Endless (27 page)

Okay, Sleeping Beauty,
he replied.
Don’t forget.

My trepidation continued to grow all
afternoon. After my final class, I hurried back to the parking lot
and found the car. As promised, the keys were there and the GPS was
programmed. I followed the directions as though I were going back
to the Remington estate, but I didn’t turn down that road.

Instead I followed another hidden turn
through woods that gave way to fields. Horses were grazing in the
pastures and the view was gorgeous.

The winding road led me to a large white
house. Since there was no helpful valet waiting at this front door,
I continued to drive around to the back and parked next to several
other cars near what looked like a stable.

I didn’t love going in the back like a
servant, but I understood the need for discretion. I knocked at the
plain wooden door.

The woman who answered was petite, with gray
hair and a bright smile.

“Ms. Vaughan, welcome. Come right in
please.”

I stepped into a kitchen that smelled a
little like heaven should. I couldn’t suppress an appreciative
sigh, and the woman grinned.

“Like that, do you? My famous muffins. I’ll
send some up with your tea.” She led me to a doorway on the far
side of the kitchen and pointed up a set of stairs. “Go up these
steps, and then follow the hallway to the very end. Mr. Massler is
in his study waiting for you.”

I followed her directions and within a few
moments, I stood in the doorway of the study, my heart thumping in
anticipation. Nick Massler sat at a large oak desk in the corner of
the room, head bent over papers. I cleared my throat and knocked on
the side of the door.

“Ms. Vaughan.” There was a great deal of
irony in his voice. “Nice to see you again. We meet under the most
unusual circumstances, don’t we?”

I bit my lip, looking into the face of the
man I had despised since I’d known his daughter’s story. His skin
was drawn, and his eyes were bleak.

“Come in.” He rose from his seat and walked
around the desk to gesture me inside. “Close the doors behind you,
please?”

I turned and drew them shut. The room was
dimly lit, with wooden louvered shutters closed against the sun. I
noted that while Harper Creek had echoes of a more northern home,
transplanted in new soil, the Massler estate was purely
southern.

Nick leaned against his desk as I came
further into the room. He was watching me with great caution, and I
realized that he was working to keep his mind shut off from mine. A
sardonic smile twisted my mouth.

“Afraid I might hear something
incriminating?” I inquired.

“Thoughts are unreliable things,” he
responded. “They’re easily misinterpreted. Well, now, of all the
people in the world, imagine how surprised I was when Harley Watson
told me who would be working on my case. It really is a small
world, isn’t it?”

“And getting smaller all the time.” I looked
around the study. Bookcases lined two of the walls, and shuttered
doors made up a third. It was comfortable and masculine. A table
against the back of a small love seat in the center of the room
held framed photographs, and I wandered over to look at them. There
were children in several, but I didn’t recognize any of them as
Nell.

“No, I’ve no pictures of her here. It was
what she wanted. No part of this house or this family.” He sighed
and took a seat in one of the wing back chairs that flanked the
loveseat. “Please, Tasmyn, come join me. Sit down.”

I did as he requested, perching on the edge
of the opposite chair. “You haven’t been to see her.” It was a
statement, not a question.

“No, but you have. Thank you. I appreciate
that, and I have to believe that somewhere deep inside, Nell knows
it and is grateful. She wouldn’t be happy for me to visit. She
never was.”

I gritted my teeth. “But you sent her mother
away and then you left her. How else could she feel?”

Nick shook his head. “Tasmyn, you don’t have
the whole story. I didn’t want to leave Nell in King. Believe me,
after what I went through with Alyse, it was the last place I would
want my child raised.”

“That’s just it though—she
was
a
child. She might not have liked it at first, but eventually, here
with you and your family—she would have grown up and understood you
loved her enough to do what was best for her.” I heard my own words
and my heart sunk. “But you didn’t, did you? It was far more
convenient to leave her in King. Out of sight, out of mind.”

Nick’s mouth twisted, and I felt his anger.
“You really don’t know anything about this, and it isn’t any of
your business. But if you must know, Alyse’s family threatened to
fight me for custody of Nell. They didn’t want her taken away from
King. At that point, after what had happened. . .I couldn’t stomach
any more of it. So, all right, yes. I left her there. I went back
enough to make it look good, but for all intents and purposes, I
was living here. And Nell was raised by the same twisted women who
made her mother into the nut job she was. You don’t think I live
with that guilt every day? I do. So now I leave Nell to her own
peace, in her own world. Trust me. It’s much better for her.”

I was silent, trying to determine how much
truth was in his words and how much was put on pathos, his attempt
to get my sympathy. Finally, I just nodded.

“I think we’re going to have to agree to
disagree on that. It doesn’t have anything to do with why I’m here.
But you know, I do have some questions.”

Nick spread his hands wide. “Ask away. I’m an
open book.”

I barely resisted rolling my eyes. “Did you
kill Helene Gamble?”

He winced as though I’d struck him and then
set his mouth in a hard line. “No. I didn’t have anything to do
with it.”

“Then why did you bring in Carruthers? Why
not just wait until they find the killer?”

“Because real innocence and guilt sometimes
have very little to do with perception in this world. Even though I
didn’t hurt Helene, her death could easily sully my name. Again.
After all, I had nothing to do with Alyse’s crimes and I still paid
for them, didn’t I?”

This time I couldn’t hold back, and I did
roll my eyes. “So, damage control. It’s too bad Helene is dead, but
you can’t let it hurt your precious name again, is that it?”

Nick’s temper was barely in check. “I’m glad
Carruthers sent someone who is on my side, who is paid to help me
get through this. To give me the information I need. So glad.”

