Maggie's Guardian (Harlequin Super Romance)

by Adams, Anna

  “Thank you, Tessa.” Eleanor beamed at her as she took Maggie’s lunch to the table.

  Noah didn’t answer, but Tessa felt his silence. With all her might she tried not to look at him, but she couldn’t help it. His speculative gaze nearly made her swear out loud. He knew something was up, and she’d confirmed his suspicions.

  She turned from him, trying to breathe. All this togetherness, his constant eye upon her—why had she ever wanted the lion’s share of his attention?

  Truth was, she hated lying. Even to Noah. She was starting to smother in the secret it might be foolish to keep. She wanted to tell him so they could clear it up.

  She needed time to think about what to do next. She reached for the phone and punched in the number for the police station. A deputy gave his name and asked if he could help her.

  “This is Tessa Gabriel. I still need to go by David Howard’s house. Has the chief decided whether I can?”

  “Just a minute. I’ll have to ask him.”

  “Okay.” She waited without turning around. She didn’t want any of her guests to offer to go along.

  After a second, the deputy came back. “The chief says one of us can meet you at Mr. Howard’s house in an hour.”

  NOAH BIDED HIS TIME. Tessa had a secret, but she wasn’t about to tell it. If the Worths knew, Joe looked like a better source. Eleanor’s steel with Weldon had surprised him, and he didn’t have time to wear her down.

  After half an hour picking at a sandwich, Tessa pushed back her chair. “I’d better head over to David’s.”

  “Let Joe and me go,” Noah said.

  She blanked her gaze, the way she’d always done before they’d had Keely, if he’d suggested she didn’t have to go into her office on his one day off in a week. “You don’t know what I need,” she said.

  “Clothes. Toys. Can’t be that tough.” He glanced at Joe, who also stood.

  “Sounds good to me,” the other man said.

  Eleanor set her water glass on the table. “I’d feel better if the menfolk went. Since the police are so busy watching us, you can’t know who might be there.”

  “Weldon’s deputy, for one.” Tessa was predictably hostile at the concept of letting the “menfolk” take the risks.

  “Enough said.” Joe jumped in. “We’ll go. We both know what a baby girl needs.”

  Noah coughed, to cover up a jolt of pain at Joe’s careless assurance. Memories of Keely came back at the worst times. She’d needed someone to make her breathe, but he’d shown up too late.

  “You know the way, don’t you, Joe?” This would be a good time to get to the bottom of all Weldon’s drug talk.

  “Sure.” He leaned over to kiss first his wife, and then Maggie. “See you later.”

  Noah felt some remorse at Tessa’s frozen gaze, but not enough to persuade himself he could extract the truth from her when she so obviously didn’t want him to hear it. In the living room, he grabbed his coat and Joe’s. They both put them on as they hurried out the front door. Noah put on his gloves as they walked through their own frozen breath beneath Tessa’s spiny trees.

  He unlocked his car and turned on the ignition while Joe went around to take the passenger’s seat.

  “Better let the engine warm a minute,” Noah said. He didn’t have much time. The drive to David’s was bound to be short, and he couldn’t talk to Joe in front of Weldon or his men. “I wonder if the chief will be at the house.”

  “Probably. He thinks we’re all hiding something.”

  Noah made himself go slowly. He’d scare the other man off if he sounded suspicious. “You mean the drug thing with Joanna? What’s that about?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it started because she was going so fast when she hit that tree. But they did an autopsy. If she’d been on something, they would have known. She was clean.”

  “You’re sure?” He went for interest, not curiosity.

  “I’d know, or Eleanor would have. We were her parents. We knew when she had the problem the first time.”

  “Did you see much of her?”

  “After the baby came, she spent more time with us. We wondered if she and David were getting along. She swore they were fine and then the month before she died, she never came around at all. And after she died we saw David and the baby less.”

  “Why do you think that was?” What had changed Joanna? Drugs? Postpartum depression? A real problem with David?

