You Can Run...

by Carlene Thompson

  “Anyway, Jeffrey went to their hotel room after leaving the party. The police were certain that if he’d arrived before Yvette’s plunge out the window, Jeffrey had jerked the necklace off her before he pushed her, or the necklace caught on his hand during the struggle. But someone in the next room claimed they’d heard Yvette shouting at somebody about ten minutes before Jeffrey could have arrived, and a man in the hotel lobby said he saw Jeffrey at almost the exact time Yvette fell, or jumped, or was pushed. That’s where the matter ended. Again, no proof,” Tyler ended in disgust.

  “Two deaths—one appearing to be a Mafia hit, the other a suicide—and both benefitting Jeffrey,” Diana said slowly. “That’s stretching coincidence a bit far.”

  “I’ll say it is!” Tyler’s voice had risen. His distrust of Jeffrey Cavanaugh and anger that no one could prove anything against him couldn’t have been more obvious. “So you see why I didn’t want Penny involved with him? He’d lived like a hermit after Yvette’s death, then he and some client went to see ‘Copper Penny’—that was her stage name—and suddenly he started dating her. You can probably imagine how the tabloids loved it.”

  “You read the tabloids?” Diana asked teasingly, trying to lighten Tyler’s mood, which seemed to be teetering on the edge of fury.

  He smiled for the first time in twenty minutes.

  “Of course. I read them voraciously,” he said, tongue in cheek. “I’m much more interested in who’s just married for the sixth time than I am in Ahab chasing a white whale.”

  “It sounds to me as if Jeffrey has become your white whale,” Diana said softly.

  “I guess he has.” Tyler grew serious. “I knew a lot about him after the Yvette business. Then to find out Penny was involved with him threw me for a loop, as my grandpa used to say. I begged Penny to stop seeing Jeffrey. Instead she married him. Diana, I would rather she had kept stripping than be married to him. I was afraid for her.”

  “No wonder. But you didn’t interfere. Did Jeffrey know about you?”

  “No, he didn’t. Because of his suspected underworld associations inherited from his father, I couldn’t have him knowing about me. Penny kept assuring me Jeffrey was entirely honorable, but frankly, Penny could be incredibly naive. She knew how important anonymity was to me, though, and she kept me a secret. We talked on prepaid cell phones so calls couldn’t be traced. We met briefly in Central Park. Later, Penny would bring Willow to the park for me to see, and as she got older, we taught her to call me Badge so that if she ever mentioned me, Penny could say she meant the cops wearing badges that patrol the park.”

  “When Willow kept saying ‘badge’ in the emergency room, the doctor and I thought she was referring to the badges worn by police at the scene.”

  “Even now she doesn’t know my real name. Penny said Willow could start calling me Tyler as soon as they were safe.”

  “Safe from what? I still don’t know why Penny ran away.”

  Someone rapped softly using the knocker on the large, wooden front door, and Diana jumped. “Oh God, who’s that?” she asked, grabbing Tyler’s arm.

  “Well, most killers don’t knock to announce their arrival. It’s probably a cop.”

  Diana huddled on the couch while Tyler strode to the door. He was at least six-foot-one with wide, muscular shoulders, a toned body, and an almost catlike grace—the kind that in an instant could turn into the strong, agile moves of a dangerous adversary. Diana realized how much safer she felt with Tyler there tonight. If he hadn’t stayed, she would have lain in her bed wide-awake and trembling all night, even if Simon had allowed her more than one tranquilizer.

  Tyler opened the front door, and Diana crept to the entrance of the library. A patrolman said, “They’re finished searching the woods for tonight. Just thought I’d tell you they’ll be leaving now.”

  “Find anything?” Tyler asked.

  “Some kind of white robe. Big thing.” Flowy, Diana thought, remembering how Willow had described it. “It’s bagged as evidence and forensics will see what they can recover from it. Other than that, they didn’t find anything. They’re going to take another look around tomorrow in the daylight, though.”

  “Good. And you’re going to keep twenty-four-hour surveillance on the house.”

  “Well, we’ll do the best we can, but I don’t think we have the manpower for constant surveillance.”