“I’m doing my job, Mr. Massler. But I need to
ask you a few more things.”

He tilted his head in acquiescence.

“Did you know that Ben Ryan had planted
Helene in your life?”

Like lightening, Nick was on his feet and not
only was his mind no longer blocked, the rage and betrayal was
pouring over me.

“What are you talking about?” he
demanded.

I licked my lips and took a deep breath. “I
heard Ben thinking about it.”

“It’s not true.” He was seething, even as he
struggled to regain control. “Helene was not working for John. She
couldn’t have been.”

As much as I disliked this man, I felt
horrible that I had dropped this information on him. There was no
doubt in my mind that he hadn’t known. And that led me to my next
question.

“Helene was killed in an apartment you own.”
He nodded, a sharp jerk of the head. “Did you invite her to meet
you there the night she was killed?”

“No. I wasn’t supposed to see her that night.
I had a charity function, and she knew that.”

I frowned. “She did? You’re sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure. You don’t think I’ve
gone over every detail of that day, of that night? Of my last
conversation with her? We had been out three nights in a row that
week. She was tired, she wanted to stay in. I told her to rest up,
order dinner in and I’d talk to her in the morning.”

This definitely didn’t jive with what Ben had
said. And as far as I could tell, Nick was telling the truth.

But why would Ben have been thinking what he
did? It hadn’t felt like a set up, and I couldn’t imagine how he
might know about my mind hearing.

“It had to have been John. He was desperate.
He doesn’t want me in this senate race. You have no idea what he’s
capable of doing.” His mouth tightened.

“Oh, I think I might have a clue,” I
said.

Nick raised one eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

“Are you talking about what happened in King?
With Alyse?”

His eyes widened. “He told you? Or you heard
it?”

“I heard his guilt, and he told me the story.
I think he might have been a little relieved to share it with
someone. Have you known all along?”

Nick raised one shoulder. “Almost. Alyse
babbled about it when they first let me visit in the hospital. I
thought it was part of her delusion, but then the more I thought
about it, the less unlikely and outrageous it seemed. And then I
asked Derrick about it—Derrick was the man my wife wanted—which was
a little awkward of course, but he finally admitted that yes, John
had helped set up some of their meetings.”

“Is that why you stopped being friends?”

His mouth twisted sardonically. “It is not
easy to remain friendly with the man who encourages your wife to
sleep with another man. Oh, and then who takes away all the rest of
your dreams, too.”

“Politics?”

“It had always been my plan.” He dropped his
head into his hands. “And it’s gone, and over. I thought it might
be coming back. I thought I might have another shot, with the
senate race and Helene. But he took those away, too, didn’t
he?”

“You really think the congressman set up
Helene’s murder?” I just couldn’t fathom it. He hadn’t sounded any
guiltier than Nick did now. “I asked him. He denied it.”

“Of course he did. I’m telling you, he knew I
was about to enter the race. He knew I had a real shot at winning.
And John Remington would do anything to stop me from taking that
senate seat away from him.”

“I don’t think he’s capable--”

“Don’t let him fool you, Tasmyn.” Nick’s
voice was harsh. “John might have sold you his Southern gentleman
persona, but it’s a fraud. He tore away my wife and my family. Why
do you think he did that?”

“He thought he was just going to give you a
push, to get back here and back into politics. He didn’t know that
Alyse was pretty much insane, and he never thought it would go so
far.”

“He lied to you. Before he introduced Alsyse
to Derrick, I had told him that I was moving out of King, that I
was going to enter the state senate race. I had my backers, I had
almost convinced Alyse that living part of the year away from King
would not mean the world was ending. We had begun entertaining a
little, making connections.

“And then he tore it all apart. So don’t tell
me what John Remington isn’t capable of doing. I’m telling you,
he’s behind this. He saw me with Helene a week before she was
killed. We ran into each other at some benefit. I saw him look at
her, and I knew. He couldn’t bear to see me win. He never
could.”

I drove away from the Massler estate, more
confused and discouraged than before. The deeper I fell into this
mess, the less I understood. It was sad and painful and ugly.

I called Cathryn and let her know that I had
escaped from Nick Massler without injury.

“He didn’t do it, Cathryn. I don’t know who
did. Every time I think I have a hold on it, someone else convinces
me of his innocence.”

Cathryn let out a breath, and I heard relief.
“You’re sure?”

I grunted in frustration. “No. Didn’t you
just hear me? I’m not sure. But at this point, I don’t see how or
why he would have killed Helene. Nick is sure John did it. Ben is
sure Nick did it.”

“Who does John think killed Helene?”

I considered. “I don’t think he ever said. He
was so horrified that I would think
he
might have done it. .
.and then he started telling me about something else. Something
unrelated.”

“It might be interesting to get his
perspective on it.”

“Or it might make me even crazier. More going
around in circles.”

“Never know if you don’t ask.”

I gritted my teeth again and hissed out a
breath. “I’ll go see him now. I want to get this over with.”

“Okay. Check in when you’re done.”

I pulled off the road and flipped through my
contacts. I didn’t have the congressman’s personal number, but his
office number was on our roster. I tapped the number into my phone
with unsteady fingers. When I heard the answering voice of his
secretary, I drew a deep breath and asked to speak with her
boss.

“Congressman Remington? This is Tasmyn
Vaughan.”

I heard his weariness. “Hello, Tasmyn. What
can I do for you?”

“I need to speak with you. It’s. . it’s about
Nick Massler. I found out something, and I don’t know what to do
about it.”