Before He Vanished (Winchester, Tn. Book 6)

by Debra Webb

  Liam was waiting for her. She would not let him down. She would make the opportunity to escape. They were not losing each other again.

  Burke nudged her with the barrel of the weapon. “Don’t forget I have this. If Frank were here, he could tell you I know how to use it.”

  She nodded and he motioned with the weapon. “Get out and bring your cell phone with you.”

  He kept the weapon trained on her as she got out. He did the same, scrambling across the console and out of the car on her side, not once allowing his aim to deviate from her.

  “Now, this is what’s going to happen, Ms. Lane. You’re going to call your friend from Cali and tell him to meet you here. That your car has broken down. Once he arrives—”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I won’t do it.” She might not be able to escape this bastard but she was not bringing Liam into it. She had already turned his life upside down; she would not summon him into a trap.

  “Do it.” He pressed the muzzle to her forehead. “Now.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I will on one condition.”

  “Not that you’re in any position to be tossing out conditions, but let’s hear it.”

  “Tell me how Frank got Andy.”

  He laughed. “Oh, that was his first mistake. Under no circumstances was he to ever kill anyone to obtain the product.”

  She shook her head. “There must be some mistake. No one was killed when Andy was taken.”

  “You see,” Burke countered, “that’s because he wasn’t Andy the first time he was taken.”

  * * *

  LIAM WAS SURPRISED to find Halle’s car gone when he returned to her apartment. He paid the fare and thanked the driver. The Lanes weren’t back from church, either. He glanced around the yard. Maybe she’d run to the store for a few items. She’d mentioned being out of everything.

  As he climbed the stairs that same grin that had been tugging at his lips all morning appeared again. It was a little crazy, he was aware. He’d met Halle only three days ago and he felt things for her he had never felt for anyone. But he had known her before. Somehow, however, he wanted to deny the possibility that he was this Andy Clark. As he lay in bed last night with her in his arms so many memories had flooded him. There was no denying that truth.

  There was only the question of how it had happened.

  When he reached the door, he hesitated. She hadn’t given him a key. There hadn’t been any need.

  What if something had happened to her parents?

  Worry gnawed at him. A car accident or something? But why wouldn’t she have called him?

  He tested the doorknob. To his surprise it was unlocked. He went inside and all looked as it had when he left. He walked around the apartment, didn’t spot a note. Okay, so she had likely just run to the store for milk or something.

  Maybe he’d call her.

  The sound of a car door slamming had him heading back to the door. He was halfway down the steps before he realized the car in the driveway wasn’t Halle’s. The woman striding toward him wasn’t Halle, either... It was Penelope. Moving up beside her was Claire.

  What the hell?

  “Liam!” Claire shouted as she broke into a run.

  He met her at the bottom of the steps. She hugged him hard. He hugged her back, his eyes still on his stepmom. “Hey, sis. What’re you guys doing here?”

  Had they decided he’d lost his mind and planned an intervention? Surely Penelope wouldn’t have returned from Paris just because Liam had taken some time off to pursue a mystery that she couldn’t possibly know the full ramifications of...

  Unless his sister had called her.

  As if she’d sensed his realization, Claire drew back, looked him square in the eyes. “We need to talk.”

  Penelope hugged him next, smiling warmly. “It’s good to see you.”

  What was going on here?

  “Come on in.” He gestured for the two to go up the stairs before him. He’d left the door standing wide open in his haste to get outside and meet Halle.

  She would be back any minute, he was certain. Turned out, he realized as he walked into the apartment to join Claire and Penelope, that it was probably a good thing Halle wasn’t home at the moment. These two had something on their minds and he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good.

  “What’s going on?” He closed the door and moved toward the sofa. “Sit. You must be tired after that flight. What’d you do, take a red-eye?”

  “Where’s the reporter?” Claire glanced around the apartment.

  “Halle will be back in a few minutes.”

  Penelope had already perched on the edge of the sofa. When Claire did the same, Liam sat down facing them. Claire removed her backpack and started to open it.

  “Seriously,” he said when neither of them spoke, “what’s going on?”

  Claire pulled out an old candy box. The gold-colored kind with the painted red ribbon. Looked vintage.

  Penelope placed her right hand on the box, seemingly stopping Claire from whatever she’d intended next. “Claire told me about the article, Liam, and why you’ve come to Winchester.”

  He nodded, but before he could comment, she went on, “There are things I should have told you right after your father died.” She exhaled a big breath. “I always felt he should tell you but he didn’t want to unsettle your life, so he kept his secret and I stood by his decision.”

  Claire glared at her. “Just tell him already.”

  Worry and fear and a number of other emotions he didn’t fully comprehend twisted inside him. “What’re you trying to tell me?”

  “Not long after you were born, Luke and your birth mother, Tara, found themselves in a very bad place financially. They were homeless and living in the woods, camping, surviving on next to nothing. Luke was looking for work. After the vineyard where he’d worked since he was a child was sold, he was let go, no matter that he was the manager. The news was shocking and, worse, he wasn’t able to find work. It was a difficult time for everyone in the business, but especially for your parents since they had a baby.”

