CORE Shadow [1] Shadow of Danger
Page 21
Sighing, he sat on the bed. “It hurt too much, it still does.”
“For me, too,” she whispered, and grabbed his hand. “Wanna help me go through them now?”
“I thought John was coming over.”
“He called and said he’d be late.”
“Oh.”
She caught his disappointment as he stared at the box, along with the grief that still lingered in all of them. “Go work in your studio. John will be here in about an hour. You don’t need to babysit me.”
“Celeste,” he started to protest.
“You’re thirty yards from the house. All of the windows and doors are locked. Nothing is going to happen to me. Actually, I think John and Roy are being way too overprotective.”
“Lloyd doesn’t think so.”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s as bad as they are. Now either help me read through mom’s journals, or go to your studio. The gallery opening is coming up and I know you still have a few things to finish.”
“I do, but...”
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket. “I’ll call if I need you.”
“No, I’ll just wait downstairs.”
“And pace a hole in my rug? Uh-uh, go home.”
“Okay, but, um, considering this is the room I’m going to be sleeping in tonight, could you at least move the box back in the closet when you’re finished. I don’t want to look at it.”
Bleak sadness filled his eyes. Her throat clenched and she nodded. “I understand, but don’t worry. You might not need to sleep here anyway.”
“Why?” he asked, then he widened his eyes. “You and John are...” He shoved off the bed, a red blush creeping up his neck and staining his cheeks. “I don’t want to know.” He stopped and turned. “Actually I do. What are his intentions?”
“Intentions? Seriously, Will, you sound like dad. It’s not a big deal, just a sorta fling.”
“Seriously, Celeste, you sound like Eden,” he mocked. “And she’s had way too many sorta flings, where you...you...”
Her temper flared. First Roy, now her brother? “Where I live like a fricking spinster, collecting creepy gnomes and wasting my life in this small town.”
He frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? You’re not wasting your life here.”
“Bullshit. Eden’s in Chicago living the life she’d always wanted. She has a successful career, friends, flings. Dad’s down in Florida golfing, fishing, and according to Roy, has had more dates in the past six months than I’ve had in three years. And you.” She stood, and pointed a finger at him as a tear slipped down her cheek. “You’ll be gone soon, while I...”
He hugged her, awkwardly patting her back. Will was a great guy, but clumsy when it came to expressing emotions. Just like their dad and Eden. She knew this, knew how sensitive he could be, and regretted her outburst.
“I shouldn’t have blown up at you like that. I’m sorry. I’ve been stressed out lately,” she said, trying to soothe him. Will tended to brood. He’d likely go into his studio and dwell on everything she’d said, rather than work on his painting.
He stepped back and held her at arms length. “I can’t believe I didn’t see any of this before.”
“What do you mean?”
“I always thought you liked running the diner. Living here. Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you just tell dad?”
She pulled away, and leaned against the wall. “I couldn’t. He needed me to stay, so I stayed.”
He slumped on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. “When mom’s cancer became bad, Eden refused to move back to help, and I was totally useless. I couldn’t stand watching mom die, and I couldn’t stand watching dad deal with it. But you gave up your career, your dreams to come home to help. God, Celeste, I feel like such an ass because I don’t even know what those dreams are.”
She sat next to him, and nudged him with her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. They weren’t all that great anyway.”
He nudged her back. “Tell me and I’ll decide.”
She thought about the stack of recipes she’d perfected over the years. “Not today.”
“Then will you at least promise me that you’ll talk to dad? He would never have asked you to take over the diner if he knew how much you hated it.”
“I don’t exactly hate it and I’ve made my choice with dad, just as I did with John, who’s going to be here in an hour. So go. I want to look through some of mom’s journals before he gets here.”
He moved for the door, then hesitated. “You’re a great person, and I, um...”
“Go,” she said, saving him from having to express himself any further. She knew he loved her, the words weren’t necessary. “And if I find out you’re worrying about me, rather than working, I’ll give you a noogie.”
“You haven’t been able to do that since I outgrew you.”
“Wanna test it?” she asked with a grin.
He acted as if he were considering it, then smiled. “Some other time. Call if you need me.”
After she heard the front door slam shut, she released a deep sigh. What happened between her and Will might come back and bite her on the ass. She knew he wouldn’t call Eden, but he might call their dad. She didn’t want her dad to know how she truly felt. It would break his heart.
She stared at the box.
He’d had his heart broken enough.
Pushing that thought aside, she lifted the lid off the box. The scent of her mom’s perfume, delicate, and slightly stale from age, whispered through the air. Tears stung her eyes. She fought them back, along with so many memories, and sifted through the box. She didn’t want to reminisce tonight. Reminiscing would lead to the grief she hadn’t dealt with, nor wanted to. After three years, her mother’s death was still like an open wound that hadn’t healed yet.
When she found the journals, she placed them on the bed. There were only five. Five black and white composition notebooks held her mother’s thoughts, her secrets. She grabbed the oldest, then sat on the rug and began to read.
