She’d thought she would always remember that weekend with Justin as one of the great moments of her life. It had felt like the beginning of something, but instead, it was the end. A few weeks later, he was gone. Now she wondered whether their romantic getaway had been nothing but a cover for whatever he was hiding from her.
Days later, he went back to Lake Wales.
Days later, he started digging into the past of a killer named Frank Macy.
He’d kept secrets from her all along. It made her feel bitter; it made her feel like a child.
And yet – and yet – he’d left clues for her, too. Just for her. Bread-crumbs that no one else could find. Part of her whispered that he was trying to protect her.
Part of her whispered that he had done it all for her. That he was trying to answer the question that had haunted her for ten years.
27
‘Cab,’ Caprice said. ‘What an unexpected treat.’
She got up from behind her desk at the headquarters of the Common Way Foundation, which was on the other side of downtown from the shabby building that housed the foundation’s research department. Her corner office was located near the pencil-top of the Sun Trust tower. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on the skyline in two directions. Westward, he could see the cloud mass marking the fringe of Chayla as it marched toward the coast. It was a dark day. The building swayed almost imperceptibly with the gusts.
Caprice’s brunette hair was pulled tightly back, and her white skin and soft face were emphasized by amber teardrop earrings. She wore a gray business suit, with a skirt that fell just below her knees. Her heels were tall. Her serious eyes became flirtatious as she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’ she asked.
‘I have questions,’ Cab said.
Caprice smiled. ‘Of course you do. You are just full of questions.’
He strolled on the plush carpet to the windows overlooking the city. Caprice stood next to him, close enough that her hips brushed against his. He was very conscious of her presence.
‘The storm will be here soon,’ Caprice said. Her eyes were on him, not the sky.
‘Yes, it will.’
He sat at a round glass table near the window. Caprice took the chair next to him. She smiled, waiting for him to start. The toes of her shoe casually rubbed his pant leg. She knew she made him uncomfortable, and he was pretty sure she liked the power she held.
‘I just met Peach Piper,’ Cab told her.
‘Did you? Peach is a sweet girl, but don’t underestimate her. She’s wicked-smart. You could sit right next to her and not even realize it because of her disguises.’
‘She was telling me about a foundation employee named Justin Kiel,’ he said.
‘I’m not surprised. Deacon says that Peach was quite sweet on Justin.’
‘I’m wondering why you didn’t tell me about Justin yourself. A member of your research team was murdered two weeks ago. You didn’t think that was useful information in evaluating potential threats against Diane?’
‘The police didn’t raise any security concerns about the crime,’ Caprice replied. ‘They said it was drug-related. One dealer shoots another. Honestly, I wanted it kept under the radar as much as possible. It’s not a great campaign story when an employee of the foundation turns out to be connected to drug trafficking.’
‘I’m not sure it’s that simple,’ Cab said. ‘Justin was looking into the Labor Day murders before he was killed.’
Caprice’s brow furrowed with concern. ‘Are you sure about that?’
‘I am. Was he working for you?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘I thought maybe you hired him before you hired me.’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t.’
‘If he was killed because he was asking questions about Birch’s death, then the threat against Diane is real and serious. I think you should increase security around her.’
Caprice nodded. ‘I will. Do you know if Justin discovered anything that would help you?’
‘Not yet.’ He added: ‘I’m not the only one interested in Justin’s death. Ramona Cortes asked to see me. She mentioned Justin, too. She doesn’t think his murder was drug-related.’
‘Ramona,’ Caprice said, shaking her head. ‘Well, I doubt she knows anything more about the case than you or me. She’s just stirring the pot. Anything that might embarrass Diane would draw Ramona like a magnet.’
‘Do you know her personally?’
