Embracing Danger (22 page)

Cynicism was an ugly thing. But then Ben had never gone out of his way to show Shane any of his good qualities. Far from it.

“Elaine called me a few weeks ago. She said David had suffered a heart attack a few months before and was now making noises about wanting to tell Arden the truth about him being her father. I guess he thought he didn’t want to die without talking to her or something. Anyway, once Elaine indicated that David was serious I knew that I had to find him and talk him out of it.”

Arden held up a hand. “Wait. Grandmother knew where your brother was all this time? She knew that he was my father?”

“She didn’t know his location but she knew he was your biological father.” Ben shook his head. “But she talked to him once or twice a year since he left Hemingdale. She thought it was a good idea to keep in touch with him so we could make sure he would stay away from you.”

“Because you didn’t want me to know that truth?” Arden replied, bitterness in her tone. “Heaven forbid that I should have any idea about my life. Even my last name isn’t real.”

“I changed my name legally so it certainly is your last name.” Ben slapped the cup down on the table and a splash of coffee sloshed onto the table. “I was trying to protect you from a murderer, Arden. David is my brother but I firmly believe he killed Susannah. He killed your mother, sweetheart.”

‡

M
onths from now,
Arden might look back on all this emotional drama with her family and laugh, but right now all she wanted to do was cry. Every time she thought she knew the truth there would a twist and she’d end up speechless and hurting.

“David killed Mom? Are you sure?”

She’d barely been able to get the words out but Shane’s strong arm around her shoulders gave her just enough strength to spit them out.

“I’m sure,” her father answered grimly. “He was there that night, I just know it. I don’t care what all those other witnesses say. He wanted Susannah to leave me for him and she wouldn’t. He was a drunk, for God’s sake. When she wouldn’t leave, he shot her in a drunken rage.”

Her gaze flickered from her father to Shane who didn’t look impressed, but then they’d never had much of a relationship, let alone a good one.

“Is that something you can prove or is this just a theory?” Shane queried. “Because you had a powerful motive as well. A couple of them actually.”

Ben’s face went from red to purple, his anger almost palpable in the small booth they were sitting in. “That’s a nasty thing to say, Anderson. I loved my wife.”

“But she loved your brother,” Shane said smoothly, his eyes narrowed to slits. “He’d fathered a child that you had to take responsibility for and raise as your own. Not many men would take kindly to that.”

Ben shook his head vigorously. “I loved Arden. I wouldn’t take her mother from her.”

“But can you prove it?” Shane persisted.

Her father’s shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “No, I can’t. According to the cops, David was at a bar and then with a woman all night. They say he couldn’t have killed her. But there are witnesses that place David running from the scene.”

“One witness. But it was dark that night, Ben, and you and your brother look a hell of a lot alike.”

“I was out of town,” the older man bit out with a growl. “The police were able to confirm that.”

Arden had had enough of this pissing contest. She loved Shane and she loved her father – although she didn’t like him very much right now – and somehow they were going to need to learn to get along.

“Stop it. Both of you just stop it.” Arden signaled to the waitress for more coffee although she’d rather have a whiskey. “Dad, please continue your story. You went to find your brother, leaving a cryptic note. Was it you that ran me off the road the night of the party?”

Nodding, Ben took another drink of his coffee. “It was Barnes, your grandmother’s chauffeur. I told him I was in a hurry to catch a plane. I’m sorry we scared you but I knew if we stopped you’d try and talk me out of leaving or worse, I’d break down and tell you where I was going. I couldn’t let you do that.”

“So you left your daughter on the side of a dark, deserted road. Great parenting. Did you come straight here?” Shane asked.

Ben steepled his fingers and nodded. “It took a while to find him but I ended up in Chicago a few days ago. When I finally got an address, I went to see him this morning. I went there to ask him to leave you alone but he was yelling that he’d made a mistake letting a murderer raise his daughter. He said he was sober now and that he wanted to get to know you. Hell, I knew I couldn’t let that happen.”

Ben Cavendish, businessman extraordinaire, once again trying to control her life. That habit needed to be broken. Now.

“That wasn’t your call to make,” Arden said, putting as much acid into her tone as possible. “I make the decisions in my life. Not you. You and I have a very serious issue with our relationship. If you don’t want to be cut completely out of my life you’re going to need to learn to respect the boundaries I set.”

Ben turned to Shane, anger blazing, almost standing up in the booth. “This is your fault. You’ve turned her against me. I suppose you told her you still love her or some bullshit like that? Did you tell her you’ve been fucking your way through the female population of southern Montana?”

“Sit down,” Arden hissed, grabbing at her father’s arm and tugging until he fell back onto the vinyl seat. “You’re not going to do this again. You’re not going to play us off one another to get your own way. Shane and I are together again. If you can’t deal with that and be happy for us, you know where the door is.”

Her previously purple father turned ash gray. “Together? You’re…together again?”

Shane grinned and raised his coffee cup as if in salute. “We are, and there won’t be any tampering with the relationship this time. Your daughter just might end up an Anderson.”

They’d never talked about marriage but they had spoken about commitment and forever. It was still a shock, however, to think that she might become
Arden Anderson
if they didn’t screw things up this time.

