Guarded Secrets

by Leann Harris

  “Did they find the man who disappeared?” Lilly asked.

  Jon entered the kitchen and explained what had happened.

  Lilly fell back into a chair. The news consumed her. When she met Jon’s gaze, he knew he could convince her.

  “It might be a good idea if Penny spent the night here. A final sleepover before school starts. The girls mentioned some sort of sleepover yesterday after the harvesting. I think that would be an excellent idea.”

  Lilly’s eyes narrowed. “Is there another reason why you are promoting a sleepover?”

  Jon moved to the kitchen table and sat down beside her. Marta had disappeared, leaving the two of them alone. “Can you trust me, Lilly? I think it would be safer for Penny if she stayed here with Dave and Marta.”

  Silence ruled for a few moments; then Lilly nodded her head. “I think you’re right.”

  Hiding his surprise, Jon continued. “I can drive you and Penny home, and then you both can get your things and spend the night here. I think Penny would probably like—”

  She held up her hand. “Wait just a minute, Detective Littledeer.”

  He tried not to wince at her use of his last name.

  Her index finger wagged back and forth. “I am not going to spend the night here. I agree Penny should. But I am not letting anyone run me out of my home.”

  “It’s the same principle with you, Lilly. There’s danger. We don’t know what happened to Mr. Zeller…or your ex-husband. Someone wants something you have. He’s already told you that he wants what your husband took. It’s foolhardy to stay by yourself.”

  “What seems foolhardy to me is not to be where this guy could call me or get in contact with me.” Lilly’s jaw clenched and he suspected she was ready for another round of arguments. He had an aunt who, the more you warned her, the more contrary she became. His uncle had complained more than once about his wife’s defiant streak.

  “Okay.”

  Her mouth fell open.

  “We’ll go to your house, get Penny’s things and come back here. On the way back to your house after we drop off Penny, we’ll stop by my house and get my toothbrush, since I’ll be spending the night at your place.”

  “Y-you can’t,” she sputtered.

  “I can and I will.”

  “I can call Zoe. She’ll stay with me.”

  “Fine, but I’m going to be there, too.”

  She opened her mouth to protest.

  He rested his hand on hers. “Lilly, if anything happened to you tonight, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. And this time I have the ability to prevent harm. You bet your life I’m going to do it.” He didn’t wait for Lilly’s response. He called Penny inside and explained to her what she was doing tonight. Lilly called Zoe.

  “Really?” Penny squealed.

  The twins joined her in voicing excitement.

  “Wow, Mom! How come Penny gets to spend the night?” Connie asked.

  All the adults fell silent.

  “Because,” Marta explained, “Lilly and I talked and decided that after the wonderful job you three girls did yesterday, you deserved a treat. I’m glad you like it, and since school starts next week, this is a good time for a sleepover.”

  Penny caught her mother’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  Lilly kissed Penny goodbye. Her daughter hadn’t hesitated for a moment as she’d walked into the twins’ bedroom. She climbed in the front seat of Jon’s car, awed by how quickly her daughter had taken to Caren and Connie.

  “I’m kinda amazed how quickly the girls have become close,” she confessed.

  Fifteen minutes later Jon turned into a new town house complex just south of downtown, a series of adobe homes connected to each other. Lilly knew this complex had been built within the last year. Obviously, Jon had moved here from the home he’d shared with his family.

  He pulled up to the last town house and parked. “Come inside while I get my toothbrush.”

  She followed him inside. The living room was neat. On the coffee table lay a large black Bible. Glancing around the room, she saw several Navajo baskets on the bookcases and on an end table. But it was the picture on the mantel that stopped her. It was a picture of his wife and daughters. Lilly slowly walked toward the fireplace. Roberta had been a beautiful woman, with long, black hair, deep brown eyes and a wonderful smile as she held her youngest. Beside her sat the other girl. She had shoulder-length hair, bangs and eyes that twinkled with mischief.

  “That was taken the day before we knew about Wendy’s disease,” he quietly told her.

  Hearing him talk about his daughters made her heart ache. She could understand how hard it had been for him. Pointing to the older girl, she said, “She was a beautiful little girl.”

  He picked up the picture. “She had an adventurous heart, and it got her in trouble with her mother. My little princess.”

  “And she made her papa proud.”

  He grinned. “There were a lot of times I never told Roberta what she did. Wendy could wrap me around her little finger.” He set the picture down. “I can look at them now and remember the joy their lives brought to me.” His gaze met hers.

  Her heart wanted to give him comfort. She touched his cheek. His hand covered hers and held on.

  Neither said anything for a few moments. There were no words, only recognized pain.

  He caught her gaze again. “Thank you.”

  She knew to what he referred.

  “Let’s go back to your house,” he said softly.

  They didn’t speak as they drove back to Lilly’s house. Jon pulled into the driveway. As he got out of the car, he held up his hand, then crossed the street to Sandra Tillman’s house.

  The woman answered on the first knock. Jon talked with her for a few minutes, then rejoined Lilly.

  Lilly tried not to laugh. “What did you ask her?”

  “I wanted to know if anyone suspicious had been up and down this street tonight. She told me she didn’t see anyone.”