  “She seemed aloof from us, from David, though not from Maggie. She loved that little girl. I don’t know what went wrong, and I have to live with not knowing every day of my life.”

  Joe’s admission spilled out on a sheet of white-hot pain that blanketed the car. Noah rubbed at his chest. He knew exactly what the other man was going through.

  He put the car in gear. “Regret doesn’t let go of you when you lose a child,” he said. “You’ll always wonder what you could have done to save her.”

  “Yeah.”

  And that was it. Something had happened to Joanna. Noah had no clue what it was, and he wasn’t sure Joe knew, either. Did Tessa know?

  “David’s place is that way.” Joe directed him around the square where kids and their parents were building snowmen as if this were a normal day.

  They passed traffic and people walking their dogs on shoveled sidewalks. They turned down a narrow neighborhood street just the other side of the tall, red-brick courthouse. Noah knew to stop when Weldon stepped out of his squad car in front of a white clapboard house.

  Weldon nodded to them as they got out of the car. He led the way through David’s wrought-iron gate, up the drift-covered sidewalk and onto the narrow porch. Joe produced a key.

  “I have one,” Weldon said. “We took Howard’s keys from his office.” He opened the door and let them into the narrow entryway.

  Joe took a deep breath that made Noah check to see if he was all right. He was an older guy, after all.

  “You know which room is Maggie’s?” Noah asked.

  Joe nodded. His face tight, he climbed the narrow staircase on the left side of the hall. He went slowly, as if he didn’t want to go at all.

  “We’ll wait down here,” Weldon said, wielding his small-town power to keep Noah in his sight.

  “I’d like to see David’s room.” Noah saw no reason to pretend he hadn’t come to investigate.

  “I’ve checked it. Completely undisturbed,” the chief said.

  “I’d like a look.”

  “Sorry.”

  Noah ignored him and wandered from the sparsely furnished living room to the small butler’s pantry, to the kitchen. Hardly any pictures hung on the wall, though Maggie, at different stages of growth, crowded the mantel over the fireplace.

  Not one photo of Joanna or David.

  “Detective Gabriel.”

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m not interested in trailing after you.”

  “Do you notice how neat the place is?” To keep looking, he pretended they were searching together. “You and your men didn’t clean up?”

  “No.”

  “I can’t remember if David was always this compulsively tidy. Even though no one’s been here in two days, I don’t see one fleck of dust. Where’d he find the time?”

  Or where had the killer? Noah had seen stranger things in his time than a killer whose trophy was cleaning the victim’s house, as if he could take the victim’s last sign of humanity with him.

  Joe came back down with a stack of clothing. “Why don’t you see if you can find something to put this in? I’m not sure where David kept the luggage.”

  “I saw cereal and fruit jars in the pantry,” Noah said. “And a box of garbage liners. I’ll get them.”

  Weldon watched as they packed. Frustrated at not seeing upstairs, Noah nevertheless went along with the chief’s plan to get them out of David’s house. If the guy’s sense of his professional dignity meant more to him than working together to catch David’s killer—well, Noah had no time to retrain h
im.

  They drove back to Tessa’s in silence. Joe seemed more upset than at any time since he’d come. Naturally, seeing his son-in-law’s empty home brought back memories. His own daughter had died only seven months ago.

  Noah suffered a moment’s remorse over asking him along so he could question him. But he’d come to Maine to find evidence. He didn’t want to hurt anyone along the way, but Tessa and Maggie were his priorities.

  When they got back, Tessa had moved her car from the driveway to the garage. The trunk and the car doors stood open, and Tessa’s feet, in climbing boots, protruded from the back seat.

  Eleanor met them at the house’s front door, holding it wide so they could carry in the stuff they’d brought back for Maggie. “Shh,” she said. “Baby’s asleep.”

  Noah set his armload on the sofa and straightened. “What’s Tessa doing in the garage?”

  “She’s cleaning her car.”

  Great. If Weldon’s deputy drove by, he’d assume she was erasing evidence.

  “I’ll see if I can help her.”

