The Secret Daughter

by Roz Denny Fox

  His one true satisfaction came from seeing the antique cypress floor blossom under his hands. Once it was down and polished, however, he had only the counters left. Then he’d be on to another job. And he couldn’t very well continue to live in the garçonnière once he’d collected his final check from Casey.

  A check that brought him ever closer to his goal. With those funds banked, he had to get serious about placing his bid on Magnolia Manor. He ought to just do it. What did waiting get him, really? It wasn’t as if he had a source at the courthouse willing to feed him inside information.

  He pounded a square antique plug into a hole in the hardwood with enough force to split the plug and had to dig it out with his pocketknife. Adam was on his hands and knees muttering darkly when the back door flew open, and a wild-eyed Casey Devlin rushed in, shouting, “Have you seen Jackson? Do you know where he is?”

  “I saw him leave with Murray. They took off right after he put Megan to bed. Is something wrong? Where’s Nick? Do you need help?” Adam fired question after question at her, never giving her time to answer.

  “I got a phone call from the mill as I quit cutting cane for the night. Noelani slipped on one of the catwalks and fell down a flight of stairs. The workman who called said she’d been knocked unconscious. He said it’s possible Noelani’s arm is broken. A paramedic team arrived and took her to the hospital.” Casey bit her lip. “Jackson seems to have his cell phone turned off.”

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Adam closed his pocketknife and leaped to his feet.

  Casey, who’d pulled out her cell phone, held up a restraining hand. “Murray? Is Jackson with you? No? Adam said he saw you leave together.”

  She waited, pursing her lips as she listened.

  Adam fidgeted by the door. He had it open before she’d shut her phone.

  “Jackson and Murray took separate cars to the refinery. Murray just got home. He said Jackson should be here any minute. Nick’s waiting for me outside. I hate to ask this, Adam, knowing how you feel about Noelani. But since I’m family, the doctors may need authorization from me before they treat her. Can you stay and wait for Jackson?”

  “Sure, but if he doesn’t show up in five minutes, I’m out of here.”

  “Please, Adam. Don’t let Jackson drive. This is yet another insurance claim for him to worry about. On top of that, he’ll blame himself for letting Noelani manage the mill. I don’t want him on the road driving like a maniac, maybe having an accident.”

  “Okay. As long as you promise that if we’re more than fifteen minutes behind you, you’ll phone me with an update.”

  “You’ve got it. And Adam, she may be perfectly all right. Aunt Esme lost consciousness in her accident and she came out of it fine and on her own.”

  Not mollified, Adam paced the width of the driveway. As Casey and Nick roared off, he scanned the lane for any sign of Jackson’s headlights. Thinking it’d save time, he hiked to the gate to wait.

  Luckily, Jackson slowed to make the corner about the time Adam reached the gate. Flagging down the Jag, Adam quickly relayed the information Casey had given him.

  “Get in,” Jackson ordered.

  “Casey would prefer you not to drive. I gather she’s afraid you’ll go ballistic or something about the fact that you’ll be facing another insurance claim.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake. Get in,” Jackson roared. “I’m not that unstable.”

  Adam wasted no time jumping into the passenger side. “I didn’t think so, but I have to admit you’ve had a run of bad luck.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder if our stars came up in the wrong quadrant this year or something.”

  “Jackson, is there a possibility this wasn’t an accident? I mean…Noelani told me she grew up playing at Shiller’s mill. She’s not the careless type.”

  “At a sugar mill, it only takes one misstep. The stairs and railings are coated with syrup. She wouldn’t be the first to slip and fall. I’ve stumbled a few times myself.” Jackson stopped for the light before turning onto the main highway. “Did Casey say something to make you think the fall wasn’t accidental?”

  “No. But when Noelani and I were…loosely dating, she was worried about a couple of mishaps. She wasn’t sure whether or not someone had thrown a piece of metal into one of the feeders on purpose to slow production. Then there was a later incident involving a crowbar. She promised me she’d call you if anything else occurred. But Noelani and I—well, we haven’t talked much since then.”