  Lilly pulled her key out of her purse. “Did you tell her you were guarding me tonight?”

  “I did. And I emphasized that it was police protection. I told her your friend would be with us. I asked her to keep an eye out for anything odd on the street.”

  Lilly unlocked the door. “You know you’ll have an adoring fan once this is over.”

  He followed her into the house. He nodded as he scanned the living room. “Let me check out everything before we relax.”

  There would be no stopping him. She motioned him to go.

  Lilly put her purse on one of the end tables. Her mind filled with images of Jonathan Littledeer, of him holding his daughter, talking with Sandra Tillman, of the look of pain in his eyes when he remembered his little girls.

  He was not only handsome with his heart of gold, but he was a man who fought for justice. And he had two adamant defenders with the twins.

  “It’s all clear,” he said, entering the living room. He looked at the couch. “I’ll bunk out here.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand. “I’m the cop. We play it my way.”

  She felt foolish having him guard her, but judging from his comments, he wasn’t going to change his mind.

  “If you want to watch TV, the remote is in the end table drawer.”

  “I won’t need it.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  He laughed. “You’ve been listening to my partner’s comments about me.”

  “About you being hardheaded?” She grinned at him. “Nope. That’s from what I’ve seen myself.”

  As she walked down the hall, she heard his laugh. The deep, rich sound warmed her heart.

  Twenty minutes later, Zoe arrived.

  The smell of coffee drew Lilly down the hall. Jon stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

  “I hope you don’t mind me making coffee,” he said.

  “Absolutely not. It’s a treat to have someone else make it.”

  His grin wo
ke her up more than the caffeine. “My cooking skills are limited to going to fast-food restaurants and getting a meal.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Would you like to go out for breakfast?”

  She shook her head. “No. I can make us a couple of eggs here. Besides, we wouldn’t want to desert Zoe. If she woke up and found us missing, she’d panic and call the cops.”

  He shrugged. As she pulled out the frying pan, he asked, “Did you and Pete ever have any discussion about his job with the construction company or Sunbelt Securities?”

  She thought about the few things that Pete had said to her. “He told me he was tired of moving from one place to another and never having a place to come home to every day. That was the reason he changed jobs.”

  Jon leaned back against the cabinets, his coffee in his hand as he thought. “That’s understandable. Did he mention problems any other time with work at the construction firm or armored car company?”

  “No.”

  Lilly quickly made them scrambled eggs and toast. She walked down the hall to check Zoe. She waved Lilly off, telling her she didn’t do breakfast and stumbled to the shower.

  “Zoe’s not a morning person.” The sound of the shower, punctuated her comments.

  As she and Jon shared breakfast, it struck her that she hadn’t had breakfast with a man since Peter left her.

  “What?” Jon asked.

  The man was too observant, she thought. “It’s nothing.”

  “It might be important.”

  She didn’t want to tell him what she’d been thinking, but he sat there waiting for an answer.

  “It just dawned on me that us having breakfast is weird even if Zoe is down he hall. Pete was the last man I cooked breakfast for.”

  “Oh.”

  She stared down at her plate. How dumb, she told herself.

  His cell phone rang. Jon pulled it out of his shirt pocket. After a few seconds, he said, “Where’d you find him?” He listened intently. “Okay. I’ll be there ASAP.” He hung up and put the cell phone on the table. “They found Al’s body. He’d been shot and left in a deserted field south of town.”

  Pete wasn’t the only person to die because of something they didn’t know. “Someone is guarding their secrets fiercely,” Lilly commented.

  “I agree. That’s the key.”

  TWELVE

  “M om, I had such a neat time with Connie and Caren,” Penny reassured Lilly. She yawned and rested her head against the front seat of the car.

  “Did you get any sleep?”

  “Yes.”

  Lilly threw her daughter a glance, then looked back out the front windshield.

  “Okay. We talked and giggled. A lot.”

  “You might consider a nap in my office for a few minutes. It would help your yawning.”

  “I don’t think so.” Penny closed her eyes and her head slumped to the side.

  Lilly pulled into the church parking lot, then parked in the space by the side door. Reaching over, she shook her daughter awake. “C’mon, sleepyhead. Let’s go to my office.”

  Penny didn’t offer any protest. She followed Lilly inside and climbed onto the sofa in her office and instantly fell asleep.

  Lilly spent an hour going through the e-mails and letters that people had sent about harvesting and distributing the vegetables in the garden. Every person who’d worked last Saturday had submitted a glowing report, and several people wanted more information on how to start their own gardens. One wealthy parishioner had suggested enlarging the garden program and wanted to know if that was possible.

  Lilly left her daughter sleeping in her office and walked across the hall to show Pastor Kent the e-mails. They discussed ways in which they could involve more of the neighbors in the garden, helping to prepare the ground, sow the seeds and care for the plants. Also, they discussed if they should use more church land to enlarge the garden or if they should lease a remote site.

  With her head filled with hope and ideas, Lilly walked back into her office. She noticed that Penny was no longer asleep on the sofa.

