Secret Hearts

by Radclyffe

  “Technically, yes, although he and I did have an agreement, not that that would matter to him. There’s another problem, however.”

  “Don’t tell me he stole a car.”

  “Fortunately, no,” her father said, “but there may be a possibility that he is party to the theft of a number of drugs from the facility pharmacy.”

  Kip jerked. “What? How could he possibly have done that?”

  “We’re not entirely sure he’s involved, but the evidence is suggestive.”

  “What evidence?” Kip closed her eyes. Oh, Randy. No. Don’t let this be true. You can’t be that stupid, you just can’t.

  “One of the night med techs did not show up for their shift. And coincidentally, although the authorities obviously do not think it’s a coincidence, a number of narcotics and other drugs are missing.”

  “Why do they suspect Randy? Like you said, it could be a coincidence.”

  “The med tech is an attractive twenty-five-year-old woman who worked in the wing where he resided, and at least several residents said they were close.” He made the word close sound faintly obscene.

  Kip refused to keep grasping at straws. Randy had screwed up and was headed for very big trouble. The time for finger pointing and recriminations would come later, and she’d own up to her part in enabling him all these years, but right now they had to find him before he compounded the problems. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Call him. Let him know that you’re worried about him, and help us find him.”

  “Don’t you think your security guys can do that a lot better than me? I’m no detective.”

  “They are searching, as are, unfortunately, the authorities. But there’s every possibility he will contact you first.”

  “All right. I’ll try to reach him.”

  “If you’re here when he contacts you, we can put our people on damage control and we might be able to…circumvent…official channels.”

  “Like keeping him out of jail? Again.” Kip sighed. “I’ll come over there.”

  “I think that would be best.” He hesitated. “Thank you.”

  Kip disconnected and sat on the side of the bed, the phone cradled between her palms, staring at the blank screen. If the authorities were looking for Randy, they were going to interview her sooner or later too. She couldn’t go to the garden now. The last thing Jordan or Ty needed was more official attention on them. She pushed Jordan’s number.

  “Hey,” Jordan said, “running late?”

  “I’m not going to be able to make it this morning.”

  “All right,” Jordan said, a cautious note in her voice. “Are you all right?”

  “I…” Kip rubbed her eyes. No, no, I’m not all right at all. I don’t know what I should do anymore. I don’t even know what I want to do. But I know one thing—I don’t want you or anyone you care about in danger. “I’m okay, but there’s a problem with my brother. I need to get it straightened out and I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” Jordan asked.

  “No, I’m really sorry about this. But I think it’s better if I don’t come around until this is resolved.”

  Jordan was silent for a long moment. “Are you trying to tell me that I’m not going to see you for a while?”

  “I hope it’s not for very long. I just need to find out what’s going on and get this mess straightened out.”

  “And that’s something I can’t help you with?”

  “I’m not going to drag my problems to your door. If anyone comes around asking questions, it’s best you don’t know anything at all. Including where I am.”

  “Are you in danger?”

  “I don’t think so.” Kip hesitated. “I’m not sure how this will affect my community service obligation.”

  “Kip,” Jordan said slowly, “I thought we were more to each other than this.”

  “We are,” Kip said. “I just…I need you to trust me on this.”

  “I’ll try,” Jordan said, “but I can’t be someone who stands by and watches you be hurt or hurt yourself. You have to know that.”

  “I’m really sorry. More than you know.”

  “Yes,” Jordan said quietly. “So am I.”

  “I’ll call you,” Kip said softly.

  The silence when Jordan hung up was the loneliest sound she’d ever heard.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Jordan sat in the corner of her sofa, arms wrapped around her drawn-up knees, watching steam waft from the teacup on the coffee table in front of her, replaying the conversation with Kip over and over again. She could make sense of all the words, but she was still struggling with the message beneath them. Kip had a family problem, and she understood family problems as well as—she gave a mental grimace—better than almost anyone. Kip was needed at home, and she understood that too. She’d never try to stand in the way of anyone taking care of family. All of that was obvious from what Kip had told her. But what wasn’t obvious, and what she was forced to put together from murky clues and reluctant half explanations, was exactly why Kip had to keep all of these things a secret, and why whatever obligations calling her home meant she had to deal with all those things alone.

  Of course, everyone had private battles. She got that too. But when people loved each other, they supported each other in their struggles, even if all they could do was offer comfort and warmth in the dark. Kip hadn’t even let her close enough to do that. She’d shut her out, the same way her father had shut her and her mother out, while he fought his demons alone and lost. Kip was not her father, she knew that too, but that didn’t stop the hurt or the anger or the fear. If they’d been friends, just friends, she might’ve understood Kip’s silence, but they were more than that. At least she’d thought so, had begun to let herself believe so. The words hadn’t been spoken, but their actions had, more than mere words ever could, at least for her. Maybe she’d misinterpreted Kip’s feelings, and it surely wouldn’t be the first time she’d missed clues. Maybe her own desires had blinded her to how Kip really felt about what they’d shared. Maybe she’d only heard in her head what she’d wanted to hear in her heart.