  “To put your mind at ease, she and I did discuss it and came to the conclusion that there was no serious cause for concern. A few old-timers resented her filling Duke’s shoes. I had a heart-to-heart with the employees and let it be known that Noelani’s an experienced member of the family team. She hasn’t mentioned any complaints since.”

  As they entered the hospital emergency lot, Jackson parked the Jag. He and Adam were out before the engine died.

  Inside the emergency room, they were directed to a waiting area where Nick sat thumbing through a classic car magazine.

  “Where’s Casey?” Jackson asked at the same time Adam demanded, “Any word on Noelani’s condition?”

  “Whoa, you two. The doctor’s in with Noelani now. I imagine Casey has everything under control. Noelani came around before they got here, and I heard her asking Casey to take her home.”

  Casey walked in as the men were talking. “I convinced Noelani to let them X-ray her arm. She’s sure it’s not broken. I’ll grant you she can wiggle her fingers, but she cried out in pain when the doctor rotated her arm.”

  “Did she say how she happened to fall?”

  “Golly, Jackson, you guys broke speed records to get here. I wasn’t with her five minutes. Well, maybe ten at most. We—”

  Adam cut Casey off. “Jackson drove—sanely, so don’t worry about that. I walked to the gate and flagged him down as he pulled in. That gave us a jump start on getting here.”

  “Why don’t you come with me to X-ray, Adam? They said I could be with her, but I decided I’d better report to Nick. I knew you’d be rolling in soon and that you’d be just as impatient as you are.”

  Adam didn’t need a second invitation. “Where’s X-ray?” He left at a trot the moment Casey pointed down the hall. Halfway there, he nabbed a technician. “Would it be okay if I went in with one of the patients? Noelani Hana,” he said, giving the young nurse his best smile.

  “I told Mrs. Devlin she could stay with Ms. Hana until I take the films.” It was only then that Adam realized Casey had stopped to speak with someone in the hall.

  “Uh, we’re all friends of Ms. Hana.”

  The tech directed him to the room. Slipping inside, Adam tiptoed toward Noelani, who lay flat on a black table. “Hi,” he said softly when she opened an eyelid.

  “Adam? What are you doing here? Casey said she’d be right back.”

  “She’ll be along shortly. I wanted to see for myself that you were awake and kicking.”

  Noelani reached for Adam’s hand. He gave it willingly and used his free one to smooth her long hair away from her face. “What happened? Jackson tells me he’s slipped at the mill on occasion. But your boots have nonskid soles, right?”

  She closed her eyes again. “It all happened so fast, Adam. I’d left my office to run up and check the day’s core samples. I noticed the light outside the lab had burned out. I had my clipboard, and I think I stopped to jot a note to myself to have someone change it. The whistle tooted, indicating an equipment failure. I turned to see where, and…uh…someone hit me from behind. I tumbled headfirst down the steps.”

  “Are you sure? Could you be thinking that because of the crack you took on your head?”

  “Oh, Adam. I’m so mad at myself. Right before the whistle, I heard a…footstep. I should’ve reacted faster. For crying out loud, I hold a master’s belt in kick-boxing.”

  Adam blinked. “Noelani, are you—”

  “Think back to the night I arriv
ed, when you surprised me in the hall and I went into fight stance. You joked about me karate-chopping you, but…I could have.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I’m sorry, Adam. In light of the problems at the mill and elsewhere, I decided to let it remain my secret. For all the good it did,” she said bitterly. “A beginning kick-boxer who let this happen would get chewed out.”

  A noise at the door had both Noelani and Adam glancing up. Casey, Nick and Jackson huddled in the entry. “I just got off the phone from talking to the workman who saw you take the nosedive,” Casey said. “He swears there wasn’t a soul anywhere near you on the catwalk. Probably the knock on the head scrambled your mind, Noelani.”

  Nick rubbed his jaw. “Let’s not dismiss her claim so fast. It’s no secret I’ve never been comfortable with the cops’ insistence that Broderick worked alone. I tell you, that man simply isn’t the brightest match in the box.”

  Casey threw her husband an odd look. “That’s why I believe Broderick did work alone, as does Remy Boucherand, my friend, the detective who’s been working the Broderick case. Surely you agree it’s crazy to think the guy would hire out to some nameless, faceless person.”