  Liam felt as if he were outside his body watching this scene. He wanted to ask questions but he couldn’t form the words. Claire stared at him as if he’d just been told he had terminal cancer.

  “Tara was having real problems,” Penelope said. “She was sick much of the time and your father was very worried. So much so that he broke down and called his sister—”

  “Sister?” Claire demanded before Liam managed to find his voice again. “You didn’t tell me that part. You were supposed to tell me everything on the plane.”

  Penelope ignored her and went on. “Your father had a sister but they had been estranged for years. I don’t know the reason. He would never speak of it. But because he was so worried about your mother and, obviously, you, he made the call. He asked for her help but she refused.”

  The hurt his father must have felt was like a sucker punch to his gut. He could only imagine his level of desperation, and Liam feared he already knew where this was going.

  “Your father soldiered on, finding odd jobs to feed his family. But one day, when you were only fifteen months old, he came home and the two of you were missing.”

  “Missing—” Liam suddenly found his voice “—as in my mother ran away and took me with her or missing like someone took us?”

  “Your father had no idea. He was terrified that because she had been so sick, primarily with very serious postpartum depression, she had decided to leave. Perhaps go home to her mother who was still alive at the time. But she wasn’t at her mother’s. He searched and searched and searched. The police helped for a while as did some of his old friends from the vineyard where he’d worked so many years, but the two of you were not found. He never stopped looking, but eventually he had to move on or lose his mind.”
>
  She paused for a moment and Liam felt certain he should say something, but he had no idea what to say. A million little things were going through his head but none of them seemed exactly right. He should call Halle. Find out why she wasn’t here yet. She would be able to put all this into perspective. His emotions kept him from finding his footing. Judging by Claire’s expression, he felt she was in the same boat with him.

  “After two years of watching things fall apart, the new owner of the vineyard had decided he wasn’t cut out for the business, so he sought out the former manager, your father, and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Just to get the place off his hands, he would sell him everything—at a steal of a price—if he would promise to make up the difference when and if he ever got things running in the black again. Luke accepted his offer and threw himself into his work. It was the only way he maintained his sanity. We met shortly after he started. It was a couple of years before he shared the agony of losing you and his wife. The vineyard was back in the black and things were going extremely well. I suppose this allowed him to look back at his painful loss. I desperately wanted to help and I had a few contacts from my time in LA. I had worked in an attorney’s office and he had had the very best investigators. I asked him to help us find the truth.”

  Liam braced himself. For days now, he had wanted to know the whole truth. Suddenly he wasn’t so sure.

  “Another year was required for the investigator to find someone who had seen something the day you and Tara disappeared, but he did. Even more time was required to track down who that person the witness had seen was. This unknown person turned out to be a PI from Nashville, a Frank Austen.”

  Liam’s heart dropped into his stomach. “Austen is dead.”

  Penelope made a face but then kept going. “On your father’s behalf, my friend made a deal with Austen—he wouldn’t go to the police as long as Austen told him what happened to you.” Penelope took a moment before going on. “You were the target of one of Austen’s searches for a child that was wanted by a couple unable to have their own. Austen waited for an opportunity when Luke was not around and he attempted to take you. But your mother was tougher than she looked. She fought him. He swore it was an accident, but, sadly, he killed her. Took her body with him and buried her. Then he took you to his boss, who presented you to his clients, Nancy and Andrew Clark.”

  Liam closed his eyes. His mother was dead, his father had suffered unspeakable pain because the Clarks wanted a child. He was going to find David Burke and beat the hell out of him. “Why didn’t my father see that Austen went to jail for what he’d done? That PI friend of yours had no business making that deal.”

  “Liam, he did what he had to do to find you. Nothing else mattered to your father at that point. Not revenge, not even justice. Only finding you.”

  “So the Clarks were destroyed because no one wanted to go to the police and do this right? My God, they wouldn’t have wanted to adopt a child who had been taken under those kinds of circumstances. What you did only hurt another family.”

  And stole his life.

  Penelope drew back at his heated words. “Your sympathies are misplaced, Liam.”

  Liam felt sick. This was wrong. All of it. He wouldn’t have believed his father capable of this sort of underhandedness, no matter the motive. Why hadn’t he gone to the Clarks and told them the truth? They could all have worked together to resolve the situation. He glared at his stepmother. “What does that even mean?”

  “Nancy Clark was your father’s sister. She had, it seemed, been trying to have a baby for years and couldn’t. When she found out Luke had a child and was in trouble financially, she decided he didn’t deserve the child. She and her husband hired David Burke and his investigator to find you and take you.”

  Another of those sucker punches landed to his gut.