‘Of course. Remember, I’m a lawyer, not just a pretty face. We go back a long way. Lyle and Ramona were classmates in law school, before their political paths diverged. She’s very ambitious. People think the Attorney General is supposed to be above politics, when in fact it’s one of the most political positions in any state. It’s no surprise that so many top elected officials started out as AGs. You have the power of prosecution and you have a platform to get lots of publicity for what you do. Believe me, Ramona wants Diane out of the race any way she can, because she thinks she can beat the Governor head to head.’
‘She tried to talk me out of working for you,’ Cab said.
‘I bet she did.’
‘She has a pretty Machiavellian view of Common Way. She thinks you’re not above using ruthless political tactics.’
Caprice smiled. ‘We’re not.’
‘Within the law?’
‘Naturally within the law, but we play to win. I don’t apologize for that. The other parties are simply upset that we’re getting better at the game than they are. Don’t let sour grapes from Ramona concern you.’
Cab didn’t doubt that Caprice was right about Ramona. In dealing with politicians, every word, every smile, every truth, every lie, was layered with motives. He didn’t need to ask who was trying to play him, because everyone was. They all had their own agendas.
‘Does the name Frank Macy mean anything to you?’ Cab asked. ‘He was an old client of Ramona’s who went to prison on manslaughter charges a few years ago.’
‘Did Peach tell you about him?’ Caprice asked.
‘Not directly, but she had some information about him with her.’
‘Yes, Peach showed up at Diane’s last night, talking about Macy. Diane didn’t take it well. Drew hung out with Frank Macy in college. He was a drug dealer, one of those street-smart scholarship students who know how to capitalize on rich friends by using their urban contacts. Smart but tough. On some level, I think Diane always blamed Macy for Drew’s death. Peach thought that Justin was interested in Macy, too.’
Cab’s expression hardened. ‘Justin was looking at Frank Macy? Macy was Drew’s drug dealer? And you still didn’t call me about any of this?’
Caprice reacted with obvious annoyance. ‘You don’t get it, do you, Cab? We are running a statewide political campaign. Drug killings do not help us. Someone like Frank Macy is poison. If his name is linked to Diane’s in the media, our poll numbers drop. So no, I don’t want you looking at him. I don’t want Frank Macy within ten miles of anyone from Common Way. Was he involved in Justin’s death? I have no idea. Frankly, I don’t care, but if you want my political opinion, think about this. If Ramona Cortes wanted to attack Diane, an old client like Frank Macy would be a great way to do it. Macy wouldn’t need to be connected to the murder at all. Just planting his name would hurt us. Has it occurred to you that Ramona might be behind all of this? That she might be manipulating you and Peach to sabotage Diane?’
‘It has,’ Cab said.
‘Then maybe you should stop listening to her and focus on what I hired you to do.’
Caprice showed the sharpness of her teeth for the first time. She was a dominatrix, accustomed to getting what she wanted. He felt the allure. He knew exactly what a relationship with her would be like. He had no illusions that he would be the one in charge. She could take a strong man and drive him mad.
‘Sorry,’ she said, putting her smile back on. ‘That’s my passion coming throu
gh.’
‘I realize that.’
‘Remember, politics means nothing to you, but it’s everything to me.’
‘I realize that, too.’
She was the coquette again. ‘Forgive me?’
Cab smiled. ‘Of course.’
‘I didn’t mean to treat you like an employee. It’s a bad habit of mine. Honestly, I have to confess, I was thinking about other things when I hired you. I wanted to get to know you better. Not that you’re not good at what you do, but you’re very attractive.’
‘The feeling is mutual.’
‘It sounds callous, but I don’t really care about your girlfriend. If she can’t keep you, that’s her problem. I’d like to see more of you.’
‘Believe me, I’m tempted,’ he said, ‘but it will have to wait until this business is done.’
‘Because you work for me?’ she asked, her eyes gleaming. ‘Are you afraid of sexual harassment?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Maybe you should be.’
‘I’m not worried,’ Cab explained, ‘because I don’t work for you anymore.’