Ben Cavendish looked like he might have a stroke. “An Anderson? My little girl is not going to become an Anderson. Over my dead body.”

Shane shrugged, his smile still wide. “Whatever works.”

“Now you stop it.” Arden smacked Shane on the arm. “Stop arguing like children. You both are going to have to find a way to get along so you might as well start now.”

“I can get along with anyone,” Shane declared, casually sipping his coffee. “Just keep Daddy from trying to interfere in our lives and all will be well.”

“You foul-mouthed–” Ben snarled but Arden held up both hands before smacking them down on the table, effectively shutting him up. Shit, if she’d known that would work she would have done it years ago.

“Father, please continue your story. Shane, please stop baiting my father.”

Shane placed his arm across her shoulders and settled back into the booth. Her father, on the other hand, didn’t appear nearly as relaxed as he added sugar to his coffee and then twisting the empty paper packet between his fingers until it was confetti.

“David was waving around a gun and yelling so I tried to get it from him. I was afraid it would go off accidentally. We struggled and the gun went off, shooting him in the chest. I panicked and ran out of the back of the building and went back to my hotel to change clothes. Then I came over here to check on him.”

“Did you call 911?” Shane demanded. “Did you put pressure on the gunshot wound until emergency services arrived?”

Ben’s gaze had dropped to the table and he shook his head. “No, I said that I panicked. People might think I have motive to want him dead.”

Shane snorted and began to laugh but it didn’t sound happy. “You do have motive. More than one. So let me understand your story here… You struggled with your brother but you didn’t want him dead. But when the gun accidentally went off, you didn’t help him in any way, shape, or form, instead leaving him to die in a pool of his own blood and not even calling 911. That literally would have been the least you could do. That’s cold, old man, even for you.”

Arden wanted to chastise Shane for speaking to her father that way but she couldn’t argue with what he said, only the tone he’d used to say it. It did sound horrible and cruel, and a few other things she didn’t even want to put names to.

Dammit, it sounded suspicious. She’d already had her doubts about her father’s innocence and now his brother – and her father – was fighting for his life on an operating table. Shane had said that he didn’t believe in coincidences and frankly neither did she.

She did believe that David had made statements about coming to see her, especially if he’d felt the weight of his mortality after his heart attack. She also believed her father took off secretly to convince him to stay away. Ben Cavendish took secrecy to a whole different level than regular folks.

But everything else? She wasn’t so sure. He’d lied to her too many times to give him the benefit of the doubt. And that hurt…thinking her father might be capable of murdering her own mother.

That happy numbness she’d experienced earlier wasn’t doing its job. She was angry and in physical pain, and that fury was focused on the older man sitting across from her. Because of the decisions he’d made she was hurting, deeply, and she didn’t know when it would stop.

Arden made her decision right then and there.

“Father, listen to me. Shane and I are going to get up and walk over to the hospital to see how David is doing. You can go with us if you like but you may not speak to me or spend time with me unless you go to the police and explain what happened. That will go a long way toward helping me believe what you said.”

Ben reared back, shaking his head in denial. “They’ll throw me in jail. I can’t go to the police.”

Picking up her purse, she pulled the strap onto her shoulder. “Then I’m walking out of here. I don’t want to hear from you or see you. If you can’t be honest and straight then I have to doubt your word. You’ve lied so many times to me. Both you and Grandmother. You’ve broken my trust and I can’t be around you right now.”

Shane seemed to get the hint and slid out of the booth, offering her a hand to help her stand on shaky knees. She’d never stood up to her father in this forceful way before. Yes, she’d told him off many times but this was different. She was prepared to walk away for good if necessary. Cut ties and never look back. Thank the good Lord she had Shane at her side to help her through this.

They were halfway to the door when she heard footsteps behind her and a hand reach out to capture her arm. She turned to see her father, tears welling in his eyes. He looked old and broken, not like the strong man she’d known all her life, but she couldn’t let pity weaken her resolve.

“Okay, I’ll go talk to them. I’ll tell them what happened. I love you, Arden. I’d do anything for you.”

Even keep devastating secrets from her.

How many were still out there to discover?

‡

“D
o you want
me to order some room service?” Shane called from the bedroom of their hotel room.

They’d gone back to the hospital earlier and been given the news that the surgery had been successful but that David might not wake up for twenty-four hours or more. Due to the severity of his injuries, the doctors were keeping him sedated until his condition improved.

The police had taken a wait and see approach to her father’s statement, telling Ben not to leave town. The forensics in the case had yet to come back and of course, David wasn’t able to make a statement, so until then it was simply a case of self-defense.

“I’m not too hungry but I know I should eat,” Arden called out from her more than comfortable spot in the oversized hotel bathtub with the jacuzzi jets. Shane had insisted she take a soak and try to relax after all the crap she’d been through today.

She hadn’t argued.

“What do you want? They have fried chicken, I know you love that.”

Her nauseous stomach actually perked up slightly at the thought of crispy, golden batter fried, artery hardening chicken. She wouldn’t eat much of it but if she was going to try and eat she wanted something that tasted good and wasn’t healthy at all.