Bouquet of Lies (32 page)

Uncle D frowned and nodded. “Randy had been to the house a number of times. He could have slipped in there, looked around and finally found it. We did.”

“Wow,” Lacey murmured. She looked at Darla. “We could have had fun with that, if we’d known when we were kids, huh?”

Darla looked sick. She started to shake.

“Darla?”

“I’m all right.”

“No, you’re not.” There was fear in her eyes. Why now? She’d been doing so well.

“I remember now,” Darla murmured.

“What?” Jake asked.

Darla’s eyes were on Lacey. Then she looked at Jake. “Hide and Seek.”

“The story I told you?” Jake said. “When you were crying and we couldn’t find you?”

Darla trembled.

“Hide and Seek?” Lacey said.

“Edward put me in that room. It was dark and he had a flashlight and he told me no one would ever find me. I remember. I was scared because he always scared me. I started to whine and he told me to shut up. Did I want to see what happened to little babies who whined?” She swallowed, unable to go on.

Everybody waited.

“He, um, he took me to this thing. This stand. It had a box. A chest. On the top.” Darla swallowed again.

“The chest in your nightmares,” Lacey murmured.

Darla nodded. She took a breath. Her words choked in her throat. “He opened it. And there were . . . there were little bones. And a skull.”

Lacey’s blood ran cold.

“And Edward laughed and I don’t remember what he said after that. But he left me there with the bones and it was dark. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there.” Darla shivered. “And I tried to move as far away from them as I could until I started to scream.”

“And we heard you,” Jake said. “But couldn’t find you. But Harper could.”

“Yes. Daddy came.” 

Forty-two

LACEY STOOD AMID the cops who milled about in the foyer. There were so many, it seemed like overkill. But what the heck. They were here to help wrap up her case. She was grateful.

She watched Uncle D disappear into the library, determined to find the bones Darla remembered. Those bones corroborated Crystal’s story which gave her credibility and added to the arsenal of evidence Uncle D was gathering against Ana and Randy.

Darla sat on the stairs peering through the posts of the banister as if she were in prison. She had been in prison, Lacey thought. All of her life because of Edward. Because of Father, too.

She would never understand why the two of them deprived her and Darla of their mother. It must have been Harriet’s influence.

Jake climbed the stairs and sat next to Darla. She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled.

Watching them, Lacey smiled, too.

Dan walked up and stood beside Lacey. “Looks like things are working out for them.” She gave him a fleeting glance.

“They belong together,” she said.

“What about us?”

She turned and faced him.

“I took your hand,” he said. “You pulled away.”

“I called you. You didn’t call me back.”

“I called you twenty times.”

Lacey brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “No, you didn’t.” But Dan never lied. Now she was confused.

“Okay, nineteen.” He stared at her. “You didn’t call me back.” He walked away.

Lacey took out her phone. It was dead. She closed her eyes. It had been down to one bar yesterday. In all the confusion she’d forgotten to charge it.

Uncle D came out of the foyer. “I need Darla.”

She stood up. “I’m over here.”

Uncle D crossed to the stairs, and Lacey joined him.

“There are two other rooms off the room connected to the library. As well as a passage that extends in a maze through the house. You think you can remember enough to show us where you were? We aren’t seeing any chests.”

Jake held Darla’s hand. “You want her to go in there?” He looked at her. “Are you ready for that?” His face said he wasn’t sure this was a good idea.

Darla eyed the library. “I can try.”

“Atta girl,” Uncle D said.

“Brave,” Lacey said, smiling at her sister.

“Scared,” Darla replied.

“Only if you want to,” Jake said.

“I want to.” She slowly stepped down the stairs.

Lacey took her arm. “I’m coming, too.”

Jake started down the stairs.

“Just the sisters,” Uncle D directed.

Upon entering the library, Lacey and Darla paused. The bookcase to the right of the great fireplace gaped open. Even with the sun brightening the room, the beckoning passage was a sinister sight.

“The proverbial bookcase,” Lacey murmured.

“Yes, indeed. You’ll need these.” Uncle D motioned at a deputy who gave each of them a flashlight. “It’s wired for electricity but the power’s not on. And we’re not sure how to turn it on at this point.”

Darla pressed the flashlight switch. Then she took her sister’s hand and clutched it. Lacey guided them around the couches to the opening.