  She must have heard them drive up. She was no longer hard at work. She’d shut the trunk and the doors, and she was sitting in the driver’s seat, her hands folded on the steering wheel.

  He got in on the passenger side.

  Tessa looked at him as if she were exhausted. He had the feeling losing David was the last pain she could endure. “What did you fish out of Joe?” she asked.

  “Why is Weldon so sure Joanna was using drugs?”

  Glancing his way, she held her tongue. Not Tessa-like behavior, but he saw the pain she was trying to hide. He had to get to the bottom of it.

  He offered the comforting smile he knew he’d withheld when she’d needed it most, when they’d lost their own baby. He hadn’t known how to comfort her then. He’d been the one who’d left Keely alone too long. Tessa’s profound, unwavering sorrow had made him feel more guilty for failing their daughter, for failing his family.

  Dealing with grief had never been his best skill. After his father’s death, he’d promised any power that might listen that if no one else he loved died, he’d grow up and catch all the killers he could find. That promise had dictated every decision he’d made since.

  In return, he’d won Tessa for his wife, and together, they’d created Keely.

  But after Keely—passed away, his old agony had reared up. Every glance at Tessa had reminded him their innocent, beloved baby had died while he wasn’t looking. And that had to be his fault.

  Instead of telling her he was afraid he’d lose her, too—simply because he’d loved her—he’d protected her with indifference. This was his chance to make it up to Tessa even if he had to force her to be honest with him.

  “What did the coroner say after Joanna’s accident? Was she using drugs again?”

  She turned to him. Her scent, spice and cleanliness, taunted him with flashes of memory—her gaze, dark in early morning light, her arms stretched above her head as she’d welcomed him with a love-filled smile, her breasts firm against his lips as he breathed her in.

  His head hit the back of the seat. He could hardly hear when she finally spoke.

  “I don’t know where Joanna was going, but she slid on a road during a thunderstorm and hit a telephone pole. They found no drugs.”

  Damn. He recognized her bland, careful tone. He closed his eyes. She knew more than she was saying. “Weldon suspects she was using. He doubts his own coroner?”

  “Weldon’s new. He ran in a special election when the previous police chief resigned after Joanna’s death.”

  “The last chief resigned because of the way he investigated Joanna’s accident?”

  “No.” Now she sounded too certain. “At least he didn’t drop by and tell me so. He took a job up near Presque Isle.”

  So Weldon’s suspicions might have arisen out of some odd professional jealousy. Weldon had his share. But what would he gain? His predecessor had already gone or he wouldn’t have gotten the job.

  Tessa had turned to stare out the water-streaked window.

  “What do you think about Joanna?” he asked. “Was she using again?”

  She didn’t move for a moment. Then she seemed to make a decision, turning to him, her eyes as hard as the ice on her driveway. “I know her daughter and her husband were lost without her. I know her parents miss her the way I still long for Keely. I know you’re following the wrong thread, and don’t you dare interrogate me again.”

  He held her gaze with sheer willpower. She was too angry. A twinge of dread tightened his gut. She was lying to him. She’d always been the worst liar he’d ever known.

  Once, he’d come home early from work, and they’d ended up in bed and stayed too late to go to a dinner party. On the phone to their hosts, she’d spun a yarn fit for the bestseller lists. But she always realized just too late that she was bound to step all over herself when she forgot the twists in her tale. Invariably she got this look of dread in her eyes when she lied. The rage was something new in her repertoire, but this lie was important to her.

  She’d been his wife, and he’d never doubted her word about anything, but this was different. He already knew she was lying, and deep inside she already knew he’d guessed. She couldn’t hide the truth from him.

  “I’ll find out for myself.” And the answer would probably explain why Tessa was trying to hide it. She turned to get out of the car, but he caught her gloved hand. “Give me something, Tessa.” She’d become someone new, a woman he didn’t always know. “For old times’ sake,” he said, certain their old times meant nothing to her.

  “Sloma.” The name slipped between her gritted teeth. “Hank Sloma.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TESSA AVOIDED HIM the rest of the day, and that was all right with Noah. She’d given him plenty to think about with her half stories about Joanna.

