Secrets, Lies & Loves

by Judy Duarte

  But she didn’t dare let herself trust him that much. He obviously felt the same about her. She sighed. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “I spoke to my father about your position at Lakeside,” he said, taking his seat, his eyes dark and moody as he gazed at her. “He called the chairman of the board and explained he’d mixed you up with a family he knew a long time ago. You can return to the teaching position tomorrow.”

  “I told Mrs. Ling I would work from two until six during the week,” Sara told him.

  He shrugged. “It’s up to you. Personally, I wouldn’t blame you for not going back to Lakeside. You were dismissed without just cause.”

  She tried to read his thoughts, but his face disclosed nothing. “I don’t know how you did it, but thank you for…for straightening this out.”

  He nodded without saying anything, giving her the impression that he’d said all he intended about the subject.

  “Did you have words with your father about this?” she asked.

  A cynical smile brushed his lips briefly. “What do you think?” Before she could reply, he continued, “What does it matter? You’re reinstated, so that’s the end of it.”

  Not quite, she wanted to tell him. More than ever, she wanted to show the world what kind of scoundrel Walter Parks really was. The more she knew of him, the more she thought him capable of instigating evil.

  Looking at the son, who shared so many of his father’s physical characteristics, she wished Cade wasn’t related to her enemy. “I don’t think you’re like your father,” she said. “I don’t blame you for his sins.”

  “Such as murder?” Cade inquired. “Thanks. That’s a real comfort to know.”

  She stood. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”

  “Does that mean you’ll back off on investigating my father for your father’s death?”

  Sara shook her head. “No. I can’t. My mother loved my father. She was unhappy and confused at the time of the…the incident, but she never thought of losing him. It hurt her so.”

  Cade listened, his eyes never leaving her. When she finished, he nodded as if he understood. “Well, then, as they say, I’ll see you in court…when you prove your case. If you do.”

  “We will.”

  She went inside and closed the door. Cade continued to sit on the deck, his eyes turned toward the far horizon as if he sought some truth or ancient wisdom there.

  Following his gaze, she noticed the sun had almost disappeared. Only a sliver was visible. She waited, her whole being suspended in the moment, then the sun slipped below the sea.

  There was no green flash.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Don’t look so worried,” a feminine voice advised. “It can’t be that bad.”

  Cade, lost in introspection, turned to his sister. “Hey, Em,” he greeted her. “It’s too lovely a day to be worried about anything. You look like a million bucks.”

  She was dressed in a summer suit of soft pink with touches of green that enhanced her golden-brown hair and green eyes. Her dimples flashed when she smiled at him.

  The hostess summoned them at that moment, and they followed her to a table. After they were seated and had given their orders for drinks, he studied his twin.

  “What? Do I have a smudge on my nose?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I was thinking about time and how it slips away on a person. Do you realize we’re going to be thirty, come November?”

  “It’s too awful to contemplate.” Her grin belied the complaint in the words.

  Like the sunrise, his twin had been one of the constants in his life. Em and Wheelie. Affection for the two women eased the gloom that had sat on his shoulders for the past two days.

  “What is it?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes as she returned his perusal.

  She’d always been good at grasping his moods, he realized. Of the four Parks kids, she was the most sensitive and concerned for others. “Why hasn’t some man eloped with you yet?”

  Her smile faltered and emotion flickered through her eyes for a second before she clasped her hands to her breast and gazed into the distance with a dreamy expression. “I’m waiting for my prince to come.”

  “Huh. I’m not sure there are any of those around anymore, Sleeping Beauty.”

  “Then I’ll be what I am—a spinster who plans other people’s weddings while secretly pining for my own.” She tilted her head slightly. “What about you? Stacy needs a brother or sister, and you’re not getting any younger.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  They placed their luncheon order, then observed the flow of diners in and out of the busy bistro.