“No wonder you had nightmares,” Lacey commented, standing inside the hidden room. “I would have too.”

“It’s small,” Darla said. “It seemed so big when I was little.”

“So you remember this?” Uncle D said.

“Not this exactly. I don’t think the box was here.”

“There’s nothing in here,” Lacey said. “Besides darkness, dirt and cobwebs.” She stamped her foot and produced a small cloud of filth. Lacey beamed the light on the floor and could just make out a pattern of roses grayed from dust. “And a messed-up carpet.”

Uncle D used his flashlight. “There are two doors, as you can see.” Each door stood open offering an ocean of blackness beyond. “The room on the right has another door that leads to a corridor. That corridor tunnels off like a labyrinth.”

Darla stared at the other opening. “The left.” She dropped Lacey’s hand and stepped closer. “We didn’t go down a corridor. Grandfather put me in this room.”

“You’re sure? Because there’s nothing in there, except. Well. You’ll see. We thought perhaps Edward took you down the hall to one of the other five-odd chambers we’ve discovered thus far.”

“No. That room,” Darla said, staring. “That one.”

Uncle D went first. “Come on, then.”

They followed him in and stood fascinated. The side walls displayed serene murals of blue sky, fluffy clouds, yellow butterflies and blue birds. One mural included a pink lamb with deeper-pink flowers on its head standing in a meadow of pastel daisies, baby chicks and rabbits.

“I remember this, too. But there was other stuff. Lots of stuff.”

“Well.” Uncle D took out a Tums. “When we saw the murals that’s what we thought. The chest was in here and it got moved.” He popped the Tums.

“Harriet must have done this,” Lacey said. “A tomb for her baby who would never get justice.”

“She should have just turned the bastard in.” Uncle D stepped toward the exit.

Lacey pointed the light at the wall between the murals. It was light blue. “Wait a minute.” She turned around and flashed the light on the wall with the door. It had a sky and clouds and butterflies and birds. She turned back. “Why is this wall plain?” She looked at Darla. “Was it like that? Can you remember?”

Darla shrugged. “I just remember stuff.”

Uncle D moved to the blue wall. “I get where you’re going.” He knocked on it. “Solid.” He paced off the room one direction and then the other. “Six-and-a-half by ten. An odd size.”

“Someone sealed up the stuff. The bones,” Lacey said.

“That wall’s gotta come down.” He walked out.

Lacey moved closer to Darla. “You okay?” She put an arm around her sister.

“I’m good,” Darla said. “I am.” She nodded. “I’m trying to figure out why I was so scared in a room full of butterflies and a little lamb.”

“Because the bones were real. The lamb is not.”

“Why would Grandfather do that to me? I don’t understand.”

“Nobody understands. Our family was weird.”

Darla let out a little snort. “Weird. Should we add that to our list for ourselves?”

“No. We’re the next generation. We aren’t going to do things the same way.”

Darla hugged her sister. When she let go she was all smiles. “I feel so . . . I don’t know how to explain it. Different.”

“Free.”

“Yeah. And safe. I feel safe. And it isn’t because Randy’s locked up or because I have Jake. It’s . . . it’s because things are going to be okay. I don’t have to watch out.”

“Well. No more than the rest of us.” Lacey laughed and Darla laughed too.

Darla glanced over her shoulder. “Is he coming back?”

“Oh, yeah. No doubt. With a sledgehammer.”

Forty-three

WHEN LACEY AND Darla returned to the foyer the first thing they saw among the sea of uniforms was Crystal. They both froze.

“That’s Mother, isn’t it?” Darla sidled close to Lacey so that their shoulders touched. Her voice was thoughtful.

“That’s Crystal,” Lacey replied, and she felt a twinge of animosity she knew Darla didn’t feel because of Darla’s tone.

“I can believe my eyes?” Darla said.

Lacey took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “You could always believe your eyes.”

The woman had yet to spot her daughters. With hands tightly clasped together, she shifted her line of sight from one area of the floor to another.

She’s wistful, Lacey thought, allowing her anger to lessen. This had been her mother’s home eighteen years ago. Darla’s lifetime. And yet, in the scheme of things, was that such a long time back? Not to mention that she returned on occasion to sneak in at night.

