Sound of Fear

by Marta Perry

  “I just realized what it was that flitted through my mind earlier. When I was in front of Esther’s café yesterday, where I had that little exchange with Carlie, a motorcycle pulled up. When Carlie was finished threatening me, she climbed on and they rushed off.” She paused, frowning a little. “Didn’t you see him? You said you saw me with Carlie.”

  He nodded. “I did, but then someone stopped to talk to me, and I was distracted. I did hear the bike, though.”

  “It doesn’t necessarily mean anything.” She tried to be fair. “There must be hundreds of motorcycles around here.”

  “Probably.” Trey drew out the word, forehead wrinkling. “But I wonder. It seems to me that a short time ago Carlie Shay had a boyfriend the family disapproved of—for a lot of reasons, I suppose, but one of them was that he roared around the county on a motorcycle instead of holding down a decent job.”

  “You think that’s who it was? Are they still together?”

  “That’s the rub. Supposedly, Carlie broke up with him after an ultimatum from her grandmother. Still, I’m sure it’s not the first time someone in the family has lied to the old woman to get their own way.”

  Including her mother, if that’s what Melanie was.

  “Do you think Carlie would plan something like that?” She rubbed her forehead. “It’s not as if I’d have been killed in that sort of accident—at least, it’s not likely.”

  “It might have been intended to scare you away. Or she might have complained to the boyfriend, and he acted on impulse. That seems more probable to me.”

  Amanda considered. “This is getting uglier than I anticipated. When I came here, I thought I was doing a little simple research on adoption, important to nobody but myself.”

  “Things are never simple where human beings are concerned.”

  “Maybe that’s why I do better with animals.” She ruffled Barney’s ears. There was more truth to that statement than she’d considered. If she’d understood people better, she might not have ended up back in Boston with a broken heart after her first attempt at a mature relationship.

  “Well, I’ll look into it and see what I can find out about the errant boyfriend. And I’d better get to the office and call Donald Shay about a meeting.” He stood, seeming energized by having an agenda. “I’ll see you for supper.”

  “Supper?” She looked up at him, deciding not to make the effort involved to rise.

  “Supper,” he said. “Sarah invited me. Assuming you feel up to it.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be able to make it that far.” Sarah, it seemed, was matchmaking.

  Trey turned toward the door and then turned back. He bent over her, cradling her cheek in his hand before she guessed his intent. He kissed her...very lightly, just a tentative brushing of the lips together, but that kiss seemed to reverberate right through her.

  He drew back a little, smiling. “Do me a favor. Try not to get any more damaged before I see you tonight, okay?”

  “I’ll try.” She returned the smile, her heart lifting in a way that was entirely irrational. But good, nevertheless.

  * * *

  TREY WAS STILL smiling when he reached the office, but he sobered the minute he entered the door. Evelyn Lincoln, their receptionist, looked up at him with concern.

  “You had a call from Donald Shay a few minutes ago. He’s very eager to talk to you.”

  So Shay had anticipated him. Trey paused at Evelyn’s desk. “Did you offer to switch him to Jason?” His partner had been in early this morning, and he’d agreed to handle anything that came up while Trey was out.

  “I offered. He refused.” Evelyn sounded annoyed. “He was...in quite a mood. I’ve never heard him so abrupt.”

  “Rude?” His voice sharpened. Evelyn had her own way of handling rude clients, but she shouldn’t have to.

  She shrugged. “On the verge. I think my reaction made him aware of how inappropriate it was. Still, you’d better call him back soon. He’ll be at his office at the mill, he said.”

  “I’ll get on it right away,” he promised. Not because he appreciated taking orders from anyone, including Donald Shay, but because if he didn’t, Evelyn might bear the brunt of another call from him.

  He stalked into his office, relieving his temper by shutting the door more loudly than was strictly necessary. But that didn’t hurt Donald Shay at all, did it? Sitting down at his desk, he looked up the number and called, tapping his blotter with a pen point in irritation. Amanda had a right to her questions. She also had a right to representation. Shay would have to understand that fact.