He watched Caprice inhale sharply, her nostrils flaring with anger. ‘Is this a joke, Cab? Because it’s not funny.’
‘It’s not a joke. I have a new client.’
‘Who?’ she demanded. ‘So help me, if Ramona Cortes—’
‘It’s not Ramona.’
‘Then what is this about?’
‘I guess you could say my client is Justin Kiel.’
Caprice leaned across the table, pointing a blood-red fingernail in his direction. ‘Oh, come on, Cab, what kind of nonsense is this? I asked you to help Diane. She’s your mother’s best friend. Do you care so little about her?’
‘On the contrary. I care about her a great deal. If Justin Kiel was killed because he was asking questions about the Labor Day murders, then I need to know exactly what he found, because I want to protect Diane. But I can’t do that if I have to be concerned with how my investigation fits into your political calculations.’
‘I said I was sorry,’ Caprice snapped.
‘I know you did, but you’re not sorry in the least. That’s okay. You have your priorities. I have mine.’
Caprice frowned. ‘So what does this mean? You keep working on the case, but I don’t have to pay you for it?’
‘Pretty much. Think of it as a sound business deal.’
‘How can I argue with that?’ she asked.
‘You can’t.’
‘Then I guess we’re done,’ she concluded.
‘Not quite. Now you’re a witness.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Justin wanted to know what happened ten years ago. So do I. Let’s start with a fight between Birch and Diane a couple weeks before Labor Day. It was a Saturday night. It was so bad that Drew ended up threatening Birch’s life, and he wound up in rehab. He got out of rehab just days before the murders. I’d like to know exactly what went on in that house.’
‘I don’t know,’ Caprice replied.
‘I think you do. Peach said you were there.’
She was silent for a moment. ‘Diane would not want you looking into this, Cab,’ she said softly.
‘Maybe not, but I have no choice. I’m heading back to Lake Wales right now. I’m going to find out what’s going on sooner or later. You might as well tell me.’
‘I’m asking you to drop it. Please. As a friend, not as an employer.’
‘I can’t do that. I’m sorry. I don’t care what this does to the campaign.’
‘Well, I do care. So does Diane.’
‘What really happened that Saturday night, Caprice? What are you people hiding?’
She stood up languidly from her chair. Every movement she made had grace; her body was a seamless extension of her sexuality. She leaned toward him, close enough to engulf him in a sweet breath of perfume. With a little smirk, she took his earlobe in her mouth and bit him.
‘Go to hell, Cab,’ she whispered.
28
The rain lashed the windshield of her Thunderbird. An ash tree bowing over the roof of the Lake Wales Library twisted in the wind like a drunken dancer. Peach opened the car door, which wrenched out of her hand. She ran for the library entrance, and in the doorway, safe from the downpour, she smoothed her hair, adjusted her fake black glasses, and made sure that her tan blouse was properly tucked into her brown skirt.
She looked like a librarian. Everyone was more comfortable talking to people who looked like they did.
Peach knew that Justin would have come here first. He always said that libraries held the answers to every question that could be asked in the world. If he was digging into the events in Lake Wales, he would have started at the Lake Wales Library. Someone was bound to remember him.
Inside, the thump of rain on the roof was as loud as thunder. The building was mostly empty. She saw a lone librarian at the registration desk eyeing the oversized front windows as they shook in the wind. The woman was in her fifties, plump, with strawberry hair and a round face.
Peach gave her a shy smile. ‘Hello.’
‘Can I help you?’ The woman’s voice had a trace of a German accent.
‘Oh, well, I don’t know. It’s personal.’
‘Yes?’
‘My boyfriend was here a few weeks ago,’ Peach said. ‘I was hoping someone here talked to him.’
The librarian came up to the counter. ‘And what is this about?’
Peach displayed a photograph on her phone of her and Justin near the lake just blocks from the library. Arms around one another; big smiles. ‘See, that’s us,’ she said.