  “What’s with our dear father these days?” Emily asked after a bit. “He usually ignores me and Jessica. Now all of a sudden he’s realized we’re alive. Two Sunday dinner invitations in a row. He’s worried about something.” She frowned as she lifted a glass of raspberry tea and took a sip. “Something serious,” she added.

  “It appears he thinks someone is out to get him or something like that.”

  “Mmm, makes one wonder what he’s got to hide.”

  Looking into her candid gaze, Cade knew Em didn’t have a clue how serious the situation actually was. A murderer could still be brought to trial twenty-five years after the deed. Appalled, he realized he was beginning to think like Sara.

  As usual, his body reacted to the merest thought of her. No matter what his mind dictated, physically he was attuned to her. Odder still was the fact that something in him insisted on trusting her and her brother. He couldn’t quite discount their story and their drive to discover the truth behind it. He exhaled in frustration.

  “Cade, are you in love?” Emily asked, breaking into his introspection.

  He found he couldn’t answer the question. “Why do you ask that?”

  “Stacy mentioned that your neighbor had gone to the ranch with you. I’ve never known you to take any woman to your secret hideaway.”

  “So you think it has to mean something?”

  “Yes.”

  She smiled when he glared at her, giving him a glimpse of the young happy person she used to be. The way they both had been once upon a time.

  “Damn,” he said.

  Emily burst into laughter. “You are. Cade’s in love, Cade’s in love,” she said in a singsong, but softly so the nearby diners couldn’t hear.

  It was almost a relief to bring it out into the open, he found. “Father will disown me if I join forces with the Carltons,” he said ruefully.

  “Do you care? You’re an adult, a successful attorney. Do what you want, what your heart tells you is right.”

  “You sound like Jessica. Or Rowan.”

  Her teasing manner disappeared. “I’m worried about him. He’s totally disappeared. Jessica and I call everyday. No answer. I stopped by and collected his mail this morning. I hope no burglars have noticed the house is empty. This is so like him,” she concluded in annoyance.

  “He can take care of himself. It’s Jessica I’m worried about. She and Rowan never knew much of a family life. She was, what, a year old when Mother was sent away?”

  Emily nodded. “We had Wheelie. And you. You were always a wonderful brother. You deserve someone who loves you with all her heart.”

  “So do you, Em. The men in this town must be stupid.”

  She looked troubled. “I have a…a doomsday sense of time passing. If we don’t grab happiness when it sails by, we may never have another chance. Don’t let that happen to you. If this Sara Carlton is the one, grab her.”

  “It isn’t that simple.”

  “Life never is.”

  “How many weddings have you planned for this month?” he asked to distract her.

  For the rest of the meal, they spoke of their work, then the unusual heat from a Santa Ana wind blowing in from the south. The humidity was about ten percent, and the trees planted along the streets had a tired, droopy appearance.

  Just the
way he felt, Cade reflected as he saw Emily to her car and headed for his office. A block down the street, he slowed his step. His father entered a store a couple of doors down. Cade approached the window and looked inside.

  He saw Walter open a postal box and remove some mail. Most of it he tossed in a trash can. One letter he opened, read, then stuck in his jacket pocket.

  For some reason, when his father exited, Cade turned to a coin-operated newspaper bin and pretended to read the headlines. After Walter proceeded down the street, clearly not returning to his office, Cade fell into step behind him.

  To his surprise, Walter met a man Cade recog-nized—a bounty hunter who usually worked for bail bond firms to trace those who skipped out on their bail. Although the bounty hunters had some leeway under the law, this particular one was known to frequently stretch those boundaries.

  The man handed Walter a small bag. Walter pulled a tape cassette from it, nodded to something the man said, then retraced his steps. Cade just managed to duck inside a dry-cleaning establishment before he was spotted. After making sure his father was past the place, he again followed.

  This time Walter returned to his office over the jewelry store, which was two buildings up from the postal service place. Questions buzzed through Cade’s head. His father was keeping unusual company these days, and he wondered why.