  He patched the broken window and then decided to change the locks and the alarm system code. Afterward, he called Baxton to check on Della Eddings, whose husband was still missing but no doubt hovering somewhere near her, out of sight.

  Then he’d asked Baxton to look up Hank Sloma. The only information he’d discovered had been the misdemeanor possession charge David had defended him on. What would have made Sloma switch to capital murder?

  As if they felt the undercurrents that flowed between Noah and Tessa, Joe and Eleanor wandered the house like ghosts. Maggie made the only noise, and she remained cheerful despite the tension. Occasionally she asked for her “Da,” and the silence deepened for a short time, but they’d all grown adept at diverting her attention.

  After dinner that night, Tessa started toward her room with Maggie, to bathe the baby and get her ready for bed. Noah followed her to the foot of the stairs. She turned on him, still reluctant to talk. He had to insist.

  “I found Hank Sloma’s misdemeanor charge, but that’s all. Maybe you should tell me what else you think he might have done.”

  She flicked a glance toward the kitchen where Joe and Eleanor seemed most comfortable whiling away their time. “I just wondered about him, because of Weldon.”

  He hated to treat his ex-wife like a suspect, but he didn’t believe her.

  He nodded at Maggie. “Go ahead with her, and I’ll wait for you. We need to go over your notes again, so we can arrange to talk to your clients tomorrow.”

  Tessa nodded, and Maggie eyed him with interest, gnawing on her fist. She opened her mouth. “Duh?” came out, the sound drowning in a puddle of drool.

  Despite himself, Noah smiled. He tucked his hand under her chin, unintentionally catching the rest of her saliva.

  With a mother’s instinct, Tessa lifted the hem of her already spit-soaked sweatshirt and briskly dried his fingers and his palm. “Sorry about that.”

  Trying not to dwell on the glimpse of flat abdomen that opened a hole in his innocent intentions, he slipped his fingers into his jeans pocket. Her apology separated him from the growing familiarity between her and Maggi
e. He should have been happy, but he felt left out.

  He stared from Tessa to Maggie, feeling their warmth, breathing the scent of baby and his wife. Temptation and loneliness put a crazy offer on the tip of his tongue. What if he could do it right this time? Could he be the kind of man Tessa might need? Could he convince himself he’d be able to keep Maggie safe?

  Some promises were beyond his ability to keep. He stepped back, almost staggering out of his ex-wife’s reach.

  Tessa didn’t even notice. “I think she must be teething.” Tessa turned her back on him, her focus on the child. Maggie watched him steadily as Tessa climbed. “I’ll come back down after she’s asleep.”

  Tessa didn’t wait for him to answer, but Maggie’s gaze accused him of turning down a play date. He didn’t move until Tessa closed her lacquered door. And then he sucked in the breath he hadn’t taken as he’d watched her leave.

  The moment he turned, the Worths emerged from the kitchen, their sudden appearance startling him. He must be losing his grip.

  “What’s wrong?” Joe glanced up the stairs. “You look as if you’ve had bad news. Did you talk to Weldon again?”

  Bad news? He’d discovered he was a coward. Noah shook his head. “Just deciding what to do next.” He pulled himself together. “Tessa’s bathing Maggie.”

  “Wonder if she’d like company, Joe. Let’s ask her.”

  Noah got out of their way.

  “We’ll just say good-night to the baby,” Eleanor said. “And then I think we’ll have an early night, too. It’s been a long day.”

  On their way upstairs, Joe peered over his shoulder, distracted, his mind already on his granddaughter. “Good night, son.”

  Only his mother had called him son for nearly three decades. It didn’t feel right coming from Joe. He swallowed as the other man tapped on Tessa’s door and then entered before she spoke.

  Noah sank onto the couch, covering his eyes to ease the burning sensation he felt. Voices wafted through the house. He couldn’t discern actual words, but he recognized the sound of increasing warmth and trust, especially between Eleanor and Tessa.