Forty minutes later, she closed the journal, her mind spinning. She hadn’t known her mother as well as she’d thought.
Before moving to Wissota Falls, her mom had lived in Baltimore. That hadn’t surprised her. Both her mom and dad were born and raised there, and still had plenty of family in the area. The big surprise? Her mom had worked as a psychic consultant, to both the local police and the FBI. Even more surprising, her mom had been in love with another man before she’d met her father.
Why hadn’t she told her about him? She’d joked about past boyfriends, but never mentioned this man. And why hadn’t she told her she’d used to be a psychic consultant? Better yet, why had she stopped?
She returned the box to the closet, then made her way to the kitchen for a much needed class of wine. There was one person, other than her father, who might have the answers to her questions.
Roy.
She picked up the phone and called him. He answered on the first ring.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Got a sec?”
“Who’s watching out for you?”
“Will,” she lied, “And John will be here soon.”
“Good,” he said, and released a deep sigh. “After today...”
“I didn’t mean to worry you, and John filled me in on what happened. I’m sorry about Curtis.”
“Me too. So what’s up?”
Now this didn’t seem like a good time to bring up her mom, or her journals. Roy and John had been through enough, she didn’t need to dredge up the past. Her curiosity could wait until later.
“Nothing. Just checking in to see how you are.”
“Celeste, don’t bullshit a bullshitter.”
She smiled as she took a sip of her wine. “You know me too well. Okay, I was looking through my mom’s journals, hoping I’d find something in them to help with the trances I’ve been having.”
“Go on.”
“You
knew my mom before she met my dad.”
“I did.”
“Well, there’s a name that keeps popping up and I was wondering if you could tell me anything you know about him.”
“Sure, hopefully I can help you out. What’s the name?”
“Ian.”
*
When his private line rang, Ian Scott stilled his fingers above the keyboard of his laptop. He stared at the phone, his stomach clenching with dread, and answered on the second ring.
“It’s Roy.”
He would have relaxed, except he’d talked to Roy less than twenty minutes ago. “What’s wrong?”
“I just got a call from Celeste, and you’ve got a serious problem.”
“Me?” he asked not missing Roy’s emphasis, then it hit him. Roy had told him that he’d suspected John’s interest in Celeste had gone beyond the investigation. He’d had a hard time believing him considering John’s past, but in a small way, he’d been pleased. John deserved a good woman, a woman who could finally help put his demons to rest. And Celeste deserved a good man. She’d gone too long without a relationship. She was young, bright, beautiful, and had wasted too much of her life catering to everyone else. But if John hurt her...
“What did he do?”
“Who?”
“John.”
“Oh, this isn’t about him. It’s about you.”
“Me?”
“Yep, see, Celeste’s trances had her rattled enough she finally decided to look through her mom’s old journals hoping to find some answers.”
“Janice kept journals?”
“Appears so.”
“Did she tell you what was in them?”
“Your name.”
He shut his laptop closed, then pulled a bottle of Scotch from his desk cabinet, along with a glass. “Explain.”
Roy did, and when he finished, Ian asked, “Did Janice mention anything about the investigation she’d been working on with me...with the FBI?”
“No, not a word. More like how it had emotionally impacted her.”
“That’s good.”
“Not really. I’d rather have that than Celeste asking me who Ian is and why her mom never mentioned she’d been in love with him before she’d met Hugh.”
He swore under his breath, then downed the Scotch he’d poured. Wincing from the burn—Scotch should be sipped and savored, not pounded like a shot—he set the glass aside. “What did you say?”
“I told her Bev and I were about to sit down for dinner, that it had been a long day, and we’d meet in the morning to talk. Look, with everything we’ve been dealing with here, she caught me off guard.” He sighed. “I didn’t know what else to say. Hell, I don’t even know what to say to her tomorrow.”
“Where’s Hugh?” Ian knew Celeste’s father would flat out tell her what she wanted to know. He’d always wanted to but Janice had been adamant about keeping the truth from Celeste, a condition Ian had hated but endured out of respect.
“Fishing in the Florida Keys. I spoke with him before he left for the trip.”
“Good. Meet me at the Eau Claire airstrip tomorrow morning. I’ll be there at seven.”
“Hold on a sec, what are you doing?”
“What I should have done years ago,” he said, ignoring the protective edge in Roy’s voice before he changed his mind.
“You promised Janice.”
“She’s dead.” He grimaced at the thought. He’d loved her once, and hadn’t loved another woman since. And this might be his last chance of finally having something other than the legacy of his agency.
“I don’t like it,” Roy said. “You could end up tearing their family apart. I think you should talk to Hugh first.”
“I respect Hugh. I always have. He’s a better man than I am, and gave Janice more than I could,” he finished, the words so damned bitter on his tongue, he poured another Scotch, and took a hard swallow. “Besides, you know as well as I do that Hugh thought Janice was wrong, that Celeste deserved to know the truth.”
“Still,” Roy said. “Well, whatever. You’ll do what you want anyway. You always have.”