  The private life of Walter Parks might prove interesting, he mused. Recalling he had an appointment to plan an estate trust, he hurried to his own office.

  Sara vacuumed up her late dinner—a bowl of cereal she’d spilled all over the kitchen floor—then decided to vacuum the rest of the first-floor rooms since she’d done that only once since arriving in town.

  Pushing the vacuum cleaner back and forth over the Oriental carpet in the elegant living room, she found it hard to believe that she’d arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday, exactly four weeks ago that day.

  During that time, a person could move a thousand miles from home, teach two weeks, get fired, take a part-time job, investigate a murder and stupidly fall in love with the wrong person—all in twenty-eight days.

  She summoned the anger that had carried her through the long winter. Love, she’d decided, was a trap for the unwary, especially for women. She wouldn’t—

  Her furious thoughts were interrupted by a noise at the back of the duplex. She flicked off the vacuum cleaner and listened. Hmm, must have been her imagination.

  Just as she started to continue with the cleaning, she heard another knocking sound on the back door. She’d deliberately kept the door closed and the blinds drawn that week in order to avoid Stacy and her father. Since it was late, she knew it could only be one person.

  Summoning anger around her like a cloak, she went to the den and opened the door. Cade, as she’d expected, stood there. “What is it?” she asked, keeping her voice neutral.

  “I need to check on something,” he said, sweeping by her before she could protest.

  “What?” This time the question was belligerent. She didn’t appreciate his high-handed ways. Besides, she had nothing to say to him. Nothing good, at any rate.

  “I want to check your phone.”

  Without a by-your-leave, he unplugged the phone from the wall jack, lifted the receiver and unscrewed the ends.

  “Why?” she demanded, moving closer so she could see exactly what he was up to.

  “In case it’s bugged.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it. Since someone had tapped his father’s phone, maybe the senior Parks had decided to reciprocate. Sitting on the coffee table, she peered at the phone parts in Cade’s hands. “Do you see anything?”

  He gave her a sardonic glance. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t recognize a bug if it spit in my eye.”

  Meeting his candid gaze, she couldn’t help but smile. He grinned at her. Her smile widened.

  So they sat there, their knees almost touching, their heads only inches apart, and smiled at each other until she recalled she was angry. She changed her smile to the proper serious frown.

  “Who would bug my phone?” she asked. “Walter Parks,” she answered the question, then peered at the son to see how he took this accusation.

  He nodded, his handsome face solemn as he studied her.

  “I’ll call Tyler.” She retrieved the cell phone from her purse, called her brother and told him of Cade’s suspicions.

  “Be right there,” her brother said. “I’ll call Nick.”

  “Right. And thanks.” She replaced the phone in her purse and returned to the den. “He’ll be over soon.”

  Cade nodded while putting the receiver together. He plugged in the phone again, checked the dial tone, hung up, then settled back on the sofa.

  Sara took a chair, and there they sat in total silence.

  “Stacy misses you,” he said after an eon had passed. “Don’t hurt her because of the situation between us.”

  “I wouldn’t,” she protested. “I’ve been busy the last two days—”

  “I’ve missed you, too,” he interrupted.

  She stared at him, then shrugged. “Sounds like a personal problem to me.”

  “You’re stubborn, young Sara,” he murmured. “I didn’t remember that about you.”

  Crossing her arms as a barrier between them, she sat and glared at the wall behind him and refused to meet his gaze, which moved from one point to another as he continued his perusal of her.

  When he focused on her mouth, hot tingles ran over her lips. When his gaze dropped lower, electric currents dashed helter-skelter through her body. If he didn’t stop looking at her, she was going to explode—

  The ring of the doorbell was a relief.

  She sprinted down the hall and welcomed her brother and Nick Banning. “Hi, Nick. Oh, and Mark, too.”

  The three men entered and followed her to the den. “You think Sara’s place is bugged?” Tyler asked.