Lacey wondered if their mother had only visited Darla’s room. Maybe she wandered all through the house. Maybe sat in the kitchen and remembered happier times or fantasized about what might have been. Could she have been brave enough to have opened the door to Father’s room and watch him sleep?

More soft thoughts came. This woman of faded beauty, who wasn’t all that old, had given birth to her and Darla. She had actually raised Lacey for three years. As a little girl Lacey would have kissed her mother and told her that she loved her. She would have hugged Crystal and asked for bedtime stories. She would have relied upon her for things.

Lacey tried to remember. She had those few sweet memories of her father when she was very young. Younger than the age most people could remember. That must have been her mind clinging to something wonderful after he withdrew.

But she couldn’t remember her mother.

She tugged at her memory, almost in a panic. There had to be something. Anything. A smile. Her voice. Her touch. She took a few steps forward and suddenly something came. A scent. She remembered her mother’s perfume. In fact she smelled it now, sweet and familiar. Crystal hadn’t been wearing it in the police station, but she had to be wearing it now.

She felt Darla move next to her. “What are you thinking about?”

“About perfume, of all things.”

Darla sniffed the air. “That perfume?”

“Yes. Are you ready for her?”

“I’ve always been ready.”

Lacey took a breath. “Well, I’ve talked to her already. So I’m thinking you could talk alone.”

“No. You, too.” Darla took a quick look around. “And I want Jake with us. Where is he?”

Lacey didn’t see him. She tapped the shoulder of a passing deputy. “Where did Jake go?”

“Not sure who that is. We sent someone to look for a sledgehammer in the garage. Maybe it was him.”

“Oh.”

“She spotted us,” Darla said and Lacey turned to look.

Crystal stared at her two daughters, her expression mixed.

This time Darla led with Lacey a couple of steps behind.

Tears began to stream down Crystal’s face. Her fingers moved to her trembling lips. Lacey held back and watched Darla be the strong one, the one who knew what to do. Without hesitation her arms went around her mother. Then Crystal responded, hands fisted, clutching the fabric of Darla’s shirt as mother and daughter hugged.

“Eighteen years. Eighteen years,” Crystal mumbled. “I’ve hoped . . . I’ve prayed.” The tension and trepidation that had caused her hands to ball into fists lessened. Her hands relaxed. She clutched her daughter with all her strength.

“Not eighteen years,” Darla said. “I saw you. You hugged me lots of times.”

Suddenly Lacey realized what a risk Crystal had taken, sneaking in the way she had, and any resentment she still had began to melt away.

Darla and Crystal stopped hugging. They held hands, looking at each other. “You’re beautiful,” Crystal said.

Darla laughed. “Everybody says I look like you.”

“Then that’s a compliment to me.” Crystal’s eyes moved to Lacey. “You’re beautiful too.”

“I saw you once,” Lacey replied, ignoring the compliment. “In Darla’s room.”

“I remember. I scared you.”

“I thought you were a ghost.”

Crystal nodded. “I came to your room, too, when you were small. You never woke like Darla did. When you were older, I couldn’t take the chance. I came most often to Darla. She seemed to be happy to see me.”

“I was,” Darla said. “I used to pray that you would come. But then you stopped.”

“I had to.” Crystal looked at Lacey. “I’m sorry. I know from when we talked at the police station that you’re bitter toward me.”

Lacey swallowed. She had been. But she wasn’t now. “I think I get it. What happened wasn’t your fault.”

“I could have done things differently. Made better choices like you said. But sometimes you don’t get a second chance.”

“I’d say you have a second chance now.” Lacey’s tone said she meant it.

Crystal stepped closer with arms extended to let Lacey know she wanted to hug her. Lacey closed her eyes and stepped into her mother’s embrace. “I remember your perfume,” Lacey said.

Crystal laughed. They stopped hugging. “Funny you should say that. I went upstairs once the cops deposited me here and guess what I found in Harper’s medicine cabinet. Don’t ask me why I got the urge to look in there.”

“Your perfume? Really?” Darla said. “He kept it?”

“I guess. Or he didn’t realize it was there.”

“He must have known,” Darla said. “He kept it. He kept a part of you.”

Her sister, the romantic. Father maintaining a connection to Mother. It was silly.

