by Tara Thomas
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re looking for something or waiting for me to do something.”
“Am I?” he asked in such a way that proved he was, in fact, the most tedious man ever.
She decided not to even bother with a reply. She focused on a blank wall and willed the song to be over soon so she could start to pretend his arms really didn’t feel as good as they did and that his body didn’t seem oh so right pressed up against hers.
“Actually,” he said. “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me?”
She stopped dancing completely. “Are you asking me out? Seriously?”
“For someone who didn’t want to cause a scene, you aren’t being the most discreet right this second.”
She glanced around and saw that they had quite a few eyes watching them. She smiled at them and nodded to Kipling to start moving again.
“Why would you ask me out?” she said.
“You know, I didn’t peg you as the type to need an ego boost, but you’re smart and attractive.” The sincerity of his expression took her breath and she had to look away. “And I’m willing to bet underneath the layers of sarcasm, you have a delightful personality. I’d like to find out.”
“I arrested you.”
“And you later released me.”
“I have actively investigated your family.”
“And you’ve found no evidence of anything shady,” he said, obviously enjoying their exchange way too much.
“You’re impossible.”
“Now, I wouldn’t say that. Difficult? Maybe. But not impossible. Not for you.”
“I don’t … I mean … It’s not…” Why did this man leave her so flustered? “Not a good idea.”
Thankfully, she was saved from having to say anything else by the song coming to an end. She pulled out of his embrace, turned, and walked away, while ignoring the way he called after her.
* * *
Jade stood across the street from the reception, knowing there was a possibility that anyone leaving the venue might see her. This was the closest she’d been to any of the Benedicts in over a month. Maybe her subconscious wanted them to see her.
She’d hidden her birth certificate in the oven of the house Knox and Bea were renovating. The unassuming scrap of paper that proclaimed for anyone to see that the Benedict clan was more than the three brothers everyone knew about. There was also a daughter no one knew about. Not a legitimate one, of course, but fathered by Franklin Benedict himself. She’d assumed, when she left the birth certificate, that it’d be found by Knox or Bea. But what if they hadn’t found it yet? Worse still, what if it’d been found by someone who had no idea what it was and they’d thrown it away?
Or, maybe whoever found it thought it had been left by someone with dubious intentions. She had to admit, they would have correctly guessed her original plans. But, as time had passed and she’d gotten to know them, she’d realized they weren’t evil like she’d always been told. And by the time she’d left the birth certificate, she’d only wanted to get to know them better.
It had been a rash move on her part to leave the birth certificate. She always felt a bit socially inept and had no idea how to introduce herself as the found sister that no one knew was missing. Not to mention, there had been doubt on their part about who she was and what she wanted due in part to her initial interaction with Tilly that could not have been seen as anything other than questionable.
But the truth was the next move would be up to her. She’d not only dropped a bomb on the Benedict boys—she still couldn’t wrap her mind around the words “her brothers”—but she’d left no way for them to contact her.
It had made sense at the time, but looking back now she saw it for what it was: a way to delay meeting everyone face to face and having them remember, every time they saw her, that their father had been unfaithful to their mother. She hadn’t been ready for the looks they would have for her. She still wasn’t.
Which was why she was currently standing on the opposite side of the street from the reception, instead of being somewhere safe and away from The Gentleman and his crew. She wondered if Tom was still looking for her. Maybe it was wrong of her to come back to South Carolina. She had actually left the state for a few days, and went down to the northern part of Georgia. But that hadn’t lasted long. The call of both South Carolina and her unknown family was too strong for her to stay away for long.
She was going to have to do something different soon, though. She was quickly running out of money. Not to mention food. Although with the ocean nearby that was oftentimes easier to deal with, since she could catch fish. Sleep was another issue which she hadn’t been handling very well. Now that she was back in South Carolina, she needed to get back to her old habits of sleeping for just a few hours, then getting up, and changing places.
She yawned.
She inwardly cursed herself. She was getting soft and forgetting everything The Gentleman had told her. She just needed to toughen up. Maybe a few more days on the street would help.
The only thing that made her uneasy—well, one of the things that made her uneasy—was that she had not seen Tom. He had been after her before she left for Georgia, and she expected him to still be around. He wanted revenge for the beating he’d received for something she’d done, but truthfully, it was The Gentleman he should blame. Regardless, so far, she had seen no sign of him. Though, she would much rather see Tom than The Gentleman.
No, if there was one person she wanted to stay away from, it was The Gentleman. She was probably a fool for coming back to the state of South Carolina with that man still looking for her. But to not come back would be to let him win, because she knew he would never stop looking for her.
The plan was to somehow approach the Benedicts and work out together how to approach The Gentleman and bring him down.
She could almost imagine it. In fact, she was so caught up in the fantasy of her newfound family embracing her with open arms, and the downfall of The Gentleman, she didn’t hear the footsteps behind her until it was too late.