  “I think it’s a good idea to check it out,” Cade said.

  “Why?”

  Sara noticed her brother sounded as belligerent as she had earlier. She waited for Cade’s answer.

  “I saw my father with someone today.” Cade glanced at Mark Banning when he mentioned the name and circumstances.

  “I know him,” Mark said. He stood. “I’ll get to work.”

  “Let him do it,” Nick advised when Tyler stood. “He knows the latest devices better than we do.”

  In the manner of a TV detective, Mark pulled on latex gloves, then removed a flashlight from his jacket pocket and went outside after a quick check inside. Fifteen minutes ticked by. Sara prepared iced tea and brought the glasses into the den on a tray.

  When he returned, he looked pleased. “Bingo,” he said and laid a tiny electronic snooping device on the coffee table. He stripped off the latex gloves and returned them to his pocket. “That was on Sara’s line.” He laid an identical one beside the other and looked at Cade. “This was on yours.”

  Sara’s gaze flew to Cade.

  He didn’t look surprised as he gave her a slight smile before speaking to Mark. “Good work.”

  “How did you know?” Tyler asked.

  “A hunch,” Cade said. “If my father thought you guys had tapped his telephone, it followed that he would return the favor. I didn’t expect a second one, though.”

  “So what do we do now?” Tyler gestured to the bugs.

  “I’ll take them.” Cade reached for the devices, then looked at Mark. “Do I need to worry about fingerprints?”

  “Probably not. The person who installed them is a pro. I don’t imagine he was careless.”

  Cade nodded. “You got a plastic bag I can use?” he asked Sara.

  She got one from the kitchen. They all observed as Cade securely closed the bag, with the transmitters inside, and put it in his pocket. He lifted his iced tea glass in a mock toast. “To the three musketeers and D’Artagnan.” He glanced at the other three men, then at Sara.

  “All for one and one for all,” Tyler intoned a
nd held his glass over the coffee table.

  Sara, Tyler, Nick and Mark clinked glasses. She noticed that Cade hadn’t joined them.

  “Four musketeers,” Tyler said, picking up on her thought.

  “I’m just the messenger,” Cade told them. “Or the traitor, according to which side one is on.”

  Mark checked his watch. “I have to be in court early in the morning. A guy was embezzling from the family business. His wife got suspicious about some invoices. Turns out they were from bogus companies.”

  Sara saw her brother and their friends out. The den was empty when she returned. She turned off the lamps, leaving a night-light on, then went out on the deck.

  Cade was there, a hip propped on the rail as he gazed at the cityscape.

  “You’re going to confront your father about the wiretapping,” she said.

  “Yes.”

  “Is that wise?”

  He shrugged.

  “Maybe he didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “Then he can deny any knowledge of it.”

  “But you think he arranged it,” she persisted.

  “Yes.”

  She hesitated, then said, “Cade, this isn’t your fight. Don’t alienate your family because of…” She couldn’t decide how to say it.

  “Because of us, Sara?” He turned so they faced each other. “Because of what you and I have shared? We’ve slept together. What does that mean nowadays?”

  The cynical tone lashed her heart. “I wish we hadn’t come here,” she said in a low voice. “Maybe my mother was wrong about what occurred. Maybe your father told the truth and my father’s death was one of those freak accidents that happen to people.”

  He studied her for a long moment before replying. “Maybe. Or maybe it wasn’t. At any rate, twenty-five years is long enough to wonder about it. Whatever the truth, it’s time it surfaced. Then and only then can the past be laid to rest.” He turned back to viewing the night.

  Sara wanted to go to him, but she couldn’t. His manner was too closed, too remote. She didn’t blame him for wanting nothing more to do with her. If they proved his father guilty of murder, it would be a serious blow to his family.

  There seemed to be nothing more to discuss. She went inside and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. A simple wall divided the two town houses, but it may as well have been a thousand-mile rift.