Then she remembered how fastidiously neat Harper kept his bedroom, his office, his things. She realized that he must have known. Was that why he never divorced Crystal? Why he sent her money? Had he loved Crystal even as he rejected her? Maybe Harriet had forced him to let her go.

She heard the loud, somewhat distant crash of a wall being smashed to bits and the rain of debris hitting the floor. Uncle D had his sledgehammer.

She turned and saw Jake standing and watching the three of them. She motioned to him and he joined them immediately.

Darla took his arm. “Mom. This is Jake.”

Crystal extended her hand. “I’m very happy to meet you.”

Lacey decided that she and her mother could talk later. Now that she was in a forgiving mood, she needed to find Dan. Not that he needed to be forgiven if he really called her nineteen times. Maybe she needed him to forgive her.

“I have something to do.” Lacey said and Crystal’s eyes expressed worry. “We’ll talk later. I promise.” She kissed her mother on the cheek and her mother grabbed her before she could move away and kissed her back.

Dan was nowhere to be seen in the foyer. He probably went home, she thought, and it would be her turn to call him twenty times. She would too. She’d call him fifty times. Sixty. One-hundred.

Again came the sound of the sledgehammer attacking a wall.

“Give me your phone.”

Lacey whirled around. Dan stood behind her. He had a charger in his hand. “Ah. He reappears.”

“I was busy. Looking for this.” He lifted the charger.

“Anxious to call me?” She handed him her cell phone.

“Nope. I’m going to count. Or rather you are. All the messages I left you.”

“I am, huh? Well, it will take a while to charge. What’ll we do in the meantime?”

Another boom and rain of debris.

“In the meantime, I have a plan.” He moved to a small table that stood against the wall between the door to the library and the door to the sitting room. He plugged the phone into the charger and the charger into the wall.

Lacey tapped him on the shoulder so he’d look at her. “A plan? And I suppose this plan comes with a schedule of just when everything is supposed to happen between us. Although I do seem to recall, your original schedule bit the dust.”

Dan didn’t crack a smile. “Nope. It comes with a plan for dinner tonight. But after that, lots of uncertainty and mess.”

“Now that sounds like a plan I
can’t
live with.”

“What?”

“Dinner sounds great. But . . . Didn’t you hear? I’m going to college. Planning to be the CEO of my own company one of these days. Hopefully. Maybe. If I’ve really got what it takes. The point being, I’m pretty sure school comes with a lot of schedules and deadlines and late night studying and things like that.”

Dan nodded. “Ah. I see what you mean. You’re going to need a whole lot of scheduling.”

“Yes, I am. And since you’re the Schedule Master.”

“And commitment. That’s in the cards, too,” Dan said.

“Commitment. Right.”

His eyes gazed into hers. They were hot and serious and as potent as any touch of his hand.

Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. She felt as if she’d been hit by a truck. And not some puny little pickup, either. A big Mac semi.

“I have to sit down.” She found a chair and took it. Dan followed and stood before her.

There came the loudest crash yet of metal on drywall and plaster raining down. It wasn’t bombs bursting in air, but it was an explosion and the destruction of . . .

He’s been right all along. I keep things light to shield my heart.

He placed his hands on either side of her, clutched the arms of the chair and leaned in. “I use the term commitment and this is what happens to you?”

Crash.
More falling drywall.

“No. No, that isn’t it.”

Crash. Boom. Bang.
They were getting closer.

“That isn’t it at all.” Her chest heaved. She didn’t want a wall around her heart. She wanted him. All of him. Not just the physical. She wanted the emotional. The psychological. The fun and the serious. She wanted it all.

He continued to look at her and if there had been a shield around her heart, it melted in the heat of his gaze.

“I love you,” Lacey said. “All of you.”

He kissed her.

Uncle D hurried out of the library. He spotted Lacey and Dan and walked over to them. “She’s there. We found Debbie.”

He slipped a bottle of Tums from a pocket, almost opened it, and stopped. “I don’t need these anymore.”

“Case closed?” Dan said with a smile.

“Not quite. But it’s a slam-dunk. So . . .” He started to put the Tums bottle back in the pocket, but then he looked at Lacey. Then Dan. “Uh-huh.” He handed the bottle to his nephew. “I don’t need them, but you might.” He walked away.

“Hey!” Lacey said. And then she laughed. “Where’s my bottle?
”