Strong arms came around her. She inhaled the scent of evil. And then she heard it speak.
“Welcome back. I’m going to make you wish you stayed away.”
She tried to struggle but he was too strong. She felt a pinprick in her neck. The last thing she remembered before darkness overtook her, was Knox and Bea coming out of the reception hall. Standing in the sunlight and kissing.
CHAPTER 2
The Monday following the vow renewal, Kipling stopped by a locally owned coffee shop on his way to the Benedict Industries office near the waterfront. He wasn’t a regular patron, but he’d left the house without his normal cup and since he had to walk past the shop to get to where he was going, he decided to swing by.
He opened the door, not surprised to find the place nearly filled to capacity. What did surprise him was the woman patiently waiting to place her order at the end of the line.
Officer Alyssa Adams.
He still remembered how good she felt in his arms while they danced. Her body soft and responsive to his. The way her hips swayed against his for those brief precious moments she’d let her guard down.
Of course he couldn’t forget how she’d turned him down when he’d asked her to dinner. He wanted to think her refusal bothered him more than just a case of wounded pride. Granted, he wasn’t accustomed to being turned down. That came with the territory of being who he was.
No, it was different than that. Wounded pride wouldn’t explain why all his fantasies since the day she walked through the doors of Benedict House involved her and her alone. It couldn’t explain why no other woman seemed even remotely interesting. Nor could it explain why he craved to get in another verbal battle of wits with her. Coming from anyone else, it would be annoying, but from her, it was damn hot.
She still hadn’t seen him. He walked up behind her and whispe
red in her ear, “If it isn’t Cinderella. Are you even supposed to be out this time of day? Aren’t you afraid you’ll turn into a pumpkin?”
She turned around, but it wasn’t her normal I can do better than that gaze on her face. She looked pale and vulnerable. It took everything in him not to take her in his arms and beg her to tell him what was wrong so he could fix it.
“Alyssa?” he chose to ask instead. “Are you okay?”
Surely it couldn’t have been his teasing. She’d never seemed bothered with it before.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, waving her hand, even though it was obvious she was not fine.
“Ma’am?” the barista asked.
Alyssa turned away to order her drink. On a whim, he stepped up beside her. “I’ll have the same thing.”
Alyssa reached for her purse, but Kipling cut her off by handing the cashier his credit card. “Put them both on here.”
“You don’t—” Alyssa started, but Kipling shook his head.
“Stop,” he said, using the tone of voice that people didn’t question because he didn’t want to spend what time they had arguing. Not with her so upset. Even still, he was shocked when she didn’t say anything further. Her lips were pressed tightly together. She was a bit pissed, but he’d take that over the look she had when she turned around. “Come and have a seat with me. You’re obviously upset about something.”
“And you think you can help?” She cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Maybe not, but I’m a good listener.”
She didn’t look like she believed him, but she didn’t argue and she followed him to a table in the back. He pulled her chair out, not missing her brief look of surprise at the action.
“Thank you,” she said, and took a sip of her coffee.
When he’d taken his seat across from her, he spoke softly, “Tell me what’s going on.”
She didn’t seem too thrilled to do so, but she wrapped both hands around her paper cup and looked into her coffee. “It’s the anniversary of my sister’s death.”
Her confession knocked the wind out of him. He hadn’t expected that. “I’m so sorry.” He shook his head, unable to even imagine losing a sibling. “How long?”
“I was fifteen.”
He was surprised it’d been that long, given how upset she looked. “Losing a sibling is unfathomable to me. It must have been extremely hard as a teenager.”
“Yes.” She looked up and met his eyes. “Especially since she was murdered.”
* * *
Alyssa saw his face contort as understanding dawned.
“My God, Alyssa,” he said, horror still on his face. “That’s horrible.”
She wasn’t surprised he had said the “I’m sorry” everyone else said when they heard the news. She’d never understood why everyone also thought they should apologize. It wasn’t as if they’d done anything to cause her death. “It was a long time ago and I was still young when it happened.”
“Maybe so,” he said. “But it’s still impacting you.”
She couldn’t deny that. “Yes, but it’s so much more. It’s this case, the missing women, the murdered women. All of it. It’s all starting to get to me like it never has before. I see my sister in the women in this case and I can’t help but feel as if I’ve let them all down. I know that’s not rational, but that’s how I feel. I became a cop to help and I’m not doing a very good job.” She sighed. “I’m just tired. Can I say that? I’m tired.”
He smiled tentatively and though she’d always thought of him as attractive, with that easy smile he wore now … trouble and heartache. And she’d had plenty of both. Enough to last for three lifetimes.
“Of course you can admit to being tired. You’re only human.” He crossed his heart. “Though I promise to keep that last part to myself. I won’t tell anyone you’re actually a mere mortal.”
She enjoyed his teasing and found it actually made her feel a little better. She allowed herself a small smile. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“Tell me about your sister,” he said and though it wasn’t a topic she discussed very often or with many people, she felt herself opening up to him.