  Nick pursed his lips, saying nothing.

  “Does your family have other enemies?” Adam aimed a look at Jackson, then at Casey, who supplied a resounding “No!”

  Jackson’s silence claimed their attention. “None I can name. But I’m beginning to doubt the likelihood of so many coincidences. Up to now, I haven’t said much about the investigation into Duke and Maman’s crash. In spite of Shelburne’s numerous requests, no one’s releasing their personal effects to us. Lately, I get the runaround when I phone the carabiniere.”

  “You told me those investigations take time,” Casey said.

  “They do.” Jackson scraped a thumb down the side of his neck. “Call me paranoid, but dammit, we need those claims paid. I hate to sound mercenary, but we’re real close to robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

  Casey stared from one somber face to the other, then threw up her hands. “If you think there’s the remotest chance someone at the mill shoved Noelani down the stairs, why aren’t we on the phone to Remy?” She peeled her cell phone from its pouch.

  Noelani objected feebly. Adam, slightly more vociferously. “Hold on. It’s my belief the cops botch as many cases as they solve. Jackson, I’d suggest you, Nick and I nose around the mill. Maybe one or more employees—not necessarily the guy who found Noelani, but someone else—saw or heard something they didn’t think significant at the time. We’d be looking at the larger picture.”

  Noelani tried to sit up, but fell back with a groan. “I run the mill. You guys aren’t going without me.”

  A doctor strode into the room, his white lab coat flapping. “Out, everyone except my patient. Yvonne,” he said, turning to the tech who’d begun to slap film trays into the X-ray machine, “Give us PA, lateral and oblique shots of that right shoulder and clavicle. Whichever of you needs to know this, I’m admitting Ms. Hana overnight for observation. She took a mean bang on the head and has a mild concussion—mild so far as I can tell. I don’t want to chance her building up cranial fluid. If no one objects, we’ll go down the hall to talk and let Yvonne take her films.”

  “Wait,” Noelani protested. “I object.”

  “You don’t count,” they all chorused.

  Adam hesitated at the door. “I’ll find out what time they’re planning to release you tomorrow. I’ll be back to get you myself,” he said before following the others out.

  The pretty technician winked as she pulled the camera close to Noelani’s shoulder. “Galee, cher, dat man be purty, en effet.”

  “Sure enough he is,” Noelani replied, agreeing with Yvonne’s Cajun assessment of Adam’s good looks. She’d picked up a trace of the local dialect working at the mill—enough to know that Yvonne had said something along the lines of “Golly, that man sure is pretty to look at.” But laughing hurt, so Noelani closed her eyes and clamped her teeth over her lower lip. What didn’t hurt was remembering how happy she’d been to open her eyes and see him standing there, concern etched on his handsome face.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  AS PREARRANGED, THE THREE MEN met at six o’clock the next morning at the mill. They split up and each took a floor. It was a frustrated threesome who rendezvoused an hour later outside the core-sample building.

  “Every person I spoke with on the first floor heard about Noelani’s accident secondhand,” Jackson informed Nick and Adam. “No one saw her fall or remembered anyone saying they’d witnessed the accident personally.”

  “Same story on level two,” Nick lamented. “The guy who reached her first is sticking to his story. He says he looked up because her keys landed at his feet. If she hadn’t dropped them, no telling how long she might have lain there passed out.”

  “The lab where she was headed is off by itself. A tech verified that the lightbulb in the alcove had burned out. He replaced it this morning.” Adam searched the others’ faces. “I have to say I don’t believe anyone on level three is concealing evidence. The men in charge of the evaporation vats, and those operating the vacuum tanks, all seem to respect Noelani.”

  “So, we came up with a big fat zero,” Jackson declared flatly.

  A door opened behind them and two women exited the core building. They stopped when they saw the men. One produced a pack of cigarettes. She stuck one in her mouth and lit up, blowing smoke over the head of her companion.

  Jackson waved. “Hi, Sue Ann. Denise. Break time? Don’t let us interrupt. We’re heading out to grab some breakfast.”