  She didn’t know anything, and her questions had no answers. She finally took the cooling tea into the kitchen and dumped it down the sink, collected her keys and her wallet, and headed out as she did every morning to her comforting routine. This morning, the routine was anything but a comfort. Kip was not there waiting for her, exclaiming over the morning’s selection of pastries; would not be a few feet away in the truck cab, outlining plans for a new irrigation system or a solar panel for the greenhouse; would not be anywhere in her day, catching her off guard with a smile or a long, appraising glance that set her heart racing. Kip might never return at all.

  Driving through the morning stops alone, with the silence in the cab growing ever more dark, left her feeling empty and abandoned. Beneath the sadness, anger simmered. She did not deserve to be left out in the cold like this, and she really had no one to blame but herself. She’d risked her heart and now she was paying for it.

  After the tenth time she’d checked her phone, she zipped it into the inside pocket of her coat where she couldn’t reach for it without thinking. She was behaving like a jilted teenager, pining over a girl who didn’t return her feelings in the same way. Those irrational feelings had no part in her life today, and she ought to have known better than to even open the door to the possibility. She wasn’t being fair to Kip, and beneath all the tangled emotions, she knew it. Kip wasn’t behaving any way other than the way she’d always behaved—she kept her problems private and didn’t share her pain with anyone. They might have gotten closer, close enough to share a bed, and that was what she needed to remember. Sex was safe, and in this case, where her relationship with Kip began and ended. She’d let herself forget that and had broken her own rule. She’d promised herself after her father died and her mother followed soon after, a broken woman with a broken heart and broken d
reams, she’d never let herself be in a position where someone else could push her aside, leave her out of the most important decisions in their life, and abandon her. Better that she relearned that lesson now before it was too late.

  When her phone rang inside the pocket of her jacket, she dashed to the fence post where she’d hung it, fumbled to find the zipper, yanked it down, and jerked out the cell. “Kip?”

  “Jordan?” Ty asked, surprise and concern in her voice. “You okay?”

  Heart sinking, Jordan leaned back against the post, her energy draining into the ground like rainwater down a gully. “Yeah, sorry. How are you?”

  “Bored to death. I really miss you.”

  “I miss you too.” Jordan dragged a hand through her hair. “Are the kids okay?”

  “They’re fine. They’re going to school just like always, and they like staying…here.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “How is everything there?”

  Jordan glanced over the quiet garden, weak sunlight coaxing the seedlings to reach for the sky. “Everything pretty much survived intact. We’ll have to replant a few of the tomatoes, but overall, we got lucky. Thank goodness we hadn’t rushed the peppers in too.” The hulking heaters stood silent sentry, their faces blank eyed and cold. She supposed someone from Kip’s company would come and pick them up. No one had contacted her about them.

  “Is Kip still there helping?”

  Jordan blew out a breath. “No. Something came up.”

  “You’re there all by yourself? With all that has to be done—that’s crazy.”

  Jordan smiled grimly. “It’s okay. I don’t have anything else to do.”

  “You never do, but that still doesn’t mean you can manage everything. I’m going to come back to work.”

  “No,” Jordan said quickly. “Not for a little while.”

  Ty paused. “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Nothing. Well, something, but I’m not sure what. Kip has some kind of family situation and isn’t going to be here for a while.”

  “What’s a while?”

  Jordan closed her eyes. “I don’t know that either. I don’t know what the situation is or what she needs to do or why she’s not coming here.” She shook her head. “No, that’s not entirely accurate. She’s not coming here because she thinks that might bring unwanted attention to you and me.”

  “She might be right,” Ty said gently. “You know there’s something she’s not telling you about why she was here in the first place. That woman is no criminal.”

  “I know.” Worry warred with frustration and anger. “If I knew more of what was happening, I’d be able to judge better. But I don’t know a damn thing.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “Yes. So am I.”

  “It sounds like she’s trying to protect you,” Ty said tentatively.

  “I don’t need to be protected,” Jordan snapped.

  “I know that, and I bet Kip does too, but some people are just made that way. It takes a lot of practice to undo the instinct to protect someone you care about.”

  “Oh, I know, but damn it, Ty, if she cared about me she’d let me help!”

  “I’d say it’s pretty obvious she cares about you.”

  “If she cared about me, the person I am, she wouldn’t just walk away like this. Obviously, she doesn’t know me at all.”

  “Maybe you’re being a little hard on both of you,” Ty said. “Why don’t you wait to see what she says about it all.”

  “It’s not like I have much choice about waiting.” Jordan’s stomach clenched. “Kip has already made the choice for both of us.”

  “Let me know when I can come back,” Ty said.

  “I’ll contact you as soon as things settle down. I don’t want you getting caught up in the middle of something when we have no idea what’s going on.”