  It took only a moment to get past the secretary and reach Shay. He’d obviously been waiting for the call.

  “This Curtiss woman,” he said abruptly, not bothering with conventional greetings, “is it true you’re representing her?”

  “That’s correct.” Trey leaned back in his chair, rather relishing the fact the Shay, usually suave and confident of his importance in any situation, sounded rattled.

  “Given that your father represented the family for many years, it seems to me that’s a conflict of interest on your part. What are you trying to do?”

  Trey tapped the phone with his pen. “Did represent. Past tense. If memory serves, that representation ended over twenty-five years ago. Just about twenty-eight years, in fact.” When his father tried to prevent the family from forcing Melanie into giving up her child. “As for what I’m trying to do, obviously I’m trying to serve my client as best I can.”

  “Serve her in what?” Shay, always so controlled, seemed to be hanging on to his temper by a thread. “Harassing my family?”

  “As far as I know, Ms. Curtiss has made no attempt even to speak to your family. What harassment are you referring to?”

  “You know perfectly well that everyone in town thinks she claims to be Melanie’s illegitimate child. It’s public knowledge. Hasn’t my family suffered enough from that terrible episode? I warn both of you...”

  Trey sat up straight, planting his feet as if he’d lunge out of the chair. “I have no intention of listening to threats, Shay. I intended to call you today and ask if you’d sit down with the two of us and discuss Ms. Curtiss’s situation in a civil manner, but if you’re not interested, we have nothing further to say.”

  He knew perfectly well that most business people in town would hesitate to speak to Shay that way, but he would not allow his client to be pushed around. The firm of Alter and Glassman didn’t work for Winthrop Enterprises.

  “Now wait, let’s not be hasty.” Shay drew an audible breath. “I’m afraid I rather let myself go, what with the worry over how this would affect Mrs. Winthrop.”

  He paused, maybe hoping for something conciliatory from Trey, but if so, he didn’t get it.

  “In any event,” he went on, “perhaps what you suggest is the best way of approaching the situation.” There was the sound of turning pages. “Shall we say two o’clock tomorrow afternoon at my office?”

  “One moment.” Trey consulted his own schedule, fairly certain that the afternoon was clear. It was. “All right. Ms. Curtiss and I will be at your office at two.”

  For a moment he considered adding that Amanda’s main concern was learning whether she was adopted or not, rather than claiming kinship with the Winthrop family, but he let it go. Better not to give away information too readily.

  “Fine.” Shay’s voice was crisp. He ended the call.

  That was interesting. Trey leaned back in his chair. Donald Shay was more rattled than Trey would have expected. Because he had reason to think Amanda really was Elizabeth Winthrop’s great-granddaughter? This promised to be an intriguing meeting.

  He was tempted to call Amanda, but it could wait until he saw her at supper. He hoped she was resting at the moment, and tonight would be soon enough to discuss how they’d pre
sent the issues.

  That decided, he worked steadily at a complicated will for a client who seemed to regard revising his will as a periodic chance to annoy all of his relatives. He was about ready to stop for lunch when his cell phone rang. He checked the caller—his mother.

  “Hi, Mom, what’s up?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you at work.” She sounded harried. “But I need some medication picked up for your father, and I don’t want to leave him to go and get it.”

  “What’s wrong?” His hand tightened on the phone. “Did something happen?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. But he’s a bit restless, eager to get on the new medication since the doctor prescribed it, and I think he should rest, but he’s insisting he can go with me to the pharmacy...”

  He could imagine the scene without being there. His father, normally the kindest of men, became irritable when he had to face anything he couldn’t control. Like his own heart.

  “I’ll run by now and pick it up. Do you need anything else when I come?”

  “No, that’s all.” He could hear his father’s voice in the background. “He says to tell you there’s no need to leave the office to run errands for him.”