  Denise shaded her eyes. “Adam, what are you doing here?” She ran up to him, wearing a bright smile. “I’ve tried calling you. Luc Renault is headlining a jazz concert in the park this weekend. A friend gave me two tickets she can’t use. Would you like to go as my guest?”

  Adam felt put on the spot. Two days ago, he’d bought tickets to the same concert to surprise Noelani. But now, with her having a cracked clavicle, she probably wouldn’t want to sit on the ground all evening. He’d considered giving his tickets to Nick and Casey. “Thanks, Denise. But I’m too backlogged with work to get away.”

  Nick nudged him. “Hey, Adam, why not go? Luc does a bang-up performance.”

  Denise continued to gaze expectantly at Adam.

  Adam brushed Nick’s hand aside. “I said I can’t spare the time.”

  Plainly disappointed, Denise shrugged and returned to Sue Ann, who was stubbing out her cigarette. The two women talked for a bit, then went back inside.

  “Why did you turn her down?” Nick asked when the men were alone again.

  “Not that it’s your business, but I’m not interested in Denise the way she’s interested in me. I thought you’d figured that out at the Sugar Fete. Besides, I already bought tickets for Noelani and me. She probably can’t go. Would you and Casey like them?”

  “We have tickets. And I only suggested you go with Denise because it occurred to me that on a date she might confide if she’d seen or heard stuff going on behind the scenes. I know that in casinos the dealers hear all the dirt first.”

  Jackson studied his friends. “It might have been opportune, but if Adam doesn’t want to spend an evening with the woman, he shouldn’t have to.”

  Nick backed off. “Hey, it was a thought, that’s all. Let’s go eat. I’m starved. Meet you guys at Frank’s on the lower floor of the White Gold. I can already taste his smokehouse ham.”

  Jackson caught Adam’s arm. “Did you call and ask when the doctor’s releasing Noelani?”

  “Any time after ten. I talked to her. She wants me there on the dot. Said she’s climbing the walls. I gather the doctor said no work for a week. You can imagine how she took that news.”

  The three friends discussed that before climbing into their respective vehicles. They met again at the casino entry and walked in together. Adam remarked on the musical sound of the rolling slo
ts. “What kind of people gamble at 8:00 a.m.?”

  “All kinds,” Nick said. “Vacationers, mostly. The restaurant will be full, too.”

  They’d barely made their way through the door of Frank’s when they noticed a disturbance near the cash register at the end of the buffet.

  “Excuse me.” Nick stepped out of the food line. “I’d better see what’s up. The White Gold’s still mine—until Harry Dardenne signs the contract.”

  The other men followed him. “I recognize that guy,” Adam muttered to Jackson. “It’s that Riley character.”

  “So it is.” Jackson’s face turned grim. “As usual, he’s three sheets to the wind. And up to his old tricks.” Riley was attempting to get a meal on the house by insisting Duke Fontaine, and Nick by association, owed him.

  “Call security,” Nick ordered the cashier. “Or maybe I’ll take care of this bum myself.” Clearly angry, Nick grabbed Riley by the shirtfront until Adam and Jackson closed in on either side of him.

  “Nick,” Adam said quietly. “Why not call the cops and let them read him the riot act?”

  As if by magic, casino security showed up and relieved Nick of the drunk. Nick tucked his own shirt back in his pants, smoothed his hair, then stepped directly in front of Riley. “You come in my place and harass my staff again, and I’ll press charges.”

  Jackson pointed to the door. “Here come the cops now. They’ll handle him. We’re blocking people whose food’s getting cold.”

  Nick paused and flashed the customers his famous smile. “You guys go on and grab a table,” he said. “I’ll have a word with the police and join you shortly.”

  AT FIVE MINUTES TO TEN, Adam took a seat in the hospital lobby where a woman at the information desk directed him to wait. She said a nurse would be bringing Noelani from her room. It was a good twenty minutes before they appeared.

  “Adam, hi! I didn’t realize you were here. I thought you’d come upstairs. I phoned Casey and asked her to have you bring one of my muumuus. The way my arm’s bandaged, I had to stretch this T-shirt out of shape to get it on.”