“She was ten years older than me. I was an oops baby.” She’d always known her parents had only wanted one child. And really, it didn’t take that much thinking to figure it out. A pair of forty-somethings with an almost teenager and a newborn? “When I was little, Allison looked after me sometimes more than Mom did, mostly because Mom was too busy with her new husband to spend time with me. Allison was beautiful and funny and I wanted to be just like her.”
“How so?” he asked.
She smiled, remembering. “I would hang out in her room while she got ready to go out on a date. Like I said, she was beautiful and I can’t recall a weekend when she didn’t go out. I was mesmerized watching her put on makeup. All the brushes and bottles. Mom would never let me wear makeup, even for fun. Though I’m pretty certain that was my stepfather’s hangup and not hers. Anyway, right before she’d finish with her makeup, she’d lean back and say something wasn’t right and then she’d put some lipgloss on me and declare everything was perfect. She made me feel special.”
“She sounds like a wonderful sister.”
“She was and everything was prefect until she graduated.”
“What happened then?”
“Shortly after she graduated from high school, she came home saying she’d met a man. Not a boy. A man. And she was eighteen. I thought she made him up because she never brought him to meet us like she’d done with other guys she went out with. Mom and Dad didn’t talk about it much, not around me anyway, but I could tell they weren’t happy with the situation.”
While she talked, Kipling listened to every word. She’d always pictured him as the lackadaisical type and she’d never talked with him without him saying something sarcastic every other word. To have him ask questions and look so intent made her want to open up and tell him things she’d never told anyone.
“Then she went away. I asked Mom and Dad where she was, but Dad wouldn’t say and Mom just cried. The only thing Mom ever said was that Allison was one of those people who had to learn things the hard way. She never explained what she meant.”
Across the table, Kipling was still listening patiently, but she bet he was wondering what any of that had to do with her sister being murdered.
“She came back five years later. I remember that better because I was fifteen. Dad told me to wait in my room and I was so upset that he wouldn’t let me talk to her or even see her. To this day I don’t know what was said, but I know there was a lot of yelling. At least, there was from Dad. Then the front door slammed.”
Alyssa remembered running to the upstairs window that overlooked the front of the house. All she saw was her sister’s back as she ran down the street. She felt a tear run down her cheek as she remembered how her sister never once looked back.
“I went downstairs, but before I could say anything, Dad stopped me and said her name wasn’t to be spoken in our house anymore. Mom never stood up to him like I thought she should. She just went along with whatever he said. Less than a week later, Allison was dead. Her body was found in a shelter. Her throat cut. There’s never been an arrest.”
“Jesus, Alyssa.” His face had lost all color. “You mean they never found who did it or why?”
“No.” She gave him a weak smile. “But it all works out the way it’s supposed to, right?”
“It’s hard for me to see how that’s the case here,” he said.
“My sister is the reason I became a cop. I joined the force after college. After her death, I became obsessed with getting criminals off the streets.”
“I think that’s very admirable,” he said softly.
Her face heated as she met his eyes and saw the sincerity in them. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“We’ll have to disagree on that,” he said and before she had a chance to reply, asked, “Have you looked into your sist
er’s case?”
“Once or twice. Just to see if anything new’s turned up. It never has.” She bit the corner of her lip.
“There’s more you aren’t telling me,” he said, and she supposed she should be surprised he picked up on that fact, but he was a very successful businessman so it stood to reason he would read people easily.
“They brought her things by later. I remember being glad they did it during the day so Dad wouldn’t know. Mom put it all in the attic and one day, when I was alone, I looked through it all. There was an envelope in her stuff. Whatever was inside was never found. I don’t know if someone took it or if she threw it away somewhere.” She took a deep breath and decided. It was about time she told someone. “The envelope was addressed to her, but with no date. For the return, all it said was ‘Finition Noire.’”
She paused, waiting for him to make the connection. As she expected, it didn’t take long.
“Finition Noire,” he spoke it out loud as if testing the words and as soon as they left his lips, his eyes grew wide. “That’s the name of the fake company that was on the spreadsheets Knox and Bea found and gave to you.”
“Yes,” was all she said. She knew those spreadsheets well. They had originally been in Tilly’s possession since she got them from her mom. The thought had been that perhaps they contained some information that could be used to clear her father’s name.
Instead, Alyssa and her team had found evidence pointing them to relook at the plane crash that took the lives of both Kipling’s parents. They eventually discovered it hadn’t been an accident, but a murder. They weren’t sure who had orchestrated it, but Finition Noire played some part in the puzzle.
His eyes narrowed. “So why is that name in both your sister’s case and ours?”
“I don’t know. I’m looking into it.”
“Do you think that’s wise?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “As opposed to not looking into it?”
“Don’t play me for a fool.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” she couldn’t help but say.