  “When your father found out, he started planning how to get you back. Though he hated his sister for what she had done, she was still his sister and he didn’t want her to end up in prison. He took you back. I helped him. And then he called Nancy and told her that if she ever came near you again, he would go to the police with all the evidence he had. She agreed, but she asked for only one thing, that she receive an occasional photo so she could see you grow up, so to speak, and know you were all right.” She gestured to the candy box Claire held. “All the evidence, the signed agreement they reached, photos, articles, a journal from your mother, is there when you’re ready to look at it.”

  Liam pushed to his feet, couldn’t remain seated a moment longer. “I have to call Halle.”

  “I am so very sorry, Liam,” Penelope said. “He never wanted you to know. The both of you had suffered enough. It was difficult at first, yes. But he was always gentle with you, and slowly but surely you forgot about that other life and came back to him. His son. The one stolen from him. There was only ever one frightening incident. You tried to run away and were hit by a car. You had no life-threatening injuries but you had a concussion and a broken arm. Oddly enough, after that you were fine. It was as if you locked away the life with the Clarks and became Liam again.”

  He wasn’t sure he would ever understand how his mind had hidden so much from him. His cell vibrated with an incoming text and he pushed the disturbing thought away. Halle. He frowned as he read her message.

  Car won’t start. Can you come pick me up? Take Highway 16. Go eight miles and take dirt side road on right just past mile marker sign. I feel like an

  idiot.

  His frown deepened. “I have to pick up Halle. I need to borrow your rental. As soon as we get back, we’ll figure this out.”

  “I’m going with you.” Claire set the candy box aside and grabbed her backpack.

  Liam shook his head. “I need to tell her myself. We’ll all talk when we’re back.”

  Claire handed him the keys to the rental outside. “We’ll be waiting.”

  He accepted the keys. “Thanks.”

  At the door, Penelope’s voice stopped him, “Whatever you’re feeling right now, please keep in mind that your father and your bio mom loved you more than you can possibly imagine. Even Nancy loved you. She was just a selfish woman who wanted to hurt her brother.”

  Liam nodded. “I know they loved me.” His gaze held hers for a moment longer. “I know you do, too. That means a great deal to me even if I’m not doing a very good job of showing it right now.”

  Penelope nodded. Her lips trembled as she smiled. “Be careful.”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He winked at Claire. “Love you, too.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  NOW

  Halle couldn’t be sure how much time had elapsed, but she was certain it was enough for Liam to be close even if he made a wrong turn or two before finding the correct dirt road. This road wasn’t very long. Maybe a quarter of a mile before the locked gate prevented going any farther. Burke had marched her far enough into the woods that they wouldn’t be spotted immediately when Liam arrived, but they could see her car from where they waited. The woods around them, however, were so dense it would be impossible to see her car from the main road. No one passing by would spot them.

  When she had refused to call him, Burke had sent a text. Bastard.

  He had made two calls on her cell after that. He’d spoken to someone on one of the calls but not on the other one. Since everyone was aware that cell calls could be traced back to a location, she suspected he was attempting to lay the groundwork for either his alibi or for framing someone else.

  What a low-down scumbag.

  “I don’t get it,” she said, breaking the extended silence. She needed him focused on something else rather than watching her. Time was running out. Desperate measures were her only recourse. In order to avoid ending up dead before she drew him away from this location, she had to distract him.

  “You don’t get what?” he demanded. “N
ot that it matters.” The way he looked at her as he said this was warning enough that he didn’t expect her to leave this mountain outside a body bag.

  “Why go to all this trouble? Frank Austen is the one who murdered the kid’s mother. Not you. Besides, that was a really long time ago. Even if someone remembered he worked for you back then, it likely wouldn’t matter.”

  He laughed. “If only it were that simple.” He pointed at her with the gun. “This is your fault, anyway. If you hadn’t written that article, maybe none of this would have happened.”

  She shrugged, pretending she didn’t get it. “What does my article have to do with any of this?”

  “It was all over the place,” he snapped. “Austen got nervous. He had a feeling the old lady was up to something. So he paid her a little visit to remind her about their deal and then he saw the kid all grown up visiting you. He understood then and there what she’d done. He called me whining like a little baby and I told him to clean it up. It was his mess, not mine.”

  “He killed her.” Halle had never wanted to hurt anyone the way she did this man.

  “I couldn’t have cared less.” He shrugged. “But then he decides it’s in his best interest to retire, disappear. Apparently, he hadn’t kept his 401(k) up to par so he asks me for money to keep his mouth shut about all those other kids. Bad decision. You see, I’m running for the state senate next year. I have big plans, Ms. Lane. I’ve made all the money I will ever need and now I want something else. Power and the kind of admiration that comes with it. Maybe I’ll run for governor one day. Can’t have this sort of thing cropping up in the news. You know how they like to dig up past sins on candidates.”

  The people who were hurt and murdered meant nothing to this man.

  Killing her and Liam would be a mere nuisance for him.

  The sound of a car door closing jerked her attention toward the dirt road.