  That sounded familiar, too. “Tell him I do take some time off for lunch. I’ll be there as soon as I have the pills.” He clicked off before his father could give his mother any further instructions. Knowing his mother, Trey was confident she’d handle him better than he could.

  In less than fifteen minutes, Trey was hurrying up the walk at his parents’ house, still more concerned than he wanted to admit. His father had been in good health and enjoying his retirement until the scandal about his longtime partner broke last spring. Since then his existing heart condition kept worsening, and the relaxed retirement his mother had hoped for had deteriorated into worry and doctor visits.

  Trey tapped once and entered, his usual way of announcing himself. “Mom, where are you? I’ve brought the medication.”

  He found her in the kitchen, and she hurried to give him a quick kiss before seizing on the small white bag. “You wouldn’t believe how determined he was to get started on this. He wouldn’t take his usual pill but insisted he had to have this.”

  Trey rested a hand on her shoulder when she moved. “Wait a second. Tell me why the doctor changed the pills.”

  His mother gave him a cautious look. “Now, don’t overreact. It’s bad enough dealing with your father. But the doctor thought his heart sounded weaker than usual today, so he changed it. It’s probably nothing,” she added quickly. “You know how it is. He gets upset and...”

  She stopped abruptly, as if she hadn’t intended to say that.

  “What upset him?” But he was afraid he knew. “If it’s because of the talk going around town about Amanda Curtiss, there’s nothing there to worry him. She’s a perfectly nice woman who simply wants to find out whether or not the woman who raised her actually adopted her. She’s not trying to cause trouble for the Winthrops.”

  His mother raised troubled eyes to him. “Not according to Donald Shay. He called your father this morning, and...”

  A bell rang insistently. His mother seized a glass of water she had ready on the counter and the pill bottle. “I swear, I should never have let him have that bell. Come in and talk to him. Maybe you can convince him there’s nothing to get upset over.”

  Maybe. He’d try, but a sense of failure weighed on his shoulders as he moved. What could he do? Amanda Curtiss was going to pursue her search whether he represented her or not. He’d started this job, and it wouldn’t be honorable to desert her now.

  There was nothing honorable about worrying his father into heart failure, either. He had an overwhelming desire to punch someone, preferably Donald Shay. How dare he call the house and worry Dad with his issues? He knew Trey’s father was retired and had no part in the firm now.

  Too bad that punching Shay wouldn’t solve the problem. Dad had been so proud that Trey had followed his example. His belief in Trey had been absolute. Trey had repaid him by failing to see how near the firm was to disaster and now by raising havoc in the place that meant so much to his family. No matter what he did, he was going to fail someone.

  * * *

  SUPPER AT SARAH’S house proved to be a noisy, happy time, filled with laughter and good food. With that number of children in the house, Amanda supposed it couldn’t be anything else. From the perspective of an only child, she watched the interplay between Amos and Sarah’s brood with fascination. They were all so alike in looks and so different in personality.

  They were clearly not in awe of Trey—he was treated as if he were an older cousin. Trey made a game of pretending not to know which one was which, not surprising in a group of blue-eyed, blond-haired youngsters who all dressed alike and had similar features.

  “Now, this is Gabe, right?” He tapped one towhead on the shoulder, leading to giggles among the younger ones as the older girls cleared the table and began serving dessert and coffee.

  “I’m not Gabe, I’m Ezra.”

  “That’s funny. You’re just the size Gabe was last summer.”

  The little boy pointed, convulsed with giggles. “That’s Gabe.”

  Trey shook his head sadly. “What do you mean by growing so much in a few months? How I am supposed to know you? Stop it, you hear?”

  Sarah leaned over Amanda’s shoulder to put a generous wedge of apple crumb pie topped with ice cream in front of her. “Trey always makes them laugh. He’s gut with the kinder, ain’t so?”

