Her heart rate shot up as she stared at him. Her mom had been kidnapped? Why would she have hidden any of this from her?
“I made the biggest mistake of my life that day.” Guilt lined his face as he ran the tip of his finger along the gnome etched on his coffee mug. “Instead of going after the woman I loved, I called Roy and your dad, and told them to handle it. To do whatever was necessary to get your mom back.”
She looked to Roy then, who gave her a sharp nod. “Hugh and I, along with a couple of other agents, stormed that bastard’s house. He not only had your mom, but five other people. Those victims he’d kidnapped didn’t fare as well as Janice. He’d given two of them lobotomies, and the rest electric shock treatment. Fortunately he hadn’t had a chance to run any of his experiments on your mom. Especially because…” He looked to Ian.
Silence filled the room.
“Especially what?” she asked, glancing between Roy and Ian.
Ian sighed and gripped her hand. “Especially because she was pregnant with you.”
She pulled her hand free of Ian’s. “That doesn’t make any sense.” The man was slime. He’d left her mom helpless while he’d gotten his shot at a serial killer her mom had helped him find. He’d had her dad and Roy rescue her while...a thought occurred to her.
A dreadful thought.
Her stomach did a triple somersault, and her head grew dizzy. She dropped the water bottle on the table, and glared at Ian. “If you were having an affair with my mom when all of this happened, when did my dad come into the picture?”
Ian held her gaze, his eyes didn’t shift, but the emotions raging through them were enough to make her gasp. “No.” She shook her head, and rose.
He stopped her. “Celeste, I am your father.”
A hysterical bubble of laughter welled in her throat. She suddenly pictured the scene in Star Wars between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Composing herself she looked at the slimy trash who’d been sipping coffee, her coffee, and narrowed her gaze.
“Get out.”
His eyes flashed with disappointment. “What?”
“You heard me. Get out. Now.”
Roy laid a hand on her shoulder. “Celeste, honey, it’s all true.”
She stared at the man who’d been like an uncle to her. Tears welled in her eyes, distorting the room. “Roy...I...”
“I know it’s hard to accept. Sit down, and let’s sort this out.”
“Sort what out?” she shouted, and wanted to shout some more. Her fucking life had been a lie. She turned to Ian. “And you. So you know all about me. Know about my brother. Do you know about my sister, too?”
“Of course I keep tabs on Eden. After all, we live in the same city.”
“You live in Chicago?” She couldn’t hide the hurt in her voice. This man, her supposed biological father, had only been hours away and he’d never once contacted her?
“I would have come to you sooner, but your mom made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me. The only time I ever laid eyes on you was right after you were born. By that time, your mom was head over heels in love with your dad. She made me promise that I’d never contact you, that I’d never interfere with your life.”
“Why?” God, she was going to fall apart. This was all too much. She needed John. In a bad way. He had such a logical spin on things and just being near him gave her a calming effect.
“I chose my career over your mom, Celeste. I was selfish and self-centered. I was young and stupid. If only you knew the regret that has tormented me for thirty years. I hated not being part of your life, to have to watch you grow from a distance.” He grabbed her hand, his grip gentle, yet his eyes fierce. “Janice denied me the right to be her husband. That I could accept. But she denied me you. That was unacceptable. And that’s also why Roy has been here, in Wissota Falls all these years. I needed to know how you were, what you were up to, every scraped knee, lost tooth, all of it.”
She gasped and shifted her gaze toward Roy. Disappointment and betrayal rolling through her, as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “You pretended to care so he could keep tabs on me?”
“I never pretended anything when it came to you,” Roy said with vehemence. “And don’t you ever think otherwise. I love you, Celeste, like the daughter I’ve never been blessed to have.” He squeezed her other hand. “What Ian gave me, this job as sheriff, and a chance to be a part of you and your family’s life, has been the best thing that could have ever happened for me. I wasn’t cut out for the FBI. Janice, your dad, and Ian, they all knew that. I’ve never once regretted what I’ve been doing the last thirty years, until now.” He caught one of her tears. “Seeing you cry, and the way you’re looking at me like I just smashed one of your gnomes, is making my heart break.”
She hiccupped and released a shaky laugh. “You’d never smash one of my gnomes. I think you bought half of them.”
Seconds passed. “You mad at me?” he asked.
Squeezing his hand back, she looked away. “Yes, no. I don’t know what to feel right now.” She shifted her gaze to Ian. “Does my dad know the truth?”
“Yes. He’d always thought you should know, but your mom was a stubborn woman.”
She looked to Roy for assurance. “He’s not kidding. I tried to convince her, too. But Janice wouldn’t hear of it. The arguments Hugh and I had over you...well, they don’t matter now. The bottom line, your mom was afraid that if you knew the truth, she might lose you to Ian. She knew how much you’d been itching to leave Wissota Falls. When your sister went off to Chicago, she worried you might follow. She worried you’d run into Ian considering he knows Eden.”
“You said you’d kept tabs on her, but do you actually know her?” she asked Ian.
“We’re well acquainted, but she doesn’t know how well. I made a promise to your mom, after all.”