  “Do you mean that after what happened, you’re going to leave these people unprotected?”

  “That’s not what I said.” The patrol officer sounded nettled. “I said we’re going to do the best we can. I know you’re from New York City and this isn’t New York, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have crime here—it’s not confined to the Van Etton house.” The man apparently took a deep breath. “Look, maybe you should take this up with the sheriff tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” Tyler said easily. “I didn’t mean to jump down your throat. I just care a lot about these people.”

  “I understand.” The patrol officer’s voice sounded more affable. “I’ll be leaving now, but we’ve got two guys in the car out front. Hope the rest of the night goes well.”

  “I don’t see how it could get much worse,” Tyler said dryly, and the patrol officer laughed as Tyler shut the door. He turned and looked at Diana hovering in the door. “He said they found a white robe in the woods.”

  “I heard. The one worn by Willow’s guardian angel, of course.”

  Tyler’s gaze traveled over her, swathed in heavy blue fleece. “My, you do go in for the sexy nightwear, don’t you?”

  “Clarice and I have traded robes. You should see the one I gave her on the first night she stayed here. It was a gift from my ex-mother-in-law meant to inspire unbridled passion in her son. I think Clarice took one look at it and was ready to run for what was left of her home.”

  Tyler walked toward her and put his arm around her waist. “Well, she didn’t, and from what I’ve been able to see, she seems to fit right in with the Van Etton household.”

  “Especially its master. Do you know Simon not only took her to church yesterday but also stayed for the service? I can’t remember the last time Simon entered a church.”

  “Not for your wedding?”

  “I was married in a judge’s office. No frills. I didn’t feel like I’d even gotten married.” She steered Tyler back to the couch and they both sat down, their bodies touching, their faces inches apart. “Now tell me about Penny’s marriage.”

  Tyler reached for his glass and emptied the remaining vodka. “Well, Penny seemed really happy the first year of the marriage. She immediately went on a self-improvement kick. She took lessons to lose her New York accent, which was fairly strong. She spent hours reading etiquette books and books about gourmet foods and fine wines. She seemed more eager to become a ‘lady’ than to run around buying expensive clothes and jewelry. She wanted Jeffrey to be proud of her. Of course, she was never going to be accepted by high society—not a former stripper—but she didn’t know it, thank goodness. That would have broken her heart because she thought Jeffrey was an integral part of that world.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “He wasn’t. Blake Wentworth was, but not Cavanaugh.”

  Diana frowned. “Did that bother Jeffrey?”

  “I don’t think so. He’s not a social creature, if you haven’t noticed. But Wentworth lowered his participation in that world nevertheless. I think he did it out of consideration for Jeffrey.”

  “Also Lenore?”

  “Probably. I don’t think she’s considered one of the social elite, either,” Tyler continued. “Anyway, Penny was thrilled when Willow—or Cornelia, as Jeffrey insisted she be named—was born. She doted on the baby and she was disappointed that Jeffrey didn’t. She said he loved Willow but he just wasn’t demonstrative. Still, things began to go downhill after that. Jeffrey spent more time away from the apartment. He’d work until ten at night and leave at seven in the morning. When he went on trips, he took Lenore and Blake but not Penny. I could tell sh
e was unhappy. Then Jeffrey assigned Penny a bodyguard. She wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without this guy.”

  “Are you certain Jeffrey wasn’t just overprotecting her, especially because they had a baby?”

  “She believed he thought she had a lover.”

  “Did she?”

  “If she did, she didn’t tell me about him.”

  “Are you sure she would have told you?”

  “No. In fact, she probably wouldn’t have. She wouldn’t want another lecture from me about playing with fire, especially because she wasn’t good at sneaking around. Well, the question of a lover aside, one day over a year and half ago, she called me, frantic. Penny had always been intrigued by a wall safe in Jeffrey’s study that he never let her look into, saying it was full of boring business papers. While he was gone on one of his trips, she searched his study and under a heavy piece of sculpture, she found a piece of paper with numbers, which she thought were the combination to the safe.