  She ought to say she didn’t know him well enough to tell, but that seemed rude. “I guess he is. Your crowd really likes him.”

  “Ach, he’s a gut man.” She moved on, sparing Amanda the difficulty of framing a reply.

  Certainly in this setting, Trey made an impression that was very different from the one he’d made on her that first day in his office, when she’d thought him stuffy and self-satisfied. That should be a lesson to her not to judge.

  Amos claimed her attention. “Have you had a look at our colt today?”

  “I stopped to see him on my way to supper. He’s grown so much already. He’s going to be a fine animal.”

  “He is, God willing. It was a chance, investing in the pair of Percherons, but he should make it worth the risk.”

  Amanda nodded. She hadn’t considered it from a financial perspective, but it was certainly true that the pair of them would have cost a lot. She knew from her time in Lancaster County how chancy success could be for a family farm, even a dairy farm, which generally did better than others.

  Sarah, finally sitting down with her pie and coffee, smiled at her. “Don’t let him talk your ear off about that colt, now. He spends too much time admiring him.”

  “Amos and Amanda made a good pair of midwives.” Trey turned his attention to the adults as the youngsters, their dessert finished, scurried off to their various chores. “Maybe Amanda ought to stick around the area.”

  “Doc sure could use the help,” Amos said. “He’s a gut man and a fine vet, but he can’t get everywhere at once. It’s not an easy life.”

  “Hey, don’t scare her off.” Trey polished off the last crumb of pie on his plate. He smiled at Amanda as he spoke, but then sobered quickly. “Looks to me as if you’ve sat about as long as your ribs will take. Want me to run you up to the cottage in the car?”

  “I can walk. Moving around will do me good. But I think I will need to call it quits for the evening.” Trey must have noticed that involuntary wince when she’d turned. “Sit still, Trey,” she added when he rose. “I don’t want to tear you away from another slice of pie.”

  He grinned, looking for an instant like a kid who’d been at the cookie jar. “Sarah promised me a piece to take home. Come on. If you won’t let me drive you, I’ll walk with you.”

&n
bsp; Sarah gazed at her with concern. “Do you want one of the girls to stay with you tonight, just in case you need help?”

  “No, that’s not necessary. I’m fine, just a bit stiff. The walk will help.” There was a limit, she thought, to how much help she should accept from her hosts.

  After the thanks and goodbyes had been repeated multiple times, they were out the back door in the gathering dusk. Trey touched her arm as they went down the porch steps, as if to ask if she needed help.

  “I’m okay,” she said, answering the unasked question. “That wooden chair was just starting to stick into me in the same places as the seat belt.”

  “I imagine. We should have carried an upholstered chair in for you.” Trey settled his pace to match hers.

  “And have the kids laughing at me? I think not.”

  He grinned. “They’re too well-mannered to laugh at an Englischer.”

  “Never mind my sore ribs. Tell me what happened. Did you call Donald Shay?”

  Trey’s face darkened. “I didn’t have to,” he said shortly. “He called me. What’s more, he called my father first and upset him.”

  “Your father?” No wonder Trey sounded angry. “But why? He’s not involved in the firm, is he?”

  “Not any longer.” Trey’s tone snapped with annoyance. “Shay is well aware of that fact. I suppose he thought my father would influence me to drop your case. He doesn’t know either of us if he thinks that.”

  Amanda wasn’t sure what to say in the face of his obvious ire. There was more going on than just a phone call, it seemed to her. “I’m sure someone with your father’s experience would know how to handle that sort of pressure.”

  “He shouldn’t have to.” Even in the dim light, she could see the steely set of Trey’s jaw. “He’s not well.”

  “I’m sorry if your involvement with me...”

  Trey shook his head with an impatient gesture. “Just let it go. I can deal with Shay. We’re going to meet him at two tomorrow, so I’ll pick you up about one forty. Then I’ll drive you over to pick up your car afterward, if it’s ready.”