This was all way too much to handle. She wanted to hate Ian. She wanted to rant at Roy. Everything she’d believed about her family had been a lie. She couldn’t do either, though. Her mom was a stubborn woman, with a vindictive streak than ran bone-deep. Ian had wronged her mom. She’d been pregnant with his child and he’d left her to tackle a career-building case. As her thoughts raced through her mind, a big one came front and center.
“How did my dad end up marrying my mom over you?”
Ian released a slow breath. “Hugh and I had entered the academy together. We were great friends, and after I met your mom, we’d argued constantly. We’d both fallen for Janice. I’d see the way he looked at her, at the way she looked at him. I’m a competitive, shallow man, Celeste.”
“No shit,” Roy mumbled.
Ian glared at him for a second, then looked back to her. “I wanted her, but not the white picket fence, and two point five kids she had been looking for. Your dad wanted those same things. Even when I knew they’d be better together, I pulled out the charm. I didn’t know she was pregnant with you when she’d been kidnapped. If I did, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I’d have done anything differently. Like I said, I was dumb and full of myself. My career meant more to me than anything else, until I lost your mom to Hugh.”
A deep scowl lined his face as he slipped his hand from hers and leaned back in the chair. “After that, my career did rise, but with nobody to share the success with, it didn’t seem to matter. I kept at it, though. For years I did my job, lost the passion, then finally quit and created CORE.”
“CORE? Oh my...” She looked to Roy, who stared at Ian as if he wanted to smash him into pieces. “You sent John here?”
“When Roy told me about your visions, then the bodies, I needed to make sure you were well taken care of.”
John took care of her all right. In more ways than one. Her stomach twisted, as her head grew dizzy with the deceit. John had been Ian’s babysitter. Not her lover. He’d used her. God, he’d used her. “You have to leave,” she said, fighting back the fresh tears, the pain. She’d fallen in love with John, and he’d—
Ian stopped
her. “No. And don’t you believe for one second what you have with John is because he works for me. He doesn’t know about any of this. But Roy has been keeping me posted on your relationship with him. Not that I have any say, but I approve. He’s a good man. He deserves a good woman.”
The relief that slammed into her had her sitting back down in the chair. John didn’t know. Which meant what was between them was just that. Between them.
“I still think you should leave. No offense, but you’ve turned my entire life upside down. I need time to...accept this. God, I need to talk to my dad.”
Ian didn’t appear to be offended. Instead, he offered her a smile. “I understand. But I also understand you’ve been having issues with your trances. Like your mom, you’re obviously a medium, too. I can help you with that, Celeste. I worked with your mom. Watched and witnessed her trances and visions. I can help you.”
She looked to Roy, who nodded. “It’s true. He knows more about your mom’s psychic stuff than your dad and I put together.”
As much as she wanted time alone to deal with what she’d learned this morning, she couldn’t help but take the bait. She did want to know how to deal with her trances. Her mom wasn’t here. And Ian—as much as she didn’t want to deal with him right now—might be her only source. “Then tell me.”
“I will. But on a few conditions.”
She shook her head. “Dropping all of this on me isn’t good enough?”
“This isn’t how I wanted to introduce myself to you. And trust me, I’ve dreamed of this moment since you were born. Still, you want something and so do I.”
“What’s that?”
“A chance to know my daughter.”
The pain in his eyes was unbearable. The whole situation made her want to crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head and forget she’d ever read her mom’s journal. In a matter of minutes, Ian had changed her life. She realized she didn’t know her mother—at all—and that her dad wasn’t her biological father. Not that it mattered, he’d been her father in every sense and she loved him dearly.
“I think I should to talk to my dad about all of this first.”
“And you should. But he’s not here right now. I am. And if you’re game, I can help shed some light on your trances.”
She wanted to know her mother’s secrets. Yet a part of her hesitated. Was she really a medium like her mom? Did she really want to have the capability to talk to the dead? The memory of her nightmares rolled through her mind. Yes. She did. Anything to have this investigation closed, the murders solved and Winston’s partner behind bars.
“Fine,” she said, not liking the way he was insinuating himself into her life. “I’m game.”
“Good. The other condition? I don’t want John to know you’re my daughter or that I’m here in Wissota Falls.”
She tensed. Defensive where John was concerned, where they were concerned. The impact of Ian’s admission placed a whole new spin on her relationship with John, and he needed to know. “Why?”
“I don’t want him distracted.”
She rolled her eyes. “Try again.”
Ian blew out a deep breath. “Okay, I don’t want this to bite me on the ass. John’s one of my best agents and I don’t want to lose him. He’d walk away from CORE if he knew I’d sent him here with ulterior motives.”
“Which are?” she prompted.
“To protect my daughter.” He gripped her hand again. “John’s a tough guy to understand. He’s been through...a lot.”
“I know, he told me.”
His brows rose. “He did?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Very good,” he said with a cryptic smile. “So, are you up to a few psychic lessons, or do you still want to kick me out of your home?”
She swung her gaze to Roy, who shrugged. “Up to you, honey. But I’ve got to leave. John and I have work to do.”