  “All right. But you call me if you need me.”

  “I will.” Jordan drew a breath, forced the cloud of fear and anger from her mind. “Just take care of yourself and your family.”

  “Okay. Talk soon,” Ty said.

  When Jordan disconnected, she vowed to set her loneliness and anxiety aside until she knew what she was dealing with. Ty was right about needing to wait until Kip explained. No matter what else happened, she knew Kip would not just disappear without a good-bye. She worked through lunch and was making good progress on transplanting some of the greens into larger beds when two men came through the gate. She straightened and frowned. The men in black were back. Wonderful.

  “Help you?” she called.

  The smaller one, the one who had climbed into the back of the SUV with Kip when they’d taken her away, was in the lead. He smiled as if happy to see her again. Yeah, right.

  “Ms. Rice,” he said collegially. “We’re looking for Ms. Kensington.”

  “Why is that?”

  He smiled, his lips pressed together in a thin line that looked anything but friendly. “Just some follow-up questions we need to ask.”

  “I’m sorry, but she’s not here. I don’t expect her back anytime soon.”

  “Have you had any contact from anyone else in the Kensington family?”

  Jordan couldn’t help but look surprised. Kip had been right about keeping the details from her. She really had no idea what the hell was going on. “No, why would I?”

  He raised a shoulder as if the answer should be obvious. “Anyone looking for her is likely to stop by here.”

  “Well, no one has. Sorry. I can’t help you out there.”

  He smiled again, his eyes growing hard and threatening. “You’ll be sure to call us if you do have any visitors looking for her.”

  “It might help if you were a little more specific.”

  He didn’t even bother trying to smile this time. “We’re specifically interested in her brother, Randolph.”

  “Why? What has he done?”

  “Oh, nothing that we’re aware of.” He watched her as if expecting her to help him out. “We’re just interested in talking with him.”

  “Yes, you seem to do a lot of that.”

  He laughed, an edge of darkness cutting the sound short. “We find it more productive to start out that way.”

  She didn’t really want to think about what steps came after discussion. “You can leave your number. If anyone comes here looking for Kip, I’ll pass it along to them. I’m not a message center.”

  “No, but you are close to Ms. Kensington, aren’t you?”

  Heat flared in Jordan’s throat and she lifted her chin. “We’re friends.”

  “Well then, I’m sure you want your friend to avoid any appearances of compromise. Ask her to call us.”

  “I’d think you’d be able to find her.”

  “Oh, we know where she is.”

  They turned without saying good-bye and left the garden gate ajar behind them. Jordan followed, closing and latching it. What did they think Kip had done to warrant such attention? But she didn’t know, because Kip hadn’t told her.

  *

  Kip paced the expansive gardens behind her father’s estate, walking down toward the sound, the wind buffeting her through her light windbreaker and jeans. The wet air left her skin cold and clammy in its wake. The last fifteen hours had been endless. Private security in black SUVs pulled in and out of the drive around the clock, grim-faced men and women rushing into her father’s study. No calls from Randy. Her father didn’t need her advice or her company. She was powerless and useless on top of that, and all she could think about was Jordan. She missed her like a part of her was absent. The hole inside her wept and bled. She stood with her back to the house, her hands in her pockets, staring out at whitecapped slashing seas. A storm was coming. Just don’t let it be snow. The gardens couldn’t tolerate a late snow, not after what they’d gone through already. Her fingers itched to grab her phone and call Jordan just to hear her voice. She would’ve been happy to hear her breathe.

  God, she missed her. Jordan h
ad sounded hurt and angry, and that scared her. She didn’t want to put Jordan in the middle of this manhunt, especially when the feds were likely to get involved. They had a way of digging into everyone’s lives for whatever leverage they could find, and Jordan didn’t need that. Ty for sure didn’t. No. She had to stay away from Jordan until she got Randy home, but the thought of losing Jordan gutted her.

  She hunched her shoulders against the wind and ignored the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Just the wind. When her phone rang, she glanced at the readout, her heart sinking when she saw it was a private caller, not Jordan.

  “Kensington.”

  “Hey, sis. What you doing?”

  For an instant, rage warred with relief, leaving her mute. She took in a ragged breath. “Where are you?”

  “Well, that’s kind of a problem. I’m not exactly sure. I slept most of the way to wherever I am. I smoked a little weed that hit me a lot harder than I expected. Lost my tolerance, I guess.”

  Kip gritted her teeth. “What else have you done?”

  “Not much. Southern Comfort and some coke. Forgot how much I liked that stuff.”

  “You need to come home.”

  “I don’t really think that’s a good idea right now.”

  “Randy, the police are looking for you. Are you with the girl from the center? The pharmacy tech?”

  “Lucy? Yeah, Lucy. Not anymore. She kinda took off early this morning. So I don’t have any wheels or any money, and I’m running out of essentials.”

  Meaning drugs and alcohol. “I’ll come and get you. Where are you?”