The woman squinted. The picture softened her, because it was two young people who were obviously in love. Peach could also tell from her expression that she remembered Justin, with his weird mustache and hat.
‘You saw him, didn’t you?’ Peach asked.
‘Well, yes, I do remember him,’ the librarian admitted. ‘A young person with an old-fashioned mustache like that, so unusual. He was funny, too. He had a lot to say about life. I liked him.’
Peach nodded. Her eyes stung with tears, which she didn’t need to fake at all. ‘He was a philosopher.’
‘Oh, dear,’ the librarian replied immediately. ‘Did something happen?’
‘He died.’
The woman grabbed her hand. ‘I’m so sorry, how awful for you! He was just a boy. How can I help you?’
‘Well, you can’t, probably. Justin was a writer, like me. He was doing a story for an Orlando magazine about the tenth anniversary of the Labor Day murders – you know, with Diane Fairmont running for governor now. I’d like to finish the article for him, but I can’t make heads or tails of his notes, so I’m trying to follow in his footsteps. Re-create his research. That’s why I’m here.’
‘I see.’
It wasn’t entirely a lie, and Peach sold it with the sweetness of her face. ‘Anything you can tell me would be such a help,’ she said.
‘Well, yes, he said he was doing a story about those terrible murders,’ the woman said. ‘He asked me if I lived here back then, but I’m afraid I only came to town five years ago, so I couldn’t help him.’
‘Did he talk to anyone else?’
‘Maybe a couple of our volunteers, but they’re not here today.’
‘Oh. I understand.’
‘He was in the library for a long time,’ the librarian told her. ‘He spent much of it in our microfiche section. I think he was going through all of the newspapers from back then. He made a lot of copies.’
‘You don’t know what he copied, I suppose.’
‘No, I’m sorry, patrons make their own copies. I can show you our newspapers, however, if you’d like.’
‘Yes, okay,’ Peach said.
The librarian guided her to a row of carrels stocked with microfiche readers, near the windows that looked out on the fierce rain. She pulled out a drawer in a nearby filing cabinet. With a quick glance, she took a box from th
e back of the drawer and opened it to show her a stack of oversized negatives.
‘These are the Lake Wales papers from August and September of that year. I believe that’s where your young man started.’
Peach nodded. ‘Thank you.’
‘Do you need help with the machines?’
‘No, I’m fine. Thank you so much. I appreciate your help.’
Peach sat down alone at a microfiche reader, and she quickly found the newspaper reports for the day after Labor Day. When she saw the headlines and photographs, her eyes blurred with tears, and her stomach squirmed, as if a great hole had opened up inside it. Instead of reading, she stared out the windows, hypnotized by the beat of the rain. She was glad there was no one else around.
It didn’t really help her to know that Justin had studied the newspapers from ten years ago, other than to confirm that Cab Bolton was right. She didn’t know what Justin would have learned, or what she hoped to discover by revisiting events that she had spent a long time trying to forget.
Her phone rang. She was grateful for the interruption.
‘Fruity,’ her brother said when she answered. The connection was bad; the storm was already eroding the quality of the signal.
‘Hey.’
‘I’m in the office, where are you?’
Peach hesitated. She didn’t want to admit what she was doing. ‘The library,’ she said.
‘Caprice told me about last night.’
‘Yeah, I figured.’
There was a long pause. The connection flitted in and out, making him stutter. ‘I am pretty pissed, you know that, right? Caprice said you made contact with Macy. Do you know what kind of man he is? He may look like Leo DiCaprio, but he’s not.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t go there alone. Annalie was with me—’
‘You could have gotten her killed, too!’
Peach felt like crying again. ‘Don’t yell at me, Deacon.’
Her brother went quiet. She thought for a moment that she’d lost the call, but then she could hear him breathing. ‘I know. I’m sorry. Look, do you think I ignored what you said? I started investigating Macy myself as soon as you told me about him.’
Season of Fear Page 21