  “She was right, and inside the safe she found Yvette’s necklace. Penny had heard so much about it over the years, she recognized it instantly. The clasp was broken and the chain twisted almost in two. She said the damage didn’t look like what could have happened in a fall. To her it looked like the kind of damage the necklace would have sustained if there had been a struggle and someone had twisted it off Yvette’s neck.

  “The fact that Yvette’s necklace was missing was the only reason the police didn’t immediately rule her death a suicide. They believed if she’d jumped out the window, the necklace would have been on her body. But Jeffrey—and several of his lawyers—claimed the necklace could have been stolen after Yvette hit the street. Before the police could arrive, a lot of people had gathered around her body and somebody did CPR and checked her pulse and God knows what else. Also, Yvette was drunk that night, she’d threatened suicide many times—even the day before her death—and it was fifty degrees outside but her window was wide open. Everything except the missing necklace pointed to suicide.”

  Tyler’s expression hardened along with his voice. “Over the years, Jeffrey kept talking about the necklace, supposedly wondering what happened to it, as baffled as everyone else. And all along it had been in his safe. When Penny found it, she knew Jeffrey must have struggled with Yvette and pushed her out that window.

  “That alone frightened and horrified Penny, but what really terrified her was that she finally believed all the things people said about him—that he’d killed his father and Yvette. She talked hysterically about the way Jeffrey had begun acting with her—the moodiness, keeping her a near-prisoner in the apartment, paying no attention to her or to the baby. She thought that because he believed there was another man in her life, she was going to be his next victim.”

  “Why didn’t she take the necklace to the police?”

  “I told her the necklace wouldn’t convict Jeffrey of murder. He’d just left his guests at the party when a man in the room next to Yvette’s heard her shouting at someone in her own room. Then the guy in the lobby claimed he saw Jeffrey heading to the elevators right before she would have gone out the window. If what the witness said was true, Jeffrey wouldn’t even have had time to make it to the hotel room, much less struggle with Yvette and toss her out a window then hide the necklace. As for Jeffrey having the necklace years later, he could say it come into his possession after the murder. He might claim someone stole it and sold it back to him.

  “Mainly, I didn’t want Penny’s knowledge to become public, because I was afraid Jeffrey might still have contact with some of his father’s mafia connections. I thought if he didn’t shut her up, they’d do it for him.”

  “So you told her to run away.”

  “No,” Tyler said emphatically. “I told her to get a divorce. If Jeffrey didn’t care much for Willow, he probably wouldn’t fight for custody. Penny said he’d fight for the sheer hell of it, but she didn’t think he’d let things get that far. She thought he’d kill her before he’d let her leave him, especially if he thought there was another man. I told her, ‘Penny, you can run, but you’ll never be safe.’ She was determined, though. She begged me to help her. She said she’d do it alone if I refused.”

  Tyler gave Diana a despairing smile. “Penny was smart, but she didn’t know the first thing about pulling off a disappearance. She would have bungled the whole process, Jeffrey would have found out, and God knows what he would have done to her. So I relented.

  “I got her all the fake identification and bought the Social Security cards from a homeless woman—they are so desperate, they’re more than willing to sell Social Security cards. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found a woman with a child almost the same age as Willow.” A smile flickered across his face. “Penny insisted I give the woman twice the money she asked for the cards. No one could say Penny wasn’t a generous soul.” The smile disappeared. “Penny told me she intended to come to Huntington, primarily to be near Al Meeks although she had other reasons, too. So Jeffrey returned from his trip to find absolutely no sign of his wife and daughter.”

  “That would seem cruel if you didn’t know Jeffrey’s history,” Diana said gravely. “But I’m not certain I wouldn’t have done the same thing if I had been in Penny’s place.”

  “I didn’t think it was the way to ensure her safety, but I think like a cop. Anyway, we kept in touch and I even came to Huntington to see her a couple of times—it was easy for me because I could stay with Al.”

