tour.”
“I’m sure she’d be happy to give you a private tour,” Lillo said. “As you’ve probably noticed, there haven’t been too many visitors to the lighthouse.”
“Except renegade boys and other vandals,” Jess said. “Somebody should do something.”
“Yeah, but not today,” Diana said. “Now get going.”
Ten minutes later, Lillo and Jess were driving the van to the Lighthouse Beach Community and Recreation Center.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner,” Jess said as Lillo turned onto Main Street.
“I can’t believe you’re over thirty and your parents still have the passwords to your bank accounts.”
“I know it sounds weird. But my family isn’t like other families … or normal families anyway. They are like financial amoebas. It’s all done for the security of the whatever. Like having power of attorney—which I probably should change, too, come to think of it.”
“Oh, Jess. What about your brothers and sister? Have the sibs totally bought into building the Parker empire?”
“They’ve drunk the Kool-Aid. My father has us so tied up in red tape that it would be hard to extricate myself from it if I hadn’t already made contingency plans. None of them, including my mother, can believe I don’t want to be a part of the ‘empire’; therefore I must be a fat, ugly loser and they’ll do whatever they can to fix me so I can be like them. Oh my God, I hate them. And they’re my family.”
Lillo glanced over at her friend. She’d spent many summers watching Jess desperately trying to find herself with everything stacked against her. Lillo had never really understood until this week. It was insidious. Not just overly involved, we-know-best helicopter parents, but really mean-spirited greedy people.
“That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? I don’t expect anyone to understand. I’ve never even admitted it to myself until now. You had great parents. I know they were probably pains in your butt sometimes, but they loved you and really wanted what was best for you, really what was best for you.
“My parents don’t love me, they just pay lip service to wanting what’s best for me. They love my siblings; they all are financial successes—cold fish, but successful. The swans to my ugly duckling. I don’t have anything to do with them. And it doesn’t matter. But my parents …” She shrugged. “I just wanted their love.”
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