He smiled wryly at that, while years of regret ate at his soul. Because he had—and still did—what he wanted, he’d led a very lonely life. “I also think I might be able to give Celeste some insight on her gift.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
“Fine,” Roy snapped. “I’ll pick you up at seven. But I’ll be there when you meet with her. Understand?”
“I do, and Roy, for whatever it’s worth, thank you for taking care of her.”
“It wasn’t a job, it was a privilege.”
The line disconnected. Roy had hung up on him for the first time in thirty years.
A knock at the door had him straightening. “Yes?”
Rachel Davis poked her head inside his office. “Do you have a sec?”
“Of course.” He poured himself another drink. “Scotch?”
She wrinkled her lightly freckled nose and sat in the chair across from him. Even after sitting behind a desk for more than ten hours, she still looked crisp and professional. Except for the pencil, pitted with teeth marks and tucked behind her ear. “No thanks. The only cocktails I like are sweet, one of the colors of the rainbow and usually garnished with a tiny umbrella.”
“Do you gnaw on those, too?” he asked with a smile, even though his heart tripped at a rapid pace. He’d finally meet Celeste. Tomorrow.
“First John, now you? I’m starting to get a complex,” she said, and removed the pencil from behind her ear.
He raised his glass. “We all have our vices. Now what can I do for you?” he asked and glanced at the clock. He had a lot of things to take care of before he left for Wisconsin, but he’d make time for Rachel. She was one of his favorite finds. Brilliant but quirky, temperamental but reliable, she was concise and direct and helped keep his agency running smoothly.
“I’m leaving for the night,” she said as she leaned forward and placed a folder on his desk. Like every evening, she consolidated a quick recap of what each of his agents were working on, and where they were with their investigations.
“Any progress on Garrett Winston?” Ian hadn’t been surprised that John went straight to Rachel, bypassing him. After all, he hadn’t bothered to return one of John’s calls, not that he hadn’t wanted to talk with him. He’d just been worried his feelings for Celeste would become too obvious, and John was a very perceptive individual. His quick mind would suspect, and he’d begin asking too many questions, questions he was finally willing to answer...but only to Celeste. While he’d made it a goal to know everyone else’s business, his was non-negotiable. He was the boss, the rock of CORE’s foundation, and planned to remain in that position.
“Not much, I spent an hour creating a program to speed the tracking process, and so far it’s working. I checked it about fifteen minutes ago and the codes I’d written have already tracked Winston’s truck routes back five years, along with any unsolved murders bearing Winston’s MO. Unfortunately, the program has matched over two dozen unsolved murders.”
“Unfortunately?”
“Uh-huh, because Winston started driving fourteen years ago.” She twined the pencil between her fingers. “While I’m sure not all of these murders will be linked back to him, I have a gut feeling this guy killed a lot of women during his career.”
Based on Roy’s reports, the dozens of unknown female DNA Eau Claire’s CSU had found in Winston’s cab, he did, too. “Did you hear back from St. Cloud?”
“Yes, what their CSU faxed me is in the file.” She nodded to the folder on his desk. “And I’ve already emailed the report to John. To recap, St. Cloud’s CSU examined the refrigerated trailer Winston hauled for Booker Foods and discovered small traces of blood. They’re sending the samples to Eau Claire for comparison on the four women found at the original dump site.”
“Excellent. Anything else?”
“Nope.”
She pursed her lips as she rose from the chair. “I know it’s none of my business, but you weren’t scheduled to go out of town. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Go get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay. Have a safe trip,” she said, then closed the door behind her.
The room grew silent again. Contemplating another Scotch, he stared at the empty glass.
Not tonight, he decided. For thirty years he’d been waiting for the moment to come face to face with Celeste. Janice might not have approved, but she was gone. And while so many secrets had died with her, it was time to reveal a few. He only hoped Celeste would accept them...accept him. For who he’d been thirty years ago, and the man he was today.
With a shake of his head, he stowed the Scotch and glass away as the past surfaced with a sucker punch. He was screwed, especially if John discovered he’d been to Wissota Falls. He could lose a good agent, but having this chance with Celeste would be well worth it. He hoped.
And for the first time in years...he prayed.
Chapter 16
John walked past the ugly gnomes lining the flowerbeds, and rang the door bell. As he waited, feeling as if someone was watching him, he glanced over his shoulder. A gnome being carried off by a pair of metallic aliens caught his attention. He hadn’t noticed this particular one before, and couldn’t help but smile.
Life with Celeste would be interesting, if he was given that chance. After the investigation ended, he’d try. He wasn’t stupid. Maybe skeptical about relationships considering what had happened with Renee, but not stupid.
Celeste had breathed life into parts of him he hadn’t realized had been dead. He envied how deeply she cared for her family and Roy. He wanted her to care about him just the same if not more. Hell, he wanted her all to himself. Especially after today.
Since dropping her off at the diner, his day had gone to shit and now he needed to talk...to her and her alone. For a reason he couldn’t explain, she soothed him, brought peace to his soul. Tonight, he needed her comfort.