  Tyler looked away from her, his face etched with pain. “Then I got a hysterical call from Penny about two weeks ago. She said someone was asking too many questions. I had a feeling there was more going on, but she wouldn’t give me more details. She just insisted she’d been found out. She said she had to get away, which broke her heart because she’d have to leave you and Simon. Of course, I agreed to help her again. I couldn’t come immediately—I needed time to gather false IDs again. When I finally got here, Willow was in the hospital with appendicitis. We were going to leave Sunday morning.” Tyler drew a long, shaky breath. “But Sunday was too late.”

  Tears glittered in his brilliant blue eyes. Diana put her arms around him and lay her head on his chest. His arms immediately enfolded her and she felt a tear fall onto her forehead, just as her own tears spilled onto his T-shirt.

  Finally, when she could speak, Diana asked, “Do you have any idea who found out about Penny?”

  “No. She knew, though. She said she’d tell me when she got away from here. I think she was afraid if I knew who it was, I’d go after the person. I might even kill someone. I wouldn’t have, but Penny could get carried away, exaggerate.” He sighed. “But she sure wasn’t exaggerating the fact that she was in danger.”

  “And not from Jeffrey if he didn’t know where she was until after the explosion, when her fingerprints were sent to a national database.”

  “Even if he wasn’t directly responsible for that bomb, Diana, he killed her just the same. If he didn’t have the necklace, if he hadn’t given her good reason to feel her life was threatened . . .”

  “I know.” Diana raised her head. “I know.”

  Tyler stroked her hair then pushed it behind her ears and kissed her neck, slowly, gently, trailing kisses from her collarbone up to her ear lobe. Diana closed her eyes, heat flowing through her, as she ran her fingers delicately over his chiseled features, lingering at his lips.

  “A few years ago, Penny said there was one girl in the world for me,” Tyler murmured. “She told me, ‘She’s out there somewhere, Tyler, and I know one way or another, you’re going to find her.’ ” Diana opened her eyes and he looked into them so piercingly, she felt as if he could see her soul. “About three months after she started working for Simon, she told me on the phone, ‘Your girl does exist, Tyler, and I’ve met her. Her name is Diana.’ ”

  Diana’s eyes filled with tears again although she smiled. “She thought I was the one for you?”

  “Absolutely. When I met you the night of the
explosion, I felt like I already knew you. I think I was halfway in love with you from the first minute.”

  “And now?”

  Tyler smiled seductively, the tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening. “And now I know Penny was right. I have met the girl for me. I just don’t know if she thinks I’m the guy for her.”

  “Oh, she does,” Diana said with a rush of feeling. “She most certainly does.”

  “We’ve only known each other three days.”

  “Penny told you there was one girl in the world for you. My grandmother told me love strikes as quickly as a lightning bolt. It doesn’t matter if we’ve known each other three days or three years—my lightning bolt has struck.”

  Tyler lowered his face and kissed her deeply, making her feel as if she’d never really been kissed before tonight. His fingers tangled in her long, curling hair, and her palm closed around his strong, hot neck. They kissed until the grandfather clock struck three. Tyler pulled away from her, his breath coming fast, his face flushed. “I’m being incredibly selfish,” he said in a breathy, reluctant voice. “You should go upstairs and try to get some sleep.”

  “I’m not leaving this couch,” Diana whispered in his ear.

  He smiled. “And I’m not leaving this house.”

  She sat up, reached for the beautiful crocheted afghan, and pulled it over them. “Then it’s a good thing this couch is wide enough for two.”

  Shortly afterward, Diana laid her head on his chest, feeling his heart beating and the tingle of his kiss on her lips. In spite of everything, with his arms wrapped around her, she had never felt so safe and happy in her life.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  1

  Eventually Diana drifted into a dream in which she sat on her bed as Clarice told her a story about Glen and Penny, about Glen coming to see Penny several times. Clarice was worried Diana would be hurt, but Diana had merely been surprised that Penny had not told her.

  In dreamtime, Diana suddenly sat in the park, a picnic hamper beside her. As she took pictures of Willow, a woman chattered beside her. Then a man stormed up to them, furious. He wanted to know the identity of someone. Diana didn’t know. He didn’t believe her. He was going to hit her then abruptly he kneeled on the ground while the woman ranted.