Staring out the window to the back deck, trying desperately to rein in the caustic emotions bombarding her, she sighed. “Why do I feel like I’m being manipulated?”
Roy’s bark of laughter made her jump. He stood, then kissed the crown of her head. “’Cause that what Ian’s known for best. I’ve got to run. But I’ll drag his sorry ass out of here if that’s what you want.”
Sliding her gaze to Ian, she tried to weigh her options, but came up empty. Damn, she wished she could talk to John about this. Right now she needed his rational brain to set things straight for her. Her emotions were distorting everything inside of her and making it difficult to think straight.
But she really wanted to solve this case and make the nightmares go away, and never happen again. If Ian could help her with this...
“Go do what you need to, Roy,” she finally said. “Apparently, Ian and I have some catching up to do.”
* * *
Hours later, still grinning stupidly, Ian drove his rental back to the Eau Claire Holiday Inn. He finally had what he’d dreamed. A cup of coffee with his daughter. His smile widened. And possibly a future with her in his life.
After her initial shock had worn off, and Roy had left, she’d proved her resilience. An eager pupil, she’d soaked in everything he’d learned from Janice and passed the information along to his daughter. He’d been tempted to talk her into going into a trance, but figured she’d be reluctant. Performing a trance required trust, something he’d have to earn, something that would take time to develop between them.
Instead, he’d offered her a job at CORE and a way out of Wissota Falls. She’d been right when she’d asked why she’d felt as if she were being manipulated. He wanted the chance to know his daughter, and having her in Chicago with him would give him that opportunity. Plus, after having worked with Janice all of those years ago, he’d love to put Celeste’s skills to use at CORE as a psychic consultant.
The moment he’d proposed his plan, he could tell she’d been interested. And he knew why.
John.
Considering John had actually told Celeste about his past, something he never discussed, not even with the other CORE agents, Ian suspected the criminalist had fallen for her. And with the way her eyes lit with relief when he’d made it clear John knew nothing about Ian’s connection to Celeste, he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d fallen for him as well.
Yes. Everything would fall into place nicely. He’d give his daughter financially stability, a career, and the perfect excuse to move to Chicago to be with John. In the process, this gave him the perfect excuse to finally have the chance to know and love his daughter.
Chapter 19
JOHN RUBBED THE tension from the back of his neck. After spending the past three hours staring at the data from the program Rachel had created, and making phone calls to various police departments, he needed a break.
As he leaned into his chair, his thoughts lingered on Celeste. He wished he could head back to her house and crawl into her bed—with her in it, of course.
After spilling his guts, his past, his emotions, he knew in his heart he couldn’t walk away from her. He’d decided last night that he’d somehow find a way to make what they had together work. He couldn’t imagine his life without her. In less than a week he’d fallen—hard—for a woman that was his polar opposite. Yet they were so in tune with each other it was scary, overwhelming, and just what he needed. She’d given him a swift kick in the ass. She’d called him out and had told him to stop using his past as a crutch. She’d set him straight, made him think. About the future, about the life they could share.
Roy released a deep sigh. He glanced at the sheriff, then at Bev. The two of them had been working alongside him since Roy had returned to the Sheriff’s Department after his coffee date with Celeste. They both looked as if they could use a break, too.
He closed his laptop, then stood and stretched. “How about we head to The Sugar Shack for lunch? My treat.”
Bev stacked the papers she’d been working on, then shoved them aside. “We have pizza on the way.”
Ro
y nodded his head. “Yeah, I thought the sooner we could get this done, the sooner we could have more evidence against Winston. I gotta hand it to that gal of yours over at CORE.” He pointed to his pile of data. “Without this we’d probably never have been able to uncover all the murders Winston committed.”
“Alleged murders,” John reminded him.
“Whatever,” Roy mumbled. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Winston did at least the majority of the prostitutes we’ve been looking at all morning. The MO fits.”
“It does, and once Rachel has a copy of the DNA from these unsolved murders, she’ll send it to our genetic specialist who will compare them to Winston’s.”
“How long will that take?” Bev asked as she stood and yawned.
“With CORE’s resources, maybe a day, hopefully sooner. As it stands, between what Celeste and I found last night, and what the three of us have researched this morning, we have over thirty murders matching Winston’s MO in five different states.”
Bev furrowed her red brows. “God, and we’ve only researched the past ten years. Hasn’t he been on the road longer than that?”
“Fourteen to be exact,” he answered. “Keep in mind, the DNA from these unsolved murder cases might not match Winston’s.”
“But,” she prompted.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority will, and there might be more that we’ve missed. The way Winston made sure the bodies were clean of any evidence with the four women he’d dumped here shows he’s conscious of leaving DNA behind. But I’ve noticed there’s been gaps between murders, which makes me wonder if Winston’s partner might be the brains of their operation.”
“Alleged partner,” Roy said with a smirk.
“Alleged,” he repeated, smiling back at the sheriff.
“Because this alleged partner made sure Winston didn’t get sloppy with the women they killed together?” Bev asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking. Again, we’ll know more once a DNA comparison has been done. Hopefully we’ll find additional DNA that doesn’t match Winston’s.”
Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 88