  “Penny,” she called out. There was no answer. Maybe her daughter had gone to the bathroom. She walked to the ladies’ restroom and checked there. It was empty. Lilly next tried the kitchen. Sometimes her daughter helped herself to one of the soft drinks they kept in the fridge.

  “Penny?”

  There was no answer.

  Lilly walked the entire length of the first floor, calling out her daughter’s name. By the time she reached the stairs leading to the second floor, panic clutched her heart. She raced upstairs.

  “Penny, where are you? C’mon, sweetheart! Now is not the time to play hide-and-seek.”

  No one answered her. She stepped to the window on the second-floor landing and peered out, scanning the surrounding area. She saw a car turn down a side street. From its direction, she thought it might’ve come from the church parking lot.

  She shot down the stairs. “Pastor Kent! Pastor Kent!” she screamed.

  Pastor Kent and his secretary, Joy, raced into the hall.

  “Lilly, what’s wrong?” said the pastor.

  “Penny’s missing!” Lilly gasped between breaths.

  “Wasn’t she in your office?” Joy asked.

  “I left her in the office while we talked about expanding the garden. Penny wouldn’t have wandered off,” Lilly replied.

  Lilly raced into the secretary’s office and grabbed the phone. She knew Jon’s cell phone number by heart now. He picked up on the first ring.

  “Jon!” Lilly gasped. “Penny is missing from the church!”

  “I’m coming, Lilly! You sit tight,” he told her.

  She hung up the phone. She turned to look at Pastor Kent, then bent over and let loose with a scream.

  That killer had her baby.

  Why?

  Why?

  “What happened?” Dave asked Jon.

  “Penny’s missing.”

  Both men moved into action. Jon pulled out his weapon, checking to make sure it was loaded. He and Dave raced out of the building to their police-issue sedan.

  “Let me drive,” Dave commanded. “You can make calls while I drive.”

  Jon nodded, sliding into the passenger seat. The ride to the church was the longest one of Jon’s life. His mind went into overdrive. They would have the patrol cops canvass the area around the church to see if anyone had witnessed a child in distress or any suspicious activity. Maybe they could find clues in the parking lot.

  When Dave pulled up to the side door at the church, Jon threw open the car door, jumped out of the car and sprinted inside. He found Lilly in the pastor’s office. When she spotted him, she came to her feet and threw herself into his arms. He hugged her and his eyes drifted closed.

  “Someone’s taken her, Jon.” Lilly spoke into his ear. “Someone has my baby.”

  Jon’s heart felt as if it were torn and bleeding. “I’ll do my best, Lilly.” He pulled back and cupped her face. “We’ll use every means at our disposal to try to find her.”

  She nodded.

  He brushed his lips over hers.

  The front doors to the church opened and voices filled the foyer.

  Pulling back, Jon whispered, “Pray, because we need His guidance.”

  The church came alive with people. Uniformed officers were searching the grounds. So far they’d found no clues. Pastor Kent brought Lilly a sandwich his wife had sent. Lilly smiled weakly and took the bag. Walking back in her office, she set the bag on her desk.

  She sat at her desk and prayed. “Lord, keep my baby safe. Please.”

  She heard a cell phone ring. It wasn’t her cell phone. When it rang again, she looked around her desk. The muted sound made her think it was inside something.

  She yanked out the middle drawer of her desk. It wasn’t in there.

  The phone continued to ring.

  She tried the next drawer.

  Nothing.

  She tried the
bottom drawer. She saw nothing but her purse. The cell phone rang again. The ring came from her purse. She unzipped the main compartment and looked inside. There beside her cell phone was another phone.

  It rang again.

  With trembling fingers she picked up the phone and pushed the talk button.

  “Hello.” Her voice shook.

  “I warned you that I want what your ex-husband took. I’ll trade you. The evidence for your daughter.”

  Fear clutched her throat.

  “I don’t—”

  “Lady, I’ve got your daughter. She will die if I don’t get that evidence. Keep this phone with you. I’ll contact you later with instructions. Your daughter’s safety depends on you.”

  The line went dead.

  She stared down at the phone, overwhelmed.

  Jon walked in the room. “Lilly?”

  Lifting her head, she whispered, “He’s kidnapped her.”

  Jon’s heart jerked at the words. He squatted before her. “What did he say?”

  “He said he wants what Peter took. I guess he means the information on the flash drive.” Staring down at the phone she clutched in her hand, she said, “He’s got my baby.”

  Jon placed his hand over hers. “Lilly, we are going to do everything in our power to get her back.”

  The wounded look in her eyes cut across his heart.

  “You can’t guarantee that, can you?”

  “No.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and shook with her tears.

  In the doorway, Jon saw Dave. He’d heard the exchange. He nodded and disappeared down the hall.

  Pastor Kent moved toward them. He rested his hand on Lilly’s shoulder and began to pray out loud. “Lord, keep Penny safe…”

  Jon didn’t hear the rest of the prayer. Instead he prayed that God would give him the wisdom to rescue Penny and catch her kidnapper. It might be the killer himself or someone who’d been hired to recover the evidence. It didn’t matter. He wanted this guy.

  When the pastor finished the prayer, Jon pulled away from Lilly. “Let me have the phone